The race to electric

The race to electric

The race to electric gets interesting by the day. There has been two new announcements, one from Maruti and another from MG regarding their respective all-electric models for India.

So, the Maruti Wagon R EV has been doing its rounds testing on Indian roads for sometime. Due to make its debut in 2020, the hatchback could be priced Rs. 7 lakhs. Now that’s a price hard to beat for any manufacturer out there. Of course the price includes the subsidy under the FAME scheme. It is also possible that the soon to be launched FAME 2 scheme will have higher subsidies. So in total the range of subsidies would be something like Rs. 1.24 – Rs. 1.35 lakhs for the Wagon R EV.

Talking about the car as such, the Wagon R EV could have an overall range of 200 km. Now this is a pretty decent range for a car costing under 10 lakhs, and if it comes with a fast DC charger, it could reach 80% charge in about 30 minutes too. It is possible that Maruti will refresh and add contemporary equipment to the car making it futuristic to go along with the EV theme.

Its almost a given that, when launched, Maruti Wagon R EV will have no competitors in the aforementioned price range. Maruti would be hoping to kick start the EV segment in Indian and be the first mover as well with the Wagon R EV. But there is news that the Renalut Kwid EV is being developed in China and the design patents have been filed. So an Indian launch is very much likely.

Then of course in the other end of the price spectrum, there are manufacturers bringing in their all-electric vehicles via the CKD and import route. MG has revealed just yesterday that after Hector, they will be launching the electric version of the ZS. The EZS, a compact SUV from MG could be directly imported from China and would cost Rs. 20 lakhs and upwards. With a 45.6 kWh battery, EZS produces 110 kW power and 350 Nm of torque and is also capable of a range of 355 km on one full charge. MG plans to launch the EZS in October, 2019.

For me, personally, any news about electric vehicles brings joy. I expect that even the Wagon R EV will have decent performance figures regardless of the motor that it may run on. Sure the range may suffer on enthusiastic driving, but I dont think many of us will be bothered so long as there is a strong and economic public EV charging infrastructure to fall back on.