I bought an electric Mahindra Verito at 35% discount

An electric vehicle with a range of 140 km for my daily city commute seemed to sound interesting all of a sudden.

BHPian 123.rishabh recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

For a long time I wanted to get my hands on an Electric Vehicle, but due to lack of infrastructure & high purchase costs could never justify buying one of them.
After selling off my 2009 Jazz, I realized that one small beater car is required for daily household running. My office is < 4 km from my home & none of my vehicles (Endeavour 3.2 & A4 TDI) would even reach their running temp in this short run. Looked at many EV options & the Nexon EV felt like the most practical one, still, I had many questions in mind:

• Could I take it on highways?
• Do I need to take it on highways when I have other vehicles for that purpose
• Will the real-world range of ~250km be sufficient
• Do I even need that much range for a daily commute?

Despite having multiple cars, one still tries to find an allrounder in every car he owns & the same was my case with the new EV.

After Test driving Kona, ZS, & Nexon, one fine day I scheduled the test drive of the newly launched Tigor EV. The car was supposed to come in the evening & before that, I received a call from a friend who told me about the stock clearance being done by Mahindra for the E Verito models.

Initially, I was repulsive about going in for a dated electric model but once he told me the lucrative deal which was around a 35% discount, that got the ball rolling.
A daily driving EV with an ARAI Range of 181 Km (Actual 140 Km) started to sound sufficient all of a sudden. I immediately took the test drive in the evening & found the following pros & cons with the car

Pros:

• Excellent Ride quality with magic carpet-like smoothness soaking up all bumps (Way more superior than the Tigor, Nexon, Kona & ZS EV)
• Spacious & comfortable wide cabin
• Robust build quality (Thanks to the Renault/Dacia Origins)
• F Mode in the gearbox helps to enhance range despite keeping a heavy foot on the throttle
• B Mode helps in quick overtaking

Cons:

• Dated design both inside out
• Low Power Output compared to modern EVs (41 PS & 91Nm)
• Power consuming Hydraulic Steering (I personally don't mind it but an EPS is better for a low-speed city car)
• 86 Kmph Top Speed
• Taxi Image

After the test drive, I immediately headed to the nearest Mahindra service centre who work on EVs & spoke to the Service advisors on the pros & cons in terms of maintenance

Maintenance Pros:

• Simple EV hardware (Air-cooled batteries vs Liquid Chiller Cooling in modern EVs)
• Low Battery Replacement cost (Vs Modern EVs)
• Primary battery consists of 23 modules which can be replaced individually
• Service interval of 20,000 Km or 2 years whichever is earlier at an approximate 5000 Rupees

Maintenance Cons:

• Car cannot be towed using a tow strap for long distances in case of a battery drain as it damages the motor
• No option of Portable RSA charging in case of low battery (Hyundai has Vehicle 2 Vehicle charging facility for Kona customers)

Charging Options:

• The car comes with one GBT type fast charging port on the front left fender & a Type 2 slow charging port on the existing fuel door area on the rear right side.

After understanding everything I made my decision of buying the vehicle & went to the showroom to check out the cars available. By the time we reached, the D6 (Top Trim) models were sold out & only the D2 models were remaining. The difference between these 2 ways is that the D2 missed on:

• Driver Airbag
• Electrically adjustable ORVM
• Alloy Wheels
• 2 Din Audio System
• Keyless Entry

in comparison to the D6 trims which were sold out.

There were only 2 cars left & I had to decide quickly. I talked with a few friends & finally booked the car on the spot.

Went to take the delivery of the car on the next day & the car was ready with 90% charge. Did the mandatory PDI of the vehicle, understood the details of the charger installation and got it home,

Ultra-Wide Rear Seats

Work Done post-purchase:

Drove the car around for a few days & decided to get a few basic things done on it:

The first one was a basic ICE system. It came with a 2 din slot & I wanted to fit a basic system in order to keep the least power drain. I have no knowledge about ICE, so took a friend along to a shop & we started looking at different models. In the end, we decided on the 6.75 Inch Blaupunkt New York 750 which was the only system to offer wireless android auto & CarPlay under 7 inches (Definitely not a basic unit).

In terms of speakers, we got a basic 4 speaker system with Blaupunkt Components in the front & Coaxials on the rear parcel shelf.

Also fitted a reverse cam as this car does not have any reverse aid

The second thing I wanted to check was the underbody & see the protection. After seeing the TBHP review of the New Tigor EV and its underbody without any protection I was really worried.

Took the car to a friends workshop, lifted it up & I was pleasantly surprised by seeing not 1 but 4 heavy-duty metal protection plates (2 under the battery pack, 1 covering the HT Wiring & 1 Metallic shield under the motor same as the engine shield in ICE Cars).

On seeing this I thought of also getting an underbody antirust coating done. Masked the Orange HT wires, Used Bardahl Rust Coat for the same & was happy with the results

Few pics of the car after the work was completed

Charging:

Now coming to the charging part. This car comes with a 3Kw Portable wall-mountable charger with an Industrial Socket on the inlet side & Type 2 on the outlet socket. It runs on a single-phase & I was specifically told by the sales advisor that the warranty won't be valid on the charger in case one plugs it into a 3 phase outlet & spoils it.

This was the first EV in my society so it came with its own set of challenges which are as follows:

1. Can the existing substation in the society handle this charger (Stupid)
2. The car buyer will have to get the full setup done himself after getting all required components from specific brands approved by the society
3. Society is planning to charge me with commercial charges because its electricity is not being used for the household purposes (Totally unacceptable considering people are already buying such expensive EVs with govt. subsidies & the society wants to make money in this)

So I had my list prepared & after confirmation of the brands got the following stuff:

• 20 Meters 4 Gauge 3 Core Wire
• Digital Electricity Meter
• 2 x 16A & 32A DP MCB units
• Industrial Socket with box (Single Phase)
• Flexible PVC Pipes for Clean mounting.

Car loaded with all the stuff

Driving:

Now coming to the driving part:

I have covered 500 km in the car & am mostly driving with a mix of Boost & Forward modes with AC on always & am getting 85 - 100 Kms on using 85% of the battery
The car switches on the AC in order to cool its batteries after trips for around a min which eats up batteries in short trips. I personally feel that this car can do more km if driven without a break. I usually drive it for 5 -8 km in one go & have done a run of 24 km max at a stretch. Plan to test its range on an open road soon.

You never feel less power & 41 BHP of this car feels no less than 100 BHP of my FIAT Petra 1.6 at least under 60km/h.

Have stalled the car once and that was completely my fault. The car had a 13% battery & was already running in Economy mode when we decided to take it for fitting the ICE system which took 3 hours and they had also switched on the rear defogger by mistake. When we started back the battery rapidly dropped in a span of 3 km from 12% to 8% and the car switched to Limp mode & had to tow it back home from there.

Thankfully in limp mode the steering & brakes of the car are active. Also, it was only 2 km from my place so I planned to tow it with a friends car or else it is advised to only use a flatbed to avoid damage to the motor of the car (Need to educate myself on this)

Things to do next:

1. Being a stock clearance car it is a Nov 2018 manufactured model (One of the last lots of E Verito). Although the dealer said that all fluids etc have been changed after they got the car from the plant in Aug, still I plan to get a full service done once the car reaches 1000 Km just to be double sure.
2. Planning to put some decals to differentiate it from Lithium & BlueSmart Taxis, your suggestions are welcome
3. Thinking of getting 14-inch alloy wheels as they will enhance some looks and slight weight saving. Not planning to upsize as a bigger & wider rim will reduce the range of the car

Will keep updating this thread!

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