The much awaited Mahindra e2o is finally here with a price tag of Rs.5.96 lakhs on road, Delhi. Is it worth it? Has the holy grail of environment friendly transportation being finally unlocked? Lets find out.
It is the predecessor to the little cute Reva which had been the brainchild of a savvy entrepreneur named Chetan Maini. Maini holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan where he extensively studied on solar electric vehicles, and a Master's in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University where he focused on hybrid electric vehicles. He has over two decades of experience in the development of solar, hybrid and electric vehicles in the U.S. and India. For more than a decade, he produced the green Reva electric car in Bangalore and even exported it to many countries, including the United Kingdom. This model was crude, used generation old lead batteries, questionable safety and had limited range and performance. This soon became a critics’ favorite to bash though tree huggers had a soft corner for it. Circa 2010, tides changed for Reva when Chetan Maini shook hands with Anand Mahindra. With new ownership came much needed funds, automobile expertise and the UV specialist’s countrywide dealership and service network of the Indian Conglomerate.
The e2o is the first fruit of this association. It is miles ahead of its ancestor. It is a proper four seater, though still two doors. It measures 3280 mm x 1514 mm x 1560 mm, similar in size to most small B segment hatchbacks.
Manufactured in a state of the art facility in Bangalore,the factory itself is green. Optimum use of daylight, wind channeling, LED lights, rain water harvesting and solar power ensure a eco sensitive manufacturing process. In fact, the first charge in your e2o will be done by solar power. Carved by ace automobile designer Dilip Chhabria, this looks much mature than the old one. The design is a bit unusual, two doors and swooping high rear windows are new. Projector headlamps and LED rear lights look uber cool. LED lights save power, last much longer and are safer as brake lights as they lit up instantly and can thus prevent high speed collisions. Good space management ensures easy ingress and outgress. The interiors are comfortable for four adults. The boot is tiny. The e2o is well built having high tensile steel frame structure, crumple zones and impact beams like any other car. The body is made of specially made ABS panel s which are scratch and dent resistant(upto 15kmph impacts). The color is impregnated into the panels and are not painted, hence scratches can be polished off with a simple buff. ABS panels save precious weight but may raise eyebrows of skeptics in terms of strength.
The biggest change is the move from lead acid batteries to lithium ones. Lithium batteries similar to ones used in mobile phones, laptops and popular electric cars like Tesla, Nissan Leaf etc, are definitely in vogue as they offer better energy density, lighter weight and much higher life. The range is now upped to 100 km. Full charge takes 5 hours(10 units of electricity) and each hour of charging gives 20 km on a 220 V 15 amp socket. No news of quick charging methods now, though one can keep their fingers crossed. In case you run out of charge, there is a reserve power which can be activated via apps on your smartphone that will unlock an emergency range of 8 kms. Regenerative Braking aids to the range a little by ensuring the otherwise wasted energy during braking is recaptured. Specifications of the 19 kW 3 phase induction motor is a little meager as it produces just 25.5 bhp power and 53 Nm of torque from 0 - 3400 rpm. But the light mass (830kgs) and availability of 100% torque from 0 rpm(like all electric cars) makes things a little better. The low centre of gravity due to battery mass lying on the front seats makes it stable. Fully automatic transmission, low rolling resistant tires and a low turning radius of 3.9m makes this a very easy to drive car. Mahindra claims the lack of power steering won’t be felt as there is no heavy engine in the front.
This car is loaded with tech. In fact , the tech itself can be a deal maker for some. Stepping in, one is welcomed by a conventional dashboard layout with an unconventional first in class 6.2 inches touch screen LCD. Apart from playing virtually all types of media, it has a fully loaded navigation system covers over 1.5 million kilometers of road across 1200 cities. You get access to over 5 million points of interest including restaurants, ATMs and , Charging stations and Mahindra service centers. Using the apps you can interact with the car at all times and virtually from everywhere. The car has a SIM card and by that it is always connected to Mahindra’s server. Hence using your smartphone, you can remotely switch on the AC - A novel way to save you from intense heat when your car is parked in the sun. The HVAC system can be scheduled as needed. The onboard computers process the Distance To Empty (DTE) data along with the GPS Navigation data to provide you with the amount of remaining charge in your car and how far you can travel. This intelligent feature allows you to plan every trip, on the go. Using the app, you can also lock/unlock the car, turn on/off charging, schedule your service, locate servicing centers, find the nearest charging stations, receive notification and access the help menu for any assistance. There is a Driver Information System (DIS) that feeds you vital information about the car. It can display your service interval, your daily driving efficiency score and troubleshooting videos. ICE (In-Car Entertainment) is up to the brim with 4 JBL speakers and 2 tweeters. Bluetooth is also offered.
To sum up, this does make a case for the 2nd car in house and primary everyday office go-er. But R
s.5.96 lakhs comes with a big catch - it is after subsidies that the Delhi state govt is giving. Rest of the country it costs more than 7 lakhs in its home market(Bangalore) and this is not exactly cheap. On the other side, 50 paise per km running cost is drool worthy. Added to it are negligible maintenance costs as electric cars have no engine, clutch, carburetor, belts, filters, radiators and hence there is hardly any topping up of fluids which means lesser chances of inefficiency, lower costs and a greener planet. Just a yearly check up at your premises promises Mahindra. Like all other electric cars, this doesn't use power being stuck in traffic apart from the nominal consumption of air conditioner and music system, so you can stay cool without the guilt of idling. The battery would cost Rs.1.5 lakhs and Mahindra says it would last around 5 years on normal usage. That is a big recurring cost but one can save around 85000 rupees per year in comparison to a petrol car. But how green it really would be being run on our primarily dirty coal electricity grid. One can argue that cities would get cleaner and pollutants are better controlled in a power plant while electric car critics question it and the recyclability of lithium batteries. Mahindra hence offers solar panels which can setup by them at your home or office and you can get free and zero carbon charging. That option again comes with another 1.5 lakhs bucks. Electric cars are undoubtedly the future, but there is a lot to be done for that. Greening the grid would be a start. Increased investment in solar and wind power solutions is definitely a promising sign. Development in battery technology is the biggest challenge. Researchers are trying to make batteries that can give a range of 500-1000 km to electric cars and that would be the holy grail. As per the E2O, if only you get the subsidies, this makes sense if you need an easy to maneuver, automatic, green, low running cost and most importantly doesn't consume power when being stuck in traffic,solution to go to office everyday in heavy traffic.
