FULL THROTTLE

Tata's all-new Harrier.EV displays its off-road prowess around a challenging course

- Kurt Morris

Tata might have made us all wait — eagerly and anxiously — for the all-electric Harrier.ev, but by the looks of it, it has been worth the wait. It took them quite a while after letting the world know about the chances of such a model, to finally bring out what can definitely be the turning point in the EV SUV space. Curiously, Tata Motors didn't choose the usual scenic test drive route for this meet but rather a circuit that has hosted world championship rounds for both Formula 1 and MotoGP in the past. We report live from the Buddh International Circuit.

Before I tell you what we think about the Harrier.ev from the limited time we got with the car — don't worry a full road test is scheduled to happen very soon — we must recapitulate what the all-electric SUV has in store for the new buyer. The biggest draw has to be the dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup, which has a combined output of just under 400 bhp and a thoroughly impressive peak torque figure of 51.49 kg-m. You can choose a standard single-motor model, too, but that's a story for another day. Battery sizes differ, too, depending on the version you choose: 65 kWh and 75 kWh.

Tata started with a neat tablecloth-pulling trick, wherein a car's sudden acceleration pulls a tablecloth without allowing the tableware enough time to fall. It's usually performed with supercars as their mind-numbing acceleration seems perfect for something like this, but with 51.49 kg-m of torque, it's clear that the Harrier.ev is no short on pulling power. As it turns out, no one told Tata about the Harrier.ev's immense pull, so to further prove the SUV's abilities, they brought one of Tata's humongous armoured military vehicles.