The Indian car market is still far away from accepting the electric vehicles. The inflated price, the newer technology does not play the best role to promote the electric vehicles in the Indian market. One manufacturer, Mahindra has been trying to change that. The company launched their third vehicle in form of e2o Plus in India. The first two – e20 and Verito electric did not gain much popularity in the market. Will the e2o Plus change that? Let’s find out.
Looks
The e2o used to get a lot of looks from the crowd because of its micro size but the e2o Plus is not tiny anymore. The car is as big as any of the B-segment hatchback in the market. The best part about the e2o Plus is the new grille. It mimics the ones on the Scorpio and looks real good.
The e2o Plus gets a sloping nose with large wrap around headlamps. The housing of headlamp also houses the indicator and it looks very neat. The side indicator is also part of the headlamp set-up and there is nothing on the ORVM like the standard feature on other vehicles of the segment. The lower part of the bumper has a fog-lamp housing but there are no fog-lamps for the Indian version.
From the side, the e2o Plus looks real good with the signature window line design, The alloys are not that attractive but does the job pretty well. The rear of the car gets a roof mounted spoiler and a vertically stacked LED tail-lamp.
Interior
The e20 Plus gets roomier interior. There is enough space for two full-size adults. The seats very supportive and are good for short city drives which e2o is made for.
The dashboard is the same as the e2o. It gets an Android based touchscreen infotainment system manufacturers by Blaupunkt. The instrument cluster shows various information including vehicle speed, shift status, driving efficiency, charge percentage, and distance that the vehicle will cover before need for charge. The battery takes 9 hours to charge completely.
Power and drive
The top-spec of the e2o Plus comes with a 72V battery pack that comes with a claimed driving range of 140km. The battery pack powers a motor that generates a maximum of 41 bhp and 91 Nm of torque.
The car also comes with a Boost mode that pushes the car a little more but these is nothing extreme. The low-speed ride of the car is pretty good. You feel the direct feedback of the vehicle instantly. The car is very easy to steer and the electric steering helps with that.
Should you buy one?
The range of e2o Plus starts at Rs. 5.46 lakh but the fully loaded version goes up to Rs. 8.46 lakh after receiving government tax benefits. You will get a lot of green carbon footprint with this car but the Indian infrastructure is not yet ready for electric vehicles. There is no quick charge option. If you somehow set on a different route for the day, seeing the descending distance may give you a nervous breakdown. We should give full marks to Mahindra for bringing such technology to the Indian market but government needs to do their part of work to make the future electric vehicle friendly.
