Maruti Suzuki Electric Car: Indian customers have been waiting for the electric car of Maruti Suzuki for a long time. Touted as the company’s famous tall boy for the past few years, the electric version of the WagonR has been spotted testing multiple times. But now news is coming that both Maruti Suzuki and Toyota are working together on an electric vehicle, and it will be a mid-size SUV car. The most important thing is that both the companies will give different styles and designs to their electric vehicles.
Earlier, Toyota has been launching Maruti Suzuki cars with its badge under an agreement. In which Glanza based on Baleno and Urban Cruiser based on Brezza are included. According to an Autocar report, Maruti Suzuki’s electric car will be codenamed (YY8), and it is believed that the company will give it a futuristic design that will be completely different from the regular petrol models.
Big plan for export:
According to media reports, Suzuki and Toyota are making big plans for their electric cars. This car will not only be designed for the Indian market, but the company is preparing it keeping in mind the global market. Apart from India, this car will also be exported to the global market. The company will make this car at its plant in Gujarat and will also launch it on foreign soil.
The report also talks about the dimensions of this upcoming car, according to which it will not be a compact or sub-four meter hatchback car. Rather, this electric car will be bigger in size and its length will be about 4.2 meters, which means that this car will be bigger in size than the existing Hyundai Creta. That is, you will get better space inside the car.
The company is building the Maruti YY8 on the modern electric platform and will be given a longer wheelbase of 2,700 mm. Its battery pack will be quite advanced, which, while being slim, will easily fit into the space of the wheelbase. The company will equip this car with advanced features, which will give better space, state-of-the-art features as well as great driving range.
Powertrain and Battery Pack:
It is being told that this electric car of Maruti is being prepared on both two-wheel and all-wheel drive configuration. Its base two-wheel drive variant can be given an electric motor with a power output of 138hp and a battery pack of 48kWh capacity. Which will be capable of giving a driving range of up to 400 km. Whereas the all wheel drive variant will be equipped with two electric motors and this motor will generate power of 170hp. In this variant, the company will use a larger battery pack of 59kWh capacity, which will be capable of giving a driving range of up to 500 km on a single charge.
Although all these things are based on media reports and no information has been shared by the company about it. One more thing to note here is that it is possible that the company may offer the all wheel drive variant only in the global market. The situation will become more clear about this in the coming time.
New Maruti YY8 Electric SUV at a cursory glance:
Length 4,275mm
Width 1,880mm
Height 1,640mm
Wheelbase 2,700mm
Will get Made-in-India battery pack:
It is reported that the company will use Made-in-India battery pack in its new electric car codenamed YY8. Apart from this, more and more locally manufactured components will be used in this car. Which will undoubtedly go a long way in keeping its cost at a minimum. It is being given a battery pack sourced from TDSG which is being jointly developed by Suzuki Motor Corporation, Denso Corporation and Toshiba Corporation. The company is manufacturing this battery pack in Gujarat itself.
Locally sourcing battery packs, which are the most expensive component of an EV, will undoubtedly give a huge cost advantage over rival manufacturers who assemble locally imported battery packs. However, there are no immediate plans to manufacture a lithium-ion cell, which will be imported from BYD, one of the world’s leading battery manufacturers, in China.
What will be the price and when will the car be launched:
The biggest question raised for electric cars is their price. As far as the price of Maruti Y88 electric car is concerned, it is difficult to say anything about it before launch, but it is believed that it can be offered between Rs 13 to 15 lakhs. The company can launch this car in the market by 2025, which will mainly compete with the Tata Nexon, which is currently priced between Rs 14.29 lakh to Rs 16.90 lakh.