Maruti Suzuki eVitara: Closest Look Yet On Video
Maruti Suzuki recently took wraps off its first-ever EV- the production form of eVX concept that was showcased previously. Named the e Vitara, this electric SUV will go on sale in India, in March next year. We are also told that it will be manufactured at the Gujarat facility and there will be a strong focus on exports. The unveiling took place in Milan, Italy. So we did not get a proper, closer look at the EV. A recent video shared on the YouTube channel ‘Electrifying’ is the closest we have seen this EV yet.
Interestingly, Suzuki had the car on an ice rink for the shoot. If you’re wondering why the strange choice of venue, even we are unsure. But as the host says, it could be because Italy is hosting the Winter Olympics this time and the e Vitara comes with All-Grip AWD. How creative…
Well, the host shows the EV in detail and reveals some key facts and figures about it. It is a fact that Suzuki is a tad late to enter the booming EV space. The e Vitara tries its best to make up for the late coming. The video shows the design in detail. The production spec, as we said in a previous story does justice to the concept.
]It is more or less, a simple, good-looking design that isn’t too rad. The front gets an ‘angry’ look with LED headlamps, sculpted bumpers, LED fog lights, LED DRLs, and clean bonnet lines. The charging port is located at the front flanks. The LED tail lamps look attractive, and the rear design looks good as well.
While you would recognize this as a Suzuki from the front, the rear design lacks any such identity. It could be any other modern SUV design if you take the logo off.
The host says ‘the boot is disappointing’ as it has a capacity of just around 306 litres. Considering the EV to be 4,275mm in length, 1,800mm in width, and 1,635mm in height, and with a wheelbase that’s longer than that of the Creta, it isn’t uncommon for you to expect a larger boot space. There is no frunk either. You can store the charger cables in an inside compartment, accessible from the boot. The ground clearance is just around 180mm.
Maruti Suzuki, as the host says, has skimped on letting out key information and details of the powertrain. The EV will have two battery packs on offer- 49 kWh and 61 kWh. The larger battery pack comes with FWD and AWD. Suzuki further revealed that the larger battery will have a range of 400 km per charge. They, however, did not clarify if this is for the FWD and AWD variants. If this is for the 2WD, the AWD range would be lower!
Further, the smaller battery would then deliver close to 290-320 km every full charge. This wouldn’t then be a huge number in the global EV scene. It would, however, slot right in, in the Indian market scenario as the Nexon EV- probably the biggest rival to the E-Vitara, offers comparable range figures.
Even though Maruti Suzuki says there will be support for 150 kW DC charging, they also state that a 15-70% rejoicing would take 30 minutes. This would then mean effective charging speeds of 70-100 kW. We lack clarity in these areas.
The host is as impressed by the interior design and feature list as we are. The EV comes with a Black- Brown cabin colourway and the feature list includes dual-screen infotainment (10.1-inch) and instrument console (10.2-inch), a floating centre console, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, a rotary drive selector, and convenient storage areas.
The host also handpicks a few shortcomings of the e-Vitara EV. The infotainment screen she says, is a bit laggy, probably because the car here was a pre-production prototype. Despite being a pure-EV platform, the rear headroom seems compromised. The host here, says that if we are taller than 5.6, we might have to rub our hair against the roof. The cabin colourway makes for a rather tight and dark experience at the rear.
The e Vitara’s battery is sourced from BYD- and thus uses Blade cells. Interestingly, they import LFP battery packs, and not cells like many other manufacturers, which could help them in better utilization of focus and resources. The vehicle will be able to tow up to 750 kilos, and will not have V2L abilities.