FREEDOM TO BE E?

Can an EV lay claim to the open road? Naturally, we drive to Goa to find out

- By Kartik Ware Photographs Kaizad Adil Darukhanawala

I drove from Mumbai to Goa yesterday. As an act, it's rather normal for me and no one who knows me would bat an eyelid at the thought. What made this instance rather significant, though, was that I drove an EV, the first time I'd left Mumbai city limits in a battery-powered car. Why? Well, to see for myself if an electric car could truly imbibe the liberating aspect of the automobile. Chasing horizons is an integral part of the romance of the car, after all. Another reason was that I just had to drive the BE 6 for as long as I could; Mahindra’s audacity to put concept-car vibes on the road just had to be taken down NH 66. And for someone who hates extended stops on a long ride/drive, it was a challenge fuelled by curiosity.

On the morning that the drive began, the BE 6 welcomed me by announcing, 'Welcome to your XEV 9e' which had me make double takes in all directions at once. Just a minor case of mistaken identity, nothing more. The screen said that I had 80 per cent of charge available, more than enough to make it to our first scheduled charging stop at Mangaon. The plan was to drive in Default mode, which somehow showed more range than in, er, Range mode. But first things first, I had to see for myself how the BE 6 went in a straight line, and it didn’t disappoint... well, until 144 kph, at least. In Default, it refused to go any higher than that. Clicking it into Race mode, the BE 6 jumped forward like someone had stepped on its tail, and was well on its way to its 202-kph top speed until better sense prevailed. This was one fast machine, all right!