[dreamliner17]

Introduction
I had the wonderful opportunity of driving the TATA Tigor EV from Mumbai to Pondicherry, covering a distance of approximately 1500 KM in less than 4 days!

While many would feel extremely nervous doing this in an EV, let alone in an EV with a comparatively small battery size when compared to the Hyundai Kona or the MG ZS EV, I decided to put the Tigor EV to the test.

Is the Tigor EV suitable for doing something like this? Is it primarily a city car considering the lower range? Are there sufficient charging stations en-route? Is it really worth putting money on an EV? These are some of the most widely talked, discussed and debated topics about EV’s today.

Will the Tigor EV actually deliver as anticipated?? I was itching to find out!





The ‘mock test’ before the journey
We decided to do a week long ‘mock test’ to simulate the various issues that can surface during the long drive. To a certain extent, this may equip us to overcome the most common issues that are likely to arise during the drive. Since this is a friend's EV and I would be doing my first long distance drive in an EV, I wanted to see what could be the potential events that can catch us by surprise. My own housing society had no provision for EV charging and we were solely dependent on the public charging infrastructure. This proved to be a boon since I got to use the AC fast and DC fast chargers (primarily on the TATA Power charging network while in Mumbai) and got a real taste of their charging network. More on that later.

The CAR
I spent about a week driving it in Mumbai to get an idea of the energy consumption. I drove it extensively in and around the city - in peak hour traffic and on the highways. The energy consumption in sport mode was around 130-140 Wh/kM compared to 110-120 Wh/kM in eco mode. I was expecting a wider gap in both modes, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t! In the city, sport mode gives you a nice ‘thrust’ to close in on the gaps. The eco mode feels just about adequate and the acceleration is smooth and linear. I received feedback from the other occupants in the car that they felt much more comfortable when the car was driven in eco mode. The sport mode spoils you with the instant torque and I once ended up in a shrieking wheelspin when I floored the accelerator, when the signal turned green in Bandra!

The route
In the preliminary research on plugshare.com, we found out that the Mumbai-Bangalore route already has a large presence of fast chargers. This was also the obvious choice since the Mumbai-Bangalore route has been the most popular route to travel to the South.I was also looking at alternative options via Solapur and through Andhra Pradesh but couldn't find many charging points there, so the route was dropped.

We marked most of the fast chargers on google maps before the journey



The strategy
The plan was to stop for a quick 1 hour charge every 150 KM. Although I had read from various sources that the car can easily do 200 KM in a single charge, I wanted to be safe and not push it to the limit. It will be a tricky situation to end up with a non-functioning charger and finding an alternative at the last minute with not much charge to spare will be extremely challenging. Plugshare.com was extremely useful in helping us plan the charging stops. It aggregates and displays the charging points from all service providers (installed + upcoming) on their webpage. The best part was, the users that have previously used the charging stations can write a review on the charging points and you almost get real-time data on the condition of the charger and its working status.

Types of ‘anxiety’
The best outcome of the mock test was that I was able to identify two types of anxiety, thanks to the TATA chargers -
I - Range anxiety
II - Charger anxiety!

Range anxiety is all about whether the car will make it to the next charging point or not.
Charger anxiety is what you get after you have ‘successfully’ located a charger but don't know whether it will work or not
You can overcome Range anxiety by locating charging points on Google Maps and then hoping that your car makes the distance.
How do you overcome Charger anxiety?? We didn't really have an answer..
So to overcome this anxiety, we tried to locate as many different charging stations which are installed close to each other, at the same time adhering to our 150KM charging rule. Incase charger ‘A’ doesn't work, we could quickly move to charger ‘B’ and so on. It was like a revision of the topic ‘Set theory’ that we studied in school. Grouping all the charging points located nearby in one set!

The drive
We allocated 4 days for the drive and the idea was to reach Pondicherry within this time. The energy consumption with or without AC was found out to be almost the same in the mock test and we decided to use the AC only when required. Also, the entire journey was done in Eco mode.

Day 1: Mumbai to Pune

Charging at HP Sajgaon. The attendant mentioned that 5-6 Tigor EV's had to be towed away since they charged till 100% SoC and their vehicles got 'locked'. Don't know whether its true but we nevertheless decided to not charge to 100% anywhere in the trip using DC Fast chargers



Day 2: Pune to Belgaum

Charging at Croma, Aundh at an awkwardly placed charger



Charging at a TATA charger at Aamrai resort. Surprisingly, charger location was not awkward this time!



Charging at Vijaya power



Day 3: Belgaum to Bengaluru

Our first 'home charge' to 100% SoC



A Great Dane lounging at Shoonya Retreat



At TML Manickbag, attending to the first snag of the trip



The locking mechanism for the charging gun got stuck and did not auto-release. There is a manual release via a button on the dashboard but it didnt work either. The EV had to be ultimately taken to TML Manickbag and the service technician 'flicked' the release switch manually using his fingers. Although the issue could be resolved easily, the entire ordeal added stress and 2 hrs to the journey



Charging at Jio-BP Pulse. We met a group of people heading from Goa to Tirupati in their Nexon. It was a sort of 'relay race' with them since we would met them at the same charging points enroute. Their Nexon EV delivered an efficiency of 130 Wh/km and subsequently 113 Wh/km which was similar to our Tigor EV. This proved that small EV = more efficiency is not always true!



Charging at a ZEON charging point. This was also the spot where the KSRTC busses halted.



Charging at another ZEON charging point



Day 4: Bengaluru to Auroville (Pondicherry)

The 25kW and 50kW Zeon twins alongside my two lovelies!



50 kW charger



Making friends along the way..



At the destination!



Time for the report card..!





The Public Charging Experience
Most of the service providers need you to install an app on your phone and add a non-refundable amount to start charging. They also ask you to maintain a minimum balance.
Although TATA has the largest charging infrastructure in place as of today, their chargers have the most amount of niggles too.

TATA Power
They are the undisputed winner in terms of widespread reach and the variety of slow + fast chargers spread across the length and breadth of the country. It's not very difficult to locate a TATA public charger near you. However, TATA also wins in another category - ‘Lack of Reliability’- having the most amount of niggles, snags, errors and being the least maintained charging points amongst all! It also has the most awkwardly located chargers and accessing many of their points is mostly 'tricky'.


My first experience in charging at a public charging point was at an awkwardly located TATA charger at an IOCL pump in Prabhadevi. It is placed just beside the puncture repair shop and if you do not park properly, you end up blocking access

At a TATA charger in Mira Road, located at one of the TATA dealerships, you have to drive the car over the footpath and then reach the charger installed on the wall of the dealership building. I suppose this charger was installed keeping only the nexon in mind! After 3-4 failed attempts to start charging thanks to communication issues, you are on cloud 9 after the charging finally starts.
At Vikhroli (E) the charging point is located at a TATA power substation, on the service road, near the EEH. The best part of charging here is that you have a range of chargers available at your disposal. Will any of them work depends on your luck.
In Bhandup (W), again located at a substation, the emergency switch is left hanging and you need to have knowledge of how industrial emergency switches work to switch it ON. And will it charge or not, it's again luck.
In Bhandup (E), a 25 kW DC fast charger is located right at the train station exit! You can’t dream of taking your car there during the day, let alone parking in that small space! I decided to go there at 1 AM, since I live not very far from it. Oh, I forgot to mention that you first have to clear the bikes parked in front of it and also clear up the garbage thrown in that area too (if you are willing) and then you have finally made access to reach the charging gun. And you guessed it right, the icing on the cake is when the charger doesn’t work. All your hardwork of making ‘space’ goes in vain. The only satisfaction you get is that you actively contributed in making a portion of the city clean!

'The comedy of errors' captured in the charger



Zeon
Used them multiple times. They are strategically located at all major eateries and have the best experience so far! No communication issues, dedicated parking space, charging station is easy to spot, the charger displays the power at which the battery is being charged as well. Typically, the charging power was 22kW at the beginning of the charging session and reached 4kW once the battery approached 90%. It is also the most expensive service provider. The Zeon app also keeps sending updates regarding the most recently installed chargers, which is a good feature.

The Zeon and Relux having a strong presence mainly in Kerala and TN, compared to the ubiquitous TATA Power chargers



E-Fill
This is a Haryana based service provider. Charged only once at this charging point near Kolhapur. Charger was located on the wall of a shop with just a board saying that it's a charging point. If not for plugshare, I wouldn't have found this charger. I faced communication issues that cost me around 20-30 mins before the charger started working. However, their customer service was helpful and all the snags were resolved. This charging point was crucial since the nearby TATA charger was under maintenance that day. Another issue that i faced - I added Rs 150 to the wallet, it erroneously let me charge till Rs 195!

Jio BP-Pulse
Charged only once at this charging point in Chitradurga. They have their charging points at the Reliance fuel outlets. The amenities on the Reliance fuel outlets are a hit or a miss since many pumps appear to be shutting down or relocating, which is probably also why the restaurants located at the pumps are also shutting down or relocating. Faced a communication issue once but it resolved soon.

HP-Magenta Chargegrid
Charged only once at this charging point. Located at a massive HP pump on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway just before the climb to the lonavala ghat starts. Charger worked well and had good amenities. While I didn't face any problems with the charging process, a ZS EV owner constantly faced an error saying that the phone is not near the charging station and the charging would not get initiated. Don’t know if it was a problem with his phone or with the app.

E-fill mainly present in the north, Jio-BP Pulse infrequently spread out and Magenta-Chargegrid having presence in many states



The service providers that I wasn't able to try-
Statiq - App looked fancy and didn't end up charging here on my route
Relux - App didn't look fancy at all and somehow I considered avoiding this at Tiruvannamalai and chose to take the Vellore route (having the Zeon) instead.
Chargezone - App looked fancy and didn't end up charging here on my route

Summary
It was a pleasant and largely uneventful drive across all the 4 days. The drive was silent, vibration-free and enjoyable. The instant torque from the electric motor is very easy to fall in love with. On the highway, it drives just as good as any other ICE car, rather fares better than it!

Different ranges predicted at the same SoC. Its better to keep the SoC as a reference and not the predicted range



I find it unfair to compare an EV with an ICE car. Although their battle is the hottest topic right now, it is like comparing apples to oranges. An EV is an EV and an ICE an ICE! While we enjoy comparing it on running costs and come up with all sorts of break even points and ownership and ROI calculation, I simply wouldn't want to do that. It is better to see it (and appreciate it) for what it offers. After this drive, I don't feel like going back to driving an ICE car. The ease of use, the ability to just plug it at home for charging (and not visit a fuel station at all!), no changing gears, no tailpipe emissions, the silent and torquey drive, all add to a comfortable and enjoyable drive and make strong points for one to own an EV. Infact, nothing about the car made me feel that i'm driving something ‘less’ than a conventional car. The AC, music system and other electronics worked exactly like a conventional car. The ABS worked well and saved us at a time when it was needed. At that point you can actually forget that you are sitting in an EV! But yes, it comes with its share of cons in the form of snags, glitches and stressful moments. In the case of long distance travel, you may need to have much more spare time at hand to reach the destination. It's best while going on a leisure trip or a holiday drive when you are not pressed for time. Also, in the event of travel during an emergency, you may not be able to use your EV incase its not readily charged. While TATA’s lineup of EV’s are extremely well engineered, TATA’s charging points have a lot of scope for improvement. Their network is the most widely spread and has relatively lower charging costs. The new service providers in the EV charging space are helping expand the EV charging infrastructure at a fast pace.

Signing off..

[lina]

I just want to thank you for using the 24kW charger (zeon krishnagiri surya complex photo) even though the 50kW charger is free. The number of Tiago and Nexon users who insist on using the 50kW charger even though their car can only do 18-21kW is extremely frustrating. Thank you!

[GeeTee TSI]

Informative and a real world account made for a very interesting read!

(Fast) charging your EV along a typical highway drive costs about a third of an petrol ICE and that is still phenomenal considering the EV is out of its efficiency zone and the ICE in its most efficient zone

[Hatari]

Very detailed write up

But spending 4hrs in a day just charging is unthinkable.

Hope there are most fast chargers on the highways for EV users.

[vvivek85]

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

Introduction
I had the wonderful opportunity of driving the TATA Tigor EV from Mumbai to Pondicherry, covering a distance of approximately 1500 KM in less than 4 days

Really appreciate the efforts you put to compile this, it his will be very useful for many people who wish to go EV and are in dilemma. Great to see the maximum coverage of TATA chargers, at one point in time if all becomes functional, then the dream of majority people moving into EV will be a reality

[DCEite]

Very good writeup.

I personally believe the practical range of atleast smaller EVs like Tigor/Tiago/Nexon etc should ideally be in the range of 500-600 kms , so as to prevent range anxiety. I believe a breakthrough is needed in battery technologies and go past the psychological 500 kms (that translates to ARAI range of approx 750-800kms on sigle charge) mark, that would make EVs much more practical and liveable. Not that they are not practical right now, but a 500km or so realistic range would let most buyers not vary of highway trips and weekend gateways atleast without having to worry about charging stations and spending time charging while on a holiday.

[ketan007]

These are very good insights into a long-distance driving scenario with EVs. Thank you for sharing!

[HappyRider]

Originally Posted by Hatari

But spending 4hrs in a day just charging is unthinkable.

Hope there are most fast chargers on the highways for EV users.

I think this is more to do about charging speeds of Tigor than availability of fast chargers. Tigor charges at 18KW.

[antz.bin]

I think Dreamliner17 has hit the nail on the head by reclassifying the anxieties.

With the number of chargers I see around, there are places you can technically reach and some that you can't. So Range is not much of an anxiety as far as I can see it as long as you keep your expectations reasonable.

The bigger issue here is charging speeds. I wouldn't want to wait around for 60 minutes on all my stops just to wait for the car to charge. And if there is a traffic jam at the charger, something like that could definitely happen during long holiday weekends, it could lead to some more unplanned delays. Time wasted is time lost while not having fun on a holiday.

EVs currently are practical only for people who primarily use their vehicles within the confines of its single charge return range radius. Especially the smaller, slower charging ones. The faster charging ones can work around this handicap much better.

[ashokabs]

Good experience to read if one is considering buying and EV as I am. What struck me as odd is that with very minimal use as of now so many of the charging points are non-functional or working improperly. Why should this be so? There is nothing very technically complicated about the charging system. Also, have read many problems about release of the lock of the charging lead. Is this a faulty design or caused by faulty use?

[Aditya]

Thanks for sharing, dreamliner17! Moving your post out to a new thread. A new thread means 100X the views & 100X the visibility in search engines, including Google .

@ BHPians, if you should spot any good post in an existing thread that deserves its own new thread, please report the post and we'll move it out for greater visibility.

Thank you!

[niranjanprabhu]

@dreamliner17

I tweeted this article and tagged Tata Power telling them that they need to look into the quality of the charging infra they are setting up. The below was the response

"We’re sorry to hear about the unpleasant situation and would like to review this. Please e-mail your contact details along with charger details at evchargercare@tatapower.com or connect on our toll free number 18008332233 so that our team can look into it."

[HappyRider]

This is not a problem with a specific Tata Charger. Overall reliability of Tata chargers is the question. So, no point reporting about a particular charger. All they need is to look at their own network uptime and plugshare reviews. Many Tata chargers on plugshare do not even have one success session review even after 6 months of existence. That tells a lot.

[dreamliner17]

Originally Posted by lina

I just want to thank you for using the 24kW charger (zeon krishnagiri surya complex photo) even though the 50kW charger is free.

Yes, I didn't see any point in using the higher capacity charger since the car cannot support charging at that rate.
I decided not charge at the KIA Motors 150 kW charger at Pune after reaching the charging point and the attendant was confused as to why am I refusing to charge at their 'fast charger'. I simply told him that it's made for bigger cars and not the Tigor. The other reason why I didn't charge there was the exorbitant price for using the 150kW charger - Rs 1000/15 mins!

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

(Fast) charging your EV along a typical highway drive costs about a third of an petrol ICE and that is still phenomenal considering the EV is out of its efficiency zone and the ICE in its most efficient zone

I wouldn't say that an EV is entirely out of the efficiency zone on the highway. It was simply effortless to drive the Tigor EV on the highway. I didn't feel the need to use sport mode in any part of the journey. Also, while driving on highways with gradients, you have possibility of using the regen to extend your range as well.

Originally Posted by ashokabs

What struck me as odd is that with very minimal use as of now so many of the charging points are non-functional or working improperly. Why should this be so? There is nothing very technically complicated about the charging system. Also, have read many problems about release of the lock of the charging lead. Is this a faulty design or caused by faulty use?

The answer to your question lies in the question itself - minimal use!
Minimal use actually puts more pressure on the service providers since they have already invested in setting up the charging station, but it's not generating returns. I remember seeing the Tata Power charging station at Vikhroli East in Mumbai maybe 5 years back, if not more. Few people noticed it and a fraction of the few were the ones to actually use it!
At that time I suppose Tata was the only player to even setup a public charging station. Compare that to the number of service providers now, many players didn't even exist back then!
The other issue is of having good internet connectivity to communicate with the chargers, which are primarily on the 4g network. Although we are fast moving towards 5g, the fact remains that 4g connectivity is still not upto the mark. You simply cannot get reliable signals and you face connectivity trouble every now and then.
The charging gun locking switch mechanism needs to get better. Hope Tata Motors can troubleshoot and improve.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Thanks for sharing, dreamliner17! Moving your post out to a new thread. A new thread means 100X the views & 100X the visibility in search engines, including Google

Thank you!

Originally Posted by niranjanprabhu

@dreamliner17
I tweeted this article and tagged Tata Power telling them that they need to look into the quality of the charging infra they are setting up.

Let's hope that it makes a difference!

[FourWheelDrift]

A little bit off-topic, but just to give perspective on the situation with EV chargers in another country ...

JD Power has released a report on charging in the U.S. and this press release talks about the highlights.

https://www.jdpower.com/business/pre...charging-study ... only excerpts reproduced below, as per forum rules.

Following are key findings of the 2022 study:

Most owners relatively satisfied with ease of charging process: Satisfaction with the ease of charging at a DC fast charger is 745 among battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) owners, and satisfaction with the ease of charging at a Level 2 charging station is 699. This indicates that current EV owners understand the operation of both types of chargers, so the systems themselves do not prompt issues. But virtually all other attributes related to public charging score lower. Some, like cost of charging, are much lower: 473 for DC fast chargers and 446 for Level 2 chargers.

Public charger operability and maintenance a key issue: Growth of the public charging infrastructure is making it easier for EV owners to find public charging stations. The index for ease of finding a location is 724 among users of DC fast chargers and 683 among users of Level 2 chargers. But the industry needs to do a better job of maintaining existing charging stations. The study finds that one out of every five respondents ended up not charging their vehicle during their visit. Of those who didn’t charge, 72% indicated that it was due to the station malfunctioning or being out of service.

Owner satisfaction with availability of public charging stations differs by region: Led by California, the Pacific region has the highest number of public chargers. At the same time, it has the highest concentration of EV owners, yet they are not as satisfied with the availability and condition of public chargers as EV owners in some other geographic areas. The West North Central region (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota) has the highest level of satisfaction with the availability of public charging. The East North Central region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) has the highest level of satisfaction with the condition of public chargers.

DC fast charger users are planners: Users of Level 2 chargers cite convenience and price as the two key reasons for choosing a charging location. Users of DC fast chargers, on the other hand, are often on a planned road trip which, along with convenience, determines their choice of charging location. Often, they have few logical alternatives.

Cheers,

FourWheelDrift