[Turbo_head]

Not until there is a car giving 600 kms in the real world scenarios or at least the charging infrastructure is strong that a hour stop at a charging station combined with an eatery gives me enough charge to travel that distance (600kms)

My home town is exactly 600 kms from Chennai and wont opt for EV's till either of the above criterias are met.

Just picked up Harrier in December 2020 so I am in no hurry and can wait for another 7-8 years by which the technology would have taken leap to the desired level.

[evilmessiah]

Nice thread. Present EV landscape is like the Wild West. I feel the best time for most to buy an EV would be when:

1) Battery tech has improved beyond the Li-Ion/Po stage and progresses to Graphene/ Solid State batteries.
2) India switches to cleaner power generation (Just my wishful thinking)
3) Charging infrastructure becomes reliable, plentiful and fast.
4) Economies of scale brings down EV prices and makes them like 'appliances'.

Now, coming to when I would be buying an EV (as a second car at the moment):

1) When I get some money
2) When State Governments start EV subsidy wars (good for customers)
3) When charging infrastructure becomes better in our respective cities.

All of the above 3 conditions should be ticked by around 10 years at the most.

However, even now, an EV is great for my Dad in Kochi. Our Honda City is more than a decade old and it can be relegated to pure outstation trip duty and sold off when it hits the 15 year mark while an EV can take over city commutes and an IC car can be rented for outstation trips. when the City is sold. Makes more sense for him to buy a Nexon EV than spend that money to buy something like a Creta.

[punto_]

I recently picked up a pre-owned car and I don't see myself looking at anything for another 5 years. Hopefully by then there will be enough EV options available. Would like to have an ev small car for city drives.

We recently considered purchasing Ather, after a lot of thought and calculations it didn't make sense. So went ahead and picked up a Yamaha Fascino for small errands. We waited from the end of 2019 to make that decision!

[ps_abhijith]

For me, I don't see myself going beyond 400km in a day from my usage pattern over the years, and anything more than that I believe should be feasible provided I plan my route ahead and find charging points on the way.

I would be making the switch once we have something satisfying the following criteria:

1. Practical real world range. I would be happy if the car could offer a real world range of around 300-350 km.
2. Reasonable price. Current Nexon EV prices are reasonable, but would be happier if those prices come down further by a couple of lakhs.
3. Reasonable cost of replacing the battery at the end of life of the same.
4. Practical battery degradation rates. Read in this forum that the nexon EVs batteries could degrade to 70% capacity, which reduces its real world range to may be 150km max. I would love to have atleast 300km range in the long term usage.

I am not much worried about charging stations as of now as I feel I mostly should be able to charge the car at home with my usage pattern.

[88_TANK_88]

I would love to convert our swift to EV. Might buy the kit from one of our own Bhpian who did similar thing in a Dezire. I plan to hold it off till the time the car is running fine with ICE and fitness extension from RTO is possible.

[viscosity]

When I joined this forum around ~1.5 years back, the optimist in me was thinking that my next purchase would be an EV. Now we have some good options on the table but with these niggles reported around EV, good charging infra still not there, and more importantly after the pandemic I am eager to go on really long drives , I am back to the idea of buying a petrol AT for now and then take the plunge into the EV side after 6-8 years. So I already had to eat my words once on this EV transition thought and I want to be careful and not being overly hopeful about the timelines going forward. May be it is just me but I have always found battery remaining prediction going haywire on my smartphone, laptop etc and I am still not sure why that won't be the case with a car given it has to deal with an inherently more unpredictable circumstances.

[jagzrk]

Obviously the EV has to do what the current cars can do and at the same cost if not better.

So will buy Strictly based on following parameters:

1. Real world mileage of at-least 500 kms on a full battery under *ANY* driving conditions.

2. Recharge time of not more than 15 mins to achieve the foresaid 500 kms range.

3. Battery life of at-least 7 years with the car able to deliver the 500 kms mileage even in the 7th year.

4. Battery replacement cost not exceeding 25% of vehicle value after 7 years.

Seems fair since any internal combustion engine car ticks all the above boxes. The maintenance cost is close to 25% of vehicle cost including any major repairs. Actually this is benefit of doubt given to EVs with currently lame battery technologies. With reliable internal combustion engine cars its not even 10% after 7 years.

There is not a single EV that ticks even "1" of the above points currently in India.

[Raghu M]

Will go for an EV only when the below conditions are met:

1. My current car feels outdated and there are no good options in the petrol segment anymore
2. EV car needs to be equally good with all features and reliablity
3. The car comes with a range of a minimum 600 kms
4. Grids where a vehicle is charged while running is available (some countries have it)
5. Charging ports available at every nook and corner of the country
6. Most important - charging does not take more than 15 to 20 mins
7. The battery is usable for at least 7 to 8 years without replacement

If all the above conditions are met, then am ready to take the plunge. I just bought a new car, so will wait and watch how this segment plays out. I think by then all the issues of a long term EV car will be out in the open.

[TorqMaster]

I hope to get an EV atleast for city runabouts. Easy to drive and quick to move.
Tata nexon is too big for city runabouts . Maybe something the same height as it is but smaller, like tiago.
If they can price this at 5 lakhs it would be great.

[Taruns_Hah]

While considering which car to buy a few months ago, I seriously considered the nexon ev. The Rs. 1 per km kind of running cost was mouth watering. The range was ok in the city. However I didn’t eventually buy it because of the Rs. 5 lac initial cost difference from the magnite, which I eventually bought.

The main thing which attracts me to Evs are the eco friendliness and low running cost. I fear that the running cost advantage will disappear if evs become popular as the government will never let the tax revenue it earns from fossil fuels go.

So the right time to buy Evs according to me would be now if the car manufacturers introduce Evs at competitive prices to the traditional fuel vehicles.

[Tucker48]

My first ev will be a fuel cell ev unless I can charge the battery wirelessly while cruising on highways. Let's see who wins the race!

[Jeroen]

I have given this some thought. My gut reaction would be as long as I can drive ICE propelled cars you won’t see me anywhere near an EV, any EV.

There are a few other considerations though. Primarily practicalities. Charging is not an issue anymore here in the Netherlands. My concern on ICE would be that we are seeing more and more environmental zones being implemented. Which at some point in time might mean, that without an EV you simply can not get into any of our major town anymore.

The good news; it is likely that real oldtimer (more than 40 years old) might be exempt. In which case we are good to go, because soon two out of three of my classic will be over 40 years.

It is likely that in the next 5-6 years we will want to replace my wife’s Ford Fiesta. That is probably going to be a major decision point. The one thing is, I always buy second hand. And even 5-6 years from now, I am not convinced we will see the sort of second hand cars I am usually on the look out for.

Although as many of you will know, I am very comfortable buying second hand cars of any age and mileage, in all honesty I am very unsure about second hand EVs. There are very few about and even less reliable data available.

The easiest would be to buy new, but I hate buying new cars, ICE or EV.

Still, I must admit that some of these new EV are beginning to look sort of attractive as regular run abouts. I will keep my classics for fun and enjoyment. The EV can be the transportation pod.

Jeroen

[Ketan T]

I was considering buying Tata Nexon EV. Took a test drive and I loved the vehicle. I spent a considerable time thinking about taking the plunge. But it didn't make sense as I do at least once a month trip to our native place in Konkan and Nexon EV wouldn't be able to cover the distance in a single charge. But, all the EV research took me to Ather website and I pre-booked 450X when they opened the pre-booking. I now own 450X Series 1 and very happy about taking the decision. Range anxiety isn't a thing, once you start using it for city rides. It rides well, dosent have any vibration which makes the ride comfortable than other petrol two wheelers, has enough pickup to leave all other vehicles behind on city roads. I don't care about petrol prices now, at least for my city rides. So yes I do own an EV now, albeit a two wheeler.

I would probably buy a four wheeler EV in two years time, when my Aspire comes up for replacement. I am sure we will have EVs with better range at affordable prices by then.

[sunnsood]

If Tata had launched Altroz ev, i would have bought it already for city use instead of a CNG.

My next car will be an EV and its due for 2022. Hope MG and Tata can iron out the niggles and hit 500KM range. In real world usage, I hardly drive over 500kms in a day and this will solve all my problems.

I don't mind 30-45 minutes charging time since i stop every 2-3 hours on long drives for rest.

[GeeTee TSI]

I'd like to consider an EV as early as 2025 if it aces within the city, town commute needs - small, airy, configurable seating/luggage space, all the more preferable if it is a breadbox like Eeco/Omni. Don't care for looks, speed or range (nor the associated weight and cost) Wonder if there such models at all.

All my cravings will hopefully be satiated by a highway machine quite the opposite in character (if pre-owned, well so be it)