Pune-based Northway Motorsport has launched two electric vehicle conversion kits each for the Maruti Dzire and Tata Ace in India
Electrification is the future of the automobile industry, and select automakers have already started to move in that direction. In the Indian market, electric vehicles are slow to arrive, but they are slowly and steadily gaining momentum. Apart from automobile manufacturers, a few EV mobility solution providers are also working towards a greener future.
Northway Motorsport is also working along the same lines, and it recently launched two EV conversion kits for Maruti Dzire (Model Year 2017 onwards), christened ‘Drive ez’ and ‘Travel ez’. These kits are available for both passenger and commercial vehicles. The Drive ez kit offers a claimed range of 120 km, and the battery can be fully charged in 5 to 6 hours.
The Travel ez kit has a much higher driving range, claimed to be around 250 km, and the battery takes around 8 to 10 hours to fully charge. On both the kits, the passenger car version has a top speed of 140 kmph, while the commercial vehicle version is restricted to just 80 kmph.
Bookings for the Drive ez kit are open now via Northway Motorsport’s website, for a token amount of 25,000. The kit is slated to be priced at around Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh. The Travel ez kit will go on sale very soon, and it will be priced at a significant premium over its peer.
The manufacturer has also launched two conversion kits for Tata Ace (Model Year 2018 onwards), named Shaandaar and Damdaar. The former is good for a driving range of 80 km to 100 km, while the latter can deliver a range of 160 km to 190 km. The top speed is limited to 80 kmph for this commercial mini pickup truck.
On both kits, it takes just 2 hours to fully charge the battery via an express charger. However, a regular charger takes up to 6 hours to charge the Shaandaar kit and 8 hours to change the Damdaar kit. Bookings are currently open only for the former, for a token amount of Rs. 25,000; the final price is estimated to be around Rs. 4.5 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh.
Northway Motorsport is also planning to set up a charging network and service centres across India, in partnership with Bhartiya EV. They will begin operations in Maharashtra, setting up a network in the next 3 to 7 months, and then expand to other cities.