Mahindra Reva e2O Premium

Everybody has been going crazy about the environment and blaming the car industry for causing the most amount of damage to our Mother Earth. A few brave car manufacturers in India are actually trying to fix the problem. One of them is Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles which has now a new premium version of the e2o.

The exciting features of the premium e2o include an Infotainment System, Driver Information System, Reverse Parking Camera and Assist. The premium variant also offers upgrades on the interiors and has kind of stylish exteriors.

The new e2o is small like its existing variant but it’s a good looking car from the Mahindra stable and it’s very practical too. Well… sort of. It’s just too expensive to be what it’s trying to be---an eco friendly, family car. For that you have to blame the government…Acche din kab ayenge?

’ll get to that bit later. Right now let’s talk about the car itself. The e2o has an electric motor that gives out 25bhp of power and 59.3Nm of torque. What’s new with the Premium e2o? Well for starters it can go for longer—up to 120 km which means you can cover a lot of distance in a single day doing a lot of things, from dropping off your kid to school, buying your groceries, rushing off to your work place and coming back in time to charge it up for another exciting day.  And all this with a clear conscience--No polluting!

The premium e2o now comes with an electric power steering. Being light, small and having a tiny wheel base, it’s so much fun to drive. It is my personal preference because I love a small hatchback where you don’t need to be driving at high speeds to have fun. You can have the same kind of fun in the e2o at 40kmph as you would at 260kmph in a supercharged Jag. In the latter you end up going over a dozen sleeping Indians on the pavement, but with the e2o, it’s controlled driving.

The electric power steering is a bit of a handful though because for starters, the steering itself is a bit too large for the car and isn’t really placed dead in the centre of your driving position and is a bit towards your right which is why after some time you will have a sore right elbow after repeatedly hitting the door handle. And also if you want to have a bit of fun and take a speedy U-turn, it doesn’t come back properly. Mr Mahindra, please look into that.

But what’s also good about the little car is the delivery of the 25 horses. For example, when you’re at a red traffic light and you have big powerful SUVs and sedans next to you revving up their engine, I assure you with all that power they have, it is no match for the e2o. You will be victorious of the first 10 metres that actually counts on city roads so you will never really feel belittled even in this tiny little car!  

What is also nice in the e2o is the air conditioning which is really affective, which will keep the 4 people (two adults and two kids combination is the best!) seated inside comfortable and cool. The new touch screen entertainment system works perfectly.

Now coming back to the practical problem and the government angle related to the e2o. The e2o is far from the perfect path to the future, that’s for sure. But this perfect path can only be perfect if the government steps in and actually starts implementing its electric mobility dream. A lot of electric vehicle dealers have shut shop and so have manufacturers due to lack of demand which has led to massive job losses. Hero (pioneers in electric 2-wheelers) and Mahindras survive because of the sheer size of the company and its other ventures in the automotive sector. Unless the Government lends a helping hand through subsidies and other policy initiatives, electric vehicles can never find favour among the ordinary in India. 

On its part, Mahindra Reva has also introduced an easy and simple ownership scheme called Goodbye Fuel, Hello Electric for its e2o. As a part of the programme, in Delhi for example, the premium variant will be available at 5.72 lakh on road with a monthly energy fee of 2,999 which will allow the customer to drive 50,000 KMs for a period of five years. So, what are you waiting for? Go buy your electric dream!

Mahindra e2o Premium specifications