The MG Comet EV is a tiny electric car that is meant for intra-city commuting. The Comet EV does appeal to a lot of people, but with a starting ex-showroom price of Rs 6.99 lakh, most of them turn down their buying decision. MG is now trying to change things a little.
The BaaS initiative that debuted on the new MG Windsor EV lets you buy an MG electric car in India at a lower upfront cost and then, you pay MG a certain amount per kilometre for using the battery. Basically, you buy the car and take the battery on lease from JSW MG Motor India.
The primary motive of this initiative from MG India is to boost the adoption of electric vehicles in India by reducing the upfront cost of the vehicles and attracting more buyers. Whether this makes financial sense to the buyer would depend on his/her running, ownership plan, and financing partner chosen.
Under the BaaS model, the starting price of the 2024 MG Comet EV has been brought down from Rs 6.99 lakh to Rs 4.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Additionally, customers will have to pay MG another Rs 2.5 per kilometre for using the battery. MG is providing an assured buyback of 60% of value after 3 years of ownership.
MG has tied up with four financial services providers for their BaaS pricing model — Bajaj Finserv, Hero FinCorp, Vidyut and Ecofy Autovert. Each of these partners have their own terms for financing that can be referred to from the table above. Also, the rate of interest would vary from partner to partner.
The MG Comet EV gets a 17.3kWh prismatic cell battery pack that delivers a real-life range of around 150 kilometres, give or take a few. It takes around 3.5 hours to fully charge the Comet via a 7.4kW charger and 7 hours via a 3.3kW charger. It is necessary to note that the base Executive variant does not support fast charging.