Mahindra to unveil Thar EV concept on August 15: All you need to know

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is expected to unveil a "far-out" Thar concept at an event in South Africa on August 15, an Autocar India (ACI) report said. The vehicle will also have a fully electric drivetrain. Apart from this, M&M will also reveal the Scorpio N pickup concept and a new platform for its tractors, the report said.

Continuing with the Thar's off-road character, the concept electric vehicle will also have a 4X4 set-up. However, M&M will likely add an interesting tweak to this vehicle using a quad-motor set-up. Most 4WD EVs use a dual-motor arrangement.

In addition, the concept car is expected to come with crab steer and crab walk capability, where all four wheels can turn to a nearly 45-degree angle. This will allow the SUV to slide into very tight parking spaces or even perform a 360-degree turn from the same spot, more or less, the ACI report said.

There is little information about the other nitty-gritty of the vehicle. Mahindra has the option to choose from a variety of chassis options and could build the electric Thar on the same ladder-frame set-up as its ICE counterpart. It can also deploy its new, dedicated EV platforms that the company is working on.

While it is not exactly a cakewalk to develop a full-time off-roader like Thar using a monocoque chassis, Mahindra could do it in the future to reduce the weight of the vehicle, which is of paramount importance when it comes to the range of electric vehicles. By nature, ladder-frame SUVs are significantly heavier than those built on a monocoque chassis.

However, these challenges have not prevented manufacturers like Ford from developing ladder-frame EVs like the Ford F-150 Lightning.

So far, there is no information about Mahindra launching the electric version of the Thar. Being a concept car at this point, the company will first assess the feasibility of manufacturing this vehicle. More details are expected after the August 15 event.