Living with Tata Punch EV for two weeks: Is this the most practical EV in India?

We recently got to live with the Punch EV for a couple of weeks and with its compact size and good range, we found it quite endearing. Here's everything we noted about the compact electric SUV.

New Delhi: I was in the office the other day, scurrying through things that needed my attention desperately when my Editor wondered what would be a fun, cheap EV I would recommend. Even though it wasn’t for him, I couldn’t recommend just anything to him, since the man stands at 6 ‘2″. Having driven one not so long ago, I blurted out the Tata Punch EV’s name. 

Almost immediately, he threw me the keys to the SUV, and I was kind of glad. It was a bit of a rematch, and now I had the chance to know what it was like to live with. Back in February, I was quite impressed by it as a product. It had the tall-boy image that made you sit above the ground, the concise dimensions that made it perfect to take it through traffic and a battery range that could do multiple trips inside the city. 

Plus, I am not a fan of big SUVs with electric motors and constantly trying to prove that they are as good as an ICE vehicle. I like the MG Windsor EV, which isn’t that big and brash. In this dimension, the EVs feel purposeful and sensible. Tata has been in the EV game for a while, and that does mean that the brand knows the market and the customer inside out. 

Sitting below the Nexon, the Punch is always riding on high expectations. As I piled over 300 kms in the matter of 10 days through some tight lanes and wide highways, I managed to answer whether this was one of the most ideal EVs in the country right now.

Tata Punch EV Design 

Tata Punch EV proportions make it easy to navigate through traffic

The exterior in its previous iteration at the front had more elements that broke the design. It looked more beefed up, and the stance was low and felt slightly more aggressive. In the new facelift, Tata has refreshed both the front and back of the car. At the front, there is a wide front bumper, and it is filled with plastic cladding. To stand apart from the ICE, which has black bumpers, the bumper is grey. 

Being loaded with plastic means that the front camera does poke out and feels a little out of place. I had said this before, and I’ll say it still that it does make it look a bit like a toy car. It feels a little too monotonous without any element to break the flow, and I personally feel it could make it more prone to damage from speed bumps and other motorists.

The stance is low and aggressive

At the back, the tri-arrow design language has been replaced by a connected LED light setup. While I did like the older version of the Punch EV, living with the new version has made me get used to it more. In fact, by the end of the second day, it started to grow on me. It keeps the same elements of the ICE Punch, and even though it gets much less detailing, it still looks quite good. Both the headlights and taillights are well placed and give enough illumination. From the sides, the car is now 5 mm taller than the previous Punch EV. The alloy designs are new, and overall it looks decent.

The cabin is airy and feels bright, with its grey and black dominating dashboard with a touch of beige on the seats and roof. You get a small one-panel sunroof that makes it even more airy and bright. I didn’t close the sunroof once because it felt so nice to drive with it open. The dashboard comes with a 26.03 cm HD infotainment and digital cluster screens.

Punch EV has a bright and tech-heavy cabin

While it isn’t a big car, it still has loads of storage in the cabin to keep your everyday things like your phone and sunglasses. The cabin space has been used pretty neatly. You get a 12V charging port, a USB Type-A and Type-C 65W fast-charging port capable of powering laptops, along with wireless charging as well. The seats are at a decent height, which gives you a great view of the road in front of you. The back seat is actually just for two........

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