The Tata Harrier EV is, in many ways, a groundbreaking vehicle for Tata Motors, as not only it is the first AWD vehicle from the house of Tata in a really long time (remember the Safari Ads from late 90s?), it is also the first electric AWD vehicle from Tata Motors, and moreover, the first Indian EV to feature all wheel drive. Tata has given it the name Quad Wheel Drive, presumably to set it apart from the ICE–powered AWD and 4WD vehicles in our market, most of them from old rival Mahindra.
In order to showcase what a mountain of electric torque, accessible from one rpm and going to all four wheels, is capable of, Tata Motors hosted an event dubbed the Quad Day, named in honour of Quad Wheel Drive, of course. Mildly pretentious name notwithstanding, the dual-motor AWD setup, a staple in high-end EVs manufactured elsewhere in the world, has endowed the Harrier EV’s top trim with a hitherto unforeseen range of capabilities in an EV made in India.
The Tata Harrier EV runs a 175kW (238PS) motor at the rear, aided by a 116kW (158PS) motor at the front. The total system output is 230kW (313PS), but maximum torque on offer is a gargantuan 540Nm, which means the Harrier EV just crawls over everything in its path. The 75kWh battery pack provides it with a claimed range between 480km and 505km. It has a 0–100kmph acceleration time of 6.3 seconds.
The Quad Day thus focused on bringing out all of the Harrier EV’s capabilities, both in terms of on-road performance and off-road ability. With a crawl-control that could be set to 5kmph, the Harrier EV was able to tackle the daunting obstacles of the off-road arena with ease, while cossetting its passengers. Moments later, it was ready to blast down the highway. This was the moment when we felt people remembered the legendary Tata Sierra ad from the early 90s.
Overall, the Quad Day was a very square experience (see what we did there?), which managed to put on display the sheer breadth of abilities of the Harrier EV. We can’t wait to drive it, so check back soon for our driving impressions of it.
