Electric Mobility News

Bengaluru-based electric start-up, Ather Energy has announced that pre-bookings for the S340 electric scooter will commence from June, 2018. Bookings will begin only in Bengaluru initially, while launch details in other cities will be announced towards the end of the year. The announcement comes after two years since the concept prototype was originally showcased, while the overall development period has been of a little over four years. The S340 originally supposed to go on sale in 2017.

The 2018 Nissan Leaf has scored a five star rating in the updated Euro NCAP crash tests which were held recently.

The announcement is in line with Volvo's plan to launch mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid or battery electric vehicles of all the models it will launch from 2019.

Based on the fifth generation of eDrive technology, the new BMW iX3 electric SUV brings in fresh package of technology along with new and more powerful batteries.

The procurement is part of the Central government's National Electric Mobility Plan (NEMP) under which it targets to achieve 60-70 lakh sales of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 2020 onwards.

About a year ago, Mahindra Electric and app-based taxi service provider Ola tied up in the Central Indian city of Nagpur to provide clean mobility point to point solutions. Amongst the electric cars, the four door Mahindra e2o Plus was put into service as a taxi and despite some initial teething issues, mainly due to range, have done rather well. 100 electric cars were put into service and according to tweet put out by Mahesh Babu, Chief Executive Officer of Mahindra Electric, these cabs have already covered 25 lakh kms in under a year. While naturally aspirated petrol or diesel cars regularly cover extensive distances, a fleet of electric cars covering such a high distance average is actually quite the rarity.

For both Tata Motors and Mahindra, recent and future launches have showcased an ability to improve tremendously, in terms of quality, fit and finish but more so in terms of design. While in the mid 2000s, or even a few years ago, both these auto brands needed to shout (in terms of outrageous design) in order to be seen, both these auto brands now seem to be on a cusp of design maturity. In a recent casual banter on Twitter between Pratap Bose, Head Of Design of Tata Motors and Pawan Goenka, Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, both seem to agree on the fact that Indian home grown designers and designs need to be given more importance, more chances to grow and certainly a bigger place in the automakers ecosystem. And with design studios in India making its mark, we think that process is well underway for both Tata Motors and Mahindra and we at carandbike.com think this is a wonderful thing indeed! Homegrown talent making homegrown designs for homegrown automakers is certainly something to be proud of. And with design studios in India making its mark, we think that process is well underway, not only for Tata and Mahindra, but even automakers like Renault.

With the ability to go from standstill to 100kmph in just 2.25 seconds, the VW I.D. R Pikes Peak is faster than most of the Formula 1 and Formula E cars.