Driving an EV across 6 states covering 3,700 km: Charging on the go!

Instead of 25 kW and 30 kW, if all the chargers are upgraded to minimum 60KW then the travel time will be comparable to ICE vehicles.

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Introduction:

My dad had been wanting to go on a few road trips to relive his past, but the plans kept getting postponed for various reasons. With the new Volvo XC40 Recharge in our garage, his enthusiasm for long drives just got stronger.

Our initial plan was to drive to Mangalore for some business-related work via Bangalore as I wanted to get my bike serviced at JSP Motorrad. I would ride my bike to Bangalore and then join with Dad in the car for the rest of the journey. Specifically, we had in mind to visit The Krishna Temple in Udipi and the Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysore. Confident in the Volvo XC40 Recharge for the trip as there were numerous chargers along the route plus we were also excited to try the 120 kW charging at a Shell outlet in Mysore before returning home. Our initial route plan was:

While preparing for the trip Kolhapur Mahalakshmi temple was added to the itinerary so I decided to visit one of our clients in Kalyan near Mumbai the plan kept evolving as the planned date was getting finalized. By this time mom and my wife also joined the trip plan as it primarily became a pilgrimage trip. So the final count was 4 members.

Our Second Plan

Third Plan:

Day 1:

The first charging stop was at Hotel SARAVANA BHAVAN CLASSIC (H53Q+F7 Bayanapalli) which had a Dual gun 60KW DC fast charger from Statiq. By the time we finished breakfast the car

• The car was charged from 53% SOC to 85% SOC.
• Total charge time: 32 minutes
• Units Consumed: 28.42 kWh
• Charging cost Rs.0/- (Statiq free charge offer).
• Distance covered: 160 Kilometres

After leaving the bike for service in Bangalore, I joined with family in the car and drove to Hiriyur for lunch - this place also had a Statiq Dual gun 60KW charger.

• Arrival SOC was 25% and was charged to 81%.
• Total charge time: 1 hour and 29 minutes
• Units Consumed: 47.21 kWh
• Charging cost Rs.0/- (Statiq free charge offer)
• Distance covered: 235 Kilometres

This charging session was limited to 30KW speed as another EV was also charging.

Our next charging stop was the Jio-BP EV Charging station at Kamadod 60KW dual gun.

• The arrival SOC was 26% and we left with 71% SOC.
• The total charge time was 53 minutes
• Units Consumed: 31.39 kWh
• Distance covered: 158 Kilometres
• Charging cost Rs.593/-

This charging session was very inefficient as another Tata vehicle with 82% SOC started charging right after we started charging and our charging speed was limited to 30KW. The Tata car was only pulling in less than 5KW speed from the beginning and was pulling at less than 2KW speed after 95% SOC but the car owner did not want to disconnect as he was simply passing time (he also mentioned he did not need the charge but still wants to charge as he was waiting for someone). Imagine a 60KW charger limiting output to 30KW as the other gun was taking only 1.5KW.

THROTTLE GATE.

There is also another issue here as the car owner was potentially blocking access for other EV users who might need to charge their vehicles more urgently and the app would show the charging station as busy and occupied.

Right after the car reached 100% SOC and our charging speed picked up the charger faulted and stopped charging so decided to head to the next charging station instead of wasting daylight

Hope all Charge point operators give the option to disconnect the session directly from the charger after 80% SOC. Right now the sessions can only be stopped either from the car or from the mobile application.

Also, the loads can be dynamically shared like (47+13=60KW) based on the demand instead of fixed 30KW output irrespective of what the other vehicle is demanding.

The next charging stop with a Tea break was at Ganesh Hotel, Hubli which had a Zeon 50KW charger for a tea break.

• The arrival SOC was 45% and charged to 67% SOC.
• Total Units Consumed: 19.84 kWh
• Total charge time 30 minutes.
• Distance covered: 98 Kilometres
• Charging cost Rs.550/-

Our next charging stop was at Jio-BP 60KW dual gun charger

1. Total charging time 25 minutes
2. Units Consumed: 24.55 kWh
3. Distance covered: 120 Kilometres
4. Charging cost Rs.463/-

The final charge and stop for the night was in Nipani

We arrived late in the night with

• 45% SOC and charged to 90% SOC
• Total charge time was 46 minutes
• Units consumed: 37.34 kWh
• Distance covered: 107 Kilometres
• Charging cost: Rs.0/- (Statiq free charge offer)

We retired for the night in Hotel Park Tree it was a much-needed break as it started raining and the security guard offered to wash the car for a small fee as the car was very dirty due to the rain.

Till evening the temperature was very hot and became cool only after the evening shower.

Total distance covered on Day 1: approx. 878 kilometres.

Day 2:

We visited Kolhapur Mahalakshmi temple and proceeded towards Kalyan

Since the distance to the destination was only around 400kms only one charging stop was needed. So we decided to charge in 120KW Shell recharge station. Love the Shell snack outlet as it is airconditioned and the availability of snacks and coffee shops on the premises.

I was expecting a charging speed of 120KW as the car supports 150KW charging speed but was only getting 82KW. It could be due to the heat and the charger station has only a small shade. Maybe thermal throttle? And beyond a point, we moved to the Shell café to relax rather than wait in the car. So no idea what was the maximum charging rate we achieved during the session.

Location: 8V69+62 Varve Bk, Maharashtra

• Distance covered: 212 Kilometres
• Units Consumed: 49.93 kWh
• Charging cost: Rs.1414/-

En route to Kalyan we experienced rain showers after Pune and due to an accident on the road we had to reroute from Khandala and navigate via Khopoli and Neral to reach Kalyan.

I think we arrived at our hotel with 63% SOC. Since Kalyan did not have many charging stations and because of the traffic decided not to charge in Kalyan.

Total distance covered on Day 2: approx. 390 kilometres.

By now the plan evolved and there was a discussion if we should visit Somnath in Gujarat which would add another 2 days to the trip but the queens of the house objected to a time extension. Then came the topic of visiting Shirdi and then the plan further evolved to visiting Shri Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Mandir in Nashik and further adding Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga in Ujjain and Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga temples.

Now since the plan was evolving beyond the original route, I decided to skip Udipi and Mysore from the return route plan as the trip would further add more days. Now the new plan was to return via Hyderabad.

Things flashing on my mind:

Charging points for the new route have to be planned.

The temperature along the new route will be in the high 40s?

Language barrier as I’m not very fluent in Hindi and the new route had a lot of rural areas.

Plug share was the only source for planning further stops from Indore as there were no known charging stations from any of the popular apps. Till now my reference apps for charging stations are in the order below:

1. Statiq (multiple Charge point operators are integrated into the app)
2. Jio-bp
3. Zeon (mainly for South Zones)
4. Google Maps is of no use when planning or searching for charge stations

Never used Tata Power as the speeds were mostly 30KW and the BPCL – Ionage app had too many offline chargers plus the majority are 30KW chargers.

Before going to bed I was shifting between Plugshare and Tata Power literally memorising the charger locations and reading through all the check-ins and the date of last check-in to understand the reliability of the charging station. Ignored all the IOCL and HP charging stations in Plugshare as I know all of them are offline (more on this later). There are a lot of ghost charging points in Plugshare so have to cross-check with the charge point provider application before deciding on the location.

Continue reading BHPian praruaaa4's XC40 Recharge review for more insights and information.