Tata Harrier EV Quad Day ExperienceTata Motors has been upping their EV game in Indian market and Harrier EV is the pinnacle of that journey. This is their flagship electric SUV and it packs features and technology that rivals don’t offer. Also, it packs mechanical equipment that frankly can be termed a revolution in the Indian electric car segment.
The company organised a Quad Day event at Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida for the media to showcase the latest and greatest features, technology and off-road prowess of Harrier EV. The Harrier EV Quad Day event was split between four zones – Precision Zone, Off-road Zone, Performance Zone and Tech Zone. Let’s go through them one by one.
Harrier EV Coordinated Slaloms
Precision Zone
At the precision zone, Tata Motors showed-off a few stunts with Harrier EV including some slaloms, reverse slaloms, J-turns and more. The coordinated slaloms where expert stunt drivers were driving in both forward and reverse while maintaining optimum space was quite notable.
Harrier EV Pulling WhAP 8X8
That said, the notable stunt Harrier EV performed was pulling the WhAP 8X8 combat vehicle from Tata Advanced Systems that weighed more than 11 times as that of Harrier EV. Tata Motors demonstrated Harrier EV’s acceleration with table cloth stunt too, on which glasses containing fluids were placed and there were no spills even after Harrier EV pulled the tablecloth away.
Off-road Zone
Harrier EV is being advertised as an electric off-roader as it comes with RWD as standard in single-motor variants and QWD (Quad Wheel Drive) with dual motor variants, allowing for four-wheel traction to tackle tricky stuff. With 504 Nm total system torque, Harrier EV has more than enough grunt to handle off-road challenges.
Because it has QWD (AWD) setup, the company has given it an updated Terrain Response system with more Terrain Modes than what we see in Harrier ICE. This is where the handshake between software and hardware is tested to its full extent. Tata Motors had multiple off-road challenges strategically laid out to test the capabilities of Harrier EV. So, we did just that.
Harrier EV Rock Bed
1. Rock Bed
Tata Motors had organized a rock bed for Harrier EV to cross. The pit was filled with rocks and small boulders on which Harrier EV had to cross. This is where Tata’s new Terrain Response Modes come into action as I chose Rock Crawl Mode. In this mode user does not even have to give throttle inputs and Harrier EV will soldier on at 6 km/h speed with utmost precision making this rather daunting task look like a cake walk.
Harrier EV Axle Twister
2. Axle Twister
In the axle twister challenge, Harrier EV’s Rock Crawl mode was disabled as it needs more throttle inputs from user owing to its tricky nature. This challenge tests the wheel articulation of an off-roader, putting stress on its front and rear independent suspension and chassis, while vehicle’s ability to maintain traction. Even with one wheel in the air, Harrier EV cleverly puts down power and gets moving with relative ease.
Harrier EV Incline & Decline
3. Incline & Decline
What’s an off-road experience if the classic incline & decline is not in it. At the Harrier EV Quad Day event, there was one. A big one at that, with an incline angle of 34° and a decline angle of 35°. We put Harrier EV in Mud & Ruts Mode to tackle this steep incline. Dual motor QWD setup comes into its own here and pulls on with little fuss. All-wheel disc brakes are quite strong, assisting us with the steep decline.
Harrier EV See-Saw
Special mention to Harrier EV’s 540° camera that stitches underbody camera feed into the 360° camera feed, offering a Transparent Mode where you can see what’s happening below the vehicle during off-roading. This is great when you’re trying to position Harrier EV’s wheels where you want them to.
Harrier EV Sand Pit
4. Sand Pit
While sand pits could prove a nightmare for 2WD vehicles, it was not at all a problem for Harrier EV and its improved Terrain Response Modes. To tackle this sand pit, we slotted Harrier EV into Sand Mode and it might make light work of this sand pit, clearing it with utmost ease and zero fuss.
Harrier EV Side Incline
5. Side Incline
Going through side incline challenge, we put Harrier EV in Rock Crawl Mode again where you don’t need to give throttle inputs as the SUV maintains 6 km/h speed on its own. This side incline was rather steep too, but did not unphase Harrier EV in any way possible.
Harrier EV Camel Hump
6. Camel Hump
Camel hump is a technical off-road challenge designed to test an off-roader’s approach angle, departure angle and breakover angle. In Harrier EV’s case, it has 25.3° approach angle, 26.4° departure angle and 16.6° breakover angle. Also, camel hump started with a see-saw which was quite challenging to get right the first time. This tests ground clearance of an off-roader too and Harrier EV’s 200mm+ true ground clearance was not an issue here. For an EV with batteries in the floor, that is reassuring.
Harrier EV Mud & Ruts
7. Mud & Ruts
After all these challenges, it was finally time to get Harrier EV dirty in mud and ruts. It was wet, it was slushy and quite tricky, especially with Harrier EV’s H/T tyres. However, Harrier EV didn’t break a sweat here and with steady throttle inputs, it easily cleared this challenging section with composure and negligible wheel spins.
Harrier EV Stairs Climb
8. Stairs Climb
Last challenge at the Off-road Zone was the good ol’ stairs climb, which is no big deal for Harrier EV after experiencing all these obstacles. However, the climb down through a sheet metal ramp was the most challenging bit, especially with H/T tyres that just cleared mud & ruts. With utmost caution, we cleared this section too and were impressed with Harrier EV’s braking and traction.
Harrier EV Jump & Water wading
Tata Motors had arranged for a few stunts at the Off-road Zone where Harrier EV made a few jumps while another Harrier EV was water wading. Speaking of water wading, we were not allowed to do it as part of our Off-road experience. Only experts from Tata Motors did it.
Harrier EV Chassis Strength
There was a 1.5 tonnes shipping container placed on a Harrier EV BIW (Body in White) to demonstrate chassis integrity and strength of Harrier EV’s pillars as well. Also demonstrating chassis integrity was crane hang which suspended a Harrier EV BIW on a sky hook while an entire Harrier EV (with powertrain and every other component) was strapped to this BIW.
Performance Zone
The most extensive part of Harrier EV Quad Day event was Off-road Zone and Tata even allowed media personnel to do these technical off-road challenges. Same can’t be said about Performance Zone and Tech Zone. For starters, we were not allowed to drive Harrier EV during Performance Zone on the race track at Buddh International Circuit.
Harrier EV Hot Laps
An expert from Tata Motors drove Harrier EV on the race track and showcased acceleration, performance and handling. At the race track, Tata showcased Harrier EV’s acceleration which is claimed to be around 6.3 seconds to reach 100 km/h from a standstill with Boost Mode. We also saw braking performance of Harrier EV, which was quite impressive considering the 2.3 tonnes+ kerb weight of QWD variants.
For its size and weight, Harrier EV handles quite well too as the heavy batteries are at the floor, taking the centre of gravity low. We asked whether Tata Motors did a timed lap of Buddh International Circuit with Harrier EV like they did with Altroz Racer at CoASTT High Performance Centre in Coimbatore. And the answer is ‘no’.
Tech Zone
Finally, we experienced Tech Zone where Tata Motors had curated an experience to demonstrate Harrier EV’s technological advancements. Again, we were not allowed to drive in this zone and we could only experience while Tata personnel demonstrated these features to us.
Harrier EV Auto Emergency Braking
ADAS features
We started off with ADAS features with Harrier EV’s adaptive cruise control feature where it detects the speed of leading vehicle and maintains a safe distance from it. With a mannequin placed on the road, Tata showcased AEB (Auto Emergency Braking) as well where Harrier EV came to a grinding halt before hitting said mannequin.
However, Harrier EV applied brakes at the very last moment and the distance between Harrier EV and mannequin was quite short. Tata mentions that it is deliberate as their ADAS systems are trained to adapt to Indian road conditions and will not dominate the driving experience by being intrusive from far away.
Dead-end Assist
Another impressive feature Harrier EV has which was demonstrated at the Tech Zone was dead end assist. When you meet a dead end, say in a market, Harrier EV can get out of that dead end as it remembers last 50 m distance traversed and it will crawl out of that 50 m distance on its own without any inputs from driver. We have to try this in the real world to judge it properly.
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Self Parking
Party piece of Tata’s Tech Zone was self parking that the company is introducing for the very first time in Harrier EV. It can be activated from the inside when the vehicle detects an empty space and user selects that space from its infotainment screen. It will automatically park itself while doing steering maneuvers and giving throttle and brake inputs on its own. Parking was quite impressive and it was right in the middle of a properly marked parking space.
Users can just select parking space on the screen and get out and walk away, while Harrier EV will park itself and Tata personnel demonstrated this as well and it worked. There are a few nuances to this as Harrier EV will cut off this self park feature if it detects a person around the vehicle and it happened while we were experiencing it. Also, parking space has to be properly marked for it to work, something we will have to test in real world.
Summon Mode
The new circular key allows users to manually summon Harrier EV from its parked space. Cameras and sensors will be working at all times to detect obstacles along with people or animals. It is definitely convenient in parking spaces and it is quite a flex to show off as well.
There are quite a lot of other features on the new Tata Harrier EV, but these are all the experiences Tata Motors had curated for us at the Harrier EV Quad Day. Tata Motors has launched Harrier EV for a starting price of Rs 21.5 lakh (Ex-sh) and prices of all variants are yet to be revealed. It directly takes on Mahindra’s XEV 9e among others. More
