Tata Nexon EV MAX Road Test Review – MAX means More

Tata Motors has been a dominant car maker not only with Petrol and Diesel car models but also in terms of Electric Vehicles. They have not one but two models on their Passenger EV lineup with the Tigor EV and the Nexon EV. The Nexon has been a very strong selling SUV model in Petrol Diesel and Electric. A few days back The highly updated Tata Nexon EV Max was launched that promises 33% more range with its updated battery. We drive the latest Nexon EV Max to find out on how it actually is in real world conditions, here is our detailed road test review getting you all the information on the latest updated all Electric SUV in town which also has been the best selling Electric vehicle in India.

Food for Thought

The Nexon was first shown in its concept form at the 2014 Auto Expo. The final production version was showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo later. The Nexon is based on the revised Tata X1 platform. The Nexon received major changes on the exterior in 2020 based on the Impact 2.0 design language. Apart from the Nexon Petrol Diesel and Electric trims the SUV also has a special Kaziranga edition that was launched in February 2022. The Nexon received Global NCAP 5-star crash test rating becoming the first ever car model sold in India to achieve the maximum five stars rating for adult protection in the tests. Nexon Electric was revealed in 2019 with a ARAI range of 312kms. The latest facelift 2022 Nexon EV Max comes with a long range ARAI claim of 337kms.

Exteriors

The Tata Nexon EV Max looks same as the latest version of the Nexon Petrol and Diesel. In terms of looks the SUV retains its flexed muscular body styling. You get the Nexon EV Max in an exclusive new paint shade in dark metallic shade of green. The face comes with cool blue inserts on the grille, around the fog lamps and also on the lower air dam that signifies its all Electric heart. Head lamps get projector beam with integrated DRL in it.  The EV badging in blue placed on the glossy black grille looks neat while the silver faux skid plate in silver finishes of the SUV styling of the face for this SUV.

The sides are highlighted with the cool blue inserts that run around the glass area. You also get fiber cladding on the lower section of the doors along with fiber inserts on the wheel arches of the flexed fenders along with the EV badging on. The roof gets silver roof rails, electric sun roof and a shark fin antenna complementing the styling. The Nexon EV Max comes with new design dual tone alloy wheels mounted on R16 low resistance MRF Wanderer tyres.

The rear profile of the Nexon EV Max comes with re styled LED tail lamps and the cool blue insert that runs around the rear glass area and the tail lamps in ‘X’ styling. The rear comes with a large spoiler while the rear bumper sports a faux skid plate in silver finish along with vertically placed stop reflectors. The boot lid gets Ziptron, NEXON and EV badges on it.

Interiors

Step inside the cabin of the Nexon EV Max and you instantly realize the bright color scheme used on it. The black color dash gets a special insert around the crash pad that looks very premium. The center of the dash houses the 7 inch touch screen AVN system from Harman that is the same unit seen on the other versions of the Nexon in floating style, this unit comes with a 4 speaker setup. All connectivity options come with this AVN system which includes Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Bluetooth, radio, voice commands etc. The cool blue insert styling is also seen around the AC vents and the instrument cluster highlighting them. The major change on the Nexon EV Max is the addition of Electronic Parking Brake with Auto Hold and the brake regeneration control buttons placed in the centre console, you also have the drive mode buttons placed here using which you can shift from City to Eco or into Sports mode. The main highlight of the center console is the Jewel design rotary type drive mode selector that has a color display on it. This selector reminds you a lot of the ones seen on Jaguar cars. You also get a neatly positioned wireless charger along with can holder and another mobile storage space here. Nexon EV Max comes with a single USB port. The centre console is further highlighted with the glossy black thick insert that stands out on the beige theme. The instrument cluster is the trademark analogue with digital unit that is very crisp and easy to read. All the Electric tell-tale is clearly seen here along with the drive modes, range, speed, re-gen stage, odometer etc. You also get a easy to understand graphic that shows you in which direction the energy is flowing either from the engine to the battery or battery to the engine. The steering gets a three spoke design with leather wrapping and adjust for only the height. This steering feels premium to grip and gets the MFD buttons placed on it.

The seats get leather upholstery in beige color along with perforated design and also come with ventilation feature in three steps with the control button placed on the sides of the seats. These seats get the cool blue hand stitch lining that runs around the seats and the centre arm rest adding a lot of visual appeal. Front seats offer excellent comfort and support while the drivers seat getting height adjust that we missed on the front passenger seat. The electric sun roof is the fastest those we seen on any car in terms of time taken to open and shut.

Rear seats get two adjustable head rests and a foldable arm rest with bottle holders. Seating here is very comforting and we loved the amount of padding and support that these seats offer. Sitting in the middle of the rear seat is just ok with the centre tunnel coming in way to some extent but for the two passengers this seat is more than comfortable place to be in. Rear passengers get AC vents but the USB charge port is missing here, what you get is a 12V socket placed behind the rear seat around the parcel tray.

The Nexon EV Max does get a larger battery pack but the good part here is that it does not eat into the boot space. You still get 350 liters of boot area that can be further extended to 690 liters with the seats folded down.

Also on the feature list for the Tata Nexon EV Max are Auto Dimming rear view mirror, Air Purifier and Tyre pressure monitor system.

Battery – Motor – Performance

The biggest USP or change on the updated Nexon EV Max is its battery which now is an IP67 rated 40.5 kWh Li-ion battery unit that powers the permanent magnet synchronous motor which generates 143PS of power and 250Nm of torque. All this is handled by ZIPTRON. Tata Motors claims a 0-100kmph figure of under 9 seconds on the EV Max with a limited enhanced top speed of 140kmph.

How does the Nexon EV Max drive?

Start the Nexon EV Max using the start stop button, Shift to the drive mode using the drive selector and let go of the brakes getting the EV crawl ahead. Give it some throttle and you will instantly notice the sheer brilliance and extra refinement that an EV offers. The power delivery from the motor is instant and very linear. You are into the triple digit speeds very quickly on open highways and what we loved on the Nexon EV Max is the way it handled high speeds very ably always offering a planted solid secure drive.

The steering offers balanced feedback and you always are connected at all speeds. The Nexon EV Max also has the drive modes which alters the power delivery and also the range. You have the Eco offering the max range, City which is a balance between performance and range and Sport which gives the best performance from the EV Max but lowers the range to some extent.

In terms of braking the Nexon EV Max gets all wheel disc brakes with ABS and EBD as standard. The brakes offer a reassuring feedback with a good amount of bite. We drove the EV in all the modes and the range that it offered was anywhere in the region of 300kms to 340kms depending on the drive mode. You can regenerate the battery using the re-gen modes which can be set in steps 1-3 and also be switched off if you wish so. While in re-gen the battery gets charged when you are coasting and ur feet is off the throttle, you can feel the engine braking happen which in variably sends the charge to the battery. In level 3 it is felt the most and lowest in level 1. The suspension set up is tuned to tackle the bad roads and the pot holes very nicely and the Nexon EV Max felt very well sorted to drive on any condition of roads. We did some city runs, some bad patches too and high speed highway runs all of which were handled handsomely by the EV SUV, full marks to Tata Motors for the amount of fine retuning they done on this updated Nexon EV Max.

Safety

On the Nexon EV Max you get a long list of safety features that include – driver and co-driver air bag, ABS with EBD, electronic park brake, panic bake alert, all wheel disc brake, brake disc wiping, auto hold, hill descent, hill ascent, ISOFIX anchorage points to name some.

Charging

You can charge the Nexon EV Max using the 15A wall charger in 12 hours while using the 7.2kW AC Fast charger will get it charged in 6 hours. You also can drive into a Tata Motors dealership and use their DC Fast Charger that gets it charged from 0-80% in just 56 minutes.

Verdict

The Nexon EV Max is a very well put together Electric SUV that takes ahead the lineage of the already well sorted out going model. The bottom-line here is Range Anxiety which is now extended by a lot thanks to the larger capacity battery. The Nexon EV Max drives very well, comes with all the updated features and safety standards of today’s times, looks nice, offers loads of space and utility to its occupants making it a very handsome and applicable option to go for if you are looking out for a Pure EV that has a lot to offer. The Tata Nexon EV Max prices start at Rs. 17.74 Lakh.