Buoyed by a funds push from US-based private equity company TPG Capital, homegrown automaker Tata Motors plans to produce 50,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in the upcoming financial year starting April, a media report said.

The auto major told vendors it would ramp up annual production to 125,000-150,000 EVs in the next two years, The Economic Times reported quoting sources.

If the company is able to deliver its target, Tata Motors could earn revenue of Rs 5,000 crore from the business in FY23 itself, the business daily estimated.

Last year, TPG Rise Climate, the climate-focused financial fund of TPG Capital, and other co-investors said they would invest Rs 7,500 crore to secure about 11-15 percent stake in Tata Motors’ EV subsidiary. By March 2022, the company will see the first round of capital infusion, while the entire capital will be infused by the end of 2022, Tata Motors had said in a press release.

Earlier, Tata Motors chairman N Chandrasekaran had announced the company’s plan to launch 10 new battery-EVs by 2025, Business Standard reported. The company, whose market share in EVs jumped to 82 percent by the end 2021 from 18 percent in FY19, currently sells two EVs in India -- Tata Nexon EV and Tata Tigor EV.

After witnessing huge sales and bookings reaching 15,000, the automaker now plans to drive in three electric cars in the sub-Rs 10 lakh range within the next 12-18 months, ET reported. It plans to add the Tiago, Punch small SUV and Altroz hatchback in its under-Rs 10 lakh EV line-up. The company will also give the Nexon EV a higher mileage.

"We will be launching one or two products every year, which will be at different price points which will increase affordability,” Shailesh Chandra, MD of Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, told ET, adding that there will be products below and above Nexon in the coming years. He said the company would also look at expanding into new cities.

Chandra did not reveal details of the production and sales plan, but said in the long term the company planned to see 20 percent of its total sales come from EVs. The share of EVs in Tata Motors’ total passenger vehicle volume rose from 0.2 percent in fiscal 2020 to 5.6 percent in December 2021. If the company achieves 50,000 units in FY23, the share of EVs would rise to 12 percent of its total targeted volumes.

"There is a very strong demand pipeline. We have been getting booking rates of 3,500 a month,” Chandra said.

Read Also | Just 1 charger for 52 electric cars: Here are countries that have the least and most charging points for EVs

(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)