[SS-Traveller]

Introduction

There was a time over a decade ago, when I was driving ~50,000 km every year for work as well as recreation, and burning diesel like there's no tomorrow.

Then, tomorrow arrived.

In 2016, I quit my job that required me to drive ~150 km every day, our daughter went abroad, and we became empty nesters. For the next two years, I still had a 3-car garage - a 2009 Scorpio 4wd (Hawk-On-Fours® (H-4®) with a tail - Scorpio mHawk 4WD EDIT: Sold!), a Thar (The Red One | My Thar'd... err...Third Car) (acquired in 2017), and a 2006 Swift ZXi. Our usual driving reduced to ~10,000 km/year between all the cars.

Come 2018, the 3 cars were becoming a maintenance headache. Along with that, the issue of air pollution in Delhi, the diktats of the NGT to ban diesels over 10 years, and petrols over 15 years old, and the rules relating to odd & even registration numbers being allowed to run in the city on alternate days, were becoming too much of a hassle. Since all the cars bore odd numbers, we first chose to sell the Swift, which was the oldest of the three. Being BS-3 and almost 13 years old, there were no buyers for it in Delhi - and I wasn't too keen to scrap it, considering it was well taken care of. Finally, we drove to Guwahati and handed over the car to BHPian chiranjitp (Call of Kamakhya: Our emotional 2000 km Delhi-Guwahati Swift run).

In 2019, the Scorpio was nearing 10 years. A perfectly running car, I did not want to part ways with it, but was forced to. And we had to buy an adequately comfortable car to replace it, since the Thar was not quite there in the department of comfort. So we bought a Ciaz (The Ciazzler® | Our Nexa Blue Maruti-Suzuki Ciaz Petrol (Alpha)).

2020 came, Covid-19 arrived, and our daughter visiting us for 3 weeks in March 2020 got stuck in the lockdowns and flight bans for nearly 2 years. No driving for weeks and months on end, and the two cars (the Ciaz and the Thar) just sat outside the house, running their batteries down and gumming up their engines. Sometime in the middle of 2020, we got an opportunity to dispose off the Thar. My wife used to drive the Thar after the Swift was sold, though she never enjoyed the heavy controls, and neither wife nor daughter wanted to ride in the back seat of the Thar when the 3 of us went out together. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief and said Good riddance once the Thar was gone.

And so we were left with a single car. Not that we felt much need for a second car, but the Ciaz was not something I liked to take into congested areas or narrow lanes. Throughout 2021, with Covid-19 refusing to go away, we neither had many opportunities for road trips, nor did we need to go to the markets frequently, thanks to a multitude of online shopping portals, and a local market with grocery & medicine shops, Mother Dairy & Safal barely a 100 yards away from our doorstep. I work from home, and driving to a job was not a need at all. To put things in perspective about how much we drive nowadays, the Ciaz has done 27,5xx km from end-February 2019 till the end of 2022.

In March 2022, our daughter could finally leave India, and return to her work and the place she enjoys living in. We were looking for a small car for those short trips and visiting some congested areas (anyone who's been to Sadar Bazaar in Gurugram or Delhi will know what kind of congestion I am talking about). However, with the extremely limited running we had, we refused to invest in a new car (though we did consider the Kwid, Alto and S-Presso at one time). Used cars in good condition were hard to come by, and prices were outrageous. It was as if everyone was desperate to buy cars immediately, and since the OEMs could not provide new cars fast enough due to chip shortages and other excuses, people were paying new car money to buy slightly old cars!

So, right through 2022, the search went on. Until the end of November...





...when my cousin who is an early adopter of EVs, decided to sell his E2O Plus and upgrade to a Nexon EV Prime. He had owned an E2O since 2013, and upgraded to the E2O Plus later.

That is my cousin's new car

[SS-Traveller]

The car

This vehicle was registered in January 2017, and had done 37,4xx km before we owned it. A complete service history is available. It did not come with green registration plates (but the white plates are HSRP), and I am not sure how to apply for green ones (in the event that they would at all be required, since neither my cousin / his chauffeur nor I have been pulled over for the lack of such plates). At the Koncept Mahindra service centre, I did notice all the E2Os still sported white plates, not green, so I suppose I don't need to do anything about it immediately.



The battery had a range of 110 km on 100% charge when new, but a cell balancing / battery optimization procedure done 2 years ago reduced the range to 99 km. A check-up with a laptop at Koncept Mahindra's Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate showed all the 16 cells to be in good health, except that the temperature sensor on cell no. 7 is on the blink, showing an occasional overheat light on the dashboard (but without any loss of performance). The part has been ordered, and I should be having it replaced in a few weeks (supposed to be a full day job, involving removal of the front seats and all the plastic covers).

The tyres (ContiEcoContact3, 165/60R14) are in good condition, though 6+ years old. The spare tyre has never been used. Since the car is used for short distances at low speed within the city, changing the tyres right now is not under consideration, though I installed an external TPMS to monitor them.



The front suspension has a bit of a rattle over rough patches, and will be attended to soon (though the service centre said everything is fine). The body is not metal, so despite a few scratches, there is no corrosion apparent anywhere, except on the charging port lid, which is metal.



There is another charging port flap to the right of the car, which appeared to be jammed shut, so I asked the service centre person about it. On the P6 and lower models, this is a dummy cover that cannot be opened. On the P8 version of the E2O, this contains the fast charging port with a GB/T type connector, but my car does not have a fast charging port. The Level 1 (slow) charger that came with the car uses this IEC60309 type of connector.

[SS-Traveller]

Driving the E2O Plus

Getting in the driver's seat is easy, except the space between the battery pack (under the seat) and the front edge of the door sill is not quite enough for large shoes to fit in sideways. I need to twist the right foot to avoid snagging the shoe.

The seat offers enough forward and rearward travel to accommodate me or my wife comfortably.





However, the A & B pedals are somewhat offset to the left, and one's right foot does not intuitively reach the pedals. So one needs to adjust one's position a little awkwardly, placing the left foot on the dead pedal and making sure the right foot knows where the pedals are.

It takes a bit of fiddling to power up the car. Press the start-stop button and an orange light blinks, until the key fob is physically touched to it, when it turns green. A few seconds after the orange light starts blinking, the digital meter console displays an "Authenticate key" sign, after which the key fob bing touched to the button shows a "Welcome" sign. Touch the key too soon (before the "Authenticate key" sign is displayed), the light will turn green but the display will show "Restart" instead of "Welcome". One then needs to switch off the start-stop button and start all over again. Not a car for the average valet parking attendant to start and drive!

Before shifting from N to F or R (these are the 3 positions on the gearshift, apart from a B = Boost position for extra power on demand) requires the brake pedal to be pressed at the first instance, but subsequently shifting from F to N position (or vice versa), one does not need to press the brake pedal.

Moving off is smooth and noiseless like any other EV, and the car crawls at 2-3 km/h without A-pedal input. Perfect for bumper-to-bumper traffic. There is a distinctive motor whine from the rear as one drives, and the noise level increases when lifting off the throttle as Regen kicks in. At slow speeds, one can hear the electric brake booster hissing when brakes are applied.

It isn't an enthusiasts' car, but it pulls cleanly from the traffic lights, and stays ahead of most ICE cars till 40 km/h. Up to 50 km/h it's a hoot to drive, though at 60 km/h it runs out of steam, and one does feel a certain degree of instability in the roadholding capacity of the car. The brakes are not bad, but need a heavy push to make the hydraulics activate - before that, it stays in Regen mode. Note to self: check the brake pads (service centre visit after I wrote this shows plenty of life left in the pads).


Parking the E2O Plus

The steering is super-light at slow (parking) speeds, but seems to weigh up a little as the speed increases - it has 4 turns from lock to lock, and the turning circle is the smallest of any 4-wheeler I've ever driven. The short and narrow car is so much fun and joy to slot in into spaces where my sedan won't fit, or have loads of space on either side to open the doors wide and step out, when occupying a standard parking slot vacated by a bigger car!







That's the lane in front of my house, where I park regularly. Compare the width of the E2O with the humongous Land Rover Defender parked behind!



This is the only car that can do a 5-point 180-degree turn within the width of this lane - every other car has to reverse out when driving in (or vice versa).

[SS-Traveller]

Range

When SOC is 100%, the DTE shows 99 km. However, the battery consumption varies under different driving conditions.

For every 10% drop in SOC, the distance travelled is ~9-9.5 km in the daytime, and 8-8.5 km in the night (the extra battery consumption being due to the headlights). Once, in standstill traffic at night, the distance travelled per 10% SOC went as low as 7 km. All this is over the last 1 month, when there has not been any use of the air conditioner (but the radio always remained on). I am told by the previous owner that the vehicle does about 8 km for every 10% drop in SOC with the AC on, and about 7 km with the AC and headlights on.

Keeping in mind that I do not really want the SOC to drop below 20%, the usable range should be in the region of 60-70 km, which is more than adequate for our city running purposes. The most we have needed to travel on a single trip has been 56 km, and the SOC dropped to 38%. Here's a pic from a trip driving at night, SOC going down to 38% for 50.1 km. The Trip A reading resets to 0.0 every time the car is fully charged. Also note the ambient temperature at 9°C!



And then it takes 3 hours to replenish.



Assuming that this would have been at night in summer, the SOC should not drop below 20% for 56 km - and then we have the option of turning off the AC as required, to get slightly better range.

[SS-Traveller]

Charging the E2O Plus

The car came with 2 AC 15A slow chargers. One is the portable cable with a 15A plug at one end, and the IEC60309 connector at the other end. One can travel with this in the boot if required. The other is a tethered charger with spike guard that needs to be mounted on a wall, and is definitely not portable once installed (I am yet to install it).



I had to set up the charging provision across the lane from my ground floor flat where I park the car. The requirement was for a 20-metre cable to that side, and a lockable box to store the chargers (I really don't want to carry the portable charger around in the car, since I don't plan to charge elsewhere but at home). The recommended extension according to the owner's handbook is up to 15 metres of 2.5 mm 3-core cable. Since I needed 20 metres, I chose to install a 4 mm cable. The steel box was fabricated with a local welder / fabricator, and I ended up with a larger box than anticipated.

[SS-Traveller]

The little things I love (and hate)

I love:
- the electrically adjustable ORVMs (usually missing in cheap cars);
- the dipping IRVM;
- the firm seats;
- the remote boot release;
- that the radio / ICE sound turns off when reverse gear is engaged;
- theatre dimming of cabin light;
- the economical running costs (will update when I get my next electricity bill).

I dislike:
- the unsettled ride at speed;
- the offset pedals;
- the fiddly start-stop mechanism as well as the fiddly gear shift;
- the limited range (well, we bought this knowing well that 60-70 km is the max we can run on one charge, which is good enough for our city usage - so why complain?).

[SS-Traveller]

Some photos from my visit to the service centre on 7 January 2023:

38000 km done. It is 6°C outside!


Many other E2Os


Laptop connected


The laptop connection port under the rear right-hand seat


Equipment for cell balancing - takes a couple of days, I am told


A 2-door E2O's batteries being cell balanced


A peek at the fuse box of my car


My spare tyre - never been used!


The bill for scanning with the laptop was Rs.1156 (Rs.980 + taxes). Little niggles like the cabin light not working, and the handbrake switch having a loose contact, were attended to free of charge.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[vigsom]

Congratulations, Dada, for this very sensible choice. This would come across as one of the first used EVs on the forum. "Big is Macho" would be the typical thought process of all of us when in the 30s and even 40s. Once one experiences mad traffic and madder drivers, "small is bliss" becomes the new mantra. I do hope you master the art of maintaining this car; updating this thread would also provide a good perspective to prospective used EV buyers on what to expect. I have been seeing an E2O owner in my city holding onto his steed for very long and keeping the car in pristine shape.

The corrosion on the lid could be more than just atmospheric. Could it be something related to charge?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Congratulations, Dada...

Thank you.

Originally Posted by vigsom

The corrosion on the lid could be more than just atmospheric. Could it be something related to charge?

I doubt that. Have seen this kind of corrosion on the fuel flap of my Swift earlier. Probably to do with moisture being retained inside the space after the rains.

[ninjatalli]

Congratulations. This is an excellent choice - something that I was (kind of) recommending to my SIL a year ago when she voiced her requirement of a small car, electric, automatic and within a 5L budget for 99% in-city travel. Back then we were talking about the Reva and then later the conversation touched towards E20 but honestly, I didn't have an ownership thread experience to guide her towards. I'll be sharing this thread with her for sure.

Have heard about the Reva's battery cells requiring a replacement every ~5 years or so. It's good to hear the cells are retaining most of the range even after 5 years. Looking forward to hearing more on the ownership experience.

[wocanak]

Great choice for city .

I think the current lack of small EV cars in the market is temporary, sooner or latter models like the Nano EV, MG Air or startups like PMV will be coming.

[Rajain]

Congratulations on the E2O....we have had one since 2017 and so far covered 52500 kms....sometimes the travel is more than 2000 kms a month and sometimes as less as 300-400 kms a month. Since 1 Jan 2023 I have covered 800 kms. Just for tomorrow I have about 150 kms lined up. I have identified my places and times for charging. Only a city car and in Bangalore traffic the best. Simple, easy and fuss free. My current full charge is 98 kms and typically gets me 80 kms or so (give or take)....happy with the performance and continue to drive across town in it.

Congratulations on your purchase.

Cheers
Rajan

[SS-Traveller]

So yesterday, I drove the car a total of 116 km. First, a 56 km round trip to Rohini, which saw the battery deplete from 97% to 44%. Put it on charge in the afternoon, and the time to charge (TTC) was 2.7 hours. Took the car out in the evening for a trip to Mayur Vihar and Sector 18 Noida, and returned covering 60 km, with the battery at 40%. TTC 3.0 hours. Without using AC/blower, a drive at night is now taking 10% charge for every 10 km, and 11 km in the daytime. It appears that the battery consumption is lower as the weather warms up a little, compared to when driving in peak Delhi winter. Have to see what happens in peak summer.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Rajain

We have a E2O at home and have recently crossed 55,000 kms on the ODO. There have been 3 major expenses - 1) the AC unit, cost about 25 k 2) the gear slot hand lever was not smooth and would not slot, cost about 12-13k 3) battery deterioration and it required assembly which was about 17k. Overall takes about 3.5 hrs from 16 amp charger to charge from 15% to 100%. It has a range of 97 kms on one charge (earlier it was 110 kms) and with AC gives about 75 kms.

Originally Posted by GoBabyGo

Lots of apprehension we all have regarding battery degradation or battery replacement. I feel that battery degradation may be 5% to 10% after 5 to 6 years (after more than 1 lac km driven) and one may have to change some cells (not the entire battery) after say 8 years or so. The cost of replacing cells may not be as expensive as most of us are assuming.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Nothing like it if this is true. Is there any example / POC of it already available somewhere? The way the Li-Po/Ion batteries in all electronic devices literally fall off a cliff after 2-3 years of usage, has always been a roadblock for me.

Indeed, battery life and replacement cost have always been a worry for all EV users. I was quoted about Rs.4,00,000 + taxes & installation cost for replacement of the E2O battery pack, but then I came across this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri-V4auLdc0

Their website is https://www.northwaymotors.com, and Instagram handle is @northwayms, which last posted in August 2020.

I wonder if anyone on this forum has used their services. For the price they quote, it would be worthwhile to even freight an E2O from another part of the country (Delhi in my case) to Pune, have the pack(s) installed, and get the car back home on another truck. I would be glad if someone can update about them with first-hand experience in recent times.