- Wednesday, March 05, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian conglomerate Tata Group is considering establishing plants both in the country and Europe to produce battery cells for electric vehicles (EVs), the chief financial officer of the company’s auto unit told Reuters in an interview.
Tata Motors, with total sales of 50,000 EVs to date, dominates India’s EV market and outlined plans to launch 10 electric cars by March 2026.
The company also expects the new models to constitute a quarter of its total sales by 2025 from around eight per cent at present, the Reuters report added.
Localising cell manufacturing for EV batteries is key to raising local components in EVs and will help the Indian auto giant develop a local supply chain as well, Tata Motors’ P B Balaji said on the sidelines of the Auto Expo car show which is underway in Greater Noida in the northern Indian state of Utter Pradesh.
Tata is evaluating two production bases — one in Europe — so that the battery-cell requirements of its luxury car unit Jaguar Land Rover – which has a manufacturing facility in the continent — can also be met, the report said.
Balaji said the investment in cell manufacturing will be made by its parent company Tata Sons but did not explain the quantum or timeline.
“We should announce it sooner rather than later,” he said.
India’s car market, set to become the third-largest globally, is still tiny compared to its population, with electric models making up just a per cent of total car sales of about 3.8 million last year, but the government wants to grow it to 30 per cent by 2030.
Tata’s new models will include a wider driving range and higher price points as Tata Motors looks to cement its lead at a time when rival companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Warren Buffet-backed BYD and SAIC Motor’s MG Motors also have EV launches lined up, the Reuters report added.
