Page 53 - Motoring World (January 2020)

that lies in a pouch in the boot. MG is setting up a dedicated pipeline
Plug that into a 15 Amp socket and to ensure that we don’t suddenly
occupy yourself for the next 18-19 find a city-sized pile of unused
hours as it refills your battery. But batteries lying around.
what if the worst were to happen Is this the electric vehicle that
and you do run out of charge on the will spark the electric revolution
road? Well, MG’s roadside assist here in India, then? I don’t think
program will send a vehicle to your so. Primarily because it’s still
car and give it a shot of adrenaline going to cost Rs 20-25 lakh (ex-
to let it drive another 30-40 km to showroom) which isn’t exactly
a charging port. Not a literal shot of mass-market. And until a significant
adrenaline, obviously, but you get number of people can afford EVs,
what I mean, don’t you? the infrastructure to support it
All this is quite good and it’s just won’t come about. Don’t get
refreshing to see MG realise than me wrong, I think the MG ZS EV,
an EV infrastructure might actually even with its minor flaws, is still
be just as important as the vehicle a fantastic car. But I think it will
itself. And it isn’t stopping at that. dwell in the garages of enthusiasts
A further criticism of EVs is that and first movers. As I type this,
while the vehicle is environmentally though, Tata has taken the covers
friendly, the battery is not. What off the Nexon EV. And that means
happens to the battery once it this EV business is really starting
has served its purpose? Well, MG to get serious. As we step into a
has a plan for that, too. When a new decade, with Indians getting
battery gets too weak to be of use more comfortable with the idea of
in a vehicle, it still retains enough an EV, and the reduction in range
utility to be used in other industries. anxiety, I think MG’s investments in
It calls this the second life stage infrastructure will start to pay off.
of the battery pack, where it gets And that’s when the MG ZS EV will
disassembled and repurposed, and truly shine. ■

MG ZS EV

POWERTRAIN
Battery capacity 44.5 kWh
Max power 140 bhp
Max torque 36 kgm
Transmission Single-speed reduction gear
TYRES
F/R 215/55 R17
DIMENSIONS
L/W/H (mm) 4314/1809/1620
Wheelbase 2579 mm
Ground clearance 161 mm
Kerb weight NA
PRICE TBA

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