First report: The electrical Curvv enters our fleet and is straight away whisked off on an intercity run.
It was solely becoming that the primary intercity run in our long-term Curvv EV was to the Tata Motors plant in Pimpri for an important day – Tata Motors’ EV Day, celebrating the milestone of two,00,000 Tata EVs bought! No different Indian producer has achieved this feat, a testomony to Tata’s pioneering position within the nation’s electrical mobility revolution.
Launched in August final 12 months, the Curvv EV is the newest addition to Tata’s electrical line-up. Primarily a ‘coupe-fied’ model of the Nexon, it packs a bigger battery, extra energy and quicker charging. Whereas we’ve but to check its DC quick charging speeds, our first top-up was on our workplace’s 22kW AC charger. The Curvv EV helps AC charging at 7.2kW, which is sufficiently quick when the automotive is parked at work.
The charging port is conveniently positioned within the nostril, so it’s simple to entry from any facet.
Nonetheless, accessing the charging port wasn’t so simple as anticipated, and it had a glitch. The flush-fitting charging flap, designed to slip open by way of a haptic contact management on the dashboard, refused to budge. No quantity of urgent or coaxing labored, and ultimately, I needed to bodily pry it open by hand – hardly ultimate once you’re plugging in recurrently. This fault was reported to Tata Motors, and after a fast workshop go to, it was rectified.
That stated, the situation of the charging port – neatly built-in into the Curvv’s nostril – is a particular benefit. In our workplace parking, the place the designated EV slot is true subsequent to a wall, side-mounted charging ports is usually a problem, typically requiring an ungainly squeeze to plug in. Most of the time, you find yourself brushing in opposition to the wall and dirtying your garments. With the port up entrance, there’s none of that frustration – only a clear, open house to manoeuvre the charging gun into the socket with ease.
Gliding as much as Tata Motors’ plant on the outskirts of Pune took beneath three hours, due to the Atal Setu, which has modified our lives. Getting out and in of Mumbai is unbelievably simple and even nice. I began off with a full cost and an indicated 338km vary and drove pretty arduous, revelling within the Curvv EV’s high-speed stability and settled trip. However I saved an eye fixed on my pace – not simply to preserve vary, however due to the swarm of pace cameras that now dot the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. A single violation can price you Rs 2,000, and with some sections frustratingly capped at 60kph, avoiding a tremendous feels virtually unimaginable.
Throttle pedal has a big preliminary useless zone, making it tough to modulate in stop-go visitors.
The 10km climb up the Lonavala Ghat is brutal on an EV’s battery, draining vary at an alarming fee. That’s why I wasn’t too involved once I reached Pimpri with a 46 % cost and simply 140km of vary left, regardless of having 150km to cowl on the return journey. The downhill run would assist me recoup some cost, and by the point I often hit the toll plaza on the base of the ghat, my vary is commonly greater than it was 10km earlier. So, I skipped recharging on the Tata Motors manufacturing unit, keen to seek out out if the Curvv EV might really go the acid take a look at of finishing a Mumbai-Pune spherical journey on a single cost. Seems, it nearly might.
I used to be a lot gentler on the accelerator on the return journey, toggling between Eco and Metropolis modes. In each these modes, you hit an preliminary useless zone once you press the accelerator pedal, so that you miss that prompt response EVs are recognized for. The Curvv EV is far more responsive in Sport mode, however I didn’t need to threat indulging in it with the battery greater than half empty.
On the drop down from Lonavala to the toll plaza, the electrical motor’s regen wasn’t notably efficient, and regardless of utilizing the strongest L3 regen mode, I couldn’t recoup as a lot cost as anticipated and solely managed to claw again 2-3km of added vary.
The Mumbai-Pune spherical journey proved tough, with the descent not recouping adequate cost.
It’s seemingly that the Curvv EV’s brake regeneration is intentionally not too robust as a result of with the automotive being front-wheel drive, all of the regen occurs on the entrance wheels, and the regen power has been restricted to stop extreme front-end dive.
It meant that as I entered the Atal Setu, the SOC dipped beneath 10 %, triggering power-saving mode and capping my pace to round 50kph. I moved to the sluggish lane and had the ignominy of Wagon Rs and Altos overtaking me! I’ve by no means pushed so slowly on the Atal Setu earlier than.
I reached the workplace (and never house, which was one other 7km away) with simply 6 % and an enormous reduction, lastly plugging the automotive into our wall-box charger.
Curvv’s aircon cools the cabin successfully, with the categorical cool working notably shortly.
Dwelling with the Curvv EV has in any other case been painless, and it’s turning out to be a superb metropolis automotive. The large standout characteristic for me is the air-conditioning system. The fixed-scroll aircon compressor is silent, and through an unusually scorching March, it cooled the cabin brilliantly.
For the following few months, the Curvv EV will likely be my every day driver, and I’m trying ahead to seeing the way it fares in the long term.
Additionally see:
Tata Curvv EV real-world vary examined, defined
Mahindra BE 6e vs Tata Curvv EV: value, vary, specs
