[sri_tesla]

Central govt placed orders (exact quantity unknown) for Kona EV. Power and new and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh, and NTPC chairman and managing director Gurdeep Singh have started using the Kona while few top officials at Niti Aayog too are keen to use Kona.

Source:
https://www.livemint.com/auto-news/n...595957018.html

[Aditya]

Government of India places order for Kona Electric SUV - Post moved to new thread.

[V.Narayan]

Glad to see the Govt put its money where its mouth is. A good first step in the right direction. Whatever ones political views this is the most active Surface Transport Ministry I have seen in 40 years and their fall out effect on other Govt Dept's is visible. This trend could catch on fast and spread to other Dept's and to the State Govt.'s too.

[//M]

Saw a Kona with Govt of India sticker recently in Delhi.

[drmohitg]

With all the rhetoric around patriotism, wouldn't they be better off with the Tigor EVs? A 25L SUV isn't exactly cheap.

[asingh1977]

Wow. Quite a big win in terms of absolute brand-value for Hyundai! The vehicle looks good.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

With all the rhetoric around patriotism, wouldn't they be better off with the Tigor EVs? A 25L SUV isn't exactly cheap.

Yes. However, it is also important that the car can satisfy the requirement of range and comfort rather than viewing only from a patriotic point of view.

[DarthVeda]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

With all the rhetoric around patriotism, wouldn't they be better off with the Tigor EVs? A 25L SUV isn't exactly cheap.

They bought the tigor in the first round of selection, and the bureaucrats suffered and no one used. Imagine going in 40bhp car which weighs a ton and struggles to reach 60kph vs. a car which can outrun a regular ICE sedan easily.

The problems with the Tigor included issues related to AC cooling, pick-up, sudden battery discharge and inability to charge. These were resolved after a delay, according to EESL.

“It has been observed that Tata Motors is not taking any sincere steps to resolve these issues, causing delay and leading to customer dissatisfaction."

“The performance of Tata Motors is found to be below par and EESL will not accept delivery of any new vehicle till all the issues with the existing cars have been rectified,"

To which Tata's reply:

“After getting the LoA (letter of award) from EESL, we have completed the phase 1 deliveries in line with the technical specifications of the tender."

which to me sounds like they delivered a car with the specs mentioned on the requirement but in real world it didn't live up to the standard and are in denial mode. I truly hope Nexon EV will not turn out like that, I am pinning my first EV purchase on it.

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

With all the rhetoric around patriotism, wouldn't they be better off with the Tigor EVs? A 25L SUV isn't exactly cheap.

Not interested in politics, but the first tender for EVs by govt organization EESL, won by Tata and Mahindra. It was a much big order (10,000 cars) and to be supplied by Tata (60%) and Mahindra (40%). They already supplied around 1500 cars but govt seems to be cutting down the order due to very low performance, range and the issues being faced with the delivered cars. Tata also won the biggest order(300 buses) of electric buses in the country (Ahmedabad).

Also, if Tata and Mahindra delivers with their upcoming Nexon, Altroz and XUV300 EVs, I am sure they will picked up by govt agencies as they will be much cheaper to purchase.

[fastturtle10]

Huge round of praise to the government for this incentive!

[ajmat]

Frankly, I respect the government for respecting market forces and merely not acting patriotic. They gave Tata and Mahindra a chance and they delivered duds. If the cars were even 80% capable of what the Kona delivers, it would have been worth a look.

This hopefully will push Tata and Mahindra back to the drawing board!

[Sebring]

Never expected this giant fillip from the Government. They actually put their money where their mouth is, and picked up the 25 Lakh Kona! So this will replace few of the massive Innovas and Fortuners, I'm guessing. Great move!

[fhdowntheline]

It’s also a question of market perception. Suppose TAta and Mahindra develop a competent EV that costs 26 lac on road, will Indians trust them with all that money? Just because it’s a Tata, we expect a car with 200 km usable range at half the cost of the Kona? Why so?

[octane_100]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Suppose TAta and Mahindra develop a competent EV that costs 26 lac on road, will Indians trust them with all that money? Just because it’s a Tata, we expect a car with 200 km usable range at half the cost of the Kona? Why so?

That's a risk the manufacturer has to take! No one as a customer can assure any brand that "you make this and we will definitely buy"! That is for the company to figure out. Nobody asked Tata to release an EV for under 10 lakhs. Infact this is an opportubity for Tata and Mahindra to go up the price ladder if they can come up with a competent product since there is not much of a direct competition. No offense, but going by your reason, we should be happy if we get a car with 50km range for less than 5 lakhs!!

[DarthVeda]

are these bureaucrats going to drive the car themselves or expected to chauffeured around? Kona is not exactly rear seat friendly, so expecting a few complaints about that in future