Interview: Tata Tiago EV targets 3 sets of customers. Are you in one of them?

Tata Motors is currently leading the Indian market when it comes to electric cars. They have the largest line-up of electric vehicles which consists of Tiago EV, Tigor EV and Nexon EV. Recently launched, Tiago EV is currently the most affordable hatchback in the Indian car market. But for the company, it isn't about just selling EVs by the truckloads and Vivek Srivatsa - Head Marketing, Sales and Service Strategy of Tata Passenger Electric Mobility - says service centers for these new-age vehicles has been in prime focus as well.

Speaking to HT Auto recently, Srivatsa explained the multi-pronged strategy of Tata Motors to take its electric offerings to more people in the country. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: Since Tiago EV is essentially aimed at mass market, what's your prediction for it for smaller towns and heartlands?

A: We are very optimistic. I will give you one of the business decisions we took to further validate my statement. With the launch of Tiago EV, we are opening almost 16 new markets which are all smaller towns. In smaller towns usually electric two-wheelers have a good penetration so electric four-wheelers will be attracted very fast and Tiago EV as a product is very ideally suited. So we are very optimistic about the acceptance of Tiago EV in smaller towns.

Q: How does not having a direct rival at this price point affect Tiago EVs prospects, one way or another?

A: Good and bad. Not just Tiago EV but (our) other EVs also do not have a direct rival. We have 87 per cent market share. Of course, it is a nice thing to have no competition but it also means that we have to drive the market ourselves and that is why you see this kind of very aggressive pricing. We are committed to grow the market.

Q: How would the customer base of Tiago EV differ from that of Nexon or Tigor EVs? How do you plan to overcome the challenges?

A: It's a completely different segment, the pricing is different but also it is aimed at three kinds of customers. More and more city customers want a compact footprint but all the features in it. Earlier, there was a misconception that if you want features then you have to buy a bigger car. But you'll see with Tiago that we have pulled down a lot of upper segment features such as automatic climate control, cruise control, connected car technology, automatic wipers, automatic headlamps etc. This is because customers are clearly saying that I want a compact car and at the same time I want luxuries. What better than an EV to give that? So, you get a silent drive, a very good infotainment system, connectivity and safety. That is one of the kinds of customer segments that we are targeting.

Another customer segment is those who are looking for automatics. Automatics penetration has been increasing rapidly, it is more than 30 per cent in hatchbacks. EVs by default are automatics.

The last customer segment is those who have high driving and we know cost of operation of EVs is very low. So, Tiago EV makes great sense for people who drive a lot within the cities. So, three major customer categories for whom we think Tiago EV will make a lot of sense.

Nexon EV and Tigor EV have slightly different attributes. We think that the customer profile is completely different and there is not going to be any overlap.

Q: What about support infrastructure, considering a possibly wider buying audience for this EV - both charging and service?

A: Let's start from charging. We have seen that 97 per cent of charging is done at home. It is only the occasional long drive that people go for when public charging is needed.

Having said that, we are working on society chargers where people who do not have a dedicated parking lot can charge. This pilot project has been started in three cities and has been very successful. People are very happy and in the future, this is how charging can be. There is no need of having one charger in every parking lot. Instead, a society can have 4-5 chargers and people can charge their electric vehicles from them.

But of course, overall public charging in terms of AC and DC fast chargers is growing very fast. Today, there are more than 3,000 public chargers in the country. A lot of start-ups are getting into the charging space, oil PSUs are getting into the charging space. So, in the next few years or in months, we can see rapid change in charging infrastructure.

Service is a challenge because of the service load. We see long waiting periods for service appointments. The long-term plan is to open exclusive service centres for electric vehicles. Hopefully, in the next 6 months to 1 year, we will start seeing that to manage the workload of EVs.