Then there’s the power. You didn’t think we’d drive all the way in Eco mode did you? Stick it in Sport and you not only experience the fastest car Tata Motors makes right now but the fastest car up in Leh, period. While our support ICE vehicles all have a noticeable drop in power, the Nexon EV Max continues to put out all 143 horses, getting to 100kmph in 8.9 seconds. In particular there’s 250Nm of torque on tap, right from the word go, and the Nexon climbs up the hairpins with a verve and vigour that’s not only shocking but rather intoxicating. A flex of the right ankle and heavy, lumbering vehicles are dispatched double time. And then you roll the windows down and breathe in fresh air while experiencing another sensation that’s alien to road-trippers in their cars. Pin-drop silence. Zero pollution, both of tailpipe as well as noise, for guilt-free motoring.
Leh to Hanle, for the most part, is a smooth and winding road with views so spectacular our photo and video teams rack up additional miles with strident demands to go back and forth for the cameras. And then we need the air-con again as we approach Nyoma and catch up to a massive Army convoy at exactly the same place where the road has been dug up in preparation for a fresh new surface. Overtaking trucks through clouds of dust makes us thankful for the the solid and rugged underpinnings, one of the reasons why we crowned the Nexon our Car of the Year back in 2016 — and now validated by the sales numbers, the Nexon being the best-selling SUV in the country, and of course the Nexon EV being, by far, the best-selling EV in the country. Over 30,000 customers have cumulatively logged over 450 million electric kilometres on Indian roads, and on this particular gravel road the Ziptron architecture and 190mm of ground clearance is a boon, making our drive to Hanle stress free. And that’s where we are enlightened about another form of pollution. Light pollution.
