Tata Motors announced that the company’s all-new Pure EV compact vehicle architecture called ACTI-EV or ACTIV will power the upcoming Punch, Harrier, Curvv, and Sierra EV in order to deliver the optimum space and performance of a born electric vehicle, following the announcement of a premium EMA architecture with Jaguar Land Rover late last year.
With new competitors expected to join the roads in the next 12 months, Tata Motors is preparing to defend its over 80% market dominance in the burgeoning electric car category. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Kia, and Mahindra & Mahindra are all preparing to launch their mainstream EV offerings in the market.
Anand Kulkarni, Chief Products Officer, Head of HV Programs and Customer Service, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd, said, “We have announced our Gen 3, which is in collaboration with JLR on their EMA architecture, which was the premium pure EV architecture. The Gen 2 architecture ACTI-V we are announcing today is a pure EV architecture, which, of course, not only helps us support multiple body styles but enhances the ability to give increased ranges, and improved efficiencies. And essentially, ups the game in terms of technology, performance, capability on our next generation of electric vehicles.”
While Kulkarni was hesitant to commit to an investment in pure EV design, industry analysts estimate that developing a ground-up electric vehicle platform, including industrialization, will cost between $500 million and $1 billion. And the quantum grows as the body type or top cap changes.
According to Kulkarni, the Acti-EV architecture has four critical layers: the first is an EV-specific powertrain, the second is the chassis, which supports all of the components, the third is the Electrical and Electronic architecture, and the fourth is the cloud architecture, which is becoming increasingly important in today’s connected world.