Tata Motors has won a bid to supply 10,000 electric vehicles (EVs) to Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). Tata Motors will supply the EVs in two phases – the first 500 e-cars will be delivered in November 2017, and the remaining 9,500 EVs will be delivered in the second phase of the project.

In August, EESL issued a procurement tender for 10,000 EVs to be used by government departments and agencies. The tender drew the participation of Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), and Nissan.

A government release reported that bids were opened for Tata Motors Limited and M&M. Tata Motor Limited quoted the lowest price of ₹1.016 million (~$15,557)/unit exclusive of the Goods and Services (GST) tax in the competitive bidding. The vehicles will be provided to EESL for ₹1.12 million (~$17,149)/unit. The per-unit price includes the GST and a comprehensive five-year warranty. It is 25 percent below the current retail price of a similar e-car with a three-year warranty.

“Tata Motors is extremely proud to partner with the Government of India in its journey to facilitate (the) faster adoption of electric vehicles and to build a sustainable India. Tata Motors has been collaboratively working to develop electric powertrain technology for its selected products. (The) EESL tender provided us the opportunity to participate in boosting e-mobility in the country, at the same time (it has) accelerate(d) our efforts to offer (a) full range of electric vehicles to the Indian consumers,” said Guenter Butschek, chief executive officer and managing director of Tata Motors.

The EESL also plans to identify a service provider agency. That agency will be appointed through a competitive bidding process to carry out end-to-end fleet management of the procured vehicles for the concerned government customers.

Apart from continuing to aggregate demand, EESL will also be responsible for coordination between the appointed agencies, monitoring and supervision, reporting, complaint redressal, and payments. The e-cars will replace the petrol and diesel cars used by the government and its agencies over a three‑ to four-year period. The total number of vehicles used by the government and its agencies is estimated to be 5,00,000.

A Niti Aayog report found that by making India’s passenger mobility shared, electric, and connected, the country will be able to cut its energy consumption from motorized passenger transportation by 64 percent and reduce its carbon emissions from motorized transportation by 37 percent in 2030.

This effort also represents also a crucial step toward meeting targets set by the Paris Climate Accord.