India's Tata Motors reveals electric car prototype

Mumbai-based Tata Motors (NYSE:TTM) unveiled today an electric version of the Indica hatchback, with plans to make it available in Norway in 2009 and India in 2010.

Tata also announced plans for an electric car called the Ace without revealing a timeline or details of the vehicle, a Tata spokesman told the Cleantech Group. Tata Motors is part of the Tata Group and one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles.

Prototypes of the two vehicles were shown at the SIAM exhibition in India today. The company didn't reveal the pricetags or location of manufacturing, which hasn't started on either car.

The company plans to power the vehicles with lithium ion batteries that are co-developed by Tata and a Norwegian company, but Tata is not disclosing the name of the partner for competitive reasons, the spokesman said.

Tata has said the Indica will drive for at least 175 kilometers (110 miles) on a full charge of its two battery packs, which takes about 8 hours.

Across the globe, automakers including General Motors, Hyundai and Toyota are racing to be first to market with electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries (see Hyundai plans to sell hybrid in U.S. in 2010).

Tata said it plans to initially sell the Indica in Norway because it has the infrastructure to power electric vehicles, whereas India doesn’t. The company is also exploring other technology, such as the compressed-air powered OneCAT for India’s market (see India's Tata funds air-power car).

Meanwhile, the company has halted construction on its newest factory in West Bengal, which was scheduled to produce the Nano—which is being billed as the world’s smallest, cheapest car—in October.

The factory in eastern India is 90-percent complete, but construction has been halted since Aug. 28 over violent political protests demanding the return of farmland used for the plant.

In January, Tata Motors said it would sell the gas-powered, manual transmission Nano in India for one lakh ($2,500 USD). The four-seater is planned to be 10 feet long, five feet wide and five feet tall (see Hyundai introduces competitor to India's Nano minicar).

Tata has spent nearly Rs. 1,500 crores ($338 million) to build the Singur factory, 45 miles outside Kolkata. About 60 suppliers have collectively spent about Rs. 500 crores ($112.7 million) to locate on the Singur complex, but they have also stopped work, Tata said.

Tata said it will consider moving the Nano's 762 trained employees, equipment and manufacturing operations to other Tata factories in Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Pune and Uttarakhand.

India's federal government has said it might try to mediate the land dispute, and other regions, including Madhya Pradesh, are stepping up with offers to be the newest location for the Nano plant.

Sale of the car, aimed at first-time buyers in India, could consequently be delayed for months, analysts say.

Shares of Tata Motors were down 4 percent in midday trading on the NYSE today. The shares have lost more than 50 percent of their value since the start of the year.

Earlier this week, Tata Motors gave details of a plan to raise Rs 4,147 crores ($934 million) by offering two new classes of shares.

The company said the funds would help refinance the $2.3 billion acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover in March.

The company has a track record of acquiring stakes in foreign carmakers, including South Korea’s Daewoo Commercial Vehicle in 2004 and Spain’s Hispano Carrocera in 2005. The company sells vehicles in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South East Asia and South Asia.

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