At a time when Tata Motors’ cheapest car, the Nano, is in the eye of a storm, the company has discreetly conducted a road test of its electric version in Coimbatore.

The test could be a sign of a faster entry of the electric Nano into the market.

The test was conducted at a secret location in Coimbatore in the presence of Tata Sons’ Chairman Emeritus Ratan N Tata. The road tests of the vehicle were “successful”, sources close to the development said, but declined to provide information at this point.

With the new Nano, Tata Motors is also joining the race for electric vehicles (EVs) with global players such as Elon Musk’s Tesla. In India, the electric Nano will compete with Mahindra & Mahindra’s all-new electric car e2oPlus.

The Tata Nano EV will come fitted with an electric motor coupled with lithium batteries. The testing of the electric Nano in Coimbatore comes at a time when reports abound that the company is phasing out the ‘people’s car’, which was Ratan Tata’s brainchild, in the domestic market. When contacted, a Tata Motors’ spokesperson declined to comment.

Huge potential

There is a huge opportunity for EVs, with the government aiming to stop the sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2030. However, electric vehicle growth in India has been sluggish due to myriad issues such as higher prices compared with petrol and diesel vehicles, lack of charging stations and the limitation of speed, among others. At the Tata Motors AGM on Tuesday, shareholders had questioned the future of the company’s car business in general and Nano in particular.

“We can’t just switch off one product and switch on another…. We need to take a holistic view,” N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group firms, said at the AGM.

Ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry’s office has alleged that the Tata Group’s practice of providing funding to projects without adequate risk assessment, particularly in the Nano and small commercial vehicle (SCV) segment, has resulted in non-performing assets of ₹4,000 crore. Responding to Mistry’s statement, sources close to the Tatas said the Nano constitutes a very small part of Tata Motors.

Nano sales slipped more than 58 per cent to just 355 units in May from last year. Volumes have remained at a similar level for at least the last six months, and are only a fraction of any other competing model in the market.

There were reports earlier that the Tata Nano may soon be phased out in the domestic market. The company, however, continues to produce the Nano for export markets.

If the electric variant succeeds the Nano may just make a comeback in the domestic market as well.

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