Renault Kwid EV unveiled- the budget friendly EV

After the launches of EVs from Tata and MG, Renault is all set to bring its EV in India. Renault showcased the Kwid EV at Renault’s pavilion at Auto Expo 2020. To know more about the Kwid EV read the article below.

The Renault Kwid EV was first introduced as a concept at the Paris motor show last year. It was called City K-ZE and is on sale in China. In India however, it might have named as Kwid EV. It has a similar design and interior cues as the on-sale Renault Kwid.

Aesthetics / Exterior

From exterior one can easily identify it as a Kwid due to its similarities. It gets the piano black closed grill at front and the U shaped chrome treatment around the brand’s logo. The charging sockets are neatly hidden behind the grill. It gets the split headlamp set up with the LED DRLs at the top of headlamps. At the Auto Expo, it had few graphics of EV badge. However, in production model it might not present. At side, it clearly has no changes compared to the ICE Kwid. It gets the 14-inch steel wheels but they are made to look like alloy wheels. At the rear, it is pretty much similar to the petrol Kwid apart from the badge that says K-ZE.

Interior

From inside it is very familiar or identical with the standard ICE Kwid. It gets 8.0-inch touch screen infotainment system, semi-digital instrument cluster, power windows and pretty much the same as the petrol Kwid. It will get dual airbags, ABS, and EBD as a standard feature. It gets the two adjustable headrests at the rear seats. One cannot easily differentiate the Kwid EV interior with the standard Kwid.

Powertrain

The powertrain is the main highlight of the Renault Kwid EV. The Kwid EV comes with the 26.8 kWh Li-ion battery. The electric motor is able to produce the power output of 44 bhp and 125 Nm peak torque. The vehicle will be the front-wheel drive. It will not be a fast EV as one would expect, but it will have something a commuter will actually need. The range of the vehicle will be 271 km on a full charge. The company claims that if one drives it at 60 km/hr constant speed, it will have range up to 350 km.

It requires 50 minutes to charge from 0-80 per cent from the DC fast charger.

Price

One could expect that it will launch at a very attractive price point. It could be the most affordable EV in current times. The expected price will be around Rs 6-7 lakhs(ex-showroom). The company has not revealed any plans for launching Kwid EV, but clearly said that it will launch an EV in upcoming two years span. Being that said it will be nicer option to launch this small EV. It will compete against upcoming Tata Tiago EV and Tigor EV