Spirited Volt

Many in the fray are in the race to manufacture electric cars and SUVs, but Mahindra was playing the ball quietly. Now, they have hit it out of the park for a massive six through their new electric vehicles, the BE 6e and the XEV 9e. Futuristic, future-ready, and loaded to the gills with software and hardware, these new vehicles are certainly not a ‘chip’ off the old block. Designed in-house by the very talented Pratap Bose and his team, the vehicles look very futuristic. The Mahindra team has worked very hard to make what is possibly the best ‘Made in India’ vehicle as of now. Sure, there is tech from all over – motors from Valeo, blade batteries from BYD and a host of other things but the way things have been integrated is a remarkable story in itself.

On the exterior, the design is quite sharp, with aggressive LED bars around the edges and even an LED-illuminated BE monogram on the hood. In fact, the 6e looks more like a concept vehicle than a normal vehicle with its flared-out wheel arches and integrated door handles, first seen on Mahindra’s XUV 700. They look a fair bit of gimmickry, but then an electric car like this has to be more about the show rather than go. Right? Wrong! The BE 6e is fitted with a 59-kWh battery and a motor that churns out 230 bhp, but there is an option of a 79-kWh battery with a 281 bhp motor. Those are big numbers we are talking about, and Mahindra claims a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 6.7 seconds with the larger motor – these were supercar acceleration times from not even a decade back!

The inside is straight out of a spaceship. The centre console has this large strut design feature on it, splitting the cockpit in two, but you do get lots of equipment. There is an aircraft thrust lever-style gear selector that has two buttons for selecting regeneration modes and a dedicated parking button. You get two Qi wireless charging pads, and everything else is via two 12.3-inch screens that control all functions, including the infotainment and the main driver display. Like all new age systems, they are quite fiddly to use (or maybe we are just old-fashioned!) Now, of course, my favourite part is the sound system. The company claims to have developed a unique sound system benchmarking the world’s best, but that is a debatable point. Yes, it does use a 15-channel 1,400-watt amplifier with 16 speakers and Dolby Atmos, along with a few trick equalisation parameters, and it is incredibly loud, so will suit most people’s needs. However, it is not of audiophile quality unlike some luxury cars.

The BE 6e ticks all the boxes – it is fast, it is futuristic and electric, so hence it is the pointer to the direction cars are going to take in the very near future. The BE 6e and its stablemate the XEV 9e are very impressive works of art and will launch for a base price of INR 18.9 lakhs and 21.9 lakhs, respectively. Bookings will open in January next year, with the first deliveries expected end February or early March. Simply put, this is the best we have seen in a long time.