Tata Motors Unveils A Sub-RM50,000 Electric Car

Aside from range anxiety and lack of charging infrastructure, another major issue that usually stops one from obtaining an electric vehicle is its rather hefty price tag when compared to conventional internal combustion vehicles. While that factor is true for Malaysia at the moment, there are already efforts throughout the world to manufacture affordable EVs.

Among the latest example is the Tiago EV by Tata Motors of India. Just like its petrol-based counterpart, the new Tiago EV is a compact hatchback that is designed primarily for city driving.

The base variants which Tata also dubbed the medium range are equipped with a 45kW electric motor that delivers 110Nm of maximum torque. They also carry a 19.2kWh battery that allows them to travel up to 250km according to the Modified Indian Driving Cycle (MIDC) standard.

On the other hand, the higher-end long-range variants feature a more powerful 55kW motor with 114Nm of torque together with a 24kWh battery that is apparently good enough to let them travel up to 315km as per MIDC standard.

Tata didn’t provide the maximum speed that the Tiago EV can achieve but the company did say that the car can accelerate from 0 to 60km/h in 6.2 seconds for the base models. The more powerful long-range model can accelerate slightly faster at 5.7 seconds.

As you may expect from a newly launched model, the Tiago EV comes with CCS2 charging port. Tata Motors will also provide owners with a 15A portable charger although it takes the charger around 6.9 hours to fully charge the medium-range version and even longer for the long-range variants at 8.7 hours.

Owners of the medium-range’s Tiago EV can cut down the charging time to 5.1 hours by using a 3.3kW AC charger or they can charge it even faster at 2.6 hours with a 7.2kW AC charger. For the long-range version, the charging time with these AC charger options would be 6.4 hours and 3.6 hours, respectively.

Naturally, the fastest way to juice up the Tiago EV is through a DC fast charger. While Tata didn’t provide the actual power rating for the car’s DC charging capability, the company claimed that the time for it to reach 80% state of charge (SoC) from 10% via a DC fast charger is 57 minutes.

Regardless of the variants, digital instrument cluster and ZConnect telematics system is a standard for Tiago EV and driver & co-drive airbags, ABS & EBD, tire pressure monitoring system, and puncture repair kit. However, the touchscreen-based Harman infotainment system, Apple CarPlay & Android Auto support, and smartwatch connectivity can only be obtained with XT trim and above.

When it comes to pricing, the Tiago EV starts at INR 849,000 which is around RM48,223 in our currency and very close to the price tag of a Perodua Myvi 1.3L G. Bookings will be opened this month but delivery is scheduled to start only in January 2023.

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