Drivability: the biggest strength

Perhaps the driver of the car will be less disgruntled when they put their feet on the pedal. The car responds well in city traffic, and its size makes it ideal in congested, cramped areas—something that the car passed with flying colours in the narrow lanes of Goa filled to the gunwales. Neither does it have the rubber-band effect of a CVT transmission, or the coarseness in shifting gears of an AMT transmission. Put the car in sports mode (the only other driving mode), and the throttle will give the driver the extra dose of speed it needs to successfully maneuver overtakes. The mostly single-lane roads of Goa—where every overtaking opportunity counts—are a testament to its prowess. However, it lacks an electrifying throttle response that is seen in other EVs, but Tata says that the throttle response has been deliberately blunted to lessen the battery drain. However, in most situations, the throttle feels adequate.

The car, though, lacks hill-hold control and hill-descent control. As a consequence, the car is vulnerable to sliding backward when starting on inclined roads, and one would have to manually hold the car in position, with the handbrake, (just like a manual car) despite pressing the accelerator hard. Although what the car is equipped with regenerative modes—ranging from 0 (where no regeneration is applied, best suited for open stretches of road, where the car needs to make the best use of its power), and 3 (the maximum regeneration is applied, which means that car decelerates aggressively as if one applied the brakes. It is prudent to use this mode for descending). The flat-bottom steering wheel is light to use, and its tight turning radius of 5.1 metres, makes it perfect for tight-knit spaces, especially for parking. The handling and cornering speeds of the car are equally commendable, and even at taking hairpin turns at high speeds, the car did not unnerve the driver.

What was perhaps the most unsettling while driving the car was the lack of audible parking sensors in the top-end variants, whereas it is offered in the lower-spec variants. The car is equipped with a rear parking camera, with dynamic guideways, but one should not lie in waiting for the car to alarm noisily that it is dangerously close to an obstacle. Whether this is a cost-cutting measure or not, it is befuddling why Tata chose to exclude it, for an audio warning is much more effective in bringing a car backing up to a halt than an obstacle visible on the screen. This will be extremely unsettling for those accustomed to the bellowing of the audible alarm to stop the vehicle. Hopefully, Tata will rectify this and make audible sensors standard across all variants.

Verdict: An ideal drive for the city-dweller

The Tiago EV is offered in two spec trims—the medium range and the long range. The long-range has a certified range of 315 kilometres on a full charge. Although in the real world, with keeping the car mostly in regen mode 3, the Tiago EV long range gave a range of about 200 kilometres. This means that the medium-range car—with a certified range of 257 kilometres—will give a range somewhere in the vicinity of 160 kilometres. This makes the Tiago EV strictly meant for intracity commutes, and not for intercity trips on the highway. The peppy drivability of the car also makes it ideal for city-dwellers or a second car for those who do not wish to bring their big gas-guzzler out on city roads. While ergonomics is its biggest strength, the 2016-design philosophy of the car can be off-putting for some, but given the number of bookings Tata has received, and by the company’s testimony, a majority of the buyers are young people looking for their first car, the hitherto dated design is not strictly the deal-breaker.

Although Tata says that the average distance driven by Tiago EV will be 50 kilometres every day, the long-range, the more expensive trim, is the ideal pick—especially in agglomerations like Delhi, Mumbai, or Bangalore, where traversing between satellite cities could be frequent. The Tiago EV can be plugged into any 15A plug point, and the long-range trims can be charged from 10% to 100% in almost nine hours. However, fixing a 7.2 kW AC fast charger (only a few trims support this feature) at home can bring the downtime to nearly four hours, and using a public 50kW DC fast charger can charge from 10% to 80% in 58 minutes. The fact that Tata also has an expanding charging network in-house, and that its EVs are custom-made for India, makes it a no-brainer, at least until competition betters it.

Tata Tiago EV

Tata Tiago EV First Drive: City commuting finally takes the electric leap