Tata Nexon Ev Max Driving Experience

So how does the Nexon EV Max drive? Press the start button and the instrument cluster will light up. Pure silence. Turn the gear selector to D and you are good to go. The Nexon EV was the first electric car I ever drove and have driven a few since then. Over time I have taken a liking to EVs and the relaxed driving experience they offer. The Nexon EV Max moves forward smoothly with no drama whatsoever. But if you want some, just push the accelerator pedal hard and the car shoots forward putting a wide grin on your face in no time. Tata claims a 0 to 100 kph timing of under 9 seconds, and the way it goes, I’m happy to nod my head. Now about that range. While Tata says 437, I expect a real world range of around 300 kms or just a little above. I did a run to Lonavala from Navi Mumbai and I realized that if you are a sedate driver (I certainly am), an EV suits you well. I stuck to the middle lane at constant speeds of 80 to 90 kph. That’s the sweet spot to get a good driving range out of your EV on the highway. But as I expected, I encountered a long traffic jam in the Khandala ghat going upwards and that dipped the range quickly. In addition to that, the road up to Aamby Valley has its share of steep inclines and hair pins as well. When I reached my regular spot for photos, the MID showed me 50 percent battery and 134 km of range remaining. The return drive obviously comprised of a lot of downhill which gave a boost to the range. It also gave me a chance to try the different levels of regenerative braking. While 1 is mild, 3 gives you the maximum resistance similar to strong engine braking. What’s more you can turn off the regen entirely as well. This lets you coast smoothly. The regen braking levels can be operated via two buttons on the centre console. They do require you to take your eyes off the road when you use them, and it would be better if they were shifted to the steering wheel as paddle shifters. That way you can access them quickly and keep your eyes focused on the road as well. Also there is some lag on the gear selector dial. It takes a second or two to slot into the right position and is quite a pain if you are taking a three point turn.

So with all the coasting and one pedal driving, by the time I reached and parked at the food court, the range was up to 170 km with 49 percent battery remaining. The Nexon EV Max also gets an ECO driving mode apart from City and Sport that are available on the standard version. I shuffled between ECO and City modes for this drive. The only time I used Sport mode was just to see how quick it can accelerate. What was interesting to note is that the range on the MID would drop by 20 km the moment I would select Sport mode and dials turned red. That said, ECO and City will suffice for most of daily commute. Infact I would go to say that the more you drive your EV and get used to it, you should be able to extract more range as you go along your ownership. I ended up driving 180 kms throughout the day and when I returned to the starting point, the MID showing 30 percent battery and 90 km of range remaining. All this with a lot of driving up inclines and bumper to bumper traffic jams. With these kind of figures, getting 300 km on a single charge will not be difficult in the real world. And yes you can always aim for more.