[AlphaKiloPapa]

Hi everyone! I have been an avid reader of Team BHP for the past 18 months. I am posted at Mumbai, and currently drive a Nexon EV XZ+(30kWh) which has completed 27 months and more than 20000 km on the odometer. I had booked the car due to the subsidy of 2.5 Lakh Rupees offered by Maharashtra government on purchase of EV, even though I didn't require a car at that time. Since the purchase of the car, I have done a few short trips to Lonavala, Alibaug, Mahabaleshwar, Nashik and Bhandardhara, the longest one being a 440km trip in Monsoon last year in a single day. I had contemplated writing down a travelogue many a times, but owing to laziness, never took an effort to pen down the memories.

A pic from the Bhandardhara Trip last Monsoon


Ever since the car was delivered, I had been eyeing a long trip in the car. As I have a 1.5 years old son, the plans of a long trip have been kept on hold keeping his and wife's comfort in mind. As luck would have it, in June this year, I was deputed on tour to Mundra in Gujarat and it seemed that the long trip dream was finally going to be fulfilled. The planning started and I went through the charging stations enroute via the Plugshare app. I filtered out the chargers that were available on the main route itself, so as to save time and avoid any deviations. I had also ensured that there were at least two chargers for backup near to the charging stations I was considering, in case a charger was not working. I had also confirmed the availability of the chargers a day before the trip on their respective apps. Initially, I had planned to do the entire trip of 900km in a single day, but later decided to do it with a halt in Ahmedabad since I was going solo.

The final itinerary was to charge at Vapi, then charge at Bharuch, take the DME to Vadodara and then via NE1 to Ahmedabad. After an overnight stay and slow charge, take a charging stop at Malia and then proceed to Mundra.

So I drove to my in laws residence and dropped my wife and son there. Plugged the car for an overnight slow charging session and woke up to the car fully charged to 100%. Wife and Mother-in-law had packed some lunch for the journey, and after having breakfast left from Mumbai at around 8:10 am in the morning on 17th of June, with Soc at 100%.

Took the Western Express Highway to later join the NH48. As it was a holiday on the occasion of Bakrid, I was fortunate as I didn’t encounter the dreadful traffic jam near Mira Road/Bhayandar, and I could cover the distance of 158 km in 2 hours and 50 minutes. A big portion of the stretch till Maharashtra border is being concretized, and due to that maintaining high speeds is not possible. Also, the quality of concrete road being laid is not great and the whole patch seemed uneven, even maintaining a speed of 75 was a daunting task. It was only after entering Gujarat, that I was able to stretch my legs and maintain decent speeds. The road surface was good and ride quality was smooth. However, a lot of trucks meant a lot of overtaking and cruise control was not effective.

Finally reached my first charging stop- Shanti Complex at Vapi at around 11 am, covering 157.9 kms with 31% battery left, at an average consumption of 130 Wh/km and 82 kms of range left, with AC on Econ mode at 24 degrees throughout. It is located on the NH48 itself, and has two charging guns with a total rating of 60kW from Chargezone. There are a few restaurants in the complex, while the washroom is just manageable. I had half of the packed lunch as I didn’t want to stuff too much, and later had a filter coffee at Moti Mahal Deluxe to recharge myselves. In the meanwhile, the car had charged to 91% in 50 minutes, and I decided to leave for the next stop.

Total units added and time taken- 16.124 units, 50 minutes.
Total Charging cost- 380 Rupees.





The next charging stop was at Hyatt Place, Bharuch. This stretch had a great surface again, and I was able to maintain good speeds throughout, except near Surat where there was a lot of truck movement. The ride quality was superb again and I was tempted to touch triple digits on a few occasions. Covered the distance of 175.9 kms in roughly 2.5 hours in one go. The SoC left was 14% with 31 kms of range left, and the average consumption was 130 Wh/km till now with AC on throughout. The Hotel has two charging guns from Statiq. After finishing the remaining food, I took a quick nap of 30 minutes inside the car itself, reclining the driver seat to the Max and switched on the AC while the car was charging. The objective was to charge the car to full 100% as the next leg was going to be approximately 190 km long. However, the car was taking painfully longer to charge after 90%, and I had to stop the charging which was stuck eternally at 96%.

Total units added and time taken- 24.461 units, 1 Hour 20 minutes.
Total Charging cost- 534 Rupees.

Charging at Hyatt Place, Bharuch

[AlphaKiloPapa]

The next leg was going to be both exciting and tense. It’s because I was going to drive via the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (NE4), and then join the Vadodara-Ahmedabad Expressway (NE1), and there were no chargers enroute! Taking a charging stop in between would mean taking a detour from the planned route. The DME surface in this stretch is concrete, and the road surface sadly is not how I had expected. There are undulations here and there, and maintaining triple digit speeds at a few places would not be comfortable. Heck, I found the asphalt surface of NH48 in Gujarat better than the DME. I had set the cruise control to 88-90 throughout the drive, as a higher speed would mean faster depletion of battery. Also, don’t know why, but I felt that driving on the concrete surface depleted the battery faster than asphalt (if anyone can throw some light on this). The best part of this drive was that this section is currently TOLL FREE. Continuing straight, there is a connector to the NE1, and you are on the Ahmedabad Expressway without any detour.

On the Delhi Mumbai Expressway




The NE1 is well maintained and has a good surface. After covering almost 150 kms, I had started to reduce the speed first to 80, and then to 70-75 so as to reach Ahmedabad with at least 10% battery. The initial plan was to stay in Hotel G-express in Ahmedabad for the night, as it had a slow charger. But thanks to my absent mindedness, I forgot to book it for the night, and on enquiry while in Bharuch, I found out that the hotel was full. So decided to stay in a hotel in Viramgam, around 70 km from Ahmedabad as it had a wall socket for slow charging. The charging station at AMC CTM Ahmedabad was around 2 km from the end of the expressway and I reached there with 11% battery to spare. It has an 80-kW fast charger with two guns from MobiLane. It is near to market area, and there are a few eateries available nearby. After wasting 20 minutes, and a bit of a hassle, Finally the charging started and I refreshed myself with some tea and sandwich nearby. After a quick charge to 47%, I left for Viramgam.

On the Vadodara-Ahmedabad Expressway (NE1).
Clicked it just while entering the expressway at slow speed so as to avoid any potential hazard.


Note- This part of the Trip was completely TOLL FREE. Yes, drove through two expressways roughly for 175 kms, and there was no toll deducted!

Total units added and time taken- 10.680 units, 30 minutes
Total Charging cost- 201 rupees.

The Car charging in Ahmedabad


After battling through Ahmedabad traffic (with traffic signals working at very few places, and people crossing from all directions), and some spirited driving later on, I reached the destination – Kesar Hotel at around 9 pm. On enquiring, I found out that the wall socket had a short circuit a long time ago. Repented my decision of not booking the hotel in Ahmedabad . Fortunately, the same hotel had a Chargezone DC fast charger at the location, and I plugged in the car for a full charge. The Room stay and the food from nearby dhaba were both forgettable, I should have opted for food from the Hotel itself. The car charged to 100%, and I went for a much-needed sleep.

Total units added and time taken- 23.49 units, 1 hour 25 minutes
Total Charging cost- 555 Rupees

DAY 1-
Total Distance covered: 598 Kms.
Total time taken: 13 Hours
Total Driving Time: 9 Hours 40 Minutes

[AlphaKiloPapa]

DAY 2:

Woke up around 5:45 in the morning, and after freshening up started from Viramgam at 6:20 am. There were a few chargers enroute, But I decided to stop at Maliya where there were two food courts with Chargers next to each other. It was around 140km from my current location. The road surface of the GJ SH 7 was buttery smooth and with the exception of sparse truck traffic on the way, the four laned highway was mostly empty.

Early morning bliss




Since I had 100% SoC at the beginning, I decided to have some fun and drove with a heavy foot on this stretch, occasionally maintaining triple digit speeds. The sheer driving pleasure on this stretch was something I had never experienced before in my car. Of all my drives till date, this was surely the best one! Also, there was zero toll deducted in this stretch of 140km. It is an irony that I paid most of the toll for the worst roads in the trip and the best roads were toll free throughout (DME, NE1, GJ SH 7). Also, the average speed maintained in this stretch was the highest of all in this trip.

Sir Jadeja's Food Court enroute. Does it belong to Sir Jadeja?(image downloaded from Google)


Drive summary from ZConnect App. Notice the drop in driving score to 7 (from 9 usually) thanks to some spirited driving!


With a refreshing wonderful drive of 2 hours, stopped at my next charging stop- Avadh Food Mall in Malia on the SH7 with 23% charge left. It has a 30 kW charger from EV Cosmos. The food court has a lot of options for food and is decently crowded throughout. Had a heartful Gujarati breakfast of Jalebi, Fafda and Poha. The quantity was too much and after finishing the poha I had to pack the remaining Jalebi-Fafda and gave it to the mechanic who filled air in the tyres. The car charged to 92% in 65 minutes and I left for the destination, Mundra, at around 9:30 am. This was the last charging stop of this trip.

Avadh Food Mall. Lot of options for food along with Ample Parking Space.




Delicious Breakfast


Total units added and time taken- 19 units, 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Charging cost- 475 Rupees

[AlphaKiloPapa]

Finally, the last leg of the trip began and it went uneventful. The highways in Gujarat were fantastic and most of the State Highways that I travelled on were TOLL FREE! Google Maps had suggested a detour near Gandhidham from the standard route and post that it was mostly two-lane undivided road throughout, with most of the portion having good roads. Google Maps did suggest a few detours approaching Mundra, and I lost quite some time navigating through bad patches through villages in between, losing almost 15-20 minutes instead of gaining 5 minutes as suggested by Google . Finally I reached the destination – Beetle Smartotels in Mundra, which was going to be my stay for the next month or so, at 12:20 pm.

Multiple instances of Flock of Sheep crossing the path.


Internal Road connecting Gandhidham to Mundra


EDIT- TOLL OF RS. 135 WAS DEDUCTED ON THE VADODARA-AHMEDABAD EXPRESSWAY. I HAD WRONGLY MENTIONED EARLIER THAT IT WAS TOLL FREE.

Overall, I covered approximately 900 kms in 1 day and 4 hours, in a Nexon EV, that has a basic 30 kWh battery and gives a practical range of 200-240 kms in a single full charge. Imagine what could be done with a car with double the battery size and faster charging speeds. This trip should definitely debunk the myth that EV’s are for city usage only and they cannot be taken for long trips. If I can do it with the current charging infrastructure, things are only going to get better in the upcoming time with better cars and better charging infrastructure. So, don’t hesitate to invest in an EV as the current incentives like no registration tax and 5% GST will not last longer. A practical car like the MG ZS EV or maybe the upcoming Curvv EV is all you will need for both city and highway duties. The final running cost came out to a meagre 2.38 rupees per km and even including the toll charges it would be 3 rupees per km!

Final Trip Summary-
Total Distance Covered- 899.2 kms
Total Driving time- 14 Hours 30 Minutes.
Total Charging time- 5 Hours 10 minutes.
Average efficiency- 134 Wh/km
Total Charging Cost- Rs. 2145
Total Tolls Paid- Rs. 640

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by AlphaKiloPapa

Overall, I covered approximately 900 kms in 1 day and 4 hours, in a Nexon EV, that has a basic 30 kWh battery and gives a practical range of 200-240 kms in a single full charge. Imagine what could be done with a car with double the battery size and faster charging speeds. This trip should definitely debunk the myth that EV’s are for city usage only and they cannot be taken for long trips. If I can do it with the current charging infrastructure, things are only going to get better in the upcoming time with better cars and better charging infrastructure. So, don’t hesitate to invest in an EV as the current incentives like no registration tax and 5% GST will not last longer. A practical car like the MG ZS EV or maybe the upcoming Curvv EV is all you will need for both city and highway duties. The final running cost came out to a meagre 2.38 rupees per km and even including the toll charges it would be 3 rupees per km!

Thanks for sharing your experience. You have summarized it well. Today on highways between major cities charging is not a challenge as there are ample options available. With a car like MG ZS, you can easily do highway drives with easily doing 300 kms before taking a charging stop.

[Kkumar]

Thank you for sharing this travelogue as it instils confidence in prospective EV owners as well as EV owners who are range anxious. Keep on munching miles.

[AlphaKiloPapa]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

Today on highways between major cities charging is not a challenge as there are ample options available. With a car like MG ZS, you can easily do highway drives with easily doing 300 kms before taking a charging stop.

Definitely, the purpose of my article was to highlight this fact. And that's why I have written that a car like MG ZS EV or any EV with a battery capacity of 45-50 kW or more can be kept as the only car in the house as it can easily be used for long highway trips, provided home charging is available. Even while driving an ICE car, one has to take a break after driving for 2.5-3 hours, this break can always be coupled with a charging break. All it takes is proper planning!

[navinmra]

This is a great travelogue. Very well written indeed. I have the Nexon EV Max ZX+ Dark edition and have clocked 20,000 km in 13 months. My longest one way drive was Bangalore to Kanyakumari - 650+ km with one charging break a little after Salem and another a little after Madurai. We then went to Rameshwaram and then back to Bangalore. Overall 2000 km plus trip and loved every moment of it.

[Vikram9193]

Wonderful to read. Could you share the wh/km when you were at 88-90 on cruise control? Most people seem to drive slower and so I’m still not sure about range if one were to drive at 90 kmph throughout. Another question, if one tries to maintain 90 kmph but has to slow down frequently for traffic to 60-70-80, and the gradually accelerate back to a 90 kmph cruise, how is the wh/km then, as compared to a steady 90 kmph. Many thanks.

[RR Hexaseal]

That's a very nicely written travelogue! Very encouraging for prospective EV buyers. Thanks, and safe electric drives!

[AlphaKiloPapa]

Originally Posted by Vikram9193

Wonderful to read. Could you share the wh/km when you were at 88-90 on cruise control

Hi ! Can't provide the exact data as I had the average data for the entire trip. But as per my observation, it would be somewhere around 145-150 Wh/km. I had covered a total of 193 km with 85% consumption of battery which included covering last 30 km with speed less than 80kmph and AC off for around 15 km. So you can assume the consumption to be 150 Wh/km at a safer side. I have traveled on the Mumbai Pune expressway a few times and on a cruise control of 85-87 km/h, the average consumption is around 140-142 Wh/km with AC on excluding the ghat section.

Cruise control with regen off yields the best consumption in my observation. Even if I have to slow down/accelerate, I try to do it in cruise control itself instead of using the accelerator/brake pedal whenever possible. Although if the accelerator is used in a relaxed manner, I don't think there would be a significant difference(+/- 5%).

In my return journey, I will try to observe the battery consumption at various speeds in cruise control and then revert back

[mally2]

Try to avoid cruise control and you can gain minimum another 10% efficiency more if you are heading downward elevation. Max users can go as low as 120whkm @80-85kmph.

[AlphaKiloPapa]

Originally Posted by mally2

Try to avoid cruise control and you can gain minimum another 10% efficiency more if you are heading downward elevation. Max users can go as low as 120whkm @80-85kmph.

Yes definitely. My point was for normal elevation. Usually going downhill I don't use the cruise control and set regen to level 2. I did Mahabaleshwar- Mumbai with an average of 115 Wh/km with speeds between 80-95. And Mumbai-Mahabaleshwar at 132 Wh/km with same speeds.