Lithium Urban Technologies to offer MG ZS EV as self-drive rental
MG ZS EV will be launched in India early next month and will be the SAIC owned brand’s second product in the country.
Bengaluru-based startup Lithium Urban Technologies has tied up with MG Motor India to offer the upcoming ZS EV on its self-drive and rental platform. The electric SUV will be available to customers both for inter-city travel and corporate use.
The MG ZS EV is expected to be powered by a 44.5 kWh water-cooled, lithium-ion battery. In this configuration, the SUV will have a combined range of 263 km and a city usage a range of 372 km (both claimed). Interestingly, Lithium claims a 300 km for the MG ZS EV.
The vehicle takes around seven hours to charge via a standard charger, while a fast charger can help the battery reach 0 to 80 percent in 40 minutes. MG Motor India also tied up with Delta Electronics India to install chargers (standard) at homes or offices of customers.
MG will be assembling the electric SUV at the company’s Halol (Gujarat) based manufacturing facility. The ZS EV will be a direct rival to the Hyundai Kona and is expected to be priced at around Rs 22 lakh. The Kona carries a price tag of Rs 23.71 lakh (ex-Delhi) and has an ARAI claimed range of 452 km.
The SUV will be introduced in India in a phased manner with a focus on Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad during the first phase.
Lithium is India’s first zero-emission transport service and has recently announced a tie-up with Tata Motors. This agreement will see the carmaker supply 400 Tigor EV sedans to Lithium by March 2020.
The Tigor EV has a range of 213 km on a single charge. Also, 100 units of Tata’s upcoming electric SUV Nexon EV are also a part of this deal. This model too is set to be unveiled in India in December 2019 and will have a range of about 300 km.
At present, Lithium has a fleet of 400 vehicles and claims to save 2.5 million kilometres of carbon dioxide-emitting driving per month.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)
