The world’s smallest electric car may be in India by 2023

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Japan’s car manufacturer Toyota Motor Corporation has introduced the C+pod, the smallest electric car ever in its home country.  It’s an ultra-compact battery electric vehicle available to corporate users, local governments, and other organizations. If this becomes a success, soon it would be available for everyone by 2022. The company is working towards the establishment of systems to popularise BEVs in the Indian markets.

The new C+pod is an all-electric two-seater BEV designed to travel easily in small spaces giving one of the best mobility options to the end-users. Its small size and 2-person capacity make the vehicle light in weight that ultimately helps to perform better. The cute compact BEV is mainly designed for short-distance daily use, the C+pod is also aimed at corporate users visiting customers in mountainous regions on a regular basis along with running in traffic-jammed metros.

C+pod has a 9.06 kWh lithium-ion battery that generates maximum power of 12 hp and a peak torque of 56 Nm. According to Toyota Motor Corporation, the car gives mileage of about 150 Km on a single charge and can run at the maximum speed of 60 km/ph. With the help of a 200V / 16A power supply, this car can be fully charged in just 5 hours. At the same time, with the help of a 100V / 6A standard power supply, this car will take 16 hours to be fully charged.

Besides its mileage, the car looks attractive due to its size and it measures, 2,490mm in length, 1290mm in width, and 1,550mm in height. The car has an overall weight of 690 kg. It also has 145 mm ground clearance. Along with a 3.9 turning radius, the car has a front disc brake. The exterior panels of this car have been made of plastic so that the weight of the car can be kept low.

The rear-wheel-drive C+pod has been launched in Japan in two variants – X and G which are priced at 1,650,000 yen (approximately Rs 11.73 lakh) and 1,716,000 yen (approximately Rs 12.2 lakh), respectively. However, to see this car on Indian roads, one has to wait a little longer.