EESL floats second tender in a row to procure 10,000 electric cars

The government has been pushing for the electric vehicle in a big way for quite some time. In a recent boost to the e-vehicle sector, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is floating tender of around 10,000 electric vehicles during March-April. This is the second tender for procuring 10,000 electric cars for EESL.

Earlier in September this year, Tata Motors had won a contract to procure 10,000 electric vehicles for the government-run entity. Tata Motors will supply the electric version of its Tigor sedan, for which batteries will be imported.

The procured e-cars will replace current petrol and diesel cars used by the government and its agencies. At present, fleet of around half-a-million petrol and diesel cars serve several government entities

“We will come up with another tender for a similar number of electric vehicles. Basic specifications for those electric vehicles will remain the same,” said Saurabh Kumar, managing director, EESL talking to Mint.

EESL, a joint-venture comprising four government-owned power sector entities — NTPC, Power Grid, Power Finance Corp and Rural Electrification Corporation, floated a global tender in August for such numbers of e-vehicles as part of a plan to replace the five-lakh petrol and diesel cars used by the government and its agencies over a 3-4 year period.

Tata Motors outbid Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) in the contest for the Rs 1,120 crore order in September this year. It quoted the lowest price of Rs 10.16 lakh, exclusive of GST, in the bidding process. The vehicle will be provided to EESL for Rs 11.2 lakh, which will be inclusive of GST and a comprehensive 5-year warranty.

Currently, less than 1% of the 200 million vehicles on Indian roads are estimated to be electric vehicles.

As per industry data, electric car sales in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing car markets, are negligible compared with annual sales of over 3 million petrol and diesel cars last fiscal year.