The Tata Tiago is a very familiar car because over the years, we have seen multiple iterations of it right from petrol to diesel to CNG to JTP and now EV. We did have a Tiago diesel in our fleet from 2016 to 2018 though but living with an EV was something that I was really keen on trying.
The Tiago EV is a compact car and quite fun to drive at that. My daily commute includes a lot of heavy traffic and some empty roads as well and I found it very fun chucking around this car everywhere. It is quite easy to drive and most importantly it kept me really comfortable. It is silent, has a sure-footed feel and actually feels great as a first EV.
I don’t have a charging socket installed at my place yet so I relied on external chargers and luckily there are a few fast chargers near my house as well as near our office. I received the vehicle with around 50% battery SOC and I immediately took it for a quick top-up which took the battery to 90% in around 35-40 mins.
I wanted to experiment with different driving styles and regeneration levels to extract the highest possible range from the car over the next one month. With regeneration level set to 3 and 90% city usage, I was able to extract a maximum range of 180 kms on a full charge. With regen level 3 and a mix of city + highway driving, the range went down to 150-160 kms while on a full highway drive, the range went down to 120 kms.
Regeneration level 3 works really well and is super effective when you drive in the city. The Tiago EV also has a Sport mode which really dials up the performance but at the cost of faster range depletion. The quick acceleration is addictive but the tyres of the car don’t do justice and honestly I prefer using this mode only for fast overtakes if needed.
The per km running cost of an EV is very effective but for longer drives, you do need to plan a little extra keeping in mind various charging stations on your route. At some charging stations in Mumbai, I’ve faced technical difficulties with the software and hardware and once the charging gun got stuck in the Tiago and refused to come off. In such a scenario, you need to pull a small switch which is located near the rear left suspension assembly.
The Tiago has a good set of features. The headlights are more than adequate and even the sound system is fabulous. The leatherette upholstery also feels very good and for a hatchback of this segment, I’d say Tata has done well with the features. I am not a big fan of the stylised steel wheel covers though. At this price point, I’d prefer some nice alloys.
The boot isn’t too large but on the few occasions that the Tiago EV has been our support car on shoots, it has done the job well. Mumbai’s roads are usually very bad throughout the year and the Tiago’s suspension is well-tuned to handle all the abuse though some sharp bumps are felt in the cabin. I like the cornering feel and steering weight of the car though.
Thankfully, it has been a very uneventful experience with the Tiago and touchwood I hope it stays the same over the upcoming months. The rest of the team will be using the car now and the upcoming reports will focus on different experiences. Till then, I’d love to exchange notes with fellow Tiago EV owners in the comments below!
