Mahindra e2o ‘AFFORDABLE’ electric car launches
The Mahindra e20 has been launched in the UK as an affordable electric car, costing from £12,995 (after grant) and sold online to customers.
For your £13k you’ll get a successor to the awful G-Whiz, complete with styling that’s just as unappealing, a range of 79 miles and performance you could probably better on a decent push bike – 0-50mph in 18 seconds.
The UK price is more than twice as much as the e20 is in India, but Mahindra has improved the e2o for the UK market with more safety stuff, a better interior and more powerful battery.
If you want to waste even more money, you could opt for the e20 TechX at £15,995 and add stuff like reversing camera, touchscreen infotainment, leather and alloys.
There is certainly a place for a small electric car as the perfect urban runaround, but the unappealing e20 isn’t it.
A top speed of 63mph and woeful acceleration makes the e20 a liability – even on congested urban roads – and it’ll take nine hours to recharge the 13.9kWh battery that propels the 42bhp electric motor.
Even at the £13k entry price, you can grab a year old Nissan LEAF, and at the £16k point you can pick up a pre-reg LEAF with just handful of miles on a 16 plate. And the LEAF is a proper grown-up car that has passed Euro NCAP (which the e20 hasn’t).
The Mahindra e20 is a car that belongs in the past (just like the G-Wiz) and will do nothing to encourage drivers in to EVs. Don’t waste your money.
plugincaroocom says
Comparing a 4seater car E20 with 2 seater GWiz or even the Renault Twizy is complete injustice… the Renault Twizy doesn’t even have a boot or proper doors or windows… forget about reverse camera & navigation… the range of the Twizy is pathetic at 62miles… while the E20 in spite of being 4seater is 79+8 = 87miles and best of all it fully recharges in 90minutes the time required to recharge a mobile phone…
Twizy at best is half a car… and yet is inferior to E20 in both Speed AND Range.
E2O is the best Electric Car in the world comparing price & performance…
As for the Nissan Leaf Visia UK Price starts at £ 21,530 having a Range 124 miles which is almost double the price of E2O. And comparing a new car to a second hand car is not correct… because after 1 year the E2O could be available at £9,000… all this while the “affordable” Tesla Model 3 launches in the background at US $30,000 (£20,755)… 😉
Pete says
£12,995 for that chunk of s***? It looks bloody awful, like it has been squashed from the sides.
storycommunications says
The journalist (no name given) has missed the point. The Mahindra e2o is a car designed to be used as a second car / urban runaround, where affordability, economy and zero emissions are valued by the purchaser. In this regard it is a very interesting car, being a combination of cutting edge technology and keen pricing. Mahindra make 650,000 vehicles a year, so they are not a start-up, just new to the UK. I was at the launch and test drives were not available, so this article is as closed minded as any I have seen for a while. Shame, I liked CarsUK up to now.
Cars UK says
Sorry you don’t agree (but the world would be poorer place if we all had the same opinions!), but we agree wholeheartedly there’s a real place for a proper little city runaround EV, but we fail to see any appeal in the e2o. It’s straight out of the G-Wiz book of ‘Perfect EVs’ and surely we should expect better? As we said, if you want a second car that’s electric then buy a pre-reg LEAF for the same sort of money.
Now, if the e20 cost the same as it does in India, we would be far less critical.
Keith Johnston says
The e2o in the UK could never cost the same as it does in India, it is a different, hugely upgraded car, loaded with UK import and sales taxes. Given the huge issue of climate change facing us all, and the problem of air quality in many cities, it is great to see an even more affordable electric car that costs virtually nothing to run that could be just what the 2.5m families around the UK with a drive or garage (somewhere to charge) need. Here is a $17bn business making a positive contribution to solving some of our great problems and employing UK people – I think they should be applauded for this, not criticised before they have even started.
Cars UK says
Sorry, but our argument is that it’s far from cheap. At the risk of repeating ourselves endlessly, you can buy a pre-reg Nissan LEAF for the same money. Surely you’d agree that’s a far more sensible buy for any family>
Keith Johnston says
The Leaf is a different car altogether, personally I would consider a new e2o, much more suited for city driving. When you ‘review’ new cars, it may help if you do so against the criteria the manufacturer is presenting them, in this case, a city car used as a second car for the family (2.5m homes with 2 cars, with drives and garage ways that can charge overnight off-street), rather than being so dismissive. Does not make you look very professional or balanced in your journalism, which is not the same thing at all as offering a reasonable opinion.
Cars UK says
The LEAF is a different car, but even so it’s surely valid to look at cost and what your money buys?
As for reviews, we try hard to be objective and look at the target demographic for a car when we test it. Perhaps there is a degree of subjectivity in your stance on the e20?