Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has said that the state is expecting to get around 35 per cent of all the Electric Vehicle (EV) investments that the country will attract till 2030. This comes after industry majors like Hyundai, Ola Electric, Ather, Renault-Nissan and TVS Motor lined up their electric vehicle investment plans in the state, taking the planned EV investments to around Rs 43,000 crore, one of the largest in India.
At present, in the EV two-wheeler segment, the top three manufacturers – Ola, Ather and TVS Motor – are from Tamil Nadu and the state manufactures around 68 per cent of the total EV two-wheeler sales in India. The state industries minister, TRB Rajaa, told Business Standard that the state is looking to attract 35 per cent of the total EV investments in India by 2030 and will also look to increase sales in the local market by improving infrastructure.
“We are looking at close to 30-35 per cent of whatever investment comes to India by 2030. That is our goal. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, in addition to big players, new start-ups are also coming in. EV doesn’t have this legacy companies also and most of them are fresh into automobiles. That is another thing which is helping us, as we have a mix of legacy and new companies as well. A large number of names are here and the highest number of international players are also here. We want to increase it going forward,” Rajaa said. Other major states that saw a rise in EV investments in the last few years are Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Among the major investments announced in the sector in the recent past in Tamil Nadu are Ather (Rs 650 crore), Ola Electric (Rs 7,614 crore), Ampere (Rs 700 crore), Simple Energy (Rs 2,500 crore), Hyundai Motor India (Rs 20,000 crore), Renault-Nissan (Rs 5,300 crore) and TVS Motor (Rs 1,200 crore). To improve the local consumption, the state is developing the infrastructure in 6 cities – including Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Salem, and Tirunelveli – making them EV ready.
“We will also make sure that there is charging infrastructure available in public places. We are working across departments making sure that the real estate sector also plays along with us, maybe like giving space for EV charging in large scale developments. Making it EV ready basically means having adequate charging infrastructure,” he added.
