Hi, I am planning to buy an EV in the 15-17 lakh range. This will be my daily drive to the office, which is approximately 40-50 kms a day. I have driven the Nexon EV, Windsor EV, and the Curvv EV. I haven't driven the VF6 yet, as it is a little over my budget, but it seems a better car in terms of build quality and driving, as per reviews. Should I settle for one of the obvious or splurge a bit for the VinFast?

Autocar India

•12h

Daily 60-65 km with a mix of short highway and narrow rural roads, and a Rs. 12-14 lakh cap, in this brief, the Tata Punch EV Accomplished + S fits best. It is smaller and easier to thread through tight lanes than the other two, yet it has good ground clearance and a suspension that takes rough patches well, so your rural stretches won’t feel tiring. It will easily cover your daily run with charge to spare, and since you already have the Seltos for longer trips, you won’t miss the extra punch or size of the bigger cars.The Tata Nexon EV Fearless MR/Creative 45 and the Mahindra XUV 3XO EV AX5 are better suited for long highway days, but they may stretch your budget and are a size up, which can be less convenient in narrow bylanes.

Tata Punch EV

Tata Nexon EV

Mahindra XUV 3XO EV

Autocar India

•2d

If you can set up a charger at home, an EV would be cheaper to run, but on your longer trips (150km one way, 300km return), you might need to make a quick stop to top up the battery. If you are alright with the extra planning, then the EV is the obvious choice. If you cant charge at home and dont want trips to be limited by range, then the diesel automatic is the safer choice.If you decide to go with an EV, then the Tata Nexon EV is a good choice. The 45kWh battery can deliver around 350km in the real world, as per our testing, which should be enough for most of your trips. For a diesel, the Kia Seltos HTE (O) diesel automatic is a good choice. The base trim is rather well equipped, with features like cruise control to take the stress out of your longer drives.If you have a fixed parking spot where you can set up a charger and your routes have fast chargers, an EV is the better choice.

Tata Nexon EV

Kia Seltos

Autocar India

•2d

With 100-125 km a day and Rs. 15 lakh budget, the Tata Nexon EV Creative 45kWh fits your brief best. It will cut your running cost sharply, stays in budget, and the single-gear drive feels far smoother than your Swift’s automatic in stop-go traffic. For your mix of city and 80-90 kph state roads, it moves easily at low speeds and stays steady at cruise. The higher seat and comfortable ride also help on broken patches and speed breakers.Do check two things: you should be able to park at home and plug in overnight, and at 80-90kph with AC the range will drop a bit, so keep some spare range in hand. In our real world tests, we managed 355km on a single charge so you will need to charge it once every two days. If you must go CNG, consider the Tata Altroz iCNG automatic. It lowers fuel spend and keeps the easy drive, but it feels slower on CNG, the boot is smaller, and CNG pump queues can eat time. For your daily run and savings goal, go with a Nexon EV.

Tata Altroz

Tata Nexon EV

Maruti Suzuki Swift