The Indian automobile market is witnessing a steady rise in the demand for electric vehicles including 2-wheeler, E-autos and 4-wheelers. Nonetheless, the EV penetration is still not where the companies want it to be. Stills EVs are not accessible to certain groups of customers owing to the higher price of the EVs and range-related issues.
According to industry experts, along with the price, customers are more concerned about the range and charging station availability of their vehicles. As we covered in the previous article, the Indian government and the car industry are working together to gradually remove these obstacles.
Major manufacturers such as Tata Motors and MG Motor have responded by slashing the prices of their various EV versions significantly.
Price Drop For Punch.ev & Nexon.ev
Tata Motors just released updated pricing for its EV models. The long-range (465 km) Nexon EV will now start at Rs 16.99 lakh, while the Nexon EV will now start at Rs 14.49 lakh.
Tata Motors has also reduced the base price of the Tiago EV to Rs 7.99 lakh. Notably, the price of the Tiago EV has dropped by Rs 70,000, while the Nexon EV has seen a decrease of Rs 1.2 lakh. The Punch EV, which was just launched, doesn’t have any change in the initial price as of now.
The reason behind the price slash is believed to be caused by the reduction in battery cell price. In a statement, Tata officials revealed that a significant portion of an EV’s total cost is related to its battery.
Given that the cost of battery cells has recently decreased and that this trend is likely to continue, Tata has made a proactive decision to transfer the gains directly to their customers.
Even though their EV models perform well in the highly competitive Indian automobile market, Tata’s goals stretch behind the sales volume. According to Tata’s higher officials, they want to hasten EV adoption by increasing EV accessibility across the country.
Their EV lineup already provides smart, feature-rich EVs with a good selection of body types, ranges, and pricing points. Added to the price drop, Tata is expecting to increase the appeal even more for their best-selling Tiago.ev and Nexon.ev and draw in a wider client base with the reduced prices.
Price Slash By MG Motors
The popular model from MG Motors, the Comet EV was previously priced at Rs 7.98 lakh earlier. Now the Comet is available for Rs 6.99 lakh (ex-showroom) due to a significant price decrease announced by MG Motor. This translates into a savings of almost Rs 1 lakh.
Also, the company has unveiled a new variant called the Executive for the MG ZS EV, the company’s first EV. The new variant is about INR 4 lakh less expensive than the Excite model priced at INR 22.8 lakh (ex-showroom). The new MG ZS EV Executive has been priced at INR 18.98 lakh.
The company says that several initiatives over the last two years including contracts, commodities, logistics, material pricing, and efficiency helped in reducing the price. According to officials, the decline of Lithium also played a crucial part in reducing the price.