[sudhirsen]

All this started with my deciding to buy a Jaguar IPace. I was blown away when I drove it. I saw this in the showroom. I took the same with a ivory interiors. The test drive and experience is another story.



With the limited availability of public charging setup, I decided to set up a home charger.
Now Ipace comes with two home chargers, a 7 KW charger from tata power that they will set up, and a charger unit that I can directly plug into a 16A home power plug.


So two weeks before the delivery of the car, I decided to set up the home charger at the Bangalore apartment.

Here starts the problem. The tata power guys came for inspections as coordinated by Jaguar, so a series of changes were required.

• I had an approved load of 3KW, which must be changed to 10 KW. They asked to reach out to BESCOM.
• Since the apartment is on the third floor, a power cable has to be drawn from the meter. That was costing me an additional 85k.
• The Bescom contractor came, the single-phase connection has to be upgraded to three-phase. The meter has to be changed—all together including service charges, another 75k.
• And before all of these, I need to change the electricity connection to my name. It was still in the builder's name.

So then I thought, let me see how much it will cost me to set it up at my house in Thrissur, Kerala. It already had an approved load of 9 KW and was already three-phase. So again, the tata power inspector came from cochin.
Here are his finding.

1. I have to apply for a load enhancement and get the load enhanced from 9KW to 17 KW.
2. My car porch was 27 meters away. Only 10 meters of wiring was inclusive of the original charger. So I have to pay additional 17 meters and thats around 12 k.
3. KSEB must change the service cable from the Electric post to my Main meter to a 10mm XLPE cable.
4. KSEB must change the wiring from the meter to the fuse to a 10mm cable.
5. The electrician has to change the three main fuses to a 64a fuse.

None of these I could achieve in 2 weeks. So I took the delivery of the car in Bangalore and drove down to Thrissur the next day with the assumption that I could still charge at home using the 16A charger.
On the way, I charged at the Zeon Chargers, which was wonderful 50KW chargers. The travelogues, I will put in separate. I made multiple long trips, and Zeon chargers continue to help me.



Once I reached home, I figured out that the charger provided had an industrial plug. So I could not charge at home, and I had 80 km remaining.




I looked in the map and figured out that there is a KSEB provided charger and Tata power-provided chargers in Thrissur. So that night 10 pm, I went to Tata showroom to charge, expecting that no one would be there. The place was dark. But the security opened the gate when I said I was here to charge.
I charged there for 2 hrs, another Nexon came for charging, and I moved out by that time.

With sufficient battery in place, I got my electrician the next day to find an adaptor for the industrial plug, and he also got me a 20 meters power cable to full from the AC socket in my living room.

I took 35 hrs to charge. Then I decided to fix the charger in Thrissur. The next day I went to KSEB to get the load enhanced; they said I needed to fix the wiring and charger before they came for inspection. So I called up the Tata guys, and they came a few weeks later and fixed it. I could not find the 10mm XLPE cable that KSEB asked for, so I bought a 25 mm ABC cable. The cable cost me around 175rs per meter. Then since the load went beyond 10KW, I had to pay another 18k to KSEB. And since the porch was 27 meters away, I had to pay an additional 12k to Tata power for the extra 17 meters. Still good, approximately around 40k.

But after a month of purchasing the car, I had the final charging station at home. Till that time, I charged from the 16A charger, and to be frank. I never found it challenging.

I pulled a standard 4.5 mm power cable to the parking spot at the Bangalore apartment, and I used that for charging. That seems to be more than sufficient for city travel. It cost me 10k instead of 1.5 Lakh.

Now you will think, was it worth all this trouble to get an electric car? Believe me, this was the best thing that ever happened. You need to drive an IPace to feel the G force, the SUV that behaves like a sports car. More about that later.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Electric Car section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[NirDiwakar]

Congratulations on the lovely ride. This looks menacing in Caldera Red.
How is it like to drive in crowded streets? Does the lack of engine noise cause you to honk often?

[sushanthys]

Hi..Congratulations on your purchase.Wishing you many many happy miles.
It was a very informative post on the intricacies of setting up a charging station at home.
It will be of great help to many.
Thanks again.

[yajaman99]

The Jaguar Ipace is a wonderful machine. Congratulations on your new drive and wishing you many happy and safe miles with smiles.
I had gone to see the Ipace at the showroom in Bangalore, it is way over my budget but just had to see it. Did not test drive for the same reason but the look in person has no comparison to any photos i have seen.

Congrats again.

[lina]

Originally Posted by sudhirsen

The Bescom contractor came, the single-phase connection has to be upgraded to three-phase. The meter has to be changed—all together including service charges, another 75k.

For a 7.5kW charger, you do not need to upgrade to a 3 phase connection.

[Attorviator]

Eagerly awaiting your full-blown review on the I-Pace.

As a litigating lawyer who’s been practising in the energy sector, I can empathise with the challenges you’ve faced so far in dealing with the DISCOMs. If India intends to seriously promote EVs (go so far as to replace all vehicles with EVs), an effective statutory overhaul is required so as to ensure development of support infrastructure. Particularly, the state-owned DISCOMs need to be sensitised through the jurisdictional electricity regulatory commissions.

[AKSarkar1]

Originally Posted by sudhirsen

Now you will think, was it worth all this trouble to get an electric car? Believe me, this was the best thing that ever happened. You need to drive an IPace to feel the G force, the SUV that behaves like a sports car. More about that later.

Congratulations on this beauty, I don't think I have ever seen one of these in this colour yet, looks drop-dead gorgeous.

I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that automotive enthusiasts like yourself are leading the way in electrifying the Indian automotive space. Customers/early adopters like you play a pivotal role for each car company to establish their e-presence in the local/regional scene.

While I am in awe of electric cars, I certainly wouldn't be able to tolerate all the initial hassles of owning one so props to you for having the determination and grit to deal with obstacles.

Looking forward to more reviews

[noufal.ps]

Congratulations on getting the best EV out there. Jags have always got the look right, electric should tick the ownership box also.

We should catchup sometime in Thrissur

[Atul Kolekar]

Congratulations and Thanks for sharing your experience. One has to expect some hurdles when pioneering the revolution. I hope you have passed the hurdles by now. An electric car should last a lot longer and hold its performance better than ICE car. In that respect it stands as a better deal long term.

[quattroa4]

What a car ! Wow ! Please give a detail review about the driving impression of the car , will be worth to read it .

[123.rishabh]

Originally Posted by sudhirsen

Till that time, I charged from the 16A charger, and to be frank. I never found it challenging.
More than sufficient for city travel. It cost me 10k instead of 1.5 Lakh.

Many Congratulations on your new EV or i should say Super EV.
Even i had a lot of things in mind regarding charging while installing the 16A charger for my E Verito, but trust me its been 3 months/2500 km & I have never charged at a public fast charger.
At night when the car is not being used, a slow charger gives enough juice (100% in my case due to small battery pack) which would be enough for a days usage & not to mention the convenience to charge at home

[manishk123]

Wow! Quite a hassle to get the charging infrastructure set up. I don’t know if I would go through so much trouble just to drive an electric car. Better to wait a couple of years more for the infrastructure and battery lives to improve before taking the plunge. Until then let’s enjoy the last few years of Petrol/Diesel cars.
A friend had a bad experience with his Tata Nexon electric vehicle recently when he tried to go to Karjat from Mumbai on a full charge. Less than halfway through the journey his battery dropped to 40%. Luckily he found a resort there which had some infrastructure for charging golf carts, so he managed to get charged up for his return journey. Not worth the hassle yet imho.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by manishk123

Wow! Quite a hassle to get the charging infrastructure set up. I don’t know if I would go through so much trouble just to drive an electric car. Better to wait a couple of years more for the infrastructure and battery lives to improve before taking the plunge. Until then let’s enjoy the last few years of Petrol/Diesel cars.
A friend had a bad experience with his Tata Nexon electric vehicle recently when he tried to go to Karjat from Mumbai on a full charge. Less than halfway through the journey his battery dropped to 40%. Luckily he found a resort there which had some infrastructure for charging golf carts, so he managed to get charged up for his return journey. Not worth the hassle yet imho.

No hassle at all, my friend. For my MG ZS, all I did was tap the apartment wiring from a box near my parking. Installed a cheap Rs 400 meter and the apartment bills me separately for that as it is from the common area electricity. Total cost was less than 1,000 and it took around 30 minutes. There are plenty of fast chargers everywhere now.

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by sudhirsen

All this started with my deciding to buy a Jaguar IPace. I was blown away when I drove it. I saw this in the showroom. I took the same with a ivory interiors.

Now Ipace comes with two home chargers, a 7 KW charger from tata power that they will set up, and a charger unit that I can directly plug into a 16A home power plug.

Congrats on the beautiful purchase, the car is a stunner!

Can you please post more pictures of the charging station you set up at home?

Also, what is the main difference or advantage for the 7KW charger over the regular 16A easily available outlet? Curious to know since the charging time mentioned for the 7 KW charger is comparable to that of the 16A regular point.

Originally Posted by manishk123

Wow! Quite a hassle to get the charging infrastructure set up. I don’t know if I would go through so much trouble just to drive an electric car.

The only hassle in driving pure electric for beyond range destinations, is to plan ahead and know fast charging stations. This is because, normal charging via 16A will take ~ 6 plus hours for sizeable charge, whereas a fast charger could give you ~80% charge in around an hour.

In addition, you can keep a ~20m 16A extension cable in your car, and in worse case situation, any wayside hotel or petrol pump would allow you to get the charge taken from their 16A socket.

Its difficult, but definitely possible. The sheer driving dynamics difference compensates for that