Mahindra e2oPlus P8

e2oPlus P8 ವಿಮರ್ಶೆ

Putting electric vehicles within the reach of the masses. That is what Mahindra has done with the introduction of the e2o. In its four door avatar i.e. the e2o Plus, the car offers even more practicality and is available in 3 variants for private car buyers, i.e. P4, P6 and P8. The e2o Plus P8 is the fully-loaded model in the range with a price of Rs 10.05 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi as of 6 May, 2017).

Its feature list is not much different than that of the P6, but this variant gives the e2o Plus a more potent electric drive system.

On the outside, it is similar to the lower variant, but looks better with the inclusion of alloy wheels. Apart from the regular charging port, it also gets a quick charge port. Through this port and the fast charger, you can get the car up to a 95 per cent charge in 90 minutes. That is tremendously quicker than the standard charge mode, which takes around 9 hours to juice up the battery. For safety, the car gets kit like ISOFIX child seat mounts and hill-hold control (HHC), which prevents the car from rolling back on an incline when you release the accelerator. Like the P6, it also gets a reversing camera, but airbags or ABS, unfortunately, are not available even as options.

While all versions of the e2o Plus get an all-electric drive, the P8 takes things up a notch. For starters, the lithium-ion battery has 23 modules (lower variants get 16) and 69 cells (lower variants get 48). It has an on-board power of 16 kWh (5 more than the lower variants) and the battery also weighs around 37kg more.

Technicalities aside, this variant has a travel range of 140km, which is 30 more than the lower grades!

Also, the motor itself produces 30kW of power and 91Nm of torque, making it the most powerful, quickest and fastest model in the range. For reference, its 0-60kmph time of 9.5 seconds is nearly 5 seconds quicker than the lower variants, while the top speed of 85kmph is 5kmph faster.

Since the e2o Plus is the only electric car in its segment, it has no direct rivals, though, its price overlaps with popular petrol/diesel powered hatchbacks and compact sedans.