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For me the biggest put off is the meagre 107 km/h top speed. It should be at least 120 km/h like Tiago/ Tigor. My opinion is considering the new crop of expressways, by passes etc. that are coming up and quick puffs of speed up to 120 km/h are needed for smooth and easy overtaking.

Remember donkey's years ago being constrained by the 104 km/h top speed on the Nano. The moment you pull out to overtake a reasonably fast moving car @ 100 km/h, you run into the speed limiter and you are in the wrong lane !

I saw the eC3 as made for comfortable commutes within the city. So did not think of the 107kmph top speed as a limitation, but you are right.

Someone using it for even short highway runs can easily face this issue, making it a safety risk. Essentially, there is no safety buffer for even a short burst of acceleration if you end up needing it to avoid an accident. Just a 5 min burst mode on flooring the paddle would have been enough to cover for it (a bit like kickdown mode on some automatics.) Otherwise, one has to drive it treating 80kmph as real top speed and remaning headroom to 107kmph only as an emergency buffer. It will help with the range as well.

It will be less of an issue for commercial fleet drivers as they got used to the 80kmph speed limiters. More of a concern for private car buyers coming from petrol/diesel or other EVs.

Don't know if it is fixable in controller software or if the thermal limitations of the air-cooled battery, power electronics and the motor make it unfixable on this version.

It’s not fixable. Higher top speed means more current drawn which means more heat. In fact, it is current squared. The battery’s thermal limitations are directly behind this low top speed, as the controller is limited to a certain amount of current.

Um, don't do that then? If the other car is moving at 100 km/h on a 2-lane highway without divider, it is already at or above the speed limit. Stay behind it.

On an expressway if there is a free lane you can safely overtake the car. If it is crowded, don't.

This applies whether you're driving a Nano or a Jaguar.

What I meant to say is you have to be constantly aware of the EXCAT speed you are doing. If in any other car overtaking without a speed limiter is matter of fact. We cannot judge if the person in front is doing 102 or 103. This used to happen to me on my regular trips way back from Bangalore to Trivandrum via the glorious TN roads.

So I test drove the C3 Petrol - Liked the car.

Booked the eC3.

Test drove the eC3 - The magic carpet ride was missing.... decided to wait for the pricing...

Pricing for eC3 annouced - Cancelled my booking.

Interesting info. A bit off topic and sorry for the noob question, does that mean batteries that enable the car to reach higher top speeds are thermally more stable because of this? Case in point being the LFP battery in Nexon EV (top speed-140km/h) vs the NMC one in 4OO(160 km/h).

No not necessarily as there have been cases of Nexon EV fires.

Its all about managing thermal characteristics of battery avoiding thermal runaway.

By a lower top speed and gradual acceleration, eC3 has avoided strain on the battery thus running it well within thermal limits.

Thats my take on Citroen logic behind the air cooled battery. Though it did not result in the slightly lower price that was expected as a result of the savings on active cooling for the battery.

This is relatable. 107km/h top speed means you would be pushing the motor to its limits (or close to it) even while cruising at 100km/h, which is common highway speed.

Probably not a hardware limit on the motor. A software limit imposed for the current draw from the battery.

A bit off topic, but is there a Citroen eC4 on its way to India as a Nexon EV rival? The following video seems to suggest so!
https://youtu.be/tthbRfoFvmM

No the next vehicle is C3 Aircross which is 4.4 meter in length n available in 5 n 7 seater layouts.

It will also come in electric and will rival Creta Seltos Taigun Kushaq

https://www.team-bhp.com/news/more-d...d-7-seater-suv

Have the deliveries of eC3 started?

Any initial updates reviews experiences?

It’s not quite that simple. In fact, chemically, LFP is the more resilient of chemistries as far as batteries go. That’s what powers the Tatas, BYDs and Citroën.

However, the Citroen is air cooled in eC3

As a rule of thumb in resilience, (A = air, L = liquid C = cooled)

AC NMC < AC LFP < LC NMC < LC LFP

That means the LFP in Nexon will degrade slower than XUV, which in turn will degrade slower than eC3. The only AC NMC was the Nissan leaf which stained image of EVs as “requiring frequent replacement” and “fast loss of range with mileage and time”

Again, reaching a particular top speed is a trivial matter. We don’t know the exact gearing of the different EVs, and 20kmph is very small quantity, RPM wise for the motor, depending on gearing. Most EVs are using ~10:1 gearing so the difference between a car going 140 vs 160 will be in decimals in terms of gearing (Tesla is known to use 9.35 on the older model S)

If they use the same gearing, wheel size and motors, then yes, the car having more top speed WILL have higher current draw. But unless the other factors are same, we cannot conclude anything about the current draw. Not only is the max current draw decided by the battery, but the wiring itself too. A Tesla Plaid draws well in excess of 800A on 400V architecture for powertrain. A Nexon EV at 95kW peak power would theoretically draw 296A@320V

Then again the speed limit that manufacturers decide depends on what level of tolerance and leeway they aim for. This is common in computers where one manufacturer may give 100°C of max due temperature on a die rated for 125°C physical damage limit, another may let the CPU run till 110°C before it starts throttling. Same here. It’s all a balance of calculated risks being taken.

While definitely EC3 is a segment above Tiago, so there is no comparision here.

The pricing seems ok, but if they could have managed to launch it at an introductory
price of 9.99 lacs (including subsidies) it would have been a deal breaker and a market shaker for sure.

Many like me are waiting for a decent EV (range 300 or above) under 10 lacs i.e. a million rupees.

I mean there are cars like Hatch backs, CSUVS, Budget Sedans all coming below 10 lacs.
If there could have been a decent EV with fair riding and space, it surely can rattle the market.

Come on Hyundais, Marutis, KIAs if anyone is listening market is opening up for EVs and if the entry price can come sub million rupees, that would make so many side benchers take the jump.