“>As the global automotive industry accelerates toward electrification, India is fast emerging as a pivotal market in this transition. It is home to numerous EV startups expanding in the international market like Ultraviolette as well as a fresh playground for global EV giants like Tesla.
Among the major players, Tata Motors stands out as the only automaker in India with a dedicated electric vehicle platform, developed entirely in-house. From the compact, affordable hatchback, Tiago EV to the forthcoming premium Sierra and Avinya showcased at the 2025 Auto Expo, the company has over 2 lakh EVs on Indian roads, and claims deep insights collected over 10.5 billion kilometers of real-world driving data. In an exclusive discussion with ETAuto, Anand KulkarniTata’s Chief Product Officer and Head of HV Programmes, shared insights into how Tata is scaling its EV business, driving innovation through data-driven product development, and preparing to lead India’s journey towards a cleaner, electrified future.
Q1: Tata Motors has established a strong market leadership in electric mobility in India. How do your platform strategy, localisation efforts, and vertical integration help scale EV volumes while keeping costs competitive?
Platforms are not built for just one product — they’re developed to support multiple vehicles. This allows for cross-deployment of components, leading to commonality, which brings several advantages: economies of scale, improved reliability, and quality consistency across successive programmes.
When Tata started its EV journey, we not only built platforms but also developed an electric architecture — a toolkit comprising drive motors, gearboxes, battery management systems, common cell formats, power electronics (such as DC-DC converters, PDUs, onboard chargers), and charging interfaces.
This architecture drives scale and reliability. Localisation becomes more feasible as volumes grow, encouraging supplier investment and domestic manufacturing. This leads to a virtuous cycle– lower costs, better technology, more local value addition, and further innovation. Since 2020, we’ve seen the benefits of these early strategic bets. Today, our EVs are well-established, and most of our products have either achieved or are close to achieving domestic value addition targets.
Q2: Tata EVs often offer features beyond their segments — like Arcade EVDrive Pay, digital controls, and OTA updates. What’s the product design philosophy behind this approach?
Our core product design philosophy is to enable better technology within our cars while keeping the customer at the centre. EVs make the integration of advanced features more seamless due to their architecture.
You mentioned digital controls — the industry initially moved heavily towards digitisation, but we’ve seen a partial rollback. Customers still want tactile, physical interactions. We have learned from this and aim to strike a balance, respecting Indian customer preferences shaped by unique traffic and usage conditions.
Features like Arcade EV and Drive Pay are enabled by software, making the car an extension of the home — the “third space”. EVs allow for more digital services, thanks to their electronic architecture. However, we’re cautious about overwhelming users with too many features. It’s about thoughtful innovation, not a feature race.
Q3: Tata’s EV portfolio spans across segments — from hatchbacks like the Tiago EV and Harrier EV to upcoming models like the Sierra EV. With new global players entering the market, how does Tata plan to sustain its leadership?
In 2020, Tata held about 95 per cent of the EV market share. While competition has increased, our broad portfolio, offering everything from entry-level to premium EVs, gives us a strong edge.
We were the first to offer dual battery options — long-range and standard-range — based on different customer needs. Our investments in localisation and mainstreaming EVs have brought us close to price parity, not with 150–200 km range cars, but with real-world 400–450 km cars.
Our customers are smart; they appreciate the refinement and lower running costs of EVs. With over 2 lakh EVs on Indian roads, we’ve built deep insights — over 10.5 billion kilometres of real-world driving data. This helps us optimise performance, range, and reliability. Plus, our ecosystem investments — service, charging, and tech — strengthen our position further.
Q4: With so much customer data, what are the top areas EV buyers prioritise today? Has range anxiety really faded? And, is the Sierra EV expected to launch this calendar year?
(Laughs) You didn’t hear me say anything about the Sierra launch date! That’ll be announced in due course.
On range anxiety — yes, it’s largely a thing of the past. With cars offering 400–500 km, it’s no longer the primary concern. But battery longevity is still a customer worry. That’s why we now offer lifetime battery warranties, even on smaller packs like the Curve (55 kWh) and Nexon (45 kWh).
Another key focus is driving convenience and personalised feature sets. We’ve been deliberate in offering choices in features and battery sizes to suit varied user needs. Some criticise us for too many variants, but customers appreciate the flexibility.
The 10.5 billion km of data also helps us fine-tune aspects like regenerative braking, HVAC efficiency, and other unseen performance optimisations — all of which directly benefit the customer.
Q5: What is the current EV penetration level at Tata Motors and across the industry? What are your projections for the mid-to-long term?
Tata’s EV penetration currently stands at about 15 per cent across our portfolio. For individual models like the Nexon and Harrier EV, it’s over 20 per cent. Tigor EV, primarily a fleet product, is slightly lower due to recent fleet market challenges.
The overall industry is still at 3.5–4 per cent, but we expect this to grow. Tata aims for 30 per cent EV penetration by the end of this decade, and we see no reason why the industry can’t achieve 20 per cent by then.
Q6: Is India’s grid and charging infrastructure ready to support this level of EV adoption by the end of the decade?
It has to evolve in parallel. We’ve come a long way — in 2020, the biggest public chargers were 25–30 kW. Today, 60–120 kW chargers are more common. Charging infrastructure, awareness, and policy are all progressing together. These challenges are not insurmountable.
When we launched the Nexon EV, people worried that two EVs charging in one apartment might trip the power. Those fears have gone. The grid has held up. The ecosystem is adapting quickly.
Q7: Battery is the most expensive and crucial component of an EV. How is Tata balancing hardware innovation, localisation, and R&D for batteries and motors?
Currently, we still import battery cells, but the pack design, modularity, and safety systems are developed in collaboration with partners.
We’ve evolved from cylindrical to prismatic cells, depending on application. Safety is critical — for example, battery packs are now designed with enhanced side impact resistance.
On the software side, we’re constantly improving reliability and battery health through smarter algorithms. Lifetime warranties are backed by these innovations. We’ve also remotely updated battery performance in cars already on the road, improving capacity utilisation through software updates.
As EVs become extensions of our homes, how do you see features like V2G (vehicle-to-grid), bi-directional charging, and AI-driven energy management evolving in India?
Technologically, these features are already possible. We were among the first to introduce vehicle-to-vehicle charging in 2020 with the Curve EV. V2G and bi-directional charging are proven concepts globally, and they can support grid balancing and outdoor use cases.
However, adoption in India requires upgrades in infrastructure and regulatory frameworks. The technology is ready, but ecosystem enablement is essential before large-scale implementation.
