Mahindra, the pioneer in the electric vehicle segment in India, now has a four-door version of the e2o
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Mahindra has been the frontrunners in the electric car segment and they claim that this four-door e2o Plus, is their best value proposition yet - a statement that definitely piqued our curiosity on what this battery-powered hatch had to offer. It is the evolution of Mahindra Electric's (ME) e2o two-door EV and when you look at it, especially head-on, you can see the family resemblance.
The flow from the roof to the bonnet, the protruding wheel-arches and the front headlamp unit are extremely familiar. However, the grille and bumper on the e2o Plus are redesigned. The new M&M design philosophy is evident in the front grille. The front bumper also looks edgier and a little more aggressive than the e2o. The door-handle design is highly reminiscent of the KUV 100. The door also has an interesting swoop to the shoulder, which is designed for a roomier feel inside the cabin.
Tail-lamp stack is quite unique. Pics/Aditya Dhiwar
At the rear, you'll notice that the overall ethos is similar to the e2o with some obvious changes. This includes a newly designed tail lamp. It also comes with both, a conventional charging slot and a quick charger.
Inside the cabin, the e2o Plus has adequate knee-room in the front. The centre console, finished in a faux carbon-fibre plastic, looks pretty good, with the Blaupunkt Android OS-based touchscreen. You get your standard USB, Bluetooth and all of that. However, the touchscreen is not very responsive.
Surprisingly, the button that pops open the boot is placed in this area as well, which needs getting used to. The second row also is quite comfortable. Even with the driver's seat pushed all the way back, there was a couple of inches left between our knees and the back of the front seat, and has enough room to fit two people without being cramped.
There’s touchscreen and even a range countdown
The e2o Plus top-end P8 variant that we drove is powered by a 72V Lithium-ion long core battery that produces 30 kW (41 PS equivalent) at 3,500 RPM and 91 Nm up to 2,500 revs. In conjunction with a direct drive transmission the e2o Plus offers a claimed range of 140 km and a top speed of 85 km/h. Mahindra also claims a 0-60 km/h speed of 9.5 seconds. Charge time is rated at nine hours, and if you can find Mahindra's quick charge point, you can accomplish this in
90 minutes.
The system to get things going is unique in the e2o Plus — you need to point your key to the push-start button and wait till the car recognises the key and the light changes from orange to green. Once done, you are good to go.
The 13-inch spare wheel is stored under the bonnet of the e2o
The handling isn't much of an issue because you aren't really cornering at high speeds. The steering feels light enough for city driving. Body-roll is perceptible, but not overly so. We were quite impressed by the turning radius: we could take really tight U-turns, a boon for a city car.
At this point, we'd typically write about fuel efficiency, but that is redundant here. As mentioned earlier, the claimed range is 140 kilometres, something that we'll only be able to corroborate when we get the car for a road test. Price-wise, the base P4 costs R7.04 lakh, going up to Rs 9.77 lakh for the top-spec P8 (both ex-showroom, Pune).
The e2o Plus is the only electric five-door available (at least until the Tesla Model 3 starts arriving). So if you are on the lookout for a car that fits four and don't want the hassle of fuel stations, then the e2o Plus is worthy of your consideration.
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