The plant has a manufacturing capacity of 3,00,000 units and took a year to retool.
Tata Motors’ electric subsidiary, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd (TPEM), has announced that it has begun production of electric vehicles at its new Sanand facility in Gujarat. The new facility was acquired from Ford India on January 10, 2023 and is spread over an area of 460 acres.
Tata Motors is currently manufacturing the Nexon EV in this plant, and says it took them a year to retool the plant. The brand also has the Tiago EV and Tigor EV in its line-up, and is gearing up to launch the Punch EV on January 17.
Shailesh Chandra, managing director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Limited & Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Limited said, “With existing Tata production facilities nearing its saturation mark, this new facility will unlock an additional state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity of 3,00,000 units per annum, which is scalable to 4,20,000 units per annum.”
The new plant at Sanand can also build petrol and diesel vehicles depending on the need, and includes four main shops – Stamping, Body construction, Paint and Final assembly shop – equipped with high levels of automation. As part of the retooling process, multiple tech upgrades have been undertaken in different areas of the plant, including the press, weld, paint and assembly shop, according to Tata Motors.
The plant currently employs more than 1,000 staff and technicians, with plans to create an additional 1,000 jobs in the next 3 to 4 months in line with production ramp-up plans. The plant has a 50KW solar rooftop and is expected to be water positive by December 2024.
Tata Motors is also readying EV iterations of the Harrier and the upcoming Curvv coupe-SUV that will go on sale later this year.
Also see:
Tata Punch EV launch on January 17
Tata.ev is the new name for Tata Motors electric vehicle business
EVs to be 50 percent of total Tata Motors’ sales by 2030: Shailesh Chandra