With the global auto-industry shifting toward electric cars, Mahindra and Mahindra too has been making strides toward an electric future. The brand’s tall at last year’s Indian Auto Expo was also an example fo the same. The Indian UV maker presented a few electric concepts last year and a prominent model among them was KUV100’s electric version.
After the show last year, now Mahindra has stated that they will be launching the electric version of KUV100, or the e-KUV100 later this year and the SUV will be in showrooms around 6 months from now. Mahindra’s MD Pawan Goenka was the one who announced this at the Geneva Motor Show. The company says that upon launch, e-KUV100 would be India’s first electric powered SUV. when launched will become India’s first electric SUV.
As far as the specs of the upcoming micro SUV’s electric variant are concerned, it will be run by a 30 Kw motor powered by a Li-ion battery. With a range of 140 kilometers and the fast charging capability to charge the battery to 80% under and hour, the car is mainly targeted at urban commuters. Mr. Goenka further elaborated that the company is currently focused on shifting its existing line-up to electric formats. The company already offers e-Verito and e-KUV is about to come to markets in nearly 6 months time. A year later the company intends to bring out the electric version of its sub-compact SUV XUV300. It is only after that that the brand will begin work on developing platform for electric cars from the scratch.
The electric version of the KUV100 will not be a bare bones electric car but will offer features such as cabin pre-cooling, GPS tracking, remote diagnostics and several others. As is the growing trend with electric cars, the e-KUV100 will analyze driving patterns of the owner. As far as the sore point of electric cars, the price, is concerned the e-KUV100 will surely be pricier than the regular fossil fuel models.
However, the price could be offset by a bit as the government too is pushing for electric cars. With the government planning subsidies for electric car buyers not just the e-KUV100, other electric cars will also attract customers toward them. Looking at the same opportunities brand such as Maruti Suzuki too are testing their electric products notably the WagonR EV, and plan on introducing it in the market soon.