At the launch of the new Nexon EV MAX on Wednesday, India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker Tata Motors said that 79 per cent of EV owners use the Nexon EV as the primary vehicle in their household which indicates that the use cases for EVs in India are growing. The company, which has more than 25,000 EVs plying on Indian roads, out of which over 19,000 are Nexon EVs, said that 67 per cent of its EV owners have an average daily running of 50-100 kms.
“These data points reveal that the Nexon EV is perfectly serving the need of intra-city travel. However, the Indian customer is fast-evolving and we’re witnessing a key trend of increasing number of Indians undertaking long-distance travel either for leisure or work. Customers are also looking for additional features which make these journeys even more comfortable, safe and enjoyable. Being cognizant of these requirements, we’ve introduced the Nexon EV Max,” said Vivek B Srivatsa, Head, Marketing, Sales and service Strategy, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility.
He added that the Nexon and the Nexon EV MAX will coexist and the new launch will enable customers to undertake long-distance travel with better safety features, range, performance, and luxury. Nexon EV MAX, which comes at a starting price of Rs 17.74 lakh (ex-showroom All India), is powered by high voltage state-of-the-art Ziptron technology. Equipped with a 40.5 kWh Lithium-ion battery pack, the Nexon EV Max offers 33 per cent higher battery capacity, delivering an anxiety-free ARAI certified range of 437 km (under standard testing conditions), which ensures uninterrupted inter-city travel. It produces 105 kW (143 PS) of power and delivers an instant torque of 250 Nm available at push of the pedal, resulting in 0 to 100 sprint times in under 9 secs.
The company said that from 20 cities and 50 touchpoints today it covers 75 cities with over 210 touchpoints. “We have a clear roadmap of adding another 70 cities this year,” Srivatsa said.
“The future of personal mobility is electric. This has been out sincere and consistent belief. We started our EV journey by winning the prestigious EESL tender for supplying EVs to government usage back in September 2017. In January 2020, we made our foray into the personal segment with the launch of Nexon EV. In the last 3 months, we’ve sold over 9,000 EVs,” Srivatsa added.
One of the reasons Tata Motors’ EVs have been successful, he says, is due to the company’s partnership with Tata power that has helped it expand the fast charger network from 50 chargers in 5 cities to about 1300 charging stations spread across more than 200 cities today.