MG's small electric vehicle spotted in India first time

Earlier, there were reports that MG has started working on an affordable compact electric vehicle for the Indian market. MG will launch the small electric vehicle at the Auto Expo 2023. Now, the new EV has been spotted on Indian roads for the very first time.

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It has been codenamed E230 and will be based on Wuling Air EV. Wuling is the sister brand of MG and they unveiled the Air EV in Indonesia recently. MG will make some India-specific changes to the Air EV before launching it in the market. Moreover, they will also change the name and the EV will wear an MG badge. It is expected that the MG E230 will be priced at around Rs. 10 lakhs.

In the picture, we can see that MG has brought in a left-hand drive version of the Air EV for testing. They will adapt the EV to suit our Indian climatic conditions so that it is able to work in our climatic conditions without any issues.

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So, India-specific changes could be a stronger air conditioning system that could take handle the scorching summers of our country. The battery management system would also need to be retweaked to handle our climatic conditions.

It seems like a spare tyre has been mounted on the boot which we have not seen on the global model. In Indonesia, the Air EV is sold with 12-inch steel wheels. However, in India, we could get stylized wheels or even alloy wheels.

According to Autocar India, the higher variants of the E230 will come with soft-touch materials with wooden and faux aluminium inserts. There would be loads of features on offer. Expect, a dual-screen layout of the infotainment system and instrument cluster. It will be targeted as a vehicle that could be used for daily commutes and for completing daily chores. MG knows that the new EV will be mostly used in cities instead of highways. So, for most people, this would be more of a second vehicle instead of a primary vehicle.

The design of the electric vehicle is very unique. It has a two-door body style with funky elements and design language. It is based on MG’s Global Small Electric Vehicles (GSEV). This platform is capable of manufacturing different body styles also. So, we can see the same platform being used for upcoming electric vehicles.

The doors are quite large so getting in and out should not be a big issue. Up-front there is a full-length light bar that connects to the chrome strip which then connects to the outside door mirrors that are mounted on the doors. There are LED headlamps, slim fog lamps and a vertical rear window.

The front windshield is quite steep because of the small dimensions and the charging port is also located in the front. The length of the EV will be 2.9 metres with a wheelbase of 2,010 mm. So, it would be very easy to drive around town and parking should be quite easy also.

The battery capacity is expected to be between 20 kWh to 25 kWh with a power output of around 40 hp. This should be good for a driving range of 150 km on a single charge. MG wants to price the EV competitively so the batteries will be sourced locally from Tata AutoComp.

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Via Autocar India