Bought a Tata Punch EV after Maruti Suzuki Ritz: My initial impressions

I had to travel to my native place from Chennai ~ 440km's via NH47 and decided to take the vehicle when the ODO was less than 300km. I planned the tip with plugshare and started with 100% charge.

BHPian camaroon recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Background: I currently own Ritz Diesel which I bought in 2010 with around 80k on Odo. Have been very happy with the ownership so far. It was time to do the fitness Certificate by end of the year and is still in great condition with extraordinary pickup and handling.

Following are the reasons for looking for a replacement

1. High level of vibrations in the cabin and the heat from engine
2. The engine had been run-in around 60-80 kmph speed due to the distance to my office. Due to this it was butter smooth at 80 kmph but at low speeds and lower gears, had a whine. I realized that this irritated me, caused stress and tried avoiding this by going at higher speeds even if situations do not allow. I was tired and stressed out even after an 1 hour drive.
3. Many parts have been replaced and a change of Strut assembly was due

In spite of all this I have decided to replace parts, complete Fitness certificate, renew registration and retain the car as backup.

Started looking at EV due to the below reasons

1. 95% usage in city and occasional highway runs
2. I am used to engine braking and high torque at lower speed offered by 1.3 MJD engine
3. Low NVH
4. I started using solar panels more than 15 years ago when the concept was new. Recently I replaced all the components - panels, wiring, charge controller, batteries..etc myself and was comfortable handling electrical systems in my house. My current setup is s small 1.5kw panel off-grid system and is not sufficient to charge an Ev. However my consumption is very low at <250 units every 2 months. I will still be within the government current subsidy even after getting an EV.
5. GST at 5% and no Road tax. I believe these will be taken away once the volumes reach critical mass. This will offset any price reduction due to less battery costs.

Why Punch EV

1. I am ok with getting components from China but not comfortable with majority Chinese owned companies (vs MG / BYD)
2. LFP over NMC battery due to low degradation at higher operating temperatures and charge tolerance at 100% (vs XUV400)
3. Kona electric was considered seriously but low ground clearance and bad roads in my usual route eliminated it. Also was apprehensive about support and cost for CKD components in case replacements are required. Got to know that TATA EV parts are not cheap and have long lead times to replace as well.
4. Lack of experience with others including Honda, Maruti and in general lack of other options lead me to Tata. Also all these are likely to be in 20L+ range, with launches getting delayed due to slowdown in EV market and I did not want to spend too much money on emerging tech.
5. Citroen eC3 did not have active cooling which may be an issue for our hot climate
6. Me and my Family did not feel Nexon was a significant upgrade over Punch to warrant the additional cost and Tiago was not an upgrade over Ritz in terms of cabin space.
7. Punch itself being a hotseller shares the body components with the EV.
8. Good ground clearance with a compact size for city maneuvers. Rear seat size was slightly better than Ritz

 Why Long Range

• Obviously longer range but also higher powered motor
• When range decreases with battery degradation it is still usable as I intend to keep this for 10+ years (hopefully)
• Why Empowered+ 3.3kw Variant
• No possibility of installing aftermarket electronics
• 360* camera, ventilated seats and 10 inch MFD / Infotainment appeared value for money compared to earlier variants. (not convinced 100% about the utility now)
• No point in sunroof due to hot Hot weather
• Did not want to increase EB load for 7.2kw. Also can get the zevpoint charger aftermarket if required as onboard charger supports higher charging power
• Rationale for choosing Color - Empowered Oxide
• Wanted light color as my current vehicle is Dark Green and we get toasted inside the vehicle when it stands in the sun
• Was exclusive to high variant
• I live in a place with high level dust settling in a couple of hours. The oxide color really masks this and is not visible unless looking closely

Was a bit disappointed that all higher variants come with dual tone, black roof. I measured the temperature in the bonnet vs roof after the vehicle was standing in the sun and there was massive 11* difference in temperature. While the cabin is insulated, the heat still gets transmitted inside resulting in waste of power and impact on electrical & electronic components.

Black roof Temperature

Bonnet Temperature

Booking, Purchase & Delivery experience

Disclaimer: The purchase experience may vary based on the available stock and dealer motivation at that point in time and cannot be generalized.

1. Inquired for test drives with multiple dealers and only Lakshmi Tata responded with test drive at my residence
2. Made booking with Lakshmi Tata mid Feb as they gave test drive, with the written commitment for delivery in 45 days. I made it clear during booking that full payment will be made only after PDI and sales rep agreed.
3. Started receiving calls every week from their Finance Dept that the vehicle is in transit and I need to make payment. I reminded them that payment will be made only after PDI. At one point I got irritated and asked them to allocate vehicle to someone else if this is not fine. I did not do proactive follow-ups from my side.
4. Made parallel booking with PPS TATA after this. Sales guy made verbal commitment to delivery by end of Feb to get the booking, but in booking form commitment was 30 days. Since I was not in hurry did not make a fuss.
5. While I did not ask for discount, I had asked for ~2L payment via credit card but without 2% payment gateway fee and the rest via cheque from both dealers. Lakshmi Tata went cold after this and no response. PPS was indicating it was ok but went cold without any response to whatsapp messages. Till end of March no response from both.
6. First week of Apr, EV's sales was dipping and inquired with FPL along with discounts. Got quote of 15k discount without any accessories and self insurance. They indicated vehicle was in Transit and will reach yard in 3 days. I made the booking with FPL.
7. During this period I could see the bookings in Tata motors Ev site. Lakshmi Tata's order date was updated every day until cancelled and PPS booking did not appear at all. FPL booking appeared on time and was updated to invoiced.
8. PPS Sales rep called and indicated that the vehicle is in yard for PDI. I told him that booking was made in FPL but will come for PDI
1. Vehicle was brought to PPS showroom for PDI. My wife noticed the below:
2. Plastic Panel behind rear door handle was almost coming off
9. Small white paint spots on front passenger door and paint smudge in beading. Red flag - Rejected vehicle. Sales rep tried to convince that the door has not been repainted and gave reasons such as door was open when another vehicle was painted..etc. We did not budge.
10. FPL sales rep called for PDI in 3 days.Vehicle was ok - noticed issue on hard boot closure, but was ok as this was common issue.
11. Tata power installation was booked 3 days in advance of delivery and got a SMS for the same. Got a call and informed that we have the box.
12. Paid full amount and Got the charger box and manual - Thanks to @KingJulien for the idea. They obliged for delivery on Sunday even though they normally do not do it. Did formalities on Friday and noticed that vehicle was charged to 100%

Invoice with GST - 14.34L,

TCS - 14,3400 (Not credited in AIS tax statement yet),

Insurance - 44,188 (with 45% NCB transfer from Ritz for Own Damage),

Includes invoice purchase, Zero Dep, Aggravation cover - vehicle getting submerged during floods..etc, Key replacement, tyre cover

Booking Cancellation

1. Emailed the request for cancellation to the Lakshmi TATA CRE, CRM emails from which booking confirmation email was sent and had no response. Contacted sales rep who gave another email id for cancellation. Refund appeared in 2 days as promised.
2. PPS sales rep gave an email id for cancellation. SLA was 10 days and took around 15 days for refund to appear in bank account.

Delivery & Post Delivery Experience

1. Delivery day - got vehicle handover without any wait time and noticed battery indicator was showing empty while moving the car
2. Sales rep disconnected Aux battery for 10 mins and reconnected. Now battery showed full percentage. Also checked slow charging using their charge and my vehicle charger. Now I have a size 10 spanner in my glove box at all times.
3. Put google maps for a nearby temple in car using apple carpay and had difficulty to get it working. All this took additional 1.5Hrs. GPS was off by several meters and since it was narrow roads we went in circles. By the time we reached the temple it was closed. Overall had a bad feeling about this.
4. In the meanwhile I created an extension box with 3 x 20m x 4mm wires, MCB box with digital meter which I used for charging via 15amp AC socket.

1. Zconnect was activated by Dealer rep after delivery on Monday and started working next day
2. Tata Electrician came with wrong cable size and did not install. I had to go off station and hence did not follow-up. No followup with them either. After returning escalated to the number in SMS and no response. Spam called the first contact 15 times and he SMS'd a number. Had to blast the lady on the other side about their lack of professionalism. Electrician came a day later and installed the box. The wire provided by Tata is for outdoor use and is of good quality. Had to pay 3m extra as I asked them to connect to the AC point which I was already using for charging.

Highway Driving Experience

I had to travel to my native place from Chennai ~ 440km's via NH47 and decided to take the vehicle when the ODO was less than 300km. I planned the tip with plugshare and started with 100% charge.

Vehicle Load - 2 adults including myself, 2 kids and fully loaded luggage.

• Charging during breakfast - Planned to stop at Hotel Saravana Bhavan Zeon charger near Thindivanam - 112kms / 2Hr30. Charger was occupied and the person indicated another 20 mins to charge to 100%. Took U turn and dropped Family in Cafe Udipi Ruchi and went to Zeon Station near Thala Tea time / Venkateshwara service station which was thankfully within 100ms. Till this point consumed 40% of battery. Family was supportive till this point but became nervous afterwards. Thankfully with some trial and error learnt to get the charger to work. 61-98% in 37 mins for 13.58KW @ 24.90 = Rs399
• Charging during Lunch - By this time I was confident with the vehicles capabilities and was consistently going in triple digit speeds in sports mode. The battery dropped from 98 -> 25% for 164km and had to stop for early Lunch at Zeon station @ A2B near Attur. Met another Punch EV user in charging station who was complaining about the battery drain in Sports Mode.
• 25->97% for 26.05kwh in 1 hour for Rs765
• End of Drive - Drove 97% -> 40% for 140kms with a 50% mix of National and State Highways
• Return drive - I used the same Zeon charger near Attur and the charging started automatically. When I stopped the charging, it went into a loop and the charger gun was not released. I reached out to Zeon CS and they informed its problem with vehicle and asked to try and manually release. Finally they stopped charging from zeon side and the lock was released. Wasted time and caused anxiety for my family
• Also tried using Relux charger and had to try multiple times to start charging.

Stats from Zconnect below

State Highway at moderate speed and driving to Low battery

1. I was driving around my destination primarily on state highways in 60-80kmph range got around 266km until 6% with just myself. Day time temperatures were around 42* and night time around 31*
2. Slow charge using 15amp socket consumed 37.5kws from 6 ->100%
3. Limp mode gets activated at 10% and vehicle does not go above 55kmph. Ac does work.
4. Legal disclaimer - Zconnect indicates seat belt not used even if used. I use this diligently.

Office Commute - 60% city - 40% highway

1. 95% of my usage will be for this with just myself and no other passengers
2. Getting range of about 270km from 100%->10% charge. Slow charging takes 13-14 hours including cell balancing. Energy consumed around 35Kw.
3. I avoid using AC in mornings until it gets hot, as we started getting rains in these parts
4. Legal disclaimer - Zconnect indicates seat belt not used even if used. I use this diligently.

First Service Experience

1. After the long trip ODO was 1900 kms and has to schedule first service
2. Called PPS guindy who said they do not service EV's
3. Called PPS Chrompet and appointment was available only after a week. Booked along with pickup and drop
4. Called and confirmed a day in advance - was told pickup will be between 9.30-10.00am. No one came until 12.00PM. Called again and driver arrived at 3.30pm.
5. The only complaint I listed was bonnet lid not closing unless excess force is applied. SA then listed of things including AC cleaning..etc. Asked him why for new car and he changed to AC filter cleaning. Before closing job card he indicated some 500Rs for consumables, which I now realize could have been an add-on for silicon spray. He indicated Infotainment system got updated. System version is still 12.78. Few others have indicated that further updates are available but this varies from service station to station. How can this not be uniform across ASS?

I asked for 3+ year extended warranty. Maybe the sales quota was over and got zero bill for service.

3+ year Extended warranty - Rs 49,499

Rationale - While vehicle comes with 8 year warranty for battery and Motor, there are other components which are extremely costly like DC/DC, AC/DC converters, Controller, ECU, Cooling systems. In the other Nexon EV thread it was reported that AC (cooling) compressor costs 1L just in part which failed after the initial 3 year warranty.

While TATA website shows the option for purchasing this online, it get's stuck while updating mileage. TATA customer service was responsive but useless even when screenshots were sent.

Following were my observations with benchmark of my earlier Vehicle

Tata seems to have fully embraced Agile principles and are delivering MVP + increments. This does not work in the real world where partial or buggy features are provided to the customer and they + service centers are having to compensate.

PRO's

1. Absolutely quiet and no noise and vibration except for wind and tyre noise. Felt very little tiredness from 7+hours of driving
2. Suspension and stability is excellent and extremely well planted on the road due to low center of gravity from the battery pack
3. Excellent handling and quick maneuverability. Steering weight increases with speed but the vehicle was very agile at all speeds
4. Vehicle acceleration in city mode is actually adequate for highways and in sports mode is explosive for overtaking until around 110kmph and cruising in general.
5. Product maturity has improved and no HV issues or getting stranded in the middle kind of issues so far faced by Tiago or Nexon EV (Touch-wood - buying this vehicle has made more superstitious in general).
6. Not sure if this pro or con, but it has different road presence from different angles.

• Front - Subjective, but looks ok
• Side - Taller than ICE Punch, ICE Nexon and Nexon EV?
• Back - Large Black back bumper in white / oxide color looks ugly and makes the car look smaller than it is. This is not an issue with dark colors.

CON's

1. Fast Chargers - Chicken and egg situation with Fast chargers. The NH47 route I took had lot of chargers but if a charger we had planned to use gets occupied, we just waste time.
2. During end of the trip there was noise and vibration which could be felt in the brake and accelerator. Was worried whether the vehicle already had issues and if its was due to pushing the vehicle. Did not notice anything wrong in the bonnet and no coolant leaks. Later released that this is because the ambient temperatures were around 42 degrees and the compressor was working overtime to cool the battery and the AC/DC charger unit. Since then I have noticed this happening a few time but have got used to it. The performance also seems to be affected and I don't push the vehicle when this happens. In Zconnect we can see energy spent on battery conditioning in addition to Cabin AC. This can further decrease the available range unexpectedly and we need to be careful when temperatures are hot.The bonnet remained hot for few hours even after the vehicle was switched off. This is both Pro and Con as we can see active thermal management in action. The vehicle electronics & battery will have lower life if continuously operated in High temperatures. The manual indicates operating temperature until 45* when ambient temperatures of so many places are going over this temperature in summer.
3. High unpredictability of issues. While I have been luck so far, many have reported a wide range of issues in this thread. The parts quality and/or QC is so bad that every batch of vehicles have different set of issues?.
4. Long lead times in getting EV parts and repair
5. Extended warranty cost needs to be factored during purchase. Best bought within 90 days of purchase to ensure lock-in at cheaper rates.
6. Lock in with TATA ASS are real pain.

• While TATA vehicles are selling in huge numbers, their service centers are not scaling proportionately leading to pile up of vehicles and overall poor customer experience
• The 6 month service interval is quite unnecessary especially for EV's
• Repeated issues like boot locking issue are being passed on to customers and letting them deal with service centers. This issue is not even EV specific and has been going on for some time. Does TATA look for product feedback and incorporate improvements?

Both PRO and CON

PRO - I like the details provided by Zconnect especially its tracking feature while it is going for service, valets..etc Renewal fee of 3.5 / year is not much. CON - Remote access to car over internet - Not sure I can trust any car company let alone TATA to protect my vehicle from hackers.

PRO - High rolling resistance tyres from Apollo Amperion is contributing to higher mileage. CON - Traction during wet weather?

PRO - No spare tyre reduces weight and improves mileage. CON - what to do if tyre gets split with high impact?. Do we need to invest in spare tyre and rim for long drives?

Would I recommend this car - Yes for state highways and City drives if,

1. Able to charge with AC current (along with good earthing) in home / office to 100% most of the time to allow for battery balancing
2. Able to cover ~ 250 kms before charging on slow charger. Given the additional cost more KM's have to be covered for recouping the initial cost. But given the range limitation most cannot do this. For mass adoption, either EV prices have to come below ICE or range drastically increases keeping price the same. It may take quite a while for this to happen.
3. Covered car parking/charging with IP65 protection recommended due to electrical connections and Portable charger is not IP65 protected.

Not recommended for,

1. Regular long drives with too much reliance on fast chargers
2. High speed Expressways - Sports mode and high speed exponentially drains the battery. The box type design does not help with wind resistance either.

Near Term Plans

1. Paint Top and Bumper with Body color
2. Prevent heat from entering windscreen and windows
3. Change dashboard color to white with vinyl?

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.