NEW DELHI: Tata Motors has won the first contract to supply electric vehicles to replace petrol and diesel cars used by the government and its departments as part of a plan to cut demand for fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions.Tata Motors quoted the lowest price for the vehicles, which will be supplied at Rs 11.2 lakh each, inclusive of the goods and services tax and a five-year warranty.Mahindra & Mahindra, the other contender, can win part of the order if it matches the bid by Tata Motors.“Tata Motors won the tender and will now supply the electric vehicles in two phases,” Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, an arm of the ministry of power, said in a statement on Friday.The first 500 electric vehicles will be supplied to EESL in November and the remainder will be delivered in the second phase, it said.The price bid by Tata Motors is 25% lower than that of a similar electric vehicle with a three-year warranty, EESL said.Mahindra quoted Rs 13 lakh and has the option of matching the bid of Tata Motors to win 40% of the contract, EESL managing director Saurabh Kumar said.The process of giving Mahindra the chance to match the bid will be initiated on Tuesday.The third bidder, Japan’s Nissan Motors, which undertook to supply 500 e-vehicles from its showrooms in that country, wasdisqualified as it did not meet the technical specifications.“There were three players who bid for the tender. Tata Motors bid the lowest and will be given 60% of the order,” Kumar told ET. Nissan was disqualified because it did not provide details of what it was offering, he said. “We will talk to Mahindra to lower their cost. If they agree on lower prices, they will be given the remaining 40% order. In an alternative situation, the entire order will go to Tata Motors,” he said.The final award will be given around the middle of October, after EESL receives a response from Mahindra, he said.“The EESL tender provided us the opportunity to participate in boosting e-mobility in the country and at the same time accelerate our efforts to offer a full range of electric vehicles to Indian consumers,” said Guenter Butschek, CEO of Tata Motors.Tata Motors will supply the electric version of its Tigor sedan, for which batteries will be imported, Kumar said. However, the company has offered to supply only 250 cars of the 500 sought in the first phase, he said. India plans to replace its petrol and diesel-run vehicles with an all-electric fleet by 2030.EESL floated a global tender in August for 10,000 e-vehicles as part of a plan to replace the five-lakh petrol and diesel cars used by the government and its agencies over a 3-4 year period.Niti Aayog, the government’s think tank, is working on a comprehensive policy to incentivise electric vehicle manufacturing. Making India’s passenger mobility shared, electric and connected can cut its energy demand by 64% and carbon emissions by 37% in 2030, it said in a report. This would result in a reduction of 156 million tonnes of oil equivalent in diesel and petrol consumption for that year, which, at $52 a barrel of crude, would imply a net saving of about Rs 3.9 lakh crore in 2030.EESL will identify a service provider agency through bidding to carry out end-to-end fleet management of the procured vehicles. The agency selected will also be responsible for coordination between appointed agencies, monitoring and supervision, reporting, complaint redressal and payments.