Working class electric

The 2025 version of Tata's entry-level electric vehicle is here, and we got behind the wheel to experience the changes first hand

- Anagh Bhaskar

Tata.ev is India's largest EV maker, and the boom that started with the Nexon.ev has now ballooned into a large portfolio including the Curvv. ev and Punch.ev, but the smallest and most affordable of these is the Tiago.ev.

A problem which almost all EVs in the current day and age face is the price difference when compared to their ICE alternatives, and while this has more or less been addressed with vehicles costing upwards of Rs 40 lakh, in the mass market segment, this is a cause for many compromises.

Firstly, the battery tech, while advanced, is not affordable enough to be installed in a sub-Rs 10 lakh car, because if it is, the car will cost much more. Then there is the problem of space. In bigger vehicles, there is volume to work with, engineers can easily manage battery sizes and play around with the placement of motors, all while providing a maximised cabin experience, and this is further aided by dedicated, scalable EV platforms, all of which is yet again, costly. Of course Tata has brought the change with the introduction of the Acti.ev dedicated EV platform, that debuted with the Punch.ev, the Tiago still continues with the older platform, but it has been improved for 2025.