Tata Nexon EV vs Petrol & Diesel – Who Should Buy What

As the EV revolution advances, it becomes necessary to weigh the pros and cons of owning an electric car vs a traditional petrol or diesel car.

This is a Tata Nexon EV vs Petrol & Diesel comparison to determine how much owning each of these costs. The Nexon range provides a great perspective to compare the ownership costs since it is available in petrol and electric version. What is most impressive is the fact that Nexon EV comprises of over 70% of the total market share of EVs in India. It inherits the bold styling, 5-star safety rating, latest tech and convenience features and road presence of the ICE model making it an instant success. Let us compare what it would cost you to own each of these.

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Tata Nexon EV

Nexon EV is available in two trim levels – Prime and Max. Prime has a 30.2 kWh li-ion battery that is good for 312 km of range and powers a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor that develops 127 hp and 245 Nm of peak power and torque. On the other hand, the Nexon EV Max has a bigger 40.5 kWh li-ion battery that powers the same motor to churn out 141 hp and 250 Nm of peak power. The bigger battery allows a range of 453 km on a single charge and an acceleration time for a 0-100 km/h sprint of just 9 secs.

Running Costs of Nexon EV

In order to calculate the running costs associated with the Nexon EV, we must make a few real-world assumptions. For instance, the real-world driving range that one is able to squeeze out of an EV is much lower than what the carmakers claim because these are subject to various factors like driving mannerisms, temperature range, use of HVAC and more. Therefore, we are considering that the Nexon EV Prime will give us a range of around 250 km and the Nexon EV Max would offer upto around 370 km.

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For this case, let us calculate the running costs for an EV owner who would drive the car for 10,000 km in the first year. That is also a fairly common assumption that is true for a lot of people. The cost of per unit electricity is taken to be around Rs 7 per kWh (average of domestic and commercial charging). To charge the EV once, you would spend Rs 211 for Prime and Rs 283 for Max. To cover 10,000 km, you would need to charge the EV 40 times for Prime and 27 times for the Max. Hence, you would spend Rs 8,440 for Prime and Rs 7,640 for Max. Hence, the running cost of Rs 0.84 and Rs 0.76 per km for Prime and Max respectively.

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Tata Nexon Petrol & Diesel

The regular Nexon comes powered by a 1.2-litre turbo petrol and a 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine making 120 PS / 170 Nm and 115 PS / 260 Nm of peak power and torque respectively. There are options of choosing between 6-speed manual or AMT automatic transmissions. The ARAI-rated mileage for the petrol version is 17.33 km/l and for the diesel, it is 23.22 km/l.

Running Costs of Nexon Petrol and Diesel

Similarly, we shall assume a real-world mileage figure for the petrol and diesel versions of the Nexon as well. For this blog, let us assume that you are able to get around 13 km/l for petrol and 17 km/l mileage for diesel (city and highway combined). To cover 10,000 km, the amount of petrol needed will be 770 litres while you would require 588 litres of diesel. With the average price of petrol around Rs 100 per litre and diesel price around Rs 88 per litre, you would end up spending Rs 77,000 and Rs 51,760 respectively. Therefore, the running costs come out to be Rs 7.7 per km and Rs 5.17 per km for petrol and diesel respectively.

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Difference in Initial Price and Running Cost

As evident from the calculations above, there is a lot of difference in the running costs of various versions of the Tata Nexon. Similarly, in terms of the initial price, the Nexon petrol starts at Rs 7.80 lakh and the diesel trim starts at Rs 10 lakh. However, the EV models start with XM trim which costs 14.49 lakh for Prime and Rs 16.49 lakh for Max. The prices of the XM trims of the petrol and diesel models are Rs 8.90 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, respectively. Hence, there is a clear difference of Rs 5.59 lakh and Rs 7.59 lakh between petrol and electric models. This gap is slightly less when comparing diesel to these electric trims.

What We Think

These are some astounding numbers to comprehend. Note that almost 50% of the total price of an EV consists of its battery. That is why we see such stark differences between the ICE-powered variants and electric variants of the same vehicle. The fact of the matter is that it is almost impossible to justify and compensate for the premium that one pays for an EV even after 5 years of ownership. It is only after one takes an even longer horizon of 8-10 years or beyond that the actual savings can be considered.

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The financially astute among you would also understand that if you were to invest that extra money that you will spend on the electric version of the same car in a safe instrument where the yield is a moderate 7%, the actual money that you would save after buying a petrol or diesel car instead of the electric car is massive. Hence, we believe that we are still some time away before EVs start becoming financially feasible for a vast majority of people. Going forward, the prices of petrol and diesel are bound to rise, while the battery prices of EVs would come down due to huge volumes. That is when it would make a significant difference.