Mahindra e2o review, test drive and video

Mahindra claims a range between recharges of 100km but the fine print says that this is ‘under test conditions’. In the real world (we put the e2o through our urban cycle test with the aircon on constantly), the range is a function of how you use the e2o. Sticking to F mode and driving gently, we could safely cover 88km. Driving in Boost mode only (until the car automatically switches to power saving mode when there is less than 20 percent charge left), saw the range drop to 62km.

It would be easy to view this as a very limiting factor, but considering that the vast majority of e2os will be second cars and used for limited commutes, you can quite easily live with this range.

The long five hours it takes to charge is not very practical and you have to plan things in advance if you are going to use the car regularly. Another drawback is the 15 amp socket required, which is not easy to find.

It’s hard to calculate the running costs of the e2o, but for all practical purposes, the cost of electricity is negligible. However, each full charge should cost Rs. 50 and for a comfortable range of 75km that should work out to 66 paise per kilometre, which is nearly Rs 3 lower than the most fuel efficient diesel car today.

A bigger cost is that of the battery, which can cost upwards of Rs 2 lakh and is likely to need replacement after 4-5 years. Unlike an internal combustion engine however, the regular maintainance costs for the e2o are likely to be negligible.