Tata Steel has entered into a partnership with an Indian start-up with an objective to deploy electric vehicles (EVs) for the transportation of finished steel in India.

The Indian streel producer said that it has given a contract for 27 EVs. Each of the EVs will have a carrying capacity of at least 35 tonnes of steel.

Tata Steel will look to deploy 15 EVs at its Jamshedpur steel factory and a dozen EVs at its plant in Sahibabad.

The first batch of EVs for Tata Steel is being put in operation between its Sahibabad steel plant and Pilkhuwa stockyard in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier this week, Tata Steel had formally flagged-off the loaded vehicle at the Pilkhuwa Stockyard to travel 38kms to the Sahibabad steel plant.

Dibyendu Bose — Tata Steel Vice President of Supply Chain said: “It is a great occasion for us today as we are launching Electric Vehicles to move steel on the JRD Tata’s 117th birth anniversary.

“This initiative is aimed at reduction of GHG emissions and will help protect the environment in the long run. It was our CEO & MD who gave us the inspiration to go for electric vehicles and contribute towards achieving our sustainability goals.

“I am glad to see our team’s commitment to have made this possible and to find the right partner that has enabled us to deploy EVs in our supply chain. It is the beginning of a new era for Tata Steel and the supply chain division and I wish them all success.”

According to Tata Steel, the EVs planned to be deployed feature a 2.2 ton 230.4kWh lithium ion battery pack with a sophisticated cooling system and a battery management system that enables them to operate at ambient temperatures up to 60ºC.

The battery pack will be powered by a 160-kWh charger setup, which will be able to charge the battery from 0 to 100% in one and a half hours.

Tata Steel said that with zero tail-pipe emission, each of the electric vehicles will cut down the GHG footprint by over 125 tCO2e annually.

Recently, the company’s subsidiary — Tata Steel Mining Limited (TSML) inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jindal Stainless Limited (JSL) for mining chrome ore located in the boundary between their respective mines in Sukinda, Jajpur district in Odisha.

  Dibyendu Bose, Electric Vehicle, India, Jamshedpur, Sahibabad, Tata Steel, Uttar Pradesh