Tata Motors has announced an all-new platform for electric mobility. Called the Acti.ev, this new platform marks the dawn of Tata Motor’s born electric cars. This new skateboard architecture style platform will first be seen in the upcoming Punch.ev followed by future models like the electric Tata Motors Curvv, Sierra and Harrier. While we don’t have the exact details of what the specs of each of these cars will be, Tata Motors has given us a basic idea of what to expect from this platform.
The Acti.ev is Tata Motors' all-new platform for the company’s born electric vehicles. The company is calling it the Gen 2 platform which doesn’t rely on converting an existing ICE car into an EV. This means that the cars are built on bespoke platforms for the electric versions of the cars, which will ensure a better user experience with more cabin and storage space. Apart from that, the bespoke design will also allow for more range and performance as the constraints for battery packaging are far fewer when the car is built as an EV against an EV which has been converted from an ICE vehicle. The entire Acti.ev platform has been designed and developed in India and is based on the learnings of Tata Motors' current EVs like the Nexon and Tiago.
The Acti.ev platform uses a skateboard architecture and it consists of four different theoretical layers. Starting with the battery and the powertrain. The company tells us that this platform will use wider orthogonal-shaped battery packs which will allow for 10 per cent better volumetric efficiency, meaning that they will be able to pack in more battery cells in the same amount of space. This should result in claimed range figures from 300-600km based on which vehicle it is put in. This platform is also modular in the sense that the powertrain can be configured to be a FWD, RWD or AWD setup and it can also be used in different body styles. In terms of charging, the batteries, which Tata Motors claims are nex-gen higher density cells will be capable of charging faster. The platform can accept up to 11kW AC charging and 150kW DC fast charging.
Then there is the chassis, which because of the skateboard design allows for better space optimisation and a flat floor. This means that the cabin will have more room and because the biggest component i.e. the battery is placed on the floor, there will be a more spacious boot and frunk. The chassis will be robust with a strong focus on safety and Tata Motors is confident that the platform is capable of a five-star safety rating. This claim is backed by ensuring that the side sill and lateral structures are reinforced well. The chassis will be made up of ultra-high strength steel and this should result in lower kerb weights as well. The company also claims that the ground clearance and ramp-over angles will be robust enough to meet Indian road conditions.
After that is the electrical architecture which is essentially the motor and battery controllers plus all the tech that controls the user interface and software that runs the car. Speaking of, the digital cockpit will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform. Tata Motors also says that the algorithms will be future-ready and capable of adapting to the ever-advancing human-machine-interaction protocols. Active safety-wise, the platform will ship with Level 2 ADAS and is also ready for Level 2+ which makes the car more autonomous for certain periods under specific driving scenarios. As with most EV platforms, the Acti.ev will also be capable of OTA upgrades.
The final piece of the puzzle is made up of the software and cloud computing aspects of a car that include 5G connectivity. The platform is also capable of adapting to third-party apps to make the user interface that much better.
The first car that we will see based on this new Acti.ev platform is the Punch.ev. While the launch date and specs have not been revealed just yet, it would be safe to assume that the Punch.ev will get a range figure close to 300km and is likely to be FWD. After the micro SUV, the modular platform will make its way to the Currv, Sierra and Harrier EVs, the order of which is yet to be confirmed. These cars are likely to be configured in the RWD and AWD configurations and will offer more range than the Punch.ev owing to the larger dimensions and ability to use a bigger battery pack.
Features like the wheelbase, track width and exterior dimensions could be identical to the ICE Punch. The majority of the changes, in comparison to the ICE Punch, will be in the ground layers where the battery and motors will reside. In the case of the Punch.ev, many components like the motor and cells will be shared with existing products like the Nexon.ev and Tiago.ev for now for cost-effectiveness. Future models like the Harrier, etc will get changed based on the spec.
With this announcement, Tata Motors has also opened bookings for the upcoming Punch.ev and you can book yours for a token amount of Rs 21,000. The Acti.ev platform is an important step in Tata Motor’s electric journey. Making a car from the ground up as an electric vehicle allows the manufacturer to make the entire experience much better and more bespoke to what an EV should be like. Tata Motors should launch Punch.ev based on this platform soon and we can’t wait to get our hands on it.