Spent only Rs 2500 on charging on 800 km road trip in Mahindra XUV400

I am now confident that nearby sightseeing is possible by our electric vehicle, and we don't need to keep our older Ford EcoSport around.

BHPian atin001 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Travelled to Ooty from Bangalore last week.

Bangalore -> Mysore

• Started from Bangalore early morning at 6 with 100% SOC and kept cruise control on 80 all the way to Mysore.
• Reached Nexus Center Mall around 8:45 with 39% left. Though the mall was not open yet, the guard let us in for EV charging.
• 39 to 99% took 1 Hr 15 mins and cost 554 Rs. Had breakfast at the nearby Udupi during that time.

Mysore to Ooty

• Started for Ooty around 10. Had planned to do a short top-up at Bandipur, but there was a power outage in the area, and the chargers were not working.
• Reached Ooty with around 25% left. This was with very conscious driving on my part to maximize range (slow acceleration, using regen as much as possible)
• Went to Taj Savoy for charging but both guns were occupied and other vehicles were also waiting. Saw a BE6 waiting too.
• Decided to go to the hotel and call it a day. Reached the hotel with 19% SOC.

Ooty Sightseeing

• Next day again went to Savoy and luckily got a vacant slot. Faced some issues with getting the charging started. Asked the person charging his Tiago in the other slot and he said with Tata Power, you have to turn on the infotainment to get the charging started.
• Charged from 14 to 100% (697 Rs) and did some sightseeing in my friend's car and also had lunch. With both the stalls occupied at all times and this being a slower charger, it took nearly 2 hours.
• Roamed around Ooty next few days. Thunderworld is a must-visit if you have kids. Had around 69% left on the day before we had to start for Wayanad.
• Went to Gempark, which has a single Zeon charger. Luckily, it was just vacated as the other car (also an XUV) couldn't initiate charging.
• Charged from 69 to 95% (276 Rs) in 35 mins. Had a drink at the restaurant.

Ooty -> Wayanad

• Started from Ooty at around 91%. Stopped at Pykara Falls for an hour. 81% SOC at this point.
• XUV 400 does not have selectable Regen, and L mode is the best you can do. Thus, when coming down, regen did not charge the battery as much as I had hoped. It went from 81 to 86% and that's it.
• Reached Wayanad at around 50% SOC. Did not have to worry about range this time, so drove it a bit fast. Wife kept me in check from having too much fun.

Wayanad Sightseeing

• Did not plan to go to many places in Wayanad as most places need a bit of hiking (difficult with young kids).
• Went to an amusement park with a glass bridge and a honey museum. There was a goEC charger where we planned to have lunch, so just plugged in there. A BYD EMax had just vacated the spot.
• Charged from 41 to 100% in 1 Hr (447 Rs). Reached the hotel with around 91% left.

Wayanad-> Mysore

• Started towards Mysore around 9:45 AM with 91% charge.
• Drove in my normal way, which is a bit heavy-footed and reached Mysore with 35% SOC at 12:45 PM. Plugged into a Statiq charger at Nexus center.
• By the time we finished lunch (Around 1.5 Hrs), the car was fully charged. Cost came to 584 Rs.

Mysore -> Bangalore

• Started toward home around 2:30 and handed the car to my wife to drive on the expressway.
• Reached home around 5 PM with 35% left.

The only day I was conscious of the range was the 1st day when climbing to Ooty. Lesson learnt to book hotels with EV charging as much as possible.

I definitely love this car, and this trip has made me confident that nearby sightseeing places are easily accessible by EV, and we don't need to keep our older EcoSport around. We never do very long-distance drives or non-stop driving for more than 3 Hrs anyway.

Total Charging Cost: 2.5K, Covered around 800 Kms.

Cheers!

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