Tata Motors seems to have found their calling with their EV range. After all, EVs are the way of the future and going electric is every car manufacturer’s mantra. Getting an early start in this space has proved to be a gamble that is paying off for the Nexon EV is nothing short of a blockbuster – and you do see quite a few of them on the road now. Of course, with any new product there are complaints and the biggest one that plagued the Nexon EV was its true range. Not backing down, Tata has been quick to address this in the form of the Nexon EV Max.
From a design standpoint, the Nexon EV Max looks very similar to the Nexon EV. The few things that set it apart are the new 16-inch diamond cut alloys, a new teal colour paint option and the two-tone roof a standard on this version as well. Apart from these changes it is only the ‘Max’ badge at the back that lets you tell it apart from the regular model, which incidentally continues to be on sale.
The cabin has a nice upmarket feel to it and the space on board has always been a big plus point for the Nexon. Having said that, the blue and light coloured cabin is almost identical to the regular EV model. Tata has played with some textures though and you get a nice tri-arrow pattern on the dash that looks very neat. The seats look identical to the standard version as well; however you do benefit from ventilated front seats which definitely ups the game in terms of overall comfort on board. A feature we rather enjoyed on our drive in Chennai.
As stated earlier, the biggest grouse with the Nexon EV was its true range, so the Max version gets a bigger battery pack, a 40.5kWh unit to be precise. Incidentally, to get this battery pack to fit, Tata reworked the floor pan of the Nexon which has resulted in a slightly lower ground clearance as compared to the standard version. Having said that, we found no reason to complain on this front, for the 190mm that it has is more than enough to get you over some pretty harsh urban terrain. Speaking of which, the Nexon EV Max is quite a blast to drive. The 33 per cent larger battery has resulted in a 14 hp gain over the standard version and the specs now stand at 143 hp and 250 Nm of torque. With multiple drive modes including sport mode, you can really have a gala time behind the wheel of the Nexon EV. It feels nice and spirited at the touch of the throttle and you can hit three-digit speeds in a shade under 10 seconds. The shifter knob is also a neat little piece of work and has a nice feel to it. Now to answer the all important question of range, well the Nexon EV Max has a company claimed range of 437 km per charge! Yep, it has increased substantially, however in real world conditions expect it to give you somewhere between 260-300 km per charge depending on your driving style. With that, it is still an increase over the regular Nexon EV and they are quite respectable. After all, the Nexon EV Max is an urban machine and getting 200+ km of range on a single charge also translates to you not having to charge it every day. The Nexon EV Max also gets 4 settings of regenerative braking.
As far as charging is concerned, the Nexon EV Max comes with a 3.3 kWh AC charger as standard and it will take up to 16 hours for a full charge. Customers can opt for a 7.2 kWh wall-mounted unit that comes at a premium and it can charge the battery in just 6.5 hours. With a 50kW DC fast charger, the battery can be 80% charged in under an hour.
Overall, the Nexon EV Max comes across as reliable and fun machine to have in the city. Despite its popularity, we still found it to turn heads! No doubt, it comes at a premium price over the standard with the range being between INR 18 – 19 lakh which does feel a little steep. However, when you consider all that it packs as well as the added safety features such as traction control hill start assist, hill descent control, an electronic parking brake and rear disc brakes as standard, it does seem to be worth the little extra that you have to pay over the standard version. Not exactly bang for your buck, but it is in the ballpark!