Tata Motors recently opened the order books for the much-awaited Punch micro-SUV in the Indian market. The brand has announced that at just INR 21,000, customers can book their Punch at the nearest Tata Dealership. Now, the brand could be planning to take the Punch a little further. A media report suggests that Tata could launch an electric Punch in the near future if the market demand is assertive.
The Indian market is slowly but steadily adopting electric vehicles. To reiterate with the Tata Electric Vehicle sales figures, the brand reported that it has successfully crossed the 10,000 EV customer milestone. The brand currently claims over 70% of the EV market share (YTD FY22) in the Indian market. Thanks to Tata’s EV ecosystem known as the Tata UniEVerse, the brand is driving the shift towards green mobility. The brand recently launched the Tata Tigor EV with the Ziptron powertrain, expanding its electric vehicle portfolio.
The Tata Punch underpins the ALFA-ARC (Agile Light Flexible Advanced) architecture, which debuted with the Altroz premium hatchback. As we know, the ALFA-ARC is an EV ready platform, and the brand could introduce an electric version of the Punch. In the past, Tata also revealed the Altroz EV at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2019. Rumours also suggest that the brand could launch the Altroz EV in India soon. Similarly, Tata could leverage the modular platform to launch a small size EV with the same Ziptron powertrain that does duty on the Nexon EV and Tigor EV.
While details of the powertrain are scarce, speculations are that the same Ziptron motor with a detuned state is likely to power the ‘Punch EV,’ if that is what the brand calls it. The Nexon EV comes with a 129 PS/245 Nm electric motor and a 30.2 kWh battery that provides a range of 312 km on a single charge. The Tigor EV comes with a 75 PS/170 Nm electric motor and 26 kWh battery. The battery delivers a range of 306 km on a single charge. The Punch EV could use the same motor configuration as the Tigor EV but a slightly lesser capacity battery. We speculate that the range will be around the 250m mark.
*Range Mentioned Claimed by the ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) Under Standard Test Conditions
Also Read: 2021 Tata Punch SUV revealed, bookings open for INR 21,000