India Now Has An Electric Car Under Rs 5 Lakh, But Conditions Apply
JSW MG Motor has extended its battery-as-a-service program to its Comet and ZS EV electric cars, after launching the same with Windsor EV.
The MG Comet EV. (Source: Company)
JSW MG Motor Pvt. Ltd. has brought down the upfront acquisition cost of an electric car to under Rs 5 lakh by unbundling the battery cost on its cheapest EV.
The joint venture of India’s JSW Group and China’s SAIC Motor Co. has extended its so-called battery-as-a-service program to its Comet and ZS EV electric cars, thereby reducing the starting price by Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4.99 lakh, respectively. Customers opting for the scheme have to pay a usage-based battery rental over and above the sticker price.
The revised prices are as under:
MG Comet BaaS: Rs 4.99 lakh + battery rental @ Rs 2.5/km
MG ZS EV BaaS: Rs 13.99 lakh + battery rental @ Rs 4.5/km
The charging cost, at about Rs 1/km, has to be borne by the user. The electric cars can still be bought with the battery cost bundled into the sticker price. Additionally, customers can also avail of the assured 60% buyback value after three years of ownership.
JSW MG Motor first introduced the battery-as-a-service model in the Windsor EV, which was launched earlier this month at a starting price of Rs 9.99 lakh and battery rental of Rs 3.5/km. While this is a “pay as you go” model, buyers will have to mandatorily pay Rs 5,250/month, equivalent to driving 1,500 km/month, towards the battery.
Essentially, BaaS can be seen as a fixed mobile data plan, where a consumer has to pay for any additional data consumed over and above the specified amount. In this case, it’s Rs 3.5/km after the car has been driven for more than 1,500 km in a month. This second EMI of sorts will be handled by JSW MG Motor’s banking partners, such as Bajaj Finserv, Hero Fincorp, Vidyut and Ecofy Autovert.
It’s worth mentioning here, again, that the charging cost at the station has to be borne by the user. So, in the case of the Windsor EV, the running cost comes out to be Rs 4.5/km as against Rs 8-10/km for a comparable 4.3-meter SUV.
“With BaaS, we have created a platform for easy ownership, making our EVs more accessible than ever,” Satinder Singh Bajwa, chief commercial officer at JSW MG Motor India, said in a statement. “I am confident that this unique ownership model will further boost EV adoption in the country.”
Sub Rs 5-Lakh EV
The MG Comet is not the first electric car in India to be priced at under Rs 5 lakh. That distinction is held by the Reva, which first broke cover in 1994 at a sticker price of Rs 2.88 lakh—expensive for that time. The Maruti 800—India’s best-selling car for decades—was then priced at Rs 1.56 lakh, ex-showroom.
Reva was manufactured by Reva Electric Car Co., owned by Chetan Maini—the pioneer of electric mobility in India. The company was acquired by Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. in May 2010 and renamed Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. In 2013, M&M launched the now-discontinued Mahindra e2O, which had a range of 120 km on a single charge and was priced at Rs 6.5-8.5 lakh.
In comparison, the MG Comet is also a two-door urban runabout but can seat four, albeit it's a squeeze. The sub-three-meter car has a range of 230 km on a single charge.
The MG ZS EV, meanwhile, is a 4.3-meter SUV that competes with the Tata Curvv and BYD Seal in India’s nascent EV market. The car has a driving range of 461 km on a single charge.
