[DessertOnWheels]

I haven’t done much of highway touring with my Nexon EV, but I’ve noticed that on highways, Sport Mode with level 1 or 2 regen tends to offer slightly better mileage. Also, manual acceleration offers better range than cruise control (no regen available with cruise control)

[Hayek]

Have not done an ultra long highway trip yet. My longest trip was a 366 km return trip - where I had a charging option at the halfway point but didn’t bother since there was enough range on my Ioniq 5. Pushed hard where road conditions allowed me to do so, and also got stuck in terrible traffic on my return journey, and got back with about 55 km range left. If my journey had been 50 km longer, I probably would have charged at the halfway point. But if I ever need to do a 400 km one way journey, I may drive a little carefully to avoid the need for a charging stop. On the other hand, if I have to go to Goa (hope to do it this year), which is 640 km to South Goa via Kolhapur, I would happily push hard and charge at 300-350 km which should be enough to get me there on one charge. So it will be horses for courses for me.

[shyampsunder]

This is a topic of particular interest to me because I typically drive hard not caring about mileage and 80%+ of my car usage is on highways.

The answer to this question is primarily dependent on the quality & quantity of DC infrastructure available to us when we need it.

My home base is Bangalore and I have covered 15k+ KMs on highways.

I would say the infra is good - excellent from Bangalore to Coimbatore, Chennai, Coorg, and Ooty.

While there are 20+ DC charging between Bangalore and Chennai, what matters is how the infra is when your battery runs low. For the ZS EV, I have driven it super hard and managed to deplete 80% of the battery by the time I reached Vellore which is roughly 200 KMs from Bangalore. The reason I did this was that I had access to 4 high-quality DC charging stations in Vellore namely:

1. Chargezone 350 kW DC charger with 5 guns and coupled with CCD.
2. Zeon Pallikonda 50 kW + 24 kW DC charger with good food at Aaryaas.
3. Zeon 24 kW DC charger at GRT with excellent food
4. Jio 60 kW dual gun DC charger

Since I am looking for a quick top-up and my car supports it, my preference is a higher kW DC charger. I decided to go to Zeon Pallikonda's 50 kW DC charger which was available. Breakfast for 30 mins was sufficient for us to easily reach Chennai.

Things are very similar for the following routes from Bangalore:

1. Coimbatore: 20+ DC chargers with 8+ good CCS guns near Salem which is usually the midpoint
2. Coorg and Ooty: While the charging infra is sparse on the second half of the route, Mysore is fast emerging as a DC charging hotspot. Currently, we have 15+ DC charging guns with 10+ 60 kW options coupled with convenient dining options

Originally Posted by Omkar

[*]India's public charging infrastructure is still poor & requires jumping through many hoops or ending up with the unexpected

The terms poor, good, etc are very subjective. It all depends on the routes one usually traverses and if the home base is a metro city or not. In my opinion, the DC charging infra from major cities like Bangalore and Mumbai is no longer poor. One simply has to know to avoid IOCL, BPCL, Statiq like poor quality CPOs, and check Plugshare ratings just like how we check restaurant/movie reviews before we visit one.

Within KA, TN and KL, I think by end of 2024, EVs will be something I will recommend for long-distance driving even for non-techie folks given the rate of proliferation of high quality DC infra.

[AlphaKiloPapa]

I have a Tata Nexon EV, 2021 model (30kWh battery). My car returns an average consumption of 145 Wh/km on the Mumbai Pune Expressway when driven at a speed between 85-90 km/h in cruise control(accounting for the climb in the ghat section as well). So I have figured out that driving between 85-90 km/h in cruise control will easily give 225+ km of range.
The key to extracting high range on highways is to keep the speeds between 80-100 kmph and minimizing the acceleration/declaration cycle, i.e. maintaining constant speeds. This give a very good range and also does not compromise too much on the traveling time as the speeds are decent, sort of balancing everything.
Also, as a lot of people have pointed here, the speeds would actually depend on the driving distance as well, so as to calculate the total number of charging stops required.

[navinmra]

My BLR to Manipal trips in the Nexon EV Max have taught me a thing or two:
1. Speeds above 100 kmph also mean lot more acceleration and deceleration. That is stressful to both the driver and the battery!

2. At higher speeds the wind noise and tyre noise are more pronounced, negating the EV USP of quieter cabins. This is particularly true of the Nexon when compared to say a Polestar that I sat in Netherlands. Music also sounds better with lower ambient noise in the background.

3. Longer charging times not only negate the faster drive time, but also holds up other fellow drivers waiting to charge.

4. Fellow co passengers tend to sleep better at steady lower speeds as opposed to holding on to dear life at high speeds.

5. I even did the math on expenses with both driving styles. Turns out that I may have spent 200 chips more for the same Bangalore Manipal trip by driving faster.

Therefore, for me, after all permutation combination , the slower and steady speeds are more enjoyable in an EV.

[anshu1101]

I think there should be a third option in the voting button which says - Depends on the driving distance.

My driving style on the highways is usually on the faster side - 100-120 kmph. My car's running is more on the highways and I usually undertake long trips - sometimes up to 1000 kms in a day. Hence, all the steeds I have owned thus far have been turbo diesels.

I don't own an EV today, but given my understanding after reading the experience of other EV owners on this forum, how I would drive an EV would depend on how far I'm driving.

Most affordable EVs today have a usable battery range of 200-300 kms. If my journey entails a driving distance of up to 500 kms, I would go with option A, with one charging in between. But any distance longer than that I would probably go with option B. Saying "probably" because I find driving at 80-90 kmps on the highways extremely boring.

This of course will change as battery technology evolves over time and we have affordable EVs that can do longer distances on a single charge.

[sharathkamath04]

Voted:: High speeds, frequent charging


My EV gives me a range of 300km even when I cruise at 100. I need breaks for breakfast and Lunch during a 500km drive. So I plan such that I can charge during breakfast and Lunch breaks and do not limit my speed.

If I limit my speed, I will still be taking breaks for Breakfast and Lunch.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Omkar

However, the jury is out on whether it makes more sense for EVs to drive at a little higher speed on highways and charge more frequently OR stick to efficient speeds, make slower progress and charge less.
Driving at higher speed (within the limit) and charging more frequently –

• The motor works more and hence, drains the battery more.
• Higher speed means the air resistance would be higher, hence more energy being utilized.
• India's public charging infrastructure is still poor & requires jumping through many hoops or ending up with the unexpected

Driving at efficient speeds and charging less frequently –

• Motor in the most efficient zone
• Lesser air resistance

Attachment 2572910

So, what do you think is better? Higher speed, more frequent charging or economical speed, less frequent charging? Which scenario would have the better average speed?

How is this any different from how we drive our ICE vehicles? Since most respondents on this thread and poll are from India, we have to consider that efficient speeds are also safer speeds. At speeds over 80 km/h, any car, whether EV or ICE, gets progressively more inefficient. The other inefficiency is related to how hard one accelerates - the quicker one reaches 80 or 100 km/h, the more fuel/charge will be consumed by the car.

My preferred method of driving is to accelerate gently to the speed limit, slow down in anticipation and not brake hard, and build speed back up again without using cruise control to reach the speed limit. While EVs have tremendous acceleration (and are undoubtedly fun to drive that way), doing so does consume more power, and refuelling / recharging will be more frequent. But on long drives, I have discovered that a little prudence while accelerating, and keeping to the speed limit, gets me to my destination at the same time as another car that is driving faster and accelerating harder, with a far bigger margin of safety.

[torquecurve]

Having done multiple long distance trips (500 kms +) and from my experience this is how I plan

1- If route has limited chargers or charging stops at extreme range.
- example my car has a typical range of 200-240 kms. If few chargers are available then I would drive carefully (hypermiling) - and try to charge at the earliest possible opportunity
2 - if multiple chargers are available enroute at say every 80-90 kms and esp if a ‘backup charger’ is available within 10 kms of planned charger
- drive quick - try to maintain decent speeds. Cover 150-160 kms or so.
- charge from 20% to 80-90% (typically the fastest charging speed and time). - about 40 minutes - 2 hours driving - 40 min break.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

How is this any different from how we drive our ICE vehicles? Since most respondents on this thread and poll are from India, we have to consider that efficient speeds are also safer speeds. At speeds over 80 km/h, any car, whether EV or ICE, gets progressively more inefficient.. But on long drives, I have discovered that a little prudence while accelerating, and keeping to the speed limit, gets me to my destination at the same time as another car that is driving faster and accelerating harder, with a far bigger margin of safety.

In ICE, accelerating harder automatically also means braking harder and hence, greater fuel inefficiency.
However, in EV’s, considering the fantastic power of regen, would this not be different at least to an extent?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

In ICE, accelerating harder automatically also means braking harder and hence, greater fuel inefficiency.
However, in EV’s, considering the fantastic power of regen, would this not be different at least to an extent?

Good question. Regen will make a difference, certainly, but on a highway run, we find that running on high regen mode is less efficient than running on minimal regen.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Good question. Regen will make a difference, certainly, but on a highway run, we find that running on high regen mode is less efficient than running on minimal regen.

Yes, upon thinking a little, this is understood and appreciated. There is a higher level of engine braking when the regen setting is higher. But then when accelerating one is expending that much more energy to get up to highway speeds so the nett benefit is nil - kind of cancelled out as it were.

[EV Fan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Today: Efficient speed range, less charging. Main reason is that highway charging is still very unreliable, can work (or not),

In 5 Years: Option B. Drive faster, charge a little more. Cars will have longer-range batteries & there will be ample charging opportunities on expressways & highways

Originally Posted by neethi_raj

I had basically inferred that the time gained by speeding up is always sacrificed by charging the vehicle for more time.

No matter how hard you optimize your trips, your charging time will always be greater than your break time.

As both GTO & neethi raj rightly pointed out, the current infrastructure is not sufficient enough. There is a high possibility that "High speeds, frequent charging", option could lead to range anxiety.

I have noticed:
1.) Increased speed did not save more time, as total charging duration was a lot higher.
2.) Possible charger niggles could easily spiral to range anxiety.
3.) It basically also means more "wear down" of the vehicle. We will end up running through the battery health pretty rapidly.
4.) I have also found it to be a challenge to maintain higher speeds, thanks in part due to the relatively mediocre Highway infrastructure, but more importantly "the completely unorganized+undisciplined highway usage by us - the Indian driver".
I have been able to easily keep pace with EV/ICE's which were gunning for 20kmph more than the what i was running. Yes, they occasionally would become a dot in the horizon, but thanks to our highways+ traffic, i would soon be back on their tail.

In the end for me, the EV performs best, by saving charge, if we can hold it close to the average speed line rather than having bursts of high speeds which unfailingly will be countered by the slow moving traffic blocks we encounter in between.

[navinmra]

On a lighter note my Nexon EV’s Distance to Empty algorithm has become rather encouraging. On a recent charge to 100% it showed my range as 500km!! (see pic)