Tata Punch EV (2021-2026) Pros & Cons

If you’re buying an EV to save on fuel costs, then compared to a similarly equipped variant of the Punch petrol-automatic, you’ll have to drive the Punch EV for about 60,000 kilometres just to breakeven the higher upfront cost. Here we are considering the Punch EV Empowered S 35 variant and the Creative Plus S variant of the Punch petrol.

Moreover, these calculations are based on realistic mileage/range for each car and assuming that you’ll charge the car at home at an average cost of Rs. 9 per unit (since you’ll move to a higher slab because of higher electricity consumption.)

If you are completely dependent on public charging, then the km-to-breakeven figure is even higher at around 1 lakh. Here, we have also factored in the 10% inefficiency while charging.

If you’re interested in burying the Punch EV over the Punch petrol, but you don’t see yourself driving well over 1 lakh km during the ownership, then you’re better off buying the petrol powertrain instead.

The EV pricing is yet to stabilize as component pricing and EV policies are still quite unstable. This means that the car you buy today may suddenly depreciate as the new car prices drop.

Not just on the policy front but also on the tech front, the EVs are evolving quite rapidly. So, the range or technology you find adequate today may become unacceptable for buyers 5-10 years down the line. Thus, you may have to settle for a significantly lower resale value.

For instance, the Nexon EV, which first went on sale in 2020 had a 30kWh battery pack and offered 200km of real-world range with an asking price of Rs. 16.0 lakh. With battery degradation factored in, the range of cars sold in 2020 would have dropped to about 150km by now. These days, the Punch EV, which starts at Rs. 10 lakh ex-sh delivers 200km of real-world range. Imagine what resale you could expect from a Nexon EV bought in 2020.

Cars24 are willing to pay about Rs. 6.0 lakh for a 2020 Nexon EV with 1.0 - 1.25 lakh on the odo while Spinny aren’t even willing to buy such a car. That’s a 65% depreciation in about 5 years. Meanwhile, a similarly used 2020 Nexon petrol base model has only suffered about 45% depreciation. The depreciation of other Nexon variants of similar vintage is also in the similar range of 45 - 50%. 15-20% higher depreciation on a car priced much higher would mean about Rs. 3.5 lakh greater loss in depreciation alone.

This being Tata’s first attempt at making an EV on a skateboard platform means you are quite likely to encounter some hardware as well as software-related issues. While it has been on sale for well over a year, there are always some issues that can’t be fixed with a minor tweak in the production process or the software itself. Even if you have extended warranty, it’s still a lot of hassle should a bug or production issue render your vehicle immobile. Even in warranty, be prepared to fight tooth and nail to prove that the issues you’re facing are due to a product defect. And it’s going to be a whole new kind of headache once the vehicle is out of warranty.

With subsequent products on the skateboard platform, such as Curvv EV, you can expect the number of issues to be lower as Tata may have addressed at least some of the problems in the production process itself.

Even in the top model of the Punch EV, which costs well over Rs. 15.0 lakh in states with generous subsidies on electric vehicles, you won’t get features like split folding rear seats and rear AC vents. Much cheaper cars like the Ignis & Celerio offer split rear seatback in Delta & VXI variants, respectively. Meanwhile the Nios offers rear AC vents in all variants except the base model. Moreover, these are features you can’t install after the purchase. So, we'd rather like to see these features in the Punch EV instead of alloy wheels, which we can buy from the dealer at the time of purchase.

Moreover, front armrest isn’t available in any of the 25kWh variants. This is also a critical missing feature since it is not quite easy to install post purchase. And cars, much cheaper than the Punch EV, such as the Kia Sonet, offer such features as standard.

The Punch EV is also available with a fastener 7.2kW AC charger. This is exclusively available with the 35kWh variants and it pushes the ex-showroom price up by Rs. 50,000. Not only does this take away the 3.3kW AC charger out of the package, it will also have a cascading impact on your registration tax and insurance costs.

Instead, we would suggest you buy one post purchase after figuring out if you even need one or not. First of all, you’ll need a higher power connection at home to actually use it. If you’re using some 7kW to charge the car, you’ll also need some 3kW to power the home appliances. This means you’ll need at least 10kW electricity connection.

If you decide that you need a 7kW+ AC charger, then you can either buy a portable one or a fixed one from Amazon. There are some options available for much less cost and they are from reputable manufacturers such as Zevpoint, Exicom, etc and they cost between Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000. This will save you Rs. 20 - 30k and you get to keep the low power charger that came with the car.

If you thought EVs need less maintenance because they don’t have oil and filters to replace, then you can count on Tata Motors to prove you wrong. The Punch EV has a 6-month interval to visit the service centre. While they will only replace consumables in every alternative visit, they will make you pay for labour even on visits where they only claim to have done some checks on the car. This adds to the hassle during the ownership and the overall cost of maintenance.

If you’re not assertive enough, then rest assured that at every service centre visit, the advisor will “advise” you to get some or the other preventive maintenance done even if they are absolutely unnecessary. Denying these optional services is going to be tricky because they are going to spend a whole lot of time with your vehicle. You don’t wanna make enemies with the service advisor because it’s fairly easy to sabotage your vehicle in a way that it will work fine for a few months and break down later during the ownership. Then, they might claim that they told you so. After all, they are the experts.

Thus, this might add to your maintenance costs. And if you don’t maintain a cordial relationship with your service centre reps, then you also run the risk of getting some warranty claims denied in future. The rest of the auto industry recommends yearly service centre visits. In such cases, you only have to see the service centre once every 12 months. So, it’s much less riskier to fight your way through their "recommendations". They probably won’t even remember you 12 months later.

If you’re a bit paranoid about sharing your data, then the telematics thing should seriously concern you. Even when you are no longer paying for the connected car features, the car manufacturer can still continue to collect your data. And who knows what kind of encryption or privacy principles they are following if they are doing so at all.