On the eve of World EV day, Mahindra took the wraps off its newest all-electric offering the XUV400EV. Primed to take the competition to the Tata Nexon EV Prime and the Nexon EV Max, the XUV400EV will start reaching the showrooms early next year.

Design

Based on Mahindra’s XUV 300, the all-electric SUV shares almost the same silhouette and design elements as its petrol counterpart. The obvious difference here is Mahindra’s new ‘Twin Peak’ logo. Also new here is the faux grille design, which is a rather common sight on EVs. In comparison, the ICE-powered XUV 300 gets a traditional four-line horizontal grille, along with air-intakes on the front bumper, flanked by two (optional) LED DRLs.  

Other distinctive elements on the XUV 400 EV include copper-coloured inserts on the exterior, as opposed to the silver-finished one seen on the petrol counterpart. Take a look from the side and you’ll notice the EV is also longer than the ICE-powered offering, by 200mm, to be precise. This might’ve been done to accommodate the batteries. However, the wheelbase here remains the same at 2,600mm, which is the biggest in the segment. Unfortunately, the boot capacity is lesser compared to the XUV 300 (418 litres).

Overall, both offerings look mostly similar to each other from the side with similar 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels.   

Cabin

Things are somewhat similar on the inside too, with the same 7-inch infotainment system taking the centre stage here on both the XUV 300 and 400. However, the EV does get an all-black cabin, with copper inserts sprinkled around the interiors. And while its closest competition the Nexon EV Prime also packs the same sized 7-inch infotainment system, Mahindra also claims to offer a “first-in-segment exclusive application for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.”

Powertrain

Coming to the heart of the matter, the XUV400 EV gets a 39.5kWh battery pack, which powers its 150PS and 310Nm motor. This helps it in sprinting from 0-100kmph in just 8.3 seconds (claimed), with a top speed of 150km. In comparison, the Nexon EV Prime gets a 130PS e-motor, while the Nexon EV Max gets a more powerful 143PS e-motor.

In terms of range though, Mahindra claims the XUV400 can go 456km on a single charge, which is more than what the Tata Nexon EV Max offers, with its 437km of range. You can charge it up to 80 per cent in just 50 minutes, using a 50kW charger. In the case of a 7.2kW AC charger, this goes up to 6.5 hours for a full top-up.

The Tata offering, on the other hand, takes 56 minutes minute to get to the 80 per cent mark, with a 50kW DC fast charger. If you opt for a 7.2 kW AC unit, expect the full top-up to take around 6.5 hours.   

Safety

Both the Mahindra XUV 300 and the Tata Nexon EV are among the safest cars in our market. While the former boasts of a 5-star and 4-star rating in terms of adult and child safety, the Tata offering stands at 5-star and 3-star, according to the Global NCAP scores.

While the numbers of the XUV400EV aren’t out yet, Mahindra claims that it has used 45 percent high-strength steel in its construction. If that’s not enough, it also gets six airbags, ISOFIX child seat anchorage, electronic stability control (ESC), cornering brake control, an IP67 battery rating and a rear-parking camera. For better ride quality, the EV also comes with frequency-dependent suspension damping, which was recently seen on the Scorpio N.  

The Tata Nexon EV gets almost all of the safety equipment offered on the XUV, along with an additional tyre-pressure monitoring system and follow-me headlamps.