Words: Team TURBOCHARGED
As a new-age, born-electric EV from the country’s largest car maker, the Maruti Suzuki e VITARA has had a lot going for it right from the word go. When it first broke cover at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025, it wowed audiences with its futuristic design and made an excellent first impression as Maruti Suzuki’s first ever EV. And when the numbers were revealed, it was confirmed that the e VITARA would ensure long drives and multi-day road trips were never going to be a concern for the EV. The reason? Its ARAI-certified range per charge of 543km! On an average, that is roughly the distance most people heading out on road trips cover in a single day, which means you don’t need to worry about finding a charger on the way. If you do need to recharge though, Maruti Suzuki’s robust charging network, and more importantly, the ‘e for me’ smartphone app have you more than covered. This also means that range anxiety is a thing of the past!
As an automotive publication that enjoys its road trips, we find ourselves driving long distances very frequently, and the e VITARA is an SUV that is pushing us to hit the road more often with its kind of reliability, be it the consistent performance and range per charge, battery safety, infrastructure effectiveness, extensive testing or the unmatched aftersales support! The e VITARA is thus ensuring ‘India Goes Electric’ as it comes with the trust that millions of buyers have had in Maruti Suzuki’s cars for over four decades now. That said, Maruti Suzuki has been the default choice for generations of buyers and now with the e VITARA, the manufacturer has a product that is aimed at ticking the right boxes for a wide spectrum of buyers, especially those wanting to go electric. As a born EV the e VITARA uses a flat floor that has been designed for large batteries and comes with the option of either a 49kWh or a 61kWh battery pack.
This results in an ARAI-certified range of 440km per charge for the 49kWh battery and 543km per charge for the 61kWh battery, making the e VITARA apt for long distance driving. Add to that its excellent performance, as the e VITARA offers up to 174PS of power which makes it an excellent choice for mile munching on open highways and covering distances quickly, in an effortless manner. At the same time, the e VITARA also puts its power down in a smooth and friendly manner which offers a sense of familiarity as a Maruti Suzuki. This performance coupled with the excellent energy efficiency of the e VITARA’s battery ensure the SUV is perfectly at home, be it crawling in city traffic or cruising on an 8-lane Expressway. It’s this combination of performance coupled with long range that’s helping the Maruti Suzuki e VITARA change the way India looks at EVs, as you don’t need to worry about range or finding a charger anymore, while enjoying the country’s excellent highway network.
And as a future-ready SUV, that e VITARA is also specced right for the tech-savvy and young and restless buyer. This attitude reflects in the e VITARA’s design and engineering from end to end. So be it the SUV’s smooth, flowing design and flat underbody or smart grille with adaptive shutters that aid aerodynamic performance when closed and help the battery cool when opened, the e VITARA is always up for maximising its world-class, all-electric powertrain’s efficiency. Built to global standards, its battery pack has been engineered to offer an ultra-long lifespan and retain high performance even after thousands of charge/discharge cycles, which ensures peace of mind even after years of owning the e VITARA. The battery pack has also been tested to withstand extreme temperatures from as low as -30 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius.
This ensures the e VITARA is perfect for India’s extreme weather conditions, so be it the scorching heat in Rajasthan or sub-zero temperatures in Kashmir, the e VITARA is perfectly at ease and offering consistent performance, charge after charge, year after year! This is something we experienced firsthand as part of Maruti Suzuki’s ‘India Goes Electric’ drive, which had us drive the e VITARA across some of India’s coldest regions in peak winters, from Srinagar to Jammu. The distance between the two cities is just about 250km, which meant we didn’t need to even think about recharging the battery, given the ARAI-certified range of 543km per charge for the 61kWh battery. More importantly, given the excellent engineering and Maruti Suzuki’s strong focus on ensuring the e VITARA is well-suited to Indian driving conditions, we had no trouble driving the EV even thousands of feet above sea level, when it was freezing cold and air temperatures were in single digits!
The e VITARA’s solid engineering also ensures the SUV is extremely safe, given the tests it has undergone. Its battery pack passed the nail penetration test – considered the Mount Everest of battery testing – safely, besides also passing the fire test safely as the battery did not catch fire even when it was placed in a burning furnace. These are besides the e VITARA’s battery also passing water and compression tests successfully. Speaking of safety, the e VITARA has scored 5 stars in the Bharat NCAP safety tests, which makes it among the safest electric SUVs in the country. This excellent safety rating has been made possible thanks to the e VITARA using more than 60 percent high-tensile steel in its construction, in all critical areas, with efficient load paths, to ensure forces in the event of a crash are distributed away from the cabin and battery pack both.
This, while ensuring excellent lightness and not adding to overall weight, as the HEARTECT-e platform has been engineered to handle high structural loads and optimise safety to the highest possible standards. The platform has been designed to accommodate battery packs between the axles securely, which helps in eliminating structural compromises entirely and adds to the e VITARA’s safety net. This is besides the battery being packaged with specialised energy-absorbing mounts to protect it in the event of frontal or side impacts. That’s not all on the safety front though, as Maruti Suzuki has equipped the e VITARA with a long list of cutting-edge safety features. This list includes Level 2 ADAS that has been tuned and tested extensively for Indian conditions, with excellent attention to detail. For instance, the front camera on the e VITARA gets a dedicated defogger for enhanced ADAS performance even in tricky weather.
You also get a 360-degree camera for assistance while parking or manoeuvring in tight parking spaces or tricky spots and tyre pressure monitoring. These are besides an electronic parking brake and a brake hold function that adds to convenience by ensuring you do not need to shift from ‘Drive’ to ‘Neutral’ when driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic. But with the e VITARA, Maruti Suzuki hasn’t just launched a new product, or its first-ever electric vehicle to be more specific. And that’s because Maruti Suzuki has also launched its own ecosystem which has been thoughtfully designed to cater to every need that buyers might have. This includes more than 2,000 exclusive DC fast chargers that have been installed at its dealerships already – Maruti Suzuki will be using the network strength of its Nexa and Arena channels both, which will ensure an unmatched charging network.
On the other hand, the ‘e for me’ app offers end to end solutions, as it lets you discover thousands of chargers across the country and use multiple payment options. For the purpose, Maruti Suzuki has tied up with 13 of India’s largest CPOs (Charging Point Operators) including Tata Power, Statiq, JioBP, IOCL, ChargeZone and many more, ensuring you have access to over 14,000 charging points! The e for me app thus ensures it is a one-stop solution for any and every charging related need that you may have. And that is because you can find, navigate and charge using e for me alone, without needing any other app. It also helps in efficient route planning by helping you find chargers along the route you intend to take on a long drive. You also get the e for me card which offers a ‘Tap N Charge’ functionality, meaning you can get to a charging station, plug the charging gun in and simply tap the RFID card to start charging. This is besides the 7.2kW AC fast charger the e VITARA comes with.
In a nutshell, the e VITARA is far more than just a new EV, it is the country’s largest car maker offering you an unprecedented package that combines future-ready engineering, long range, excellent space and comfort, practicality and a charging network that’s among the very best. Maruti Suzuki has thus ensured that with the e VITARA, India Goes Electric!
