Tata Tigor EV – Most affordable Electric Sedan
Electric cars are the future, well Tata Motors is pushing the envelope with its 2nd all electric vehicle the Tigor EV. After the Nexon this now becomes the latest EV from the iconic Indian car maker. We drive the Tata Tigor EV to find out how actually electrifying the sedan actually is so read on to know all on it.
Food for Thought
The Tigor EV becomes the 2nd car model for the all Electric car lineup after the Nexon from Tata Motors. The Tigor EV was in fact available before this but only for the fleet market and nor for private buyers. The Tigor EV becomes the most affordable proper three box family sedan for India. The Tigor EV also is the safest EV sedan with a 4 star Global NCAP rating going for it. The Tigor EV uses a lot of underpinnings of the regular Tigor except for the IC engine. Developed fully in house by Tata Motors the Tigor EV showcases the car maker’s capabilities in the EV world.
Exteriors
The Tigor EV is based on the regular Tigor but with a few updates to it. Starting with the front where the most of the updates happen, here you get the all new EV grill with tri arrow pattern defining it in glossy black finish. The EV badge boldly placed here in blue shade along with the large Tata Motors logo in the middle. The front bumper gets restyling and now houses a strip style DRL just besides the round fog lamp. You also get the trademark Humanity line as Tata calls it in cool blue reminding you of its EV heart running across the width of the car. Headlights too get restyled and now come with projector beam in them but retain the yellow glow which we feel could have been white.
Coming to the sides here the Tigor EV now drives on specially EV developed alloys that Tata Motors likes to call as Hyper style wheels mounted on 175/65 R14 spec tyres. There is this nice little blue insert on the alloys again reminding you that this is an EV. Wing mirrors come with glossy black housing and the door frame get blacked out while the lower part gets a chrome strip that kind of defines it. Door handles too get chrome insert giving that premium look. The roof gets a shark fin antenna in glossy black with the roof also being finished in glossy black giving that dual tone body color look.
Coming to the rear, here the styling is mostly defined by the transparent finish tail lights, a thick chrome strip connecting the tail lights, restyled rear bumper with stop reflectors and a sporty looking rear spoiler with LED stop lamp strip running across the rear glass. The boot opener gets the blue EV badge along with the Ziptron badging on it.
Interiors
Step inside the Tigor EV and you firstly realize the missing transmission shifter now replaced with the drive dial as this being an EV. The dash comes finished in dualtone color with the top being black and the lower in beige-grey. The AC vents come with the cool blue EV insert so does the instrument cluster. The center dash houses the 7 inch touch screen AVN system that comes with all the connectivity features loaded to it that includes Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, FM, Bluetooth phone etc. The instrument cluster is a 3.5 inch display that shows all the tell tale indication as per the drive, battery charge, range, trip, power consumption, distance on charge etc.
This display is highly informative and easy to read. The steering is a flat bottom three spoke design one missing out on leather wrapping. MFD buttons are placed on the left while the right makes up as the horn boss pad. Steering gets adjust for height but not for reach. The climate control is a single zone unit with its display seen on the AVN unit screen while we would have liked it to be seen around the space between the climate control dials.
The centre dash houses the drive mode dial along with storage space while we missed the wireless mobile charger. You do get one USB mobile charge port only along with a 12V charge socket. The seats get fabric upholstery with the tri arrow design on them in cool blue and blue piping finishing the styling. Seats offer good comfort with the driver’s seat getting manual adjusts for height. Padding is on the harder side with overall good support. At the rear you get three integrated head rests and a foldable arm rest. Rear seats offer good leg room and decent knee room. Head room is also ok for an average height person while seating in the middle is not the best due to the transmission hump that intrudes into the cabin floor.
Rear passengers don’t get an AC vent nor do they get an USB charge port, there is just a 12V socket available for them. Doors get loads of storage space along with chrome door handles and glossy black inserts too. Boot space remains the same at 316 litres but part of the boot area is taken over by the spare wheel that’s placed horizontally.
Drive – Battery – Performance
Powering the Tata Tigor EV is an 26 kWh high desity Lithium –ion battery pack which gets liquid cooling and is also IP67rated for water and dust protection. This battery pack powers the 55 kW motor (74.7PS) rgar makes 170Nm of torque. This motor too is IP67 rated for weather sealing.
You can charge the Tigor EV using a regular 15 AMP plug point from zero to 80% in around 8 hours while a fast charger will take around 65 minutes for it. The EV offers 306 kms range on a single charge as per ARAI test. We experienced around 230kms range in real world drive conditions. Tata Motors is giving 8 years warranty/1.60 Lakh KMS warranty for the battery and motor which should give lots of peace of mind to buyers and owners. On the move this being an EV the power delivery is instant and seamless. Just push start the car and you don’t hear anything except see the cluster come to life. Shift to D mode on the drive dial and lift off. The Tigor EV chugs away in linear fashion offering loads of torque from the word go. The steering is tuned on the lighter side and is effortless to control. The car feels extremely easy to drive around on busy traffic roads and also on open stretches.
Road noise along with tyre roll noise are the only sound you will hear along with the AC blower while driving. Suspension set up is pretty sorted for our drive conditions and the Tigor EV handled the worst of the roads, speed breakers and adulations with ease. Braking is good with a front wheel disc and rear wheel drum setup offering a reassuring confident brake bite. You also have the Sport mode just in case you are not satisfied with the normal drive mode. In sport mode the power delivery is increased while the battery discharge is faster. The experience driving an EV is very different to driving a normal IC engines car, the charge anxiety is also there with you always checking the battery level on the cluster but then this will be there until EV’s become more common.
Connected Car & Safety
The Tata Tigor comes with over 35 connected car features that can be used via the ZConnect app. Features like charge status, one click tracker, navigation, remote diagnostics, remote command, valet mode, geo fencing, intrusion alert and charge station locator etc. In terms of safety the Tata Tigor EV comes with a 4 star NCAP crash rating, two airbags, ABS with ESP, reverse park sensor with camera to name a few.
Verdict
The Tata Tigor EV is a practical daily use electric sedan that is built for your everyday needs. The electric car does offer a excellent option over the regular IC engine cars with the charge anxiety being the only worry for now. Tata Motors offering fast charging options across many of its dealerships and service stations will definitely help you get over the worry surely. The car looks nice, drives well and offers a good range for your daily useage making it a good option if you are looking for a practical, comfortable proper 5 door Electric family sedan with a boot currently.
Words – Ritesh Madhok
Photography & Video – Govind Gadekar
