India Now Has An Electric Car Under Rs 5 Lakh, But Conditions Apply

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 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.