Tata Nexon EV - Down To 10% Charge - What Happens When The Bar Goes Red?

Can Tata’s Nexon EV change the way India drives? The package is promising, combining the sub-4 metre SUVs desirability and practicality with an electric drivetrain and a sub-Rs 15 lakh price tag. However, limited public charging infrastructure causes some amount of worry about the usability, and what-if scenarios are plenty. We tested the Nexon EV’s range claims at a media drive to answer some of these questions. 

Torture Test

The Nexon’s ARAI certified 312km range from the 30.2kWh battery pack is promising, but as we have seen there is a fair amount of difference between ARAI and real-world figures. At the start of the day, the Nexon EV’s onboard computer showed a 95 per cent State-Of-Charge (SOC) and an indicated range of 237kms. We intended to drive through various real-world scenarios that would set a reasonable minimum range users can expect without any worry. I repeat, this was a bit of a torture test. After that, we spent the day driving the Nexon EV in a variety of conditions from the city to the highway and even subjected it to performance tests. Through it all, the Nexon EV was packed with two or more occupants and luggage. It was a cool day with temperatures below 15 degrees even at 8.30 am. At the end of the drive, the SOC was down to 8 per cent after having covered 165kms, with another 25kms of indicated range still available. However, we had to stop due to time constraints. 

Code Orange - 25% SOC

In the last leg, we learned much about how the Nexon EV behaves and whether we need to worry when the SOC bar goes red. First, the bar changes to an orange-ish colour at the 25 per cent mark. At this point, there is no change in the performance of the Nexon EV. 

Code Yellow - 20% SOC

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At some point under the 20 per cent mark, the throttle response felt a bit milder, but not in an overly obvious manner. However, in this zone, the Sport Mode was deactivated to conserve the battery. But, bigger differences kicked in once the SOC bar turned red.  

Code Red - 10% SOC 

Once the SOC dropped below 10 per cent, many aspects of the Nexon EV changed. For starters, the torque on demand was lower making the throttle response dull. The pace quickens as it gets past crawling speed, but peak performance is capped too. We found the top-speed capped in the region of 50- 55kph. To save energy, the air-conditioning system cut back on the cooling. In this mode, you need to plan when making overtakes, but it is better if you take things easy. In this mode, we drove around the city comfortably covering about 8 kilometres to make it back to the Tata Motors factory. 

Code Green

We treated the Nexon EV unkindly and put it out of its comfort zone, but it helped quell our worries regarding this EV’s real-world usability. This seat-of-the-pants test will be corroborated by a full road test a little later. So stay tuned to ZigWheels. You can also check out our first drive report of the Tata Nexon EV.  

Also Read:

• The Tata Nexon EV Sports 35 Connected Car Features

• Tata Nexon EV vs Rivals: Specification Comparison