Will PMV’s EaS-E go the Tata Nano way?

PMV Electric plans to launch its first micro electric car — EaS-E — in the country in July 2022 and despite being India’s cheapest electric vehicle (EV) at Rs 4 lakh (Rs 400,000), will it go the Tata Nano way?

PMV claims that its micro car will have a driving range of up to 200 km per charge, which is commendable for a small car. It can be fully charged in less than 4 hours with its 3 kW AC charger.

PMV EaS-E will look like this.

Founded in the year 2018, PMV Electric is an electric vehicle start-up with headquarters in Mumbai. The making of the EaS-E has been going on for some years now and the prototype of the vehicle is ready.

The EaS-E, which will launch next month, is set to come in three variants — base, mid and long range — with prices starting from Rs 4 lakh and going up to Rs 6 lakh (Rs 400,000-Rs 600,000).

Micro cars are not popular in India. 

The claimed range of the three models would be from 120 km to 200 km per charge, depending on the variant.

This EaS-E would be only 2,915 mm in length, 1,157 mm in width and 1,600 mm in height. 

So far as design goes, the PMV EaS-E will be way different from any car currently on the Indian roads. It somewhat resembles the Citroen AMI and the MG E200, which are popular in Europe.

In the front, the EaS-E comes with a horizontal strip of LED daytime running lamps (DRLs), which run across the bonnet, and the circular headlamps are below on the bumper. The e-car will run on 13-inch wheels.

There is a large glass area on the side and there are multi-spoke alloys. There would be four doors on the EaS-E, though the car will be a two-seater.

At the rear of the e-car, there are LED taillamps. PMV’s EaS-E will be propelled by a 10 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery along with a 15 kW (20 bhp) PMSM electric motor. The top speed of the car will be 70 km per hour.

In features, the PMV EaS-E will come with a digital instrument cluster, a touchscreen infotainment system, remote keyless entry, parking assist, cruise control, rear parking camera and air conditioning.

Bookings are open now and can be done by paying a refundable deposit of Rs 2,000.

Electric vehicles are slowly becoming popular in India but prices are above Rs 10 lakh, which is beyond the reach of volume customers. 

But would a micro e-car, priced around Rs 4 lakh, be a game-changer in the EV space?

It seems PMV’s EaS-E will pave the way for a litany of sub Rs 10 lakh electric vehicles in the medium to long term. In the next five years, many sub Rs 10 lakh e-cars could emerge.

But micro cars have always remained unpopular in India unlike the European market, where the Citroen AMI is one of the most sought-after cars.

The Nano had been launched to disrupt the two-wheeler market in India but it miserably failed to do so.

We are seeing petrol and diesel prices hitting the roof and prospective buyers are thinking twice before opting for cars. And, affordable EVs may be the solution for them as the operating cost of these cars will come down by a huge margin. 

So, these small e-cars could actually become popular. This may have prompted even MG to enter the race for micro EVs. More details on this later.  

 
Whether PMV’s EaS-E will go the Tata Nano way will depend on the pricing and it could also become popular in India’s semi-urban and rural areas if it lives up to the expectations on its performance.