Maruti Wagon R electric vehicle prototype had already been showcased at MOVE Summit in New Delhi
The next big revolution in automobile world will be electric vehicles as the governments around the world are looking to reduce pollution from vehicles and by 2050, some experts are predicting that the entire industry will move to electric vehicles or they will be powered by alternative fuels like hydrogen and fossil fuel.
India is also planning to join the electric revolution and even though we have some electric cars in our market, the idea is yet to catch on minds of average Indian car buyers as one of the reasons is lack of charging points across the country and price of EV models are very high.
Maruti Suzuki is India’s largest car manufacturer and they don’t want to be left behind in EV race, as they have already joined hands with Toyota to develop electric vehicles especially for the Indian market and later these products will reach other emerging markets. The Wagon-R EV will be Maruti Suzuki’s first electric car in India.
The Indo-Japanese manufacturer had already showcased a prototype of Wagon-R EV at MOVE Summit in Delhi and even though it is based on Japanese spec Wagon-R, which is completely different from Indian version, it gives us a hint of what’s coming in future.
The company is yet to reveal technical specification of Wagon-R EV, but earlier reports indicate that it might come with 72 V electric system and lithium-ion battery pack. We can expect Wagon-R EV to offer good range and the launch is expected to take place by the end of 2020, which will give first mover advantage for Maruti Suzuki.
The design of EV and regular model will be similar except for minor changes at front and rear along with different alloy wheels. The interior design will be the same and EV model might come with a new instrument cluster. We can expect Maruti Suzuki to price Wagon-R EV aggressively and competitors are also working at affordable EVs.