Tata Motors has grabbed the lion's share in the Indian electric passenger vehicle market. The homegrown auto major currently holds about 85 per cent stake in the Indian electric PV market with its offerings like Nexon EV, Punch EV, Tiago EV and Tigor EV. The automaker launched its latest electric car Curvv EV, which created a new niche in the country's mass-market PV segment, the coupe SUV. The Curvv EV is based on the new Acti.ev platform, which is a modular architecture dedicated to electric vehicles. While announcing the launch of the new electric coupe SUV, Tata Motors hinted that the Nexon EV and Punch EV would receive the prismatic cell battery packs soon, which has been used in the Curvv EV.

Speaking to HT Auto on the sidelines of the Tata Curvv EV launch, Shailesh Chandra, President of the Passenger Vehicles Business Unit at Tata Motors Ltd., said that the automaker's new Acti.ev platform can use variable types of technologies including different battery cells. This makes the case for Tata Nexon EV and Punch EV receiving the prismatic cell battery packs in the near future. However, Chandra didn't reveal any specific timeframe by when the other Tata electric cars may receive this new technology for their battery packs.

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What makes the case for prismatic cell

Prismatic cells are a type of battery cell with a rectangular shape and flat or stacked electrodes and separators. Invented in the 1990s to improve manufacturing efficiency by being larger but more compact than cylindrical cells, the prismatic cells have been known for being more energy efficient and offering higher energy density as well. For example, the 55 kWh battery pack of the Tata Curvv EV incorporates prismatic cells (1.2C rated), which enables the car to be charged at a faster speed. Tata Motors claims the Curvv EV 55kWh variant can be charged from 10-80 per cent in just 40 minutes.

Tata Punch EV is based on the same Acti.ev platform, which is raising speculation that the electric SUV will receive the prismatic cell battery pack soon, which would enable the EV to charge faster and run longer distances. The future electric vehicles from the brand, including the Harrier EV and Safari EV also are expected to be based on the Acti.ev architecture, which means these cars too would receive the same technology.

With the rising consumer openness towards electric cars, the automakers have been focusing more on addressing the concerns of EV buyers. These include charging time reduction, offering a better range per charging cycle etc. The prismatic cells come as an answer to these concerns and hence, the case for this technology becomes stronger.