[TusharK]

Tata Power has signed an agreement with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) to set up EV charging stations at HPCL retail outlets in multiple cities and major highways across the country.



As part of the deal, Tata Power will provide EV charging infrastructure at HPCL pumps. The chargers will be connected to the Tata Power EZ charge mobile app.

The partnership is said to encourage EV owners to charge their electric vehicles across various petrol pumps. The move is in line with the Government of India's National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), which aims to develop EV charging infrastructure using the latest technologies.

Tata Power has an expansive network of 500+ public chargers in over 100 cities. The company has set up EV chargers at petrol pumps, metro stations, shopping malls, theatres and highways. It provides solutions for public charging, captive charging, home & workplace charging, as well as ultra-rapid chargers for buses.

Link to Team-BHP News

[Shreyans_Jain]

Let’s hope they put up minimum 50kw chargers at selected pumps on highways. This will go a long way in eliminating range anxiety and make EVs so much more practical.

[Ragul]

So how does this work? Is it as fast as filling up a tank of petrol? Is fast-charging a thing even in EVs?

[Equus]

Welcome move! You should have an option to charge outside if your home or office!

Is there no safety hazard here? For solar powered DC chargers, batteries would be needed. Sooner than later, we will see lot of solar.

[docelectric2020]

Originally Posted by Ragul

So how does this work? Is it as fast as filling up a tank of petrol? Is fast-charging a thing even in EVs?

it can never be as fast as filling petrol ..

but it is meant to be as fast as having a lunch break.

with 50kw or 60kw chargers, a 30mins break means 60% of battery increase for the mg zs ev(max 76kw) & the nexon ev(max 25kw)

i jus completed a chennai to bengaluru, to and fro trip .. with a hassle free drive .. took 6.5 hrs(one way) in the mg zs ev including charging time .. used the fast chargers in krishnagiri and vellore

attaching a screenshot of the charging done at krishnagiri zeon fast charger today

[Equus]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

it can never be as fast as filling petrol ..

but it is meant to be as fast as having a lunch break.

with 50kw or 60kw chargers, a 30mins break means 60% of battery increase for the mg zs ev(max 76kw) & the nexon ev(max 25kw)

i jus completed a chennai to bengaluru, to and fro trip .. with a hassle free drive .. took 6.5 hrs(one way) in the mg zs ev including charging time .. used the fast chargers in krishnagiri and vellore

attaching a screenshot of the charging done at krishnagiri zeon fast charger today

Thank you - we would love to hear more from your ownership experience, doc!!
Rs 20 per KW is expensive. Is it due to fast charging? Or are these the standard charging rates outside home? How much does it cost to change the equivalent at your home?
Also, how are the maintenance costs?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Let’s hope they put up minimum 50kw chargers at selected pumps on highways.

I think it will be in their interest too. The more powerful the charger, the better the turnaround time from that same spot. After all, an EV that takes too much time to charge will take up too much time of that precious real estate. Petrol Pumps are always at prime locations. Pumps think like fast food restaurants in terms of fast table turnover.

Originally Posted by Ragul

So how does this work? Is it as fast as filling up a tank of petrol? Is fast-charging a thing even in EVs?

Enough to get you on the road again. But really, the best place to charge your EV is at your home / office.

[vivek95]

That's great. So there is one such set up already functional at HPCL COCO Mumbai--Pune expressway at old Food mall, near Khalapur toll (Pune direction).

[docelectric2020]

Originally Posted by Equus

Thank you - we would love to hear more from your ownership experience, doc!!
Rs 20 per KW is expensive. Is it due to fast charging? Or are these the standard charging rates outside home? How much does it cost to change the equivalent at your home?
Also, how are the maintenance costs?

Rs.20 per kw is pretty standard for for charging on the go and it is pretty acceptable too. The cost of electricity in these commercial establishments is around Rs.10 per unit and they charge Rs.20 per kw.

As for charging at home, a full charge at my house will cost about Rs.250.
I charge my car once in 5 days.
One of my friend is living outside city area limits and it is costing him Rs.60 for a full charge

Maintenance, well there's really nothing much to maintain, No engine, no oil change, even brake pads are used very less as we use regen.
So the service center charges for car wash, wheel alignment, general checks and labour charges getting to a total of about Rs.2000 to Rs.3000

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by Equus

Rs 20 per KW is expensive. Is it due to fast charging? Or are these the standard charging rates outside home? How much does it cost to change the equivalent at your home?
Also, how are the maintenance costs?

It's Rs 20 per kWh, not KW.

• KW (power) is for measuring the charge rate in this case. The higher the power of the charger, the faster the charger.

• Battery capacity will be measured in kWh. Nexon EV has ~30 kWh battery, Kona EV has 39 kWh and MG ZS has ~44 kWh. kWh is an electricity unit which is the same as the units mentioned in our electricity bills.

• So, the cost for fully charging the Nexon EV will be 30 units * per unit cost. For example, the highest slab in Bangalore is Rs 8.15 per unit. So, it costs Rs ~245 (30 * 8.15) for the full charge for Nexon EV.

The below link will have all the updated information on electricity slabs for different states in the country:
https://www.bijlibachao.com/news/dom...-india-in.html

The main reason for higher fast charging is the cost of a fast charger is very high currently. The higher the capacity of the fast charger (25KW, 50KW, 100KW, 350KW, etc..), the costlier it will be. In addition, there will be extra infrastructure costs for setting up these chargers. Even at Rs 20 per kWh, it will take many years before recuperating the investments.

Home charging will always be much cheaper. The best way to start any long trip is to start with 100% charging from home. It will not only be cheaper but also saves time.

[ADI7YAK]

Have been using Tata Power's chargers everytime I take my Kona from Pune to Mumbai. A 400km drive usually costs ₹850 including charging at home but excluding tolls which is far more reasonable than fossil fuel cars.

I remember one such instance when my mother had her vaccine appointment at Nanavati hospital in Mumbai. I charged the car up at Hotel Ginger Andheri, which is some 5km from Nanavati hospital if I remember correctly. The charging time 40-45 minutes which is okay since vaccination process easily takes an hour and I could sit in the car with air conditioning ON while it charged itself. It was a perfect trip in my opinion.

I spent ₹300 (home charging) and ~₹300 including taxes at Tata Power fast charger. So ₹600 for around 320km I drove that day is less than ₹2/km.



The only couple complaints I have with Tata Power's chargers is that they have,
1 : Only one point per location (except a very few units of 50kW CCS2+CCS2) Ideally should have at least four CCS2 guns at each location.
2 : 25kW chargers at almost all locations. Presumably because Nexon EV can only take upto 25kW. I wish to see at least 50kW units.

[lina]

Great news! This is what we need. Hopefully they focus on highway pumps rather than the city pumps. This along with pumps at popular restaurants will truly change the landscape over the next 10 years. Next step is for ESCOMs to wake up and upgrade the infrastructure because sooner or later, EV charging will affect the grid

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

it can never be as fast as filling petrol ..

but it is meant to be as fast as having a lunch break.

with 50kw or 60kw chargers, a 30mins break means 60% of battery increase for the mg zs ev(max 76kw) & the nexon ev(max 25kw)

i jus completed a chennai to bengaluru, to and fro trip .. with a hassle free drive .. took 6.5 hrs(one way) in the mg zs ev including charging time .. used the fast chargers in krishnagiri and vellore

attaching a screenshot of the charging done at krishnagiri zeon fast charger today

Please share more of these stories. I imagine you used the Vellore charger on your return trip. So with a break of 33mins (most people take a break of 30 mins even on their ICE cars in this route) you could complete the trip with 2-3₹/km, for a car like petrol Creta it will be 8-10₹/km, diesel Creta ~6-7₹/km.

Yesterday I saw Tesla Bjorn video where he completes 1000km trip in 9hrs 20mins(not a leisure trip), almost equal to any ICE car.

[Kannan]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

attaching a screenshot of the charging done at krishnagiri zeon fast charger today

Wow thanks for sharing this, I just searched http://zeoncharging.com/locations and am happy to see charging stations are comings across two routes I always take!

Originally Posted by ADI7YAK

I spent ₹300 (home charging) and ~₹300 including taxes at Tata Power fast charger. So ₹600 for around 320km I drove that day is less than ₹2/km.

TATA https://ev.tatamotors.com/charging-locator/ is also setting up charging stations within city limits and I'm happy to see setting up charging stations sooner than anticipated.

Now I wish affordable EVs under ₹10L with around 200KMs real range and ₹15L with around 350KMs real range show-up.

[LeoRBK]

Originally Posted by Ragul

So how does this work? Is it as fast as filling up a tank of petrol? Is fast-charging a thing even in EVs?

Yes, fast charging exists. Transport department in UK is running a project called electric highway, a few details you will find here.
https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-new...-charging-site

They are installing DC rapid chargers upto 350kW output. The current set of chargers is very unreliable due to its age and lack of maintenance, exacerbated by the fact that they were built for ChaDeMo(with adaptation for CCS) and almost all new cars use CCS as standard. This is a welcome news and already users have been praising the results.

I have to add that the requirement for DC rapid charging is blown out of proportion. Most people do not need rapid charging and are quite content with slow/fast chargers at workplace/home.
It is only for a road trip that we need a rapid charger, but then most people do not go on a road trip every week.
I only do road trips in school holidays which is probably 4 times a year. So I am not too worried.
For those shopping trips to nearby towns, it is usually a 100 mile return trip and the present EV works well.

I think in India if the government focuses more on putting policy in place for home, workplace charging a lot of people will be happy to switch to EVs.



For the uninitiated, here is a guide on different charger types.
Chargers with outputs of up to 3 kW
are generally considered as slow chargers, 7 - 22 kW are
considered fast chargers and rapid chargers are available in
AC or DC outputs. Generally the AC chargers are rated
at 43kW and the DC chargers at 50kW plus.