[thomahawk]

Checked out the ZS EV today. The car seems to be built well, the switches, rotary dial, toggles etc. feels sturdy and premium. I love what they did with the front end of the car. Compared to my Tiago EV, this car feels well thought out. For example, to charge my Tiago I have to go around the car (the fuel lid release lever is on driver side and fuel lid is on passenger side). Tata could have just added a push to open mechanism which works when car is unlocked. Again once charging is stopped, I have to unlock the gun from inside the car. With ZS, I just have to unlock the car.

As others have pointed out, the 360 camera is a huge let down. I was told the standard camera on lower variant is no better. I think they might swap this out once ZS gets a refresh. Nissan Magnite has a similar quality 360 system. The MID feels old and is not that intuitive. I think MG should consider updating these. Comet feels one generation ahead in this regard.

Although I have no compliants about the space on offer - the raised floor spoils the rear seat comfort. I guess this is the same in Nexon LR. Coming to the front, I loved the visibility and the driver seat offered enough support. I missed ventilated seats; I guess that is coming in the next refresh. The fabric material in lower variant should be comfortable in tropical climate.

Since I had driven Nexon EV before, the acceleration didn't excite me much. But I drove only in the normal mode since there was lot of traffic. I already wanted to get back in my Tiago so that I could just weave through traffic. The car had several electrical warnings - radar, TPMS all were flagged with some errors. I guess I drove an abused TD car - the had only clocked 20K. There were rattles and the car wasn't exactly silent. For a soft sprung car, I could feel lot of rough road. But it was certainly better than my Tiago. The tyres were at 37 PSI - and sales advisor said that is close to recommend (35psi?).

The errors, rattles and poor camera were a huge turn off for me. I think even after the price cut, MG sales would struggle to sell this to a prospective Nexon LR customer. I don't think someone who haven't used an EV before would appreciate faster charging speeds. You are rolling a dice with Tata EVs and unless you got one riddled with niggles (like me) - you'll be satisfied with what is on offer. Nexon facelift is a head turner. ZS will just disappear in traffic. Perhaps the MG4 is what will win me over. MY23 has some more offers on top of the reduced price (exchange etc.) and the dealer had couple of MY23 in stock. I think they are willing to negotiate the prices down. I didn't waste their time anymore since I wasn't interested after the test drive.

I wanted to checkout Honda City Hybrid as well, but the Honda showroom didn't have one for display or test drive. The sales guy was very honest; I think he is in the wrong profession . He was convincing me to not let go off my existing car and make a financial blunder, since the used EV market isn't mature yet. He talked about some used cars in their inventory and we talked about how hard it is now to get a used Amaze diesel CVT. He offered to prove that I'm better off with the regular City since I didn't have enough daily running. I reminded him that I own an EV . He said that he will not be able promise a delivery date for the hybrid since things have been difficult for them. I think lot of Honda dealers might have shut shop if not for Elevate. I guess they don't want the trouble with a niche car in case the buyer backed off. He asked me to checkout Vitara or Hycross hybrids if I wanted one. Test drive of the hybrid was not possible and he said he himself has only driven it once during a delivery to a customer. Since I had only been in the back seat of older Cities, I got into the display car. Well it was a comfortable and roomy place to be in. But the rear headroom was poor for me. The car didn't feel aspirational any more (for me a City was a dream when I was in college). The competition has moved on but Honda seems to be stuck in history. The hybrid might be a great car but there was no way to experience what is on offer.

As for Vitara and Hyrider - I don't think I want to live with noisy engines anymore. I think my Tiago EV is going to be with me till Hyundai brings the competition to Tata. Would I recommend a Tata EV? Yes, if that is your second car and you have the time and patience to deal and live with niggles. You are beta testing an EV with your hard earned money and I can't stress this enough.

[prasi55]

In theory, the hybrid is the best of both worlds. You save fuel when driving in the city and have no range anxiety when out on the highway. But the reality seems more nuanced than that.

Let's say one's running is 70% highway, 30% city. On the highway, the fuel efficiency difference between a petrol car and the hybrid car is not a whole lot. While one does not face range anxiety as with an electric car, the driving experience does not come close to a turbo petrol or a diesel and is probably worse than a 1.5 NA too. One more factor that the above discussion seems to miss is the relatively lower boot capacity of the strong hybrids. Would one who does 70% highway driving be fine with 250-odd liters of boot space? If yes, then why not get the XUV300 which is a 5-seater and has the same boot capacity? The same Grand Vitara (or XL6 if one needs a 6/7-seater) smart hybrid makes much more sense to me with a 1.5 liter 4-cylinder NA engine, given it costs almost 5 lakh less on road than the strong hybrid version. Or any other petrol or diesel car.

If one's running is 90% in the city, then yes, the hybrid should give much better fuel economy than petrol/diesel. And one may not need a boot bigger than 250 liters. But if one's running is 90% in the city, then why should one pay 25 lakh just for the fuel efficiency benefit while getting the disadvantages of a bigger car (maneuverability, turning, parking).

In terms of number of trips (not kms, which unfortunately seems to be the way everyone is looking at it), 5 trips on the highway v/s 300 trips within the city do not really justify a hybrid car. Your 300 city trips will be much more enjoyable with an electric or petrol/diesel automatic car. And yes, Small is Beautiful.

If we need to crunch numbers, a Tiago or Punch medium range at 10-12 lakh + a 12 lakh petrol car will still work out cheaper than a strong hybrid. Add 1 lakh for extra parking charges for a second car for 5 years and you're at par with a strong hybrid while enjoying the added flexibility of having a second car. You get the smoothness and performance of the electric that no automatic or hybrid can match while enjoying a new or used more powerful petrol or diesel car with no range anxiety on the highway.

Can an electric car be the only car? More than the 300-odd km range, it seems the lower reliability and potential niggles are causing most people to stay away. (For reference, my 10-year old Mahindra E2O provided a niggle-free experience for more than 5 years. 10 years later, the discussions here seem to suggest that one cannot expect a reliable experience especially if one has to do frequent highway trips.)
I'll also add that bigger batteries or cars will not really eliminate range anxiety (and are more wasteful to the environment, may I add). Creta EV/Harrier EV will need far bigger batteries which means more weight (and cost upwards of 30-35 lakh), thereby bringing down real-world range especially with uphill sections to very close to what the current electric cars are already providing.

I wish this poll includes the smaller electric cars too. Because I believe a smaller electric car combined with a new or used petrol/diesel car is a better option than a strong hybrid or even bigger and heavier electric cars.

[CArspeed]

My current drive is about 15000 kms annual out of which 10-12000 kms is on a highway.
I prefer a sedan for Highway and in case I choose one of these cars as my only car, would prefer a Hybrid.
I am also contemplating for a city only car and in that scenario would go with a pure EV rather than noisy three cylinder engines. It would be the latest Nexon EV in that case.

[antz.bin]

While fellow Keralite TBHPians argue against the case of usage of EVs in Kerala.

This is happening elsewhere in Kerala https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...-adoption.html

The market share of Kerala in the EV market is 3.3x of its overall 4-wheeler marketshare. Being a smaller state, distances, strict speed limit enforcement, high traffic on narrow highways and the proliferation of chargers the situation there seems to be more conducive to the EV lifestyle.

[ferrarirules]

We appear to have amassed sufficient votes to make informed conclusions.

EV vs hybird - 48.4% vs 51.6% which i will term as 50-50. It shows how far EVs have come in last 4 years in India.

Some points raised in favour
1. No range anxiety
2. Better resale value

Some points raised in favour EVs
1. Better drive-ability
2. Lower running costs
3. Lesser Fatigue

A few questions to ponder on

1. Is the additional cost of Rs. 2 lakh for a hybrid justified solely to assuage highway range anxiety?
2. Can the lower running costs of an EV sufficiently offset the anticipated decrease in resale value?

[saket77]

We are not examining the possibility of reduction of fossil fuel prices if the world moves towards EV technology. Surely, crude prices will come down if demand falls. Also, electricity charges will go up if there is a surge in demand of electricity due to the EV technology.

The point I am trying to make is while I personally lean towards a strong hybrid car in a one car garage and one ICE or Hybrid + one EV if more than one cars in the garage, the thing is that we are sitting on a cusp of a big change waiting to happen. I personally feel that the this is not the best time to plonk lakhs on a new car if one plans to keep it for long. The technological advancements and financial viability of crude & electricity can swing in any direction depending on the economics.

[saisree]

I would vote for the Honda City Hybrid. I see that missing in the poll.

Between EV and Hybrid, I sideline with the hybrid as it should be the go forward strategy. They are devoid of Charge timings, range anxieties and have a drive feel which EV cannot match.

[nandrive]

I know that this discussion is India specific, but I want to add one point, it's the exorbitant tax on ICE vehicles which is making EVs economically viable compared to ICE vehicles. Just to give an example MG ZS ICE costs 24000 Australian $ drive away (on road) where as MG ZS EV Excite costs 45000 AUD drive away in Australia.https://mgmotor.com.au/models/mg-zsev/

Also Hybrids compromise on boot space compared to ICE Counterparts are not universally true, RAV4 hybrid and ICE have exactly same volume of boot space. Also RAV4 hybrids costs just 3000$ more than ICE for the same trim level which can be recouped in just 2 years (30k KMs), that's why 86.6% of RAV4s sold in 2023 were hybrids in Australia.

[newenergy]

Voted: ZS EV Exclusive

I think the future is EV and Hybrids are just a stop-gap solution. The sheer difference while driving a pure EV is just not comparable. Also in Hybrids, we add complexity which is bound to fail at some point. EVs have fewer components and little to no maintenance.

Meanwhile, TATA is also releasing ads to promote EVs while taking a jab at Hybrids (we all know who they are targetting)

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNFaw63y-Oc