While many automobile companies are still banking on transitionary technologies like hybrid and CNG and waiting for the market to mature for electric vehicles (EVs), efforts by Tata Motors to promote electric mobility through a well-crafted product strategy has paid off, making it the leader in the four-wheeler electric Passenger Vehicles (ePV) segment in the country.
The company started off with EVs based on its ICE offerings, maintaining a familiar bodyshell for customers while providing a truly differentiated experience on the inside.
Thus, the Nexon.ev was born. At that time, the Nexon nameplate was a successful product and familiar to customers.
Prior to that, TATA.ev as the electric portfolio is called, had already gained insights through the conversion of the Tigor.ev for the EESL order in 2017. And this experience, along with extensive research and development, made the Nexon.ev the highest selling passenger EV in the country.
To bring EV prices further down, the company introduced Tiago.ev which was crucial in democratising electric mobility, with its hatchback body style at a price of ₹7.99 lakh.
As the EV category matured, TATA.ev saw the confidence in the market to bring in its first pure EV, the Punch.ev, in early 2024. The Punch.ev is based on the advanced made in India Pure EV architecture, acti.ev (advanced connected tech-intelligent electric vehicle).
The acti.ev is a modular and scalable pure electric architecture, which enables multiple new product delivering energy efficiency, range, superior performance and interior package.
Based on this architecture, Tata.ev is gearing up to introduce the Harrier.ev and the Sierra.ev – all displayed at the 2023 Auto Expo and 2024 Bharat Mobility Expo, in the first and second half of 2025 respectively.
The latest addition Curvv.ev SUV Coupe, with its unique body style and a claimed range of 400–425 km, has addressed an important barrier to EV adoption – price parity with internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles.
Its price on-the-road is equivalent to the price of the automatic variant of top mid-size ICE SUVs.
This strong portfolio has led to TATA.ev witnessing year-on-year growth since entering the category in 2020. The company started with 1,200 passenger EVs in FY20.
This number increased to 4,200 units in FY21 and 19,000 units in FY2022. FY23 was a decisive period as sales crossed 50,000 units, posting a growth of 154%, while FY24 witnessed a 64% growth at 82,000 units coming off a high base.
Though FY25 numbers are yet to be out, the company has reported 23,000 units of Curvv sales.
Currently, there are over 2 lakh Tata EVs on the road, clocking over 5 billion km and growing.
From April 2024 till February 2025, a total number of 94,696 ePVs have been sold as against 81,549 units sold in the same period last year, up 16% as per Vahan portal data.
TATA.ev, which had earlier completely dominated the market, is now having a market share of 56% as per latest data closely followed by JSW MG Motor India, which has clocked a market share of 27%. The new product launches by TATA.ev later this year could help in more volumes.
The EV category, once an afterthought in 2020, is now witnessing high volumes and growth due to low cost of ownership and concern for environment.
Though in initial years, policy interventions helped boost EV sales, now the segment seems to be on auto pilot mode due to improvements in charging infra, reduction in prices to the level of ICE vehicles and absence of range anxiety.
This is reflected in the growing sales of the overall industry, starting from over 1.7 lakh in FY20 to over 16.75 lakh in FY24 – a staggering growth of 865%. In FY25, the number is expected to cross 20 lakh.
Published – March 22, 2025 08:52 pm IST
