Tata Motors forays into used car market to boost EV resale and exchange program

Tata Motors

Tata Motors is exploring the secondary market for electric vehicles by partnering with online marketplaces in order to offer exchange and resale options for electric car owners. This is still at a nascent stage but gives an idea of how the company is willing to take its customers’ demand of upgrading electric vehicles seriously. Pilot services with the online used car marketplace Spinny have already commenced, with Tata offering resale options for Tata Nexon EVs. 

Tata Motors reportedly has the highest number of EVs on Indian roads, about 170,000 units. The cheapest variant in the used car stock is a 2021 Nexon EV XZ Plus listed on Spinny for ₹11.61 lakh, while the new model commands a price between ₹12.49 and 16.49 lakh. Electric Vehicles are said to lose value like any old conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, declining in value by 25% in the first year, followed by value degradation based on use and the remaining life of the battery. 

The used EV market will look like the new EV market but will be 3-4 years behind, and the company had expected a tsunami of upgrades in 12-24 months as the customer seeks more range and better models from the early adopters and with improving technology. 

Dealers have already seen customers swapping old Tata EV models like the Tiago and Nexon with new ones. But getting a common price for the used EVs is still a problem, and an association with used car marketplaces can help in that regard. 

In addition to this, Tata Motors wants to bridge the range between the cost of EVs and that of ICE vehicles. Further, the company partnered with Tata Power for bundled plans of EVs and solar rooftop plans at competitive prices to reduce running costs. 

As the larger passenger electric vehicle market continues to face glitches, with it having experienced a massive decline of 13.9% in Q1 FY25 due to subsidies coming to an end, Tata is sanguine about future prospects, mainly in the personal segment. 

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