Hello and welcome to your daily Charge Smart blog! Today, we will be taking a look at the Tata Nexon EV, an affordable electric with a good range.
Above: The Nexon EV
If you’re wondering what Tata is, don’t worry because we’re not saying goodbye just yet. Tata is a large Indian conglomerate who’s involved in everything from tea to trucks! However, their auto division is the company’s most well-known division outside of India. That’s because they own Jaguar Land Rover of course. We’ve seen Jaguar debut their I-Pace a few years ago but now it’s time for Tata to join in on the fun because they just might have released a possible Tesla killing affordable EV.
They’ve called it the Nexon EV and it’s supposed to go on sale before the end of this month. The Nexon is a small electric SUV fitted with the company’s all new Ziptron electric powertrain. Tata estimate a maximum range of 300 kilometres from a tiny 30.2 kWhr battery pack! Those are some incredible figures to read. The Ziptron powertrain uses a permanent magnet AC electric motor that produces 245 Nm of torque, wow! The little Nexon also supports fast charging which means that it can go from 0-80 in less than an hour, we’re talking about battery percentage here not acceleration times.
Above: The Nexon EV
The battery in the Nexon is a high-density liquid cooled unit, especially suited for the warm conditions on Indian roads, the cooling will also mean that the battery will last longer than the non-cooled units. Tata say that they have conducted extensive research as far as the battery goes, testing it over 1 million kilometres along with subjecting it to varying environmental temperatures. The company says that they’ve gone with a skateboard like design for the battery arrangement in the car. Meaning that the batteries are actually integrated into the floor of the car, keeping the centre of gravity as low as possible. This means that the Nexon has handling that could be compared with a sedan or hatch! Because the car isn’t too tall, stability on roads is good as well. All this for a very affordable price of NZD $32,000. That’s incredibly cheap, about half the price of a Tesla Model 3. Why’s that you might ask? Tata have a huge amount of experience when it comes to building affordable ICE cars plus they have access to a booming technology industry along with the competitive labour costs that come with producing cars in their home country.
Above: The high riding Nexon EV
The Tata Nexon EV comes at a time when a wave of other affordable EVs from Asian car
manufacturers are also being developed or going on sale. The title of the world’s cheapest EV currently goes to Chinese manufacturer Ora who’s R1 EV costs just $12,900 in Kiwi money. It’s parent company is Great Wall motors, the same people who sell diesel utes and vans in New Zealand. Their Ora EV has a 35kWr battery with a claimed range of 350 kilometres, another incredible figure from a rather small power pack. This budget friendly is super compact as well, with a length of 3.5m and a height of 1.5m, it somehow manages to fit four people in the vehicle.
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