MG E230 set to be among India’s cheapest electric cars at less than Rs 10 lakh

British motoring brand Morris Garages (MG) is gearing up to develop an all-new electric vehicle (EV) — the small car MG E230 — that it plans to roll out globally and could soon become India’s cheapest EV at less than Rs 10 lakh (Rs 10,00,000).

As per the company’s plan, price-sensitive India could be among the first markets where the MG E230 would be launched. 

The small electric vehicle from the MG stable will be a two-door and two-seater car that would centre around the Wuling Hongguang Mini. 

MG E230 electric car.

The EV is expected to have a 20kWh battery and 150 km range. Reports suggest that MG is considering keeping the price of the car below Rs 10 lakh as it wants to get a head start in a market that factors in pricing to a great extent.

The MG small EV is set to be made on the SAIC-GM-Wuling Global Small Electric Vehicle (GSEV) platform, which is used in the Chinese market. 

This platform is used for cars such as the Baojun E100, E200, E300, and E300 Plus, as well as the Wuling Hongguang Mini electric vehicle. 

These vehicles are all two-door small hatchbacks and have gained popularity in the Chinese market. So, the British company is planning to replicate the same with the E230 in India.

The Hongguang Mini EV is currently on sale in China and it is only 2,917 mm in length, 1,493 mm in width and 1,621 mm in height, having a wheelbase of 1,940 mm.

Compared with the Hongguang Mini electric-car, the E230 is set to have a bigger as well as longer wheelbase, in spite of being a two-seater vehicle. 

MG Motor India president and managing director (MD) Rajeev Chaba had said that the next launch in the country could be an “electric crossover based on a global platform.” 

He had revealed that this global EV will be rolled out in early 2023. The e-car will be “customised for range, and Indian regulations as well as customer taste,” he had said.

The India MD also revealed that this mass market EV will be considered for all emerging markets and MG plans to sell around 30,000 cars of this small EV. The company will set aside around Rs 3,000 crore-Rs 3,500 crore to set up a new EV subsidiary in India.

With regard to pricing, MG had last year said that the small EV for India could be priced competitively at Rs 10 lakh-Rs 15 lakh. But now, MG may be looking to price it below Rs 10 lakh.

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So far as features go, the E230 may be equipped with ABS, electronic brake force distribution (EBD), rear parking sensors, advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), Internet of vehicle (IOV), automatic parking, voice commands as well as dual front airbags. 

And, going by MG’s advancements in technology and with all the e-cars being heavily equipped with a litany of features, we can hope that this mass market electric vehicle, the E230 (at less than Rs 10 lakh), from Morris Garages’ stable will give us some tech surprises.