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I’ve been to the Little Rann of Kutch three times now, and to say that it left me speechless every time, is a huge understatement. The sheer scale of it cannot be explained. It covers 4950 square kilometres and is one of India’s largest reserves, with a diverse landscape – an impressive mixture of arid, treacherous salt flats and desert grasslands. During peak summers, the temperatures here rise to over 50 degrees Celsius, but you know what? This dreary desert still makes for a rather interesting and highly adventurous road trip destination. Mahindra Automotive, in collaboration with TT Motorsports, which is spearheaded by Abbas Taskeen, organised a run into the Little Rann with its all-new electric SUV, the XUV400. Dubbed the ‘Little Rann Escape’, it saw existing customers and a few prospective buyers experience how the XUV400 performs on-road as well as off the road on the Little Rann’s salt flats. Although electric cars have existed long before gasoline cars were invented, the modern EV is still very much a new affair.
They’ve gotten better over time and Serious fun The briefing for Mahindra’s first-ever EV adventure drive are now far more usable and practical than before because of modern battery technology. So much so that, with just a little planning, you can take EVs on longdistance road trips just as you’d take a normal ICE-powered vehicle. “Our main goal for this drive was to show customers that you can do long drives such as these in an EV. It is very much possible because of modern, long-range electric cars like the XUV400 and the rapid development of charging infrastructure in our country,” Abbas told us. The Little Rann Escape had participants driving down from Ahmedabad, Rajkot and even as far as Surat to the tiny town of Dasada, the starting point of the drive. Located about 120km from Ahmedabad, Dasada is home to the Rann Riders by Kaafila resort, which serves as the base for almost all the adventure and big car rallies that manufacturers do in this part of the country. On May 20, the guests checked in to this beautiful property at lunch time and were treated to some lip-smacking local dishes. Abbas and his team of off-road experts welcomed the guests and briefed them about what lay ahead. Even though this wasn’t going to be an intense off-road trail, you can get stuck in the loose sand and thick muck of the Rann. The participants were therefore told to take it easy and only let loose their right foot, on call.
In the evening, Shining stars The star gazing session was a surprise for the participants, complete with a telescope to experience it from up close “Even though electric cars have existed long before gasoline cars were invented, the modern EV is still very much a new affair. They’ve gotten better over time and are now far more usable and practical than before because of modern tech such as Li-ion batteries”
the cars were stickered, their batteries topped up through a special setup that was organised by TT Motorsports and then there was a special surprise for the folks and their families. Venus and Saturn would be visible after sundown and what better place to witness this than the clear, smog-free skies near the Little Rann! The team had partnered with Star Gazing India, an organisation that specialises in astrophotography, and they brought a telescope for everyone to see the planets up close. Not only that, there was also a folk dance night and a bonfire, before calling it a day to rest at Rann Riders, for the real adventure was all set to begin early next morning.
May 21, 2023. The convoy of eight XUV400s, one XUV700, one Scorpio-N and two Thars started rolling towards the Little Rann of Kutch. You enter the Little Rann about 25km away from Rann Riders. The crew had scheduled for the convoy to see the sunrise at Little Rann’s zero point. What is this zero point you ask? It is a place not too far into the salt desert where one can’t see anything but the gleaming horizon in every direction, the perfect spot to see the sun rise up from the ground through a mirage into the crystal clear night sky. Once that was done with, it was time to experience, as our sister mag evo India would say, the #ThrillOfDriving. After all, what better place to put the XUV400’s instant power on demand to the test than this wide landscape stretching as far as the eye could see.
“Being electric, with all the torque available on tap from zero rpm makes the XUV400 a car that is very potent during those traffic light GP sessions in the city The XUV400 is available in two battery sizes — a 34.5kWh battery on the EC variant or a bigger 39.4kWh battery on the EL variant, but no matter which variant you opt for, the power output remains the same at 148bhp and 310Nm. It does the 0-100kmph run in just 8.3 seconds, making it a lot quicker than the ICE-powered XUV300 that it is based on and in addition, Mahindra has also given it three drive modes to suit your driving style — Fun, Fast and Fearless. Being FWD and electric, with all the torque available on tap from zero rpm makes the XUV400 a car that is very potent and handy during those traffic light GP sessions in the city. But out in the wide open Rann, without any tarmac, it makes for a car that just demands to be slid with a proper good ol’ mechanical handbrake in hand. And as you can see from the picture on the last page here, the customers enjoyed its performance out there in the wild. We humans have come a long way in all aspects of life. We went from camels to 4x4s in under two centuries and now this shift to electric mobility isn’t bothering me at all. Because if an EV can take you to places such as the Little Rann in utmost silence, with rapid performance and no hassle at all, I am all up for it. And it is possible to go on an adventure in an EV, as was well proved by the XUV400. Getting down and dirty The customers enjoyed exploiting the XUV400’s potent performance on the salt flats The A-Team Abbas and his team at TT Motorsports have been organising events such as these for over a decad
Meet Priyanka and Nishith Jois, aka the Wander Monkeys A couple that has just returned from a 240-day, 32,000km, cross country journey with their Thar which they fondly call “Tusker”. Our friend Bijoy Kumar, Chief of Adventure initiatives at Mahindra has a chat with the duo about this epic journey.
With no walls of brick and mortar imprisoning you. No ties to a specific place. A life on the road, where you don’t have to live in the same place every single day. Welcome to the van life, that has caught the imagination of Vinod
Are you one of those travel aficionados who, on occasion, take a bottle of water and sit behind a rock, hoping you are not mooning someone? Or are you one of those, who enjoy pushing the buttons on your throne, where warm water then tickles your backside, giving you a sweet wake up call? Don’t ask me just yet, I am a fence-sitter, no pun intended.
