[V.Narayan]

Team BHPs own EV poll

Too many market research studies from USA, Australia and Papua New Guinea surface every third Friday on EV sales dropping or becoming less popular or EV owners ruing the day they bought an EV etc.

At Team BHP we don't need these surveys. We can generate our own real survey from real members who are EV owners. This survey is for Team BHP members who are EV owners only {don't cheat folks :-) } Will your next car purchase be an EV or an ICE car or a Hybrid. Unless a member has bought and used an EV it is difficult to fully embrace the EV experience.

As the owner and user of an EV {Volvo C40} a Hybrid {Lexus ES300h} and ICE {Honda Amaze} I am sure my next buy, in a few years, will be an EV. But hey let me not influence the poll.

The main factor where EVs still fall short of an ICE is in the charging infrastructure especially for those living in multi-storey buildings or who are compelled to park on the locality roads. The infrastructure to support long distance driving in India will I am sure get to a point of reasonableness in 5 years or less.

Please share your votes dear fellow Members.

[SmartCat]

Thanks for sharing. Moving thread from assembly line to Electric Cars forum.

This thread is a continuation of the earlier discussion found here (McKinsey: 46% of EV owners said they would go back to ICE cars as their next purchase)

[NomadSK]

Pls add to the poll,

“I have only EV and my next purchase will be an EV, irrespective of city/highway usage”

Else it will give a conflicting analysis people having both ICE and EV, choosing for next EV.

Thanks

[IshaanIan]

Perhaps the lack of EV presence in India for as long as they have been abroad, might skew the results. I am sure the negative polls abroad might be due to long term reliability and battery degradation issues which we have yet to experience in our market considering how recently EV options have been made available to us.

[Alfresco]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Team BHPs own EV poll

The main factor where EVs still fall short of an ICE is in the charging infrastructure especially for those living in multi-storey buildings or who are compelled to park on the locality roads. The infrastructure to support long distance driving in India will I am sure get to a point of reasonableness in 5 years or less.

I agree.

As ICE car owner for the last 35 years and an EV owner having covered 75000 kms in the last 3 years, here is my main negatives of EVs. I use my EV for both city and highway use and have done 600kms in a day too.

People always talk about range. For ICE also they talk about the size of the tanks. The biggest drawback I have felt is with the charging time. You can increase chargers as much as you want but if it takes a minimum of an hour to charge then you can never plan quick trips.

Drop in efficiency as speed increases, even with the best of cars. The difference is not that much in ICE. My old petrol Innova gives an average of 10-11 kms when driven sedately with 90kmph as max and 9 kmpl when driven hard or on mountainous roads. That is a difference of only 50-60 kms range on a full tank. Imagine an emergency situation. I keep my fingers crossed on outstation trips. If there is an emergency or I have to turn back and reach home quickly then I have to have a charger nearby and plan a break of almost an hour and keep my fingers crossed that the charger is working and that there is no one already charging there. Or You come back in the evening from work and have to go out again but can't as the battery is drained and the slow charger at home will require at least 2 hours for enough juice to take you to any place in the neignbourhood. Or you take your whole family to the nearest fast charger for your outing!

If you just have an EV then a lot of planning is required.

But EVs require almost zero maintenance and are really good for people who require it for city use primarily

[speedmiester]

I am happy with my current EV (ZS EV), this is my primary car for both city and highway usage. I have also made peace with the shortcomings of owning an EV in India.

I will buy another EV with longer range in the near future which will negate some of the shortcomings.

[ashivas89]

It is important to stress in the thread title that the poll is for EV owners only. I saw an earlier poll being voted on (corrupted?) by folks who don't own EVs as yet.

An added layer of obviousness will help the trigger happy among us (which we all can be on occasion).

The title of the OP can read: Team BHPs own EV poll (for current EV owners only!)

[ALTIMAed]

Own a MG Comet, having done 18,000 kms in 7.5 months, I can never go back to ICE vehicles again. Apart from the substantially lower running and service cost, I am addicted to the smoothness (read - silence) and seamless acceleration. The best of all worlds. Am a hard core EV convert.

[Nancoff]

I own a ZS EV and I am a happy owner. I also have a XUV7OO, but plan to replace it with a model y hopefully in another two years. I don't think we would need another IC car after we hopefully have tesla's charging network in India.

[electric_eel]

Single car garage (Nexon EV Max) with two people who drive (my better half and me). Will be 2 years of ownership coming December, crossed 31000 Kms today bulk of which is our regular office travel and grocery runs. So far it has been a dream run. This particular car is a prefect fit for out lifestyle. Being in Kerala helps, having independent house helps. Our driving is what I would call a typical (not an enthusiast who goes on long road trips) car owning house hold in Kerala.

There is no way I am going to buy an ICE car ever. I cannot think of any parameter on which an ICE car even comes close to a BEV (within my budget of course, we are not talking about very high end cars). I might not consider an EV only if I decide not to own a car at all --- I hope to keep this car for the next 20 years (like our last car), by that time I might have to rethink the entire concept of car ownership knowing that I would be close to retirement by then and hopefully our public transport would become seriously good (I am not betting too much on this).

[mally2]

Tiago EV user and own a Hexa AT for highway duties

Retaining Hexa only because it’s irreplaceable! Once it dies of old age. I will retire from ICE completely

Next purchase will be a EV with 60-80kw battery.

[Sandegov]

Current state - NexonEV Max doing city duty and a 700 doing highway duty for the past 2 years. Best of both worlds.

Voted for another repeat ev for city use.

There is no going back once you have experienced an EV for city use - absolute fuss free workhorse with comfort, economy, usability and drive experience that no ICE can come close to.

[V.Narayan]

Each car owner has a unique situation in terms of needs {from the car} and resources {to support an EV} and that leads to unique preferences of what will work for A versus what will work for B.

Needs from the car, as we all know would be items like - long distance vs largely city running; mileage per month; how many drivers in the family; how long are 80% of your trips etc

Resources here would be - parking spot; do you live in a multi-storey or an independent house; do you have access to a plug point or not; are you forced to park your car on the road; your budget for the car etc

Way too many of the threads on team BHP on EVs got derailed over things like "long distance driving"; "need to wake up at 5AM and start driving 500 kms due to an emergency"; and several such very specific and genuine situations typically brought up by members who do not own an EV and these were used to thrash EV owners or justify why ICE are superior to EVs. Neither are ICE superior nor are EVs superior. It is each owner's unique basket of needs and resources that make one type of car more preferable versus the other. And what is a person's combination of needs and resources also changes by decade.

My guess is that EV infrastructure will blossom rapidly in the next 5 years and make EVs more attractive. ICE engines are not about to disappear. ICE cars might but not ICE engines. They will very much be needed for earth moving machinery, Army battle tanks, all Army transport trucks/jeeps construction equipment, mobile cranes etc.

My next car purchase is about 4 to 5 years out. By then I suspect both charging infra and organic EV ranges would have increased significantly. Or such is my hope. My current EV gives me a real world range of 475 kms. I run it only between battery charges of 90% to 20% which translates to around 330 kms which is good enough for all forseeable needs. If 5 years from now that figure of 330 kms climbed up to say 500kms then nirvana would be here.

Interestingly, one of our most respected and loved members, @Secretariat, who is a long distance aficionado and a very dear friend of mine has decided to go for an EV.

PS: As an aside - we have 1.5 drivers in our domestic employ. Unless I specifically tell them which car to take out they'll pull out our EV for every trip be it a 150 kms round trip to Greater Noida or a grocery chore. I have to remind them to use the Amaze which is allegedly our utility car. But no sir the EV pops out all the time. Says something about the joy of driving an EV.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Neither are ICE superior nor are EVs superior. It is each owner's unique basket of needs and resources that make one type of car more preferable versus the other.

True. As they say, there is no good or bad car. It is just that the car doesnt meet one’s requirements and / or resources.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

…they'll pull out our EV for every trip be it a 150 kms round trip to Greater Noida or a grocery chore. I have to remind them to use the Amaze which is allegedly our utility car.[/i]

Thats an unfair analogy to show preference for EV’s. Who in his right mind will take an Amaze when they have the option of something with almost supercar performance.

[sharathkamath04]

People with highway usage (>50%) can still buy EVs. It will involve more planning to plan a road trip like plotting chargers in plugshare, installing apps, and loading a wallet and 2 backup chargers en route.

But it will cost you 10% of ICE to run say 500km as the first 300km runs at 1 Re/km and the next 200km at 3 Rs/km. If you have breakfast (~30min) and lunch (~45min) at a hotel with the charger you will not need extra stops for charging.

If you travel frequently on the same route, you can easily plan the trip. Unknown routes will need more time to plan and can have surprises.

Also, a highway trip on an EV is much more relaxing due to a smoother ride, no vibration and you can enjoy music in a silent car.