It is an open secret that I am all in favour of small cars. In terms of fitness of purpose, especially in the cityscape, nothing beats a small car. It offers a tiny footprint, needs a smidge of space to park, is easy to drive and is affordable to run and maintain. I have been driving the Tiago EV for close to a month now and feel that it is an even better answer to our city commuting woes
To start, it is a proper four-door hatchback with next to no compromises. Sure, you miss out on a spare wheel but then when was the last time you took a look at the spare wheel in your car, let alone use it? Between the tubeless tyres and the innumerable tyre shops dotting our streets, a leaking tyre is a minor convenience at best. The Tiago EV has ample rear seat and boot space for four passengers and a trip to the mall. It also feels as conventional as its ICE counterpart and save for the rotary gear lever, you’d be hard pressed to identify what’s under the hood by just looking at the interiors.
I am quite impressed with how affordable the Tiago EV is to run. Given my commute to the office, I need to charge the Tiago EV twice a week. It costs around ₹450 to fully charge and that gives you a range of around 180 to 190km. Compare that to the ICE Tiago which takes around ₹3,600 to tank up and offers a range of close to 700km. A month running the Tiago EV costs me the same as tanking up the ICE Tiago once!
The Tiago EV does not even compromise on performance in the city. If anything, it performs better than ICE hatchbacks. The instant torque or tap makes overtaking an instant affair. It is quite efficient in stop-and-go traffic as the motor does not consume power unless your foot is off the brake. Also, the power delivery in creep function is more linear than ICE motors making it effortless to drive in traffic.
I do have some quibbles though. The rotary drive elector misses out on tactility. It is quite easy to go from Reverse to Sport. And the selector sometimes refuses to respond to inputs which can be risky. Imagine driving up close to a wall and trying to reverse in a hurry. But the selector refuses to shift to Reverse and you are still in Drive. So, you press the accelerator, and the car moves forward instead of back. I have experienced this scenario a few times and am mindful of shifting, especially from drive to reverse. What’s most impressive about the Tata Tiago EV is how conventional this electric hatchback is to drive and how easy it is for someone to switch from ICE to EV with this hatchback. With cars like the Tata Tiago EV, I feel that hatchbacks have a bright future, and these are the cars that can convince the masses to switch to electric, not some pricey EV SUV.
