EV prices nearly on par with petrol & diesel

It’s widely believed that electric cars are prohibitively expensive to buy. But perception may not be keeping pace with reality. After recent cuts by makers such as Tata Motors and MG Motor, you may well recover any additional price paid for buying an EV in well under one year, especially as the greens already throw in the lowest running cost per km, apart from subsidised registration charges.

Tata Motors, the country’s largest electric car seller, announced deep cuts to prices of electric versions of Nexon SUV and Tiago mini. While the steepest reduction of Rs 1.2 lakh has been made on the Nexon EV (entry variant priced at Rs 14.5 lakh, ex-showroom), Tiago will see a price reduction of up to Rs 70,000 with the base model now priced at Rs 8 lakh. Tata said it is passing on “battery price reduction benefits” to customers. “Battery costs constitute a substantial part of the overall cost of an EV,” said Vivek Srivatsa, chief commercial officer of Tata’s passenger car electric mobility division.