The Citroen E-C3, an electric car that slots between the Tata Tiago EV and Tigor EV, arrives just days after the launch of the Mahindra XUV400 and the almost immediate price revision of the Tata Nexon EV. Citroen India has made a clear statement with the E-C3: the EC3 will look identical to the C3. There is no way to tell one from the other except for the powertrain switch from petrol to electric, a few electric badges, a charging lid on the front fender, and green number plates. There is nothing new to report on the design front. It still looks good, a cheerful design like Citroens are known for in this increasingly aggressively designed automotive world.
The colour schemes make the Citroen EC3 stand out, and the stance gives it a borderline SUV appearance. When you look to the side of the E-C3, you’ll notice a black bar under the side skirt. It’s the E-battery C3’s protruding. When compared to the C3, the battery pack reduces ground clearance by 10mm to 170mm.
The interior of the Citroen E-C3 follows the same approach in order to keep development costs to a minimum. Both the orange and grey interior packs are carried over to the EC3. The drive selector and details on the instrument cluster that show the state of charge in the battery, range, and how efficiently you are driving are the differences on the inside. It even keeps the key that you need to ‘crank’. When you turn the key, the Citroen EC3 starts up quietly.
The E-C3 has been in development for 4.5 years, alongside the ICE car. This was very early in Citroen’s entry into India, and the EV landscape was very different back then than it is now.
That establishes the foundation for what follows – the performance figures. The E-C3 has only 56bhp, making it India’s least powerful electric vehicle. It has 18bhp less than the much smaller and lighter Tata Tiago EV, but what it lacks in power it makes up for in torque, producing 143Nm, which is 29Nm more than the Tiago EV.
What appears to be a step up from the petrol Citroen C3 is that the E-C3 feels more planted and stable around corners. The added weight of nearly 300kg over the petrol car, combined with the low CG of the battery, makes the E-C3 more stable around bends. To accommodate the extra weight, we presume the C3’s soft suspension setup was tuned and stiffened, but details on this remain unknown for the time being.
The Citroen E-C3 will go on sale in February, with reservations opening this weekend. For a car in this price range, you get two variants with a plethora of customization options. We anticipate that the E-C3 will be priced between Rs 10.5 and 11 lakh ex-showroom, as it is a much larger car than the Tata Tiago EV and has a larger battery.
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