[electric_eel]

Grumpy old petrol heads complain that EVs are life less and dull. I disagree completely. I would like fellow electron-heads to give an account on how they enjoy their electric car drive. I request you to post only about the drive and the machine. It should be something that car folks will identify with and not the numerous other advantages of an EV over an ICE car (there are other threads for them).

I will go first. I get a kick out of trying to drive with maximum efficiency. This makes monotonous commutes like the daily office commutes interesting and something to look forward for. Doing this on a petrol car is not that easy. On the other hand in an EV it is just beating your previous best Wh/km figures.

My car crazy son often ask me to switch off the music to hear the low volume high pitched whine of the electric motor. Lack of engine grunt ? no problem start enjoying the motor whine. These are some of the ways we enjoy our machine. How about you ?

[roy_libran]

There have been occasions that I have driven my Tiago EV between Greater Noida and Gurgaon, without even once needing to touch the brake pedal. That one factor, supplemented with the utterly butterly smooth drive, stunning over-taking potential in any traffic, and the sorted supple suspension, makes it superior to any ICE vehicle I have experienced till date, even up to 7 or 8 times the cost bracket of this little car!

My only gripe - seats. Those needed to be better and I am currently on the lookout for an appropriate retrofitment. And yes better tyres when they are due to be changed.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Electric cars are fun!! Anyone saying otherwise has either not experienced a decent EV, or is inherently biased. All it takes is a short drive in a Nexon EV or a ZS EV, and you will be hooked. The instant torque is addictive, and these 20-25L rupee EVs easily outpace ICE cars costing twice the money at all legal speeds. Handling is also surprisingly sharp with stiffened suspensions and low center of gravity. Then again, the serene and quiet drive when you are just cruising around is fun in its own way.

[pram_ind]

Same as you.

When I travelled to 3 jyothirlingas in Maharashtra in my ZS EV, my aim was to achieve 7.5 km/KW , and I was able to maintain 7.6 km/KW with an average speed of 58 km/h.

The drive to Pune took 16 hours and no one complained of tiredness. While my wife who used to get headaches in few hours of travel in Creta, did not have any, the entire trip.

[shankar.balan]

I am going on record here as a recent ‘convert’ or 'believer' having just a few days ago, driven a Kia EV6 and a Hyundai Ioniq5 more or less back to back. I truly love all things automotive. I won't jump on the 'green' bandwagon ref Electric cars as that is a moot point and the jury is still out.

But let us consider an EV purely as an ‘alternate fuel’ powered automobile.

They are definitely a very worthy consideration for anyone who loves Automobiles. Especially those which are beautifully designed, well thought-out, whose aesthetics and ergonomics and functional aspects are superb and which offer teeth-blistering, face-peeling performance along with a more-than-acceptable range between recharges.

Let us just consider these to be an alternative.
Yes we can love Petrol Power or Diesel Power. No harm also loving Electric Power.

I would love to own an EV6 or Ioniq5 of the present crop of EV’s.

But though I am sorely tempted, I think it prudent on my part just wait a bit longer before buying - atleast until I take a little more enjoyment out of my present garage.

[V.Narayan]

The acceleration of a racing car.

The muted golden silence of a Rolls Royce.

The weighted sorted suspension - probably due to the lower centre of gravity.

The sheer smoothness of the ride and driving experience.

Having owned a driven an EV for 70 to 80 odd days now there is no going back. The jump in driving smoothness and quality between and EV and a luxury make ICE car is the same as the difference between that luxury ICE of today with the Premier Padmini of 40 years ago.

In the 1890 to 1910 decades there were folks complaining bitterly about motor cars and the devil's handicraft that they were. And harking back to the good old traffic of the horse drawn era. One sees a lot of something similar today. Folks like ICE because we are used to it not because they are superior.

Car makers who do not shift gears {pun intended} to the EV train will gradually die a natural death. In the 1950s it was not so clear that thirsty, noisy jet engines were the future of passenger aviation. Many thought it would be either fuel sipping turbo-compound pistons or turboprop engines for passenger airliners and jets for military machines. And then overnight over 1958 to 1959 orders for large, long range propeller driven aircraft disappeared off the books and early jets took over. The same is happening to the car industry today.

[Way2Jimny]

EV's are more engaging and fun to drive than ICE cars. Most of the ramblings are from ICE car owners who have never driven an EV. The utmost happiness I got once I switched my daily drive to EV is the joy of not having to visit fuel station. Those days fuel price were on a upward trend and it gave me immense joy that I don't have to go to fuel station and fill up the tank before the clock ticks 12 midnight

Look at the fuel shortage in Hyderabad this week. You need not care if you have an EV in your garage.

[ALTIMAed]

Hi, when I was under the 'car buying mode', having used petrol and diesel vehicles till date, I started analyzing how would an EV be. Went around to the Tata and MG showroom. With a limited budget in mind (10 L max. onroad), the only options I had was the MG Comet and Tata Tiago or a petrol car at the same / similar price point. I reside at Dwarka, Delhi and have to travel to work at Gurgaon, a daily running of 80 kms. I worked out the fuel cost (petrol vs electric). The whopping price differentiation was eye popping. I worked out, for a running of 2000 kms, I would burn approximately Rs 14,000 on petrol over Rs 1400 on electricity (my EMI would be Rs 10,000 per month). Net monthly outflow for a petrol fueled vehicle would be Rs 24000/- which definitely hit my pocket really hard. Test drove extensively the Tiago EV and Comet EV, the latter won my mind and heart. What I liked about the EV

Instantaneous torque - really addictive
Smooth - never got the feeling that travelling on the road could be so silent
NVH - hey what is this?
Cost of fuel - specially when stuck in traffic jams (referring to the notorious jam which is prevalent on the Delhi Haryana border every evening), no tension of burning petrol while at standstill

To sum it up - 'I am really loving it'

[vb-saan]

I have driven only 3 EVs, and each had very different feel about it (not surprising considering that all 3 belongs to different segments, and even different target populations.

• Tesla Model 3: This was the first EV experience, for around 25 odd miles in California. Except for that short initial adjustment period (of watching the speed on the tablet screen), it was awesome. Being the first EV drive, the way the car picked on speed was just unreal.
  
• Mercedes EQB 350: This in my opinion was the perfect family EV. Silent, stable, comfortable, and adequate power on offer. Given a choice I would pick the electric version over the GLB.
  
• Mercedes EQS 580: A proper luxury barge that is insanely fast, and still feel like small car to drive! Though the Hyper screen and plethora of options are an overkill, it was an enjoyable car to drive. And with massive battery packs there won’t be any issue of range anxiety.

I don’t have a specific preference (EV vs ICE) – felt equally at home in a EQS or M340i. And not overly sad about the way EVs are gaining prominence; I feel diesel popularity will drastically diminish but EV and petrol/hybrid variants will co-exist well for another decade or so. What I don’t like is the way manufacturers over-style the EV variants, almost give a gadget feel.

[Abi5hek]

I've been daily driving an ev for the past 3 weeks now. Having covered around 1200kms, here are some of the things that I love

- Lag free acceleration.
Turbo engines + auto transmission ( most prevalent combo in mass market cars today) invariably leads to a lag between the time you floor the A pedal and the vehicle getting a move on. Though the extent of the lag may vary based on the engine, engine + transmission calibration etc it's presence is undeniable.
This is non existent in ev's. It's almost like you're driving a manual car (which is always in the right gear) with a sprightly NA engine, minus the added strain of shifting the gears aaand the NA is at peak torque right from the get go

- Zero worry about economy.
The thought of driving economically hasn't crossed my mind even once in these 3 weeks. The car is always in sports mode and it makes the entire experience absolutely absolutely kickass.

- Low running costs
I am someone who drives a lot in the city. So traffic jams are an integral part of my day to day life. Although traffic inherently is an irritant, the fact that I'm stuck and losing money in the process ( FE takes a massive hit in B2B traffic) made it so much more worse. So traffic is slightly more palatable in an ev

This is a weird one but my friends and I have this habit of sitting in our cars and having long discussions, which would sometimes go on for hours. We've had some of our most profound conversations in this setting tbh. With rising fuel prices and dwindling fuel economies these conversations have become far and few.

- Braking
Regen has spoilt me. I think one has to experience it to understand how easy it makes city driving

The nvh is brilliant! It makes an entry level hatch feel like a luxury car

[sushanthys]

I own a MG ZS EV since March 2023.
In 9 months, I have driven 25,000 km.
My wife, needs to travel 70 km/ day twice a week for work.
She is not a fan of driving and used to avoid it as much as possible.
Since the EV came, she takes that for her 70km commute and is very happy with it.
In fact, she takes the EV as much as possible.She loves driving it.
So do I.
Driving an EV is real fun and is a very different experience.
And the savings keep adding up every month.!!

[SS-Traveller]

I hate most automatic transmissions because they are sluggish - but with EVs, the word 'sluggish' has been removed from the automotive dictionary. Even the humble E2O I have will outrun any common car in the 0-50 kmph sprint.

I hate traffic jams and the back-of-the-mind urge to switch off to save fuel in an hour-long jam (unless someone else is paying for the petrol I am burning, of course). With the EV, that urge has gone - and battery consumption is minimal with the AC on.

[shyampsunder]

Unlike most of my EV compatriots, I love to floor the pedal and get obscene efficiency numbers without a worry in the world about how much it is impacting me financially.

Coming from the Honda CRV where pushing the pedal meant getting mileage figures below 7 KMPL very easily. With tolls, you are often looking at above Rs 15 per KM.

I drive often between Chennai and Bangalore and with the ZS EV I have always been a bit careful about pushing the throttle because it usually means having a two-stop drive to be on the safer side

With the recent opening of Chargezone's 350 KW charging station, there are more than enough backup options in and around Vellore. This meant that a drive from Bangalore (Marathahalli) to Vellore was completed in 3 hours with an early morning start.

Since Zeon was free and the food was better there, we decided to plug in over there. My wife was shocked to see that the SoC was showing 18% when I plugged in.

So I had burnt ~41 kWh of power to drive a distance of 192 KMs which translates to an efficiency figure of 4.5 KMs/kWh. I know most EV owners would be judging me on these numbers but the drive was fantastic and it was something that put a smile on my face.

The best part? The cost.

The top-up on Zeon cost me Rs 929 and since my hotel in Chennai provided me a free 15A socket to charge overnight, it translated to a very reasonable Rs ~3 per KM making it super economical.

[xsrahul]

The jackrabbit starts from standstill at a traffic light is addictive.

I was driving a kona and there was a beemer beside me who was probably cursing himself.

I rent an EV here in Singapore and it’s definitely more fun than a fossil fuelled car.

[extreme_torque]

I drive a Model Y Performance

1. Humbling fast cars (for some reasons BMW's want to race) still keeping within the speed limit and recording them while doing so (Here's an obnoxious Porsche Macan S drive who was tailgating me while I was following the speed limit on a busy holiday weekend)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHdCoUsQ-to

2. Never worrying about insurance liability since the dashcam is recording from all sides while driving while Sentry mode keeping an eye out while parked

3. Always having the car pre-warmed or pre-cooled depending on the weather

4. Not worrying about running costs since I charge using solar or cheap time of use electricity tariffs during the night. The car is always plugged in when parked in the garage and the app manages the charging automatically making use of excess solar being generated during the day and cheap charging from mid night onwards

5. Huge boot that can swallow anything - front boot is particularly good for take away food. No more smelly insides.

6 Software updates with new features and improvements to existing features and even safety

7 Fantastic infotainment system with built in apps - perfect when you have time to kill (Pssst watching netflix in the car is almost as good as watching it on my high end home theatre system)

8. No noise, no expensive yearly service, no replacing the brakes, no harmful emissions - mostly powered by the Sun