- Comet gets a battery capacity of 17.3kWh
- Claimed electric range is 230km on a single charge
The MG Comet is built on the SAIC-GM-Wuling Global Small Electric Vehicle (GSEV) platform, which has also been used for four other cars that have collectively sold over a million units worldwide. MG has now launched this compact EV in India, and we conducted a real-world driving range test to evaluate its performance.
During our road test, we evaluated the driving range of the Comet EV under a combination of city and highway driving conditions. The highway run accounted for 20 percent of the total range, during which we maintained a speed of 80-90kmph. The car has three drive modes - normal, eco, and sport. However, we opted to use the standard setting with normal mode, AC set to L2, and fan speed set to 3. We found that switching between drive modes had no effect on the indicated range. Additionally, we set the brake energy regeneration to high.
At the start of our test, the Comet EV displayed 200km on the MID, and the trip counter reset to 0 as soon as the car was started. The battery percentage and estimated range were directly proportional, with a one percent reduction for every two-km drop in range. The instrument cluster displays the motor speed, which remained between 2,000-3,000rpm during city driving and 5,000-6,500rpm on the highway. Eventually, the range disappeared below 20km and at 10 percent when we had driven 164km. However, the car continued to run normally and crossed 175km until it reached 3 per cent battery and entered limp mode with the AC shutting off. The throttle response was not immediate, but the car still managed to reach speeds of 40-45kmph with full throttle. Finally, the car stopped after covering a total distance of 191km.
The MG Comet EV features a 17.3 kWh battery, which in sync with a permanent magnet synchronous motor generates 41bhp and 110Nm of torque at the rear wheels. The battery is of the LFP (lithium ferro-phosphate) type lithium-ion unit. Using a 3.3kW AC home charger, the battery can be charged from 10-80 per cent in about five hours, while a full 0-100 per cent charge would take approximately seven hours. Unfortunately, this is the only charging option available for the Comet, as it does not support fast AC charging or DC fast charging.
Time (PM) | Battery Per Cent | Display Range | Trip | Odometer |
01:45 | 100 | 200 | 0 | 1043 |
02:07 | 95 | 190 | 5.7 | 1049 |
02:31 | 90 | 180 | 15.7 | 1059 |
02:55 | 85 | 170 | 25.6 | 1069 |
03:25 | 80 | 160 | 35.6 | 1078 |
04:23 | 70 | 140 | 56.6 | 1100 |
04:59 | 65 | 130 | 63.5 | 1107 |
05:33 | 60 | 120 | 74.3 | 1117 |
05:54 | 55 | 110 | 82.7 | 1126 |
06:21 | 50 | 100 | 94.8 | 1138 |
06:57 | 45 | 90 | 103.5 | 1147 |
07:24 | 40 | 80 | 111.5 | 1155 |
08:10 | 35 | 70 | 118.3 | 1162 |
08:16 | 30 | 60 | 126.1 | 1170 |
08:24 | 25 | 50 | 135.6 | 1180 |
09:14 | 20 | 40 | 146.4 | 1191 |
09:34 | 15 | 30 | 154.7 | 1199 |
10:05 | 10 | 20 | 164.1 | 1208 |
10:46 | 5 | 0 | 173.1 | 1217 |
10:54 | 3 | 0 | 176.4 | 1221 |
11:11 | 1 | 0 | 180.6 | 1225 |
11:49 | 1 | 0 | 191 | 1234 |
Stats by Bilal Firfiray
Pictures by Kaustubh Gandhi