Tata Motors, on the occasion of World Environment Day, signed an agreement with BluSmart Electric Mobility to deliver 10,000 XPRES-T Electric Vehicles (EVs) to the all-electric ride-hailing mobility service company.
Tata Motors claimed that this deployment of 10,000 units is the biggest ever EV fleet order in India.
These vehicles are an addition to the 3,500 XPRES-T Electric EV order, which was signed by both companies in October last year, and will be used across the country for commuters, in turn, to help minimize the carbon footprint, the automobile company stated.
Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd. and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd., said Tata Motors is taking active steps towards the rapid electrification of mobility, and it is heartening to see renowned fleet aggregators joining the green mobility wave.
“We are delighted to continue our association with BluSmart Electric Mobility as we deploy 10,000 XPRES-T EVs across the country. Our XPRES-T EV fleet offers an optimal battery size along with a captive fast charging solution and has already set benchmarks in its category”.
Shailesh Chandra
Anmol Singh Jaggi, CoFounder of BluSmart Electric Mobility, averred that with the $50M in Series A fundraise, the company is supercharged to rapidly expand across Delhi NCR and the metro cities.
“We are thankful to Tata Motors for charging up our journey to scale up at a fast pace. BluSmart Electric Mobility has covered 50 million clean kms and delivered over 1.6 million zero-emission rides with an elevated customer experience on its platform.
“We are building a large-scale integrated EV mobility ecosystem in India – from the country’s largest fully-electric ride-hailing service to the largest network of EV charging super hubs”.
Anmol Singh Jaggi
Tata Motors launched the XPRES brand in July 2021 for fleet customers and the XPRES-T EV became the first vehicle under this brand. The XPRES-T electric sedan has 2 range options – 213km and 165km (ARAI certified range under test conditions). It has a battery of 21.5 kWh and 16.5 kWh and can be charged from 0- 80% in 90 minutes and 110 minutes, respectively, by using fast charging or any 15 A plug point.
Tata Motors gearing up to strengthen its R&D
Meanwhile, Tata Motors is gearing up to strengthen its R&D with fresh hiring as well as upskilling of the current employees this fiscal year in order to scale up capabilities across various business verticals, including the electric vehicle segment, as per a top company official.
In the EV space, the company is looking to enhance its expertise in the area of battery packs and vehicle architecture, among others.
“As far as hiring in R&D is concerned, we are going for major hiring, especially this year, but there is also another area which we have looked into very deeply and that is upskilling the current engineers within R&D”.
Shailesh Chandra
It is going to be a big component of how the company is planning to really expand its R&D base, Chandra added.
The Mumbai-based auto major, in line with its growth aspirations and business plans for the next few years, is hiring across various verticals like advanced engineering, product development, supply chain, operations and commercial functions at different levels.
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