The Indian mass electric passenger car market, currently dominated by Tata Motors, will see the entry of a strong rival in the form of Mahindra & Mahindra's  XUV400 electric vehicle that will be globally  unveiled today at 7.30pm at the Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) R&D centre.

The XUV400 is expected to have a NMC powered twin battery pack that will increase its range and also give it an edge over other offerings such as the Tata Nexon EV, and MG ZS EV. The new EV offering is expected to be powered by a single front-wheel-drive electric motor that produces 130 bhp of power from the twin battery packs capable of delivering a range of 400 km plus range on a single charge.

The XUV 400 is also expected to provide fast  charging much like Nexon EV Max that does 0 percent to 80 percent charge in  56 minutes with a 50 kW DC fast charger. As far pricing goes, the XUV400 is expected to cost  between Rs 15 to 20 lakh, and emulate the value propositions created by M&M’s recent launches Scorpio-N and XUV 700.

As far as the design elements go, the new offering will see a  mix of  inspiration from SsangYong Tivoli with its signature wraparound tail lamps and integrate elements  from upcoming born-electric Mahindra SUVs such as XUV.e8, XUV.e9, BE.05, BE.07 and BE.09. These five born electric vehicles were unveiled in the UK last month.  

The XUV 400 electric, however, will not be based on the Volkswagen MEB EV Architecture that Mahindra recently unveiled as part of its Born  electric range at Oxfordshire in the UK. The upcoming full born electric range of M&M has two sub-brands, namely, eXUV range that will include XUV.E8 (electric version of XUV700) and XUV.e9 coupe SUV.  The other brand will be the BE model line-up that will  offer the BE.05, BE.07 and BE.09.

Coming back to the design, the XUV400 is expected to come with a solid grille with the twin-peaks logo, projector headlights units and L-shaped DRLs.  The all electric XUV 400 is expected to come to the brim with features that include an 8-inch touchscreen, 17-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control system, auto headlamps with rain sensing wipers, type-C charging outlets. It is expected to get safety features such as 6-airbags, ABS with EBD, all-four disc brakes and cornering brake control. The XUV 400 will be one of the first in the mass market EV space to offer ADAS  in its top-spec variants.  In terms of space the XUV 400 is expected to be above 4 meters in length and will have a decent-sized boot.