Tata Punch EV Long Range review: Bigger battery, more range, lower price

Electric cars used to feel like a pricey experiment, right? Well, that’s changing fast, and the updated Punch.ev proves it. Tata’s EV game is strong, and this little car is now way more affordable. There’s a solid Rs 4 lakh difference between the basic entry-level model and the fully-loaded one. That’s a huge gap for a small car, meaning you can grab one whether you just need the cheapest zero-emission runabout or if you want all the bells and whistles for your daily drive.

Tata Punch EV Long Range review: Design

The Punch.ev continues to carry the familiar Punch design language. Tata hasn’t tried to radically transform it, and that’s a sensible move. It’s more of an evolution than an all-new creation.

Don’t worry, the Punch.ev still looks like the Punch. Tata didn’t reinvent the wheel here, which is smart. It’s an “evolution,” not a completely new car. It has the same friendly, upright stance, but they cleaned up the detailing to make it look a bit more grown-up and premium.

The side profile of the Punch.ev facelift remains largely unchanged.

While other EVs try to look like spaceships, this one just looks friendly—perfect for zipping around town. There’s a new bumper, the plastic claddings have gotten a tweak with a more sun-wear-conscious grey colour.

At the rear, Tata has introduced a more noticeable update to the Punch.ev, featuring connected LED taillamps, a redesigned bumper, and a refreshed skid plate.

Step inside, and it’s the same story: measured changes. The layout is familiar, but the better textures on the dash and doors make it feel less like a basic commuter and more intentional. I still wish the seats hugged you a bit better, especially when the roads get rough, but the features list is a winner.

It gets two large 10.25-inch displays, one for the instrument cluster and another for infotainment, which almost feels excessive for a car of this size, but in a good way. They dominate the dashboard visually and instantly give the cabin a modern, tech-rich appeal.

Ventilated seats, a great AC, and two massive 10.25-inch screens for the instruments and infotainment—that’s overkill in a good way for a car this size! They look huge, but they immediately make the cabin feel modern and tech-forward. It truly makes you feel like you’re not sacrificing much by buying “the small one.”On the Road

Tata Punch EV Long Range review: Drive, handling and range

The suspension has been firmed up to cope with the additional 200kg of battery mass, and as a result, it feels impressively stable when driven hard. The downside, however, is a slightly firmer ride at low speeds.

Driving the Punch.ev is a balancing act, trying to convert a petrol car’s platform to an EV without blowing the budget. The suspension is stiffer to handle the extra 200kg of battery weight, and when you push it, it feels surprisingly planted. The trade-off is the slow-speed ride. Hit a pothole or a bad road in the city, and you (and especially your back-seat passengers) will feel it. It’s not comfortable all the time, and you quickly figure out where the tuning priority went.

Honestly, the brakes and how it handles regeneration are the least polished parts of the car. The pedal feels a bit squishy, and the feedback is inconsistent. It’ll start soft, then suddenly grab way too hard. In city traffic, where you’re constantly light-braking, this gets tiring because you can’t just trust it to feel intuitive. It’s safe, but it’s not smooth—and that really stands out in an otherwise well-updated car.

The Punch.ev now gets new prismatic batteries and a 6-in-1 powertrain that centralises mass, making it feel properly balanced rather than like a petrol car with batteries added on. The smarter packaging also frees up more usable battery capacity, boosting ARAI range and easing range anxiety for weekend drives.

The best, most subtle changes are actually the stuff you don’t see. Tata’s smarter under-the-skin packaging is a game-changer for how the Punch.ev feels as an EV. They switched to new prismatic batteries and a 6-in-1 powertrain, which basically centralises the weight and makes the car feel more balanced—less like a petrol car with batteries tacked on. The best part? This smart packaging lets them cram in more usable battery capacity, which means better ARAI range figures. Suddenly, a weekend hop to the suburbs doesn’t feel like a range-anxiety nightmare.

The facelifted Tata Punch.ev benefits from a noticeable upgrade in its battery options, addressing one of the most critical aspects of an EV’s usability. Whereas the outgoing model was offered with 25kWh and 35kWh packs, the updated Punch.ev now comes with larger 30kWh and 40kWh batteries. This increase in capacity doesn’t just look good on paper — it translates into a significant uplift in claimed range, with the 30kWh variant posting around 375 km ARAI-certified range and the 40kWh long-range version stretching up to 468km on a single charge. More importantly for everyday buyers, real-world C75 figures for the larger pack sit in the ~335–355 km bracket, a practical proposition for typical city and occasional suburban drives. These gains come with improved power output, too, making the Punch.ev feel more confident in both everyday and highway scenarios.

Verdict

The Punch.ev stays a strong city EV, and with sharper pricing and smarter engineering, its value is hard to overlook despite a few minor flaws.

Day-to-day, all that smart engineering makes for a calmer, more confident drive. It’s not a revolutionary change from the old model, but it feels so much more sorted. It’s still a city car at heart—perfect for dodging traffic and parallel parking—but it feels like it can handle a bit more now. The Punch.ev remains a solid city EV, but with better prices and smarter engineering, the value it offers is seriously hard to ignore, even with the small issues it still has.