[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

Secondly, the Tata guys do a simple reset. Five minutes job. Why can’t it be done by the user? May be under guidance from somebody on phone? It is not ok to make people wait for so long in the car. They are also spending money on sending truck cab fare etc.

Multiple ways to handle this:
1. Give user instructions. But this also means users some important alerts may get ignored. So not a very favorable.option.
2. Let tata do it remotely. Not sure if the car has a sim card and whether tata can remotely do operations. If so this is the most preferable option as this means tata has complete control of what to ignore and what not to ignore. It will also preseve the history of such resets.
3. The last option is to have the phone app push the reset code. But this may be challenging as the app needs to be configured and different people may use these apps differently.

My point really is, there are many ways to solve this kind of a problem instead of physically towing the car all the time. Tata needs to change its game at diagnosis.

May be taken a leaf out of Ola in this respect.

[Raghu M]

That's really a sorry state to be in. I am in shock just even imagining if I would be in such a situation. I have one question - you said the car has done 65k and is on a second battery. Why is that so? I thought the batteries last for at least 1.5 lakh kms. Am I missing something here? Sure, EVs are not equipped to go to places that have hostile terrains (read - climate).

[navinmra]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

This issue is more to do with BMS. Cell balancing is not an issue as I have been religious doing slow charging at night at hotel or sometimes in malls. But if there is any issue with the fast charger the car just shuts the HV system, which can only be reset from service center.

This problem is not there in other brand ev for same chargers. How do they manage?

As a Nexon EV Max owner from Bangalore, I have my fully sympathies for your condition and hope you get out of it soon. If it gives you any solace, my BIL’s Polestar 2 in Netherlands just packed up when he tried charging some place and the whole onboard charging unit had to be replaced - uncommon but seems to be happening. I just hope these issues are sorted and the overall ecosystem reliability improves for the future.

That said, RSA assistance across brands have to improve and must be of help where it matters the most, as in your case.

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

Secondly, the Tata guys do a simple reset. Five minutes job. Why can’t it be done by the user? May be under guidance from somebody on phone? It is not ok to make people wait for so long in the car. They are also spending money on sending truck cab fare etc.

Good that you have received the required help. In remote areas, RSA becomes a bit iffy as compared to major cities. TATA RSA in major cities provides an option of handover which means you can handover the car to RSA appointed representative and move on. You need not wait for the tow truck.

Agreed 100% on the point of self reset. I think you have faced "contactor welded error", it happens on lesser used chargers which have not been configured properly. This is a known issue and our EV group has already reported this to Tata. We are asking them to provide an option of soft reset to put the car in safe mode so that a person can continue to nearest SC for a proper reset.

[coldice4u]

I'm sorry but is it fair to ask for ultra quick responses from the RSA providers at such remote locations? People living in cities or major towns should not expect the same level of service across India. Its a big country and has a lot of locations that are still quite remote.

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

Thanks to team bhp, a car is arranged by a member.

A simple, single sentence sums it up all. I am not asking the OP sumannandy to reveal the ID of this good Samaritan but on behalf of everyone in TBHP a big shoutout for him.

[Comrade]

No one should be calling Jammu to Srinagar road as remote! It is a major 4-lane & 2-lane national highway used by 1000s of vehicles everyday. But that doesn’t mean RSA will be able to provide immediate assistance. We all know car manufacturers outsource RSA, who further outsource actual towing. So sorting out approvals and then finding a driver, who is ready for an overnight out of station towing, may take more time than we expect.

There was a thread a while back on this very forum where a BHPian attempted Maharashtra to Ladakh in a Polo GT and the car broke down in Kashmir. His travails show how he had to get accommodation and mechanic help locally and wait out 1/2 days for a tow truck to arrive.

Things sometimes go out of control. Planning the next steps without losing cool is the best way to take back control, especially when we all know Tata EVs are known to throw such errors and OP had enough knowledge about this when he started the travel.

[sumannandy]

Thanks for all the support from the forum. The key takeaways here.

1. The incident happened in the morning around 10.30. It was reported to TATA immediately.

2. The mechanic was sent from Udhampur which was an hour away. But he reached at 3 pm. 4 hours? If he was sent within half an hour he would have reached by 12.30. Coordination issue at Tata RSA team.

3. The girl who was handling initially had no clue about all theses. She was even asking random questions about the car. It was only after I escalated to somebody else things actually got moving. I had to call multiple times.

4. The tow truck was sent from Jammu which was about an hour away. But it reached at 6.30. It could have been sent immediately and it would have reached earlier.

5. If Tata would have informed me that contractor welded error would happen randomly in a car where I pay 21.67 lakhs I for sure would have bought mg or some other car. I did not buy this car for love of environment. I did not know about the running cost aspect either. This error has never happened earlier and I have driven this car across India, from south to east (Kolkata, Shantiniketan) to north now. But primarily it was charged in Tata chargers or Zeon or Statiq or jio. Very few BPCL chargers. Like any other person would do with the car they buy. There is no excuse of this lousy implementation. I agree on the range, I knew it. But this error? When other evs do not have this error for the same charger. The petrol pump attendants mentioned that some other ev charged 5 minutes before I charged.

So obviously both RSA and also product implementation needs to be improved. If you spend nine hours with family and friends under hot sun in a petrol pump with crpf jawans around (jawans left at 4.30 pm), that too after paying so much money, you would agree.

If this error can only be cleared through software let them give the relevant software and scanner to all end users. If this problem happens now I do not have confidence to take the car anywhere, because this may happen at any charger randomly.

There are many positives for this car. I would say Tata service where I get the car serviced in bangalore is also responsive. My service manager was throughout on call from morning or even at night, but there is only so much they can do from bangalore. He also got the battery replaced a month or so back. But fundamentally, these issues should never happen. How many mg or Mahindra Evs get their battery replaced? Haven’t heard of single one. I have also not heard of any Mahindra or MG or any other ev getting stranded at chargers. Fundamentals should be right when we sell a product.

If Tata would have enrolled in a testing program with a subscription fee, I would have agreed on these problems. When they sell this car at a premium, then they should make the fundamentals right else not sell. People can not be beta testers when they buy car at full price.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

65,000 km is covered in one and half year.

Holy moly!! Wow.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

It’s like, you can’t blame Honda if your City gets stuck or damaged if you take it off roading.

I don't think this is a fair comparison.

It might have been, if sumannandy was complaining that "I'm stranded because there are no charging stations around!", but that's clearly not the case. And I guess further posts have also made his experience clearer.


This is the case of:

1) The Tata EVs' notorious "HV Critical Alert", and the awful frequency at which it's been happening, and Tata's inability to let users rectify it without a service visit (despite it being a frequently faced issue).

2) Poor & terribly slow response from the RSA. And not because OP was in some remote area either - as he's mentioned the expected time vs the actual times in his post above.

Some HV error related threads:
- 1 (Tata Nexon EV Max shows HV System Fault even before battery reaches 9%)
- 2 (HV Critical Alert in Tata EVs)
- 3 (HV Battery Fault at 10 months in my Nexon EV Max | Tata’s quick response)
- 4 (Tata Tiago Electric Review)

... I guess that said, you could argue that OP should have known that this would be an eventuality (perhaps something like taking a Skoda DQ200 to Leh), but then again, that's where the RSA complaint comes in. (Though the arranging a taxi point needs to be checked in the fine print).


Also OP, just FYI, here's a report of a MG ZS EV having a HV error, however, the car seemed to be driveable and the problem disappeared after a few restarts!

[Vikash Kumawat]

Ok let's ignore if the car is Electric or ICE powered,
Will Tata be able to provide the tow truck and a taxi to the passengers who are stranded on road with family?
Enough has been discussed about the Tata's poor after sales services, these things are the final nale on the coffin, earlier Tata was fighting with Hyundai to gain the 2nd largest Automotive Manufacturer but the gap is increasing between Hyundai and Tata every month, Tata is not going to overtake Hyundai anytime soon, infact now the fight is between Tata and Mahindra for the 3rd spot.
Tata will be on 4th spot very soon if they don't improve their after sale service.
RSA should include in Global NCap safety tests, how your car will save you if you can't drive it because of the poor reliability, what if you're stranded in middle of a jungle with your family with a Tata car waiting to be repaired? A BIG NO TO TATA!!

I hope you and your family reach to the safe place at the earliest and appreciate the members who reached to OP. Good luck

[ArSh]

Reading this has definitely made me feel anxious and I feel sorry for the OP and his family. With every such news of Tata products - ICE as well as EV, my confidence in them improving reduces and makes me even more confident in ignoring these cars from my purchase decision. While I do understand that these are limited cases and news will always be biased towards negative experiences, but even then there is no doubt that we hear about Tata cases more often than other brands.

Anyways, relieved that OP got help even in such region and situation. Hope these things are considered next time such a trip is planned by OP and others reading this post.

Cheers!

[siren373]

That's precisely why I'll never buy a Harrier EV even if it comes with the state of the art features and 800km range for 25 lakhs. I don't trust this brand one bit.

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by siren373

That's precisely why I'll never buy a Harrier EV even if it comes with the state of the art features and 800km range for 25 lakhs. I don't trust this brand one bit.

As someone super passionate about EVs, I have stopped recommending Tata EVs to friends and family.

Better to buy an ICE of another brand than Tata's EV if budget doesn't allow them to upgrade to atleast the MG ZS EV or BYD Atto 3.

Issues resulting in battery replacement seems to be very routine with Tata. Extremely rare to hear of battery replacements with any other brand globally. Not just in India.

[autobahnjpr]

Originally Posted by RollinWheels

My anxiety peaked just by reading this. This is why I think I will never get adjusted to an EV with the current infra we have in this country. Atleast, not yet.

Hope you get to the nearest town safely.

This is not an infra issue for a EV but a product issue. The same situation could be faced by any car be it ICE or EV where a critical component and just go limp. The person has done 65000 km in a year and half and would that have been possible without infra. Bad mouthing the country is a fashion these days.

[Rajat347]

I am from Jammu !
in Jammu, you can find a cab only from Railways station or near the airport.
They have a local cab aggegator called as "Cab karo"
I never saw an EV charging station in Jammu. As there are only row houses in the city and people generally use home chargers