Should you buy an electric vehicle
Pros and cons of buying electric vehicles
Alittle over a decade ago, a Bengaluru based company call Maini launched a small electric car called Reva. It was a little twodoor car and not many people even fathomed that one day in the near future they will be buying an electric vehicle. The company was later bought by Mahindra and the e2o was launched. Once again it was a two-door small electric car which was priced rather high. Quite simply it did not do too well in the market.
Perceptions changed when a few years ago the Indian market saw an invasion of battery electric two and three-wheelers. These where cheap to buy and came with little or no quality control. Underneath the vibrant colours hid flimsy plastic bodies and equally flimsy frames. Ride and handling was as dubious as its electric motor. They were mainly powered by heavy lead acid batteries which took ages to charge. But the Indian janata lapped them up thanks to considerably lower running costs.
But when the Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari announced his grand electrification program, mainstream manufacturers had to delve into this territory. As a result, we now have electric scooters like the TVS iQube, Bajaj Chetak and the fantastic Ather 450X. Not just two or three-wheelers, mainstream car manufacturers like Hyundai, Tata Motors, MG and Mercedes-Benz also launched new generation electric cars. Suddenly people started taking notice and sales started rising. But are electric vehicles
Electric vehicles are no longer a distant dream. They are getting
affordable and starting to make
sense. Rahul Ghosh lists out the things to know while purchasing an electric vehicle
ready to challenge their ICE powered counterparts? Let’s find out. ADVANTAGES OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Futuristic design and features
Most electric vehicles are essentially built with the future in mind and as a result they look rather different. Thanks to fewer running parts designs are sharp and they look truly futuristic. With the battery pack being mostly hidden below the floor area, more space can be engineered within the cabin. There is plenty of boot space as well. What all modern electric vehicles offer is a range of connectivity features. Most of these vehicles are linked to a mobile application and owners can keep a watch on most parameters including range, performance and so on.
The electric motor and its advantages
The electric motor is a very different animal as compared to an internal combustion engine. The motor is smooth and noiseless. It also offers full torque right from the word go. The result is instant acceleration. This means driving or riding an electric vehicle can be rather exciting. For example, a Tata Nexon EV does the zero to 100kmph sprint in 9.9 seconds where as the petrol takes 11.7 seconds and the diesel takes a rather long 13.7 seconds. It is the same for scooters as well and the Ather 450X can sprint to 40kmph in 3.3 seconds while the TVS iQube does the same in 4.2 seconds.
THE ELECTRIC MOTOR IS A VERY DIFFERENT ANIMAL AS COMPARED TO AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE
THE BIGGEST DRAW OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES
IS LOW RUNNING
COSTS
The benefit of having driving/ riding modes
Most EVs come with drive modes these days. The modes basically filter power outputs to either offer performance or efficiency. They are easy to use and serve the purpose. This feature comes especially handy in twowheelers as they otherwise would never get it. There is one more feature which comes to electric two-wheelers thanks to electrification. At a flick of a button the polarity of the motor is reversed and the scooters can reverse into a parking slot. This comes rather handy and thanks to a speed limiter, your electric scooter will not become a runaway train.
Low running costs
The biggest draw of electric vehicles is low running costs. Thanks to fewer moving parts, service costs are reduced drastically. For example, the cost of running a Hyundai Kona EV for a year is as low as Rs 21,500 considering the car is run for 15,000km annually and cost per km is Rs 1.10. Add to that an annual service cost of Rs 5,000 and we are looking at really low cost of ownership. Compare this to similar sized petrol SUV, the running cost would easily escalate to over and well above a lakh.
DISADVANTAGES OF OWNING AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Expensive to buy
The democratization of the electric vehicle has just about started if you do not consider the cheap imported three and two-wheelers. Spearheading this move are companies like Tata Motors, MG and Hyundai in India. But if we talk about mainstream two-wheeler manufactures, they are rather expensive to buy. The Ather 450X is priced at Rs 1.59 lakh while the Bajaj Chetak will set you back Rs 1.15 lakh. The TVS iQube on the other hand is the cheapest of the lot at Rs 1.08 lakh (all prices ex-showroom). Not to forget that tax, registration and insurance is extra.
Let’s talk about the range and range anxiety
Thanks to EVs, we have a new term called ‘range anxiety’. This phenomenon occurs when the battery level indicator drops rapidly and one knows that recharging options are nowhere near and the fact that it will take considerable time to recharge. However technology is rapidly developing and as a result we do have fast charging stations coming up. But most of them are either yet to be activated or are taken up by others. So one has to be cautious while driving an EV and drive it responsibly in ‘Eco’ modes to extract maximum range. On the upside, range offered by most modern EVs is at par with their ICE counterparts. For example the Hyundai Kona has a claimed range of 452km while the MG ZS EV offers a range of 419km. Scooters too are nearly there with the TVS iQube offering a range of 75km and the Ather 450X offering a respectable 116km.
Recharging issues and time
Quite obviously, recharging an electric vehicle takes more time. But most offer a quick charge option. For example, the Ather 450X will give you a range of 15km with a 10 minute quick charge whereas the Bajaj Chetak can replenish 25 per cent charge in an hour. The MG ZS EV on the other hand can give you 80 per cent charge in 40 minutes if hooked to a fast charger. But a full charge will take considerably more time. The other issue faced by many is where to charge. Those who stay in their own homes can also purchase charging docks at additional costs. But a usual household plug can also be deployed to recharge. This also becomes a problem when one stays in modern multi-storey apartments. Special permissions will be needed from the RWAs to charge these vehicles.