Tata Tigor EV: is it worth buying, and which variant?

What the showroom won't lead with

The Tigor EV is a compact electric sedan, 3,993 mm long, with the battery under the floor and a 316-litre boot left intact. Prices run from ₹12.49 lakh to ₹13.75 lakh ex-showroom. That boot is the real reason to choose it, because almost nothing else electric at this money gives you one.

What the salesperson may skip: it is an older design, it has two airbags where newer Tata EVs have six, and a new electric sedan is listed as upcoming. None of that makes it a bad buy. It does mean you should buy it for what it does today.

The ladder, and what each rung costs

Every variant shares the 26 kWh battery, the 75 PS and 170 Nm motor, Drive and Sport modes and the claimed 315 km. So the climb is purely about equipment. Even the XE gets automatic climate control, ESC, rear parking sensors and a tyre pressure monitor.

315 km on paper, about 200 to 230 km in town

The 315 km is a test-cycle figure. In mixed city driving with the AC on, plan on roughly 200 to 230 km from a full charge, and less at highway speeds. That's our planning estimate, not a test result.

For a 40 to 60 km daily commute, that means charging every four or five days from a 15 A socket or a wallbox. On a CCS2 fast charger it reaches 80% in about 65 minutes, which is slow if you're mid-trip, so treat inter-city runs as the exception.

The per-km maths, with our assumptions on the table

Our assumptions: home electricity at ₹8 a unit, about 13.3 units per 100 km at the meter (225 km from 26 kWh, plus roughly 10% charging loss), public DC charging at ₹18–24 a unit, and a petrol compact sedan doing 14 km/l in town on petrol at ₹103 a litre. All of these are assumptions, so swap in your own tariff and running.

What the saving is worth, and why on-road price varies

On a home-charged Tigor EV, the saving at 1,000 km a month is about ₹6,300, or roughly ₹75,000 a year. Put another way, every ₹1 lakh you pay over a petrol alternative comes back in about 16 months.

That premium depends heavily on where you register the car. Several states waive or cut road tax on EVs, and the rules change, so a Tigor EV can cost noticeably different amounts on the road in Bangalore, Pune and Indore. Check your state's current EV policy rather than trusting a figure quoted for another city, and compare insurance quotes, which run higher on the dearer car.

Who it suits, and who should walk past

It suits a buyer who drives mostly in town, can charge at home or at work, and wants a sedan's boot for luggage or a family's weekly shop. It is quiet and smooth in traffic, and the low per-km cost adds up quickly if you drive a lot.

Walk past if you can't charge at home, if you regularly drive between cities, or if six airbags matter to you. For similar money the Punch EV offers more range and more airbags, at the cost of the boot.

If you asked us in the showroom

We'd take the XZ Plus at ₹13.49 lakh. The reverse camera, cruise control and automatic lights and wipers are things you use every day, and it already has the touchscreen. We'd skip the LUX, because ₹26,000 for leatherette is better spent on a wallbox or a first year of insurance.

If you can wait a few months, ask the dealer about the upcoming electric sedan before you sign. Tell us your daily running, where you'd charge and your state, and we'll check the on-road price and the sums before you book.