Hardly any independent garage has the knowledge or equipment to fix EVs. And where will you get parts? Brand-new Tata EVs spend months in the workshop waiting for critical parts.

Do used EVs make a strong case for themselves?

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

No chance. We're still in the very early stages of EVs & manufacturers are taking big leaps ahead every year in terms of technology. Reliability too, since it's a big learning curve for OEMs, supply chains & workshops. v1 EVs of all brands suffer niggles & issues.

What's worse is, hardly any independent garage has the knowledge or equipment to fix EVs. And where will you get parts? Brand-new Tata EVs spend months in the workshop waiting for critical parts. A Canadian dude has been waiting since a year for a battery for his old Leaf.

For a couple of years at least, I'd only buy brand-new EVs. When we have good new EVs in the 10 - 20 lakh range, I don't see any need for used EVs. If on a small budget, get a petrol car.

Here's what BHPian Jeroen had to say on the matter:

I think the survey question should read would you buy an used EV now?

When I buy an EV it will be an used one. Not yet, but give it a few more years and I will

All of the above mentioned reason will disappear over time.

Here's what BHPian shresht_EV had to say on the matter:

The biggest issue is that since most EVs on the road are quite new by standards of “age of a car”, so naturally, if someone will be willing to sell their old EV for a new one for whatever reason, they will be expecting far higher than what a used car buyer is expecting to pay.

The main allure of a used car being less than half cost of a new car doesn’t apply here because of how “new” the old EV is.

For reference, the oldest Nexon EV will still only be 4y old in January of 2024 and the oldest

I saw Nexon EV prime going for 11-12L and max going for 13-14L when new model arrived, for that kind of money, people can buy a new Tiago LR or eC3.

Here's what BHPian SS-Traveller had to say on the matter:

I did, and I don't regret it. It has been largely a trouble-free experience, but some parts now need replacement or repair - the EPS module has been throwing errors lately, but I've found someone who can repair it, and will do it next week - and there are many scrapped cars that can be cannibalised for parts. So even if I do have occasional trouble, it can be fixed despite new parts not being easily available, and in a couple of years, I would have recouped my investment, considering that used EVs are cheaper than ICE vehicles to buy and run.

Over in the USA (California), my cousin is about to buy a used Chevrolet Bolt from 2020 - the company provides a 100,000-mile warranty on the battery and a 8-year warranty on the car, so if anything does go wrong, he's covered. The prices of minimally used EVs there are lucrative, and he also gets a $4000 federal tax credit for buying a used EV.

Maybe if the Indian government also gives a similar subsidy for buying used EVs, folks would vote differently on this thread too!

Here's what BHPian EVFan had to say on the matter:

I actually got a pre-worshipped Kona.

Had already booked for a new EV and the Kona was out of consideration, but then opportunity knocked and i went for it.

Had the same qualms especially it being my first and only vehicle. So was quite scared, but then decided to go ahead with it.

It felt somewhat easier to inspect an EV compared to an ICE and the deal was good enough, till i ended up facing an issue later on with it's AC.

But whatever the case i was quite glad that the vehicle was still in warranty - Realized that the hassles of EV adoption is still quite a nightmare especially out of most cities/metro's.

Though i must point out that the same issue and the subsequent misdiagnosis by the service center would have made the experience even more painful had it been a New vehicle.

Here's what BHPian shancz had to say on the matter:

Voted No.

The technology is still too new to inspire confidence but after a few years down the line I think the polls will reflect a tilt towards "depends on the manufacturer" owing to their track record in spares, support and warranty.

Then the main point of concern would be battery health and cost of battery replacement for 5 years or older EVs.

All this provided any new breakthrough doesn't come in by then.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

If i had to take my Brezza for a similar journey, assuming I will get 15 km/l (at best); I will have to spend at least 12 liters of petrol.

BHPian nanolover recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So finally did a proper highway run with the Tigor EV on Sunday, 7th January.

Route:

Trivandrum Central - Thiruvallam - New NH all the way to Karode- Kaliyikkavilai- Mandaikadu Temple - Kumarakovil Temple - Nagercoil

Back via the same route

Specs before start off

• Charge : 100 % ( slow charged previous night)
• Regen Level : Set to 1
• Tyre Pressure : 35 PSI ( Front), 38 PSI ( rear)
• Tyres: Stock Apollo ones
• Wheels: Updated to lighter Uno Minda Alloy wheels with negative offset, so the front track is a bit more wider
• Passengers : 2 people with a combined weight of 150kg
• Luggage: Nil
• Start time : 9.15 am
• End time : 3:00 pm
• Ambient Temperatures ( per car reading) : 35 to 37 degrees
• Average speed ( as per Z connect app) : 31 km/h
• Driving time : 5 hours
• Top speed : 93 km/h
• Aircon Setting - 24 to 26 degrees depending on our comfort

Travel Purpose:

The main purpose of the visit was of course temple darshan plus to try out the newly opened section of the NH from Kovalam to Karode. Also the Tigor EV has never had a proper long distance non stop journey till date and wanted to see how much kms we can safely travel without hypermiling or eco driving.

Trip Details:

The NH road section is a beauty and sparsely trafficked, so a joy to drive. However, things come to an abrupt stop at Karode and you are back to single lane slow moving old highway where traffic was surprisingly thick for a Sunday ( mainly due to Sabarimala season i think).

One point to note is that the weather was super hot and humid , so AC was on full time and set to cool us properly ( no Eco mode) , as the sun was beating down on us from the front glass onwards and during return.

As many people from Trivandrum know, we took the detour via Thiruvallam ( to avoid the toll!) and joined the NH before Kovalam. I was NOT looking for max efficiency, just drove in regular fashion anticipating traffic and trying to maximize energy recovery from regen without using friction brakes.

I had to use occasional bursts of sport mode ( 10 times in total from 10 seconds to 30 seconds) for quick overtakes on single lane stretches and for getting up to speed quickly on the NH.

Fuel or rather Charge Efficiency details:

• Total Distance Covered : 177 kms
• Efficiency ( see pic below) : 117 wh/km
• Remaining charge : 17%
• Average km obtained per 1% drop n charge : 2.13 kms per 1% charge

So, THEORATICAL range one can safely travel with AC on ( 100% to 10%) - 192 kms

** I never see the point going below 10% as it goes into limp mode with snail's performance and no AC, this is not a practical point to measure range at the cost of discomfort and inconvenience to fellow passengers.

Driving Comfort:

Now, the biggest advantage after the operating cost , is the drive comfort. Absolutely no vibrations or engine noise or clunks when changing gears. Not to mention the butter smooth steering and the joy of ALMOST one pedal driving. In fact this is felt most in constant stop start traffic conditions peculiar to Kerala where much of the roads are still narrow and single lane.

Next is the comfort for the co passengers. First they are not aware of what speed you are travelling at (hihi!) and since there are no jerks, my dad was sound asleep after lunch on the return leg ( he never sleeps and is usually super vigilant on kerala roads).

This is over and above the usual Tigor advantages of compact size, good aircon and stable highway manners ( further enhanced by the new alloy wheels)

Only minus is tyre roar on the concrete sections of NH and the odd trim rattle over rough roads ( the trim rattles on my Tigor are not fully fixed yet).

Overall the impression is akin to driving a much more expensive car

Savings:

If i had to take my Brezza for the similar journey, assuming I will get 15 km/l ( at best), I will have to spend at least 12 liters of petrol

12 liters of petrol : 109.42*12 = 1313 rupees

180 kms of electric ( I am going for the higher delta of 1km = 1.5 rupees) : 180*1.5 = 270 rupees

Savings : 1313 - 270 = 1043 rupees !

Remember , this is the saving over just ONE small local trip.

Conclusion:

Petrol and diesel cars are indeed fun as I grew up in it ( everything from Matador Ambassdor to BMW) , but now I am at a point where I struggle to appreciate their benefits apart from nostalgia sake, especially for a crowded city guy like me.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Now that I have understood the EV and its plus/ negatives, I will upgrade (once budget permits) to the MG ZS EV.

BHPian Nanolover recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Bittersweet/Average ownership experience -21,000 kms in 14 months – Tigor EV & Good Ownership Experience- 3500 kms in 3 months – Tiago EV MR

This is more of a comparison of the cars and the dealer experience also ( brought from different dealers)

Let me start with the Tigor EV

Purchase date : Around end August 2022

Dealer : Trivandrum Motors

Purchase Experience :

Abysmal and recommend that you AVOID this dealer. All sorts of skullduggery and never showed the car in the yard stating all sorts of excuses and finally gave me a car that I believe was a showroom display car. (I was given a 3 month old car). There are much better dealers now out there Derik, Luxon ( Nippon Toyota group) and better to give your business to them.

List of stuff YET to be provided by dealer :

• Second keyless remote ( all gyaan about corona shortage when other cars in the yard had 2 remotes. I suspect they lost one). Anyways cant be bothered to fight with them anymore.

• The service records are in the name of a government institution WHICH HAS NOT BEEN UPDATE IRRESPECTIVE OF CALLS/ WRITTEN MAIL etc. Confirms the suspicion that I was pawned a pre-allotted car

Unsolved issues ( by the dealer)

• The car has rattles from the front two door sash area window frames. Dealer denied to fix this issue , saying its time consuming, door cards need to be taken off etc. I thought #$%^ you man ! and I have decided to live with it, a sort of reminder to the pitfalls.

• Keyless entry request sensor does not work , hence have to use the remote to lock/unlock. Works fine, per the dealer apparently. Again, I can’t be bothered to fight with these jokers.

Updates & Niggles over the course of ownership:

Let me start off by saying that for any new Tata product, the initial set of customers are beta testers and basis our troubles/horror stories, the company rolls out updates and retrofits them on their customer cars. The list is below:

• The radiator fan used to run CONTINUSOLY for the entire length of time that the car was charged ! up to 8 hours. Had to search forums and push dealer to get the pigtail update done( who kept on stating there is no updates showing for this VIN number)

• THE BIG ONE – Car had the horrible HV critical alert and shut down twice in the middle of commute. Dealer returned it first time stating all is fine and it broke down within 10 kms. This time escalated to Tata higher ups who promptly swung into action and towed the car away. It sat with the dealer for 3 weeks ( no replacement car as apparently they don’t have one- quote by Trivandrum Motors) and the entire battery pack was replaced. More of it here. This had happened within 4 months ( Jan 2023) and luckily, the car has been running trouble free since then over 15,000 kms. But there will always be this question mark at the back of your head…when next will it stop?

• Charging gun replaced

• Last month, the range dropped all of a sudden from 76 to 17 %. My car got the adjustable regen update and apparently post that it has to be taken down to 10 % once and then charged , to clear any errors ( thanks to bhpian Torquecurve for this tip, note: no word about this from dealer)

Range :

180 kms is achievable with full ac and mixed city/ highway driving ( 100 -10% charge). Depending on driving style and ac usage range can fluctuate between 150 -180 kms.

Postives:

• Saves you a tonne of money if you have daily running of 50 + kms
• Very easy and relaxing to drive in city and highway
• Adequately powered
• More spacious at the back than the Tiago ( this is the main USP vis a vis Tiago)
• Solid build and safety

Negatives

• Poor reliability
• Hopeless dealer experience
• Shallow trunk and oddly positioned trunk latch means you bang your head EVERYTIME
• Non working keyless entry

I will be trying Luxon Tata next and will keep you updated on the service experience there.

Considering all the above, as learnings, I again took the plunge and my brother brought a Tiago ev MR ( he has solar in his house and electricity is free for him). This time with my hard earned lessons, we ignored Trivandrum Motors and went to the other dealer – Derik Tata.

They had a tropical mist MR in transit and were more than kind to show it to us once it reached the yard. We checked the car and gave it the all clear and it was delivered fresh to us with less than 8 kms on the clock ! ( car was less than 1 month old per VIN). The tiago is tight as a drum compared to the rattly Tigor I have. In fact the build is too tight , that you have to slam the dicky to close or open one door and then close the dicky.

Range :

130 kms in city driving with AC on ( this being MR)

Positives

• Reliability to date ( no issues by far)
• Adequately powered ( 60 bhp MR is more than adequate for most uses)
• Ride is much better than Tigor
• Powerful AC ( compared to the Tigor)
• Fun to drive

Negatives

• No spare tire
• Cramped rear
• Top speed is realistically only 110 for MR ( as compared to 120 easily which I achieve in my Tigor)
• Motor is noisier compared to Tigor

What I learned:

1. Electric is the future of motoring ( for me at least)
2. Visit multiple dealers at purchase time.
3. Be prepared to have some niggles ( at least initially and this is the one thing that scares most owners off)

Conclusion:

• Now that I have understood the EV and its plus/ negatives, I will upgrade ( once budget permits) to the MG ZS EV.
• I am sorry , no Tata for me again. Thank you for introducing me to the world of EVs, but no thanks to all the other parts of it.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

My 10 year old i10 with CNG kit still has better shock absorption than Tiago EV.

BHPian Invictus13 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So, we have been driving the top variant since first week of April. We have driven close to 11k km now. The car was giving great mileage till the second service done at around 8500 km.

Below is my account of when the trouble began.

So before the second service was done, in an isolated incident, I was sitting in the car with the car turned on and parked with the ac on. I turned off the ac, and then the car. Within moments, I turned on the car again. The backlight for the buttons and the ac stopped working. I turned off the car, waited for 5 minutes and then when I started the car again, everything worked. Few days later, my dad was driving and the car started giving overheating error. He didn't note down the exact error or take a picture, so I can't say for sure what the exact error was. The same day we sent the car for the second service, as it was due anyway.

The service center informed us that they fixed the overheating issue, and sure enough, it was gone.

Now, before this second service, we were getting 200+ km with ac in Delhi summers. Wh/km was rarely ever above 120. Without a, it stayed below 100. After the service, the wh/km went up to an average of 140 and the range dropped. We informed this to the service center, and they insisted that it is purely based on driving habits. However, nothing had changed. Same people still drove the car in the same way that they did before.

We drove for another 2k km, with range not being the best, but with being more light footed, we were able to get close to 2 km in 1%, which is without ac and still lower than what it used to be.

A few days ago, I was driving back home and I was at around 150 km from 68% with Wh/km around 111. Then the battery started dropping rapidly, and at 166 km it was down to 16%. That's 16 km in 16% battery. Then, limp mode activated at 16% and at 15%, the dreaded HV Critical Alert showed up. I would like to add that for 15-20 minutes, I tried using the heater(there doesn't seem to be a dedicated button, but the temperature dial can go up to 30 degrees).

I restarted the car, and it was gone. But the limp mode continued, and at 15%, the HV Critical Alert was back

We gave the car to the service center, and initially they said there is nothing wrong with the car and we should collect it. We asked them to thoroughly check everything. A few hours later, on the same day, they called back saying the battery pack is faulty and will need to be replaced. They already placed the order for a new battery pack, which will take 15-20 days to arrive.

Since our car was in driving condition, they told us to collect it and ensure we don't take it below 20%.

Now, one thing I would like to confirm with anyone else who faced this error is their usage of fast chargers(both AC and DC).

Before any of the issues came up, I took the car to Jim Corbett and Nainital from Delhi. A trip where I had to DC fast charge a good number of times, and AC fast charge once. With DC fast charging, I charged till 100% a few times.

The service center is telling us that we should never use fast charging more than 4 times without slow charging to 100% at least once in between.

I don't know how accurate this information is, but is there a correlation between the two?

My other theory is the issue being with the AC somehow.

Anyway, I will update once the battery pack is changed.

P.S. Other niggles I want to mention include the really terrible shockers. My 10 year old i10 with CNG kit still has better shock absorption than Tiago EV. Also, I read other users report this before, but if you happen to pass a pothole while applying brakes, there seems to be a sudden acceleration and the car speeds up for a moment. This, I believe is dangerous. Also, hard braking seems to cause some sort of turbulence. I know it's the ABS activating, but it's just so bad and does not instill any confidence.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

I am lucky to have another vehicle with me, but for someone who only owns this vehicle would have faced so many issues.

BHPian rt363 recently shared this with other enthusiasts

A close friend of mine based out of Calicut, Kerala had to /is facing multiple issues with his new Tata Tiago EV. Despite low running per year, he chose the Tiago EV due to the convenience of driving an electric car, lower running costs and better value derived from the car in the long run!

Unfortunately, the mental stress and agony that he had to go through because of the faulty battery in the car wipes out all the pros that you attach to an EV and the TATAs. Since he is not a T BHP member, posting his narrative here on his behalf.

"Team BHPians,

This is going to be a long and detailed write up is about my purchase and 3 months experience of using TATA Tiago EV XT LR Variant.

Why Tata Tiago EV?

Tiago EV was a replacement for my daily driven Hyundai Grand i10 Automatic which we had used for 7 years but had covered only 36,000km as the car was mainly used for our commute from home to work which was just 3.5km away (one way) and usual city runs for errands and other short drives. I also own a BMW 3 series G20 2020 model and I am awaiting my Toyota Innova Hycross which was booked a few months back.

The reason for changing my Hyundai Grand i10 was low fuel economy of the vehicle along with the soaring prices of fuel and also my family and I felt like it was time for a change.

When my family and I started thinking of a new car, we knew that EV was the right option as it will be just for city usage and we had also driven a couple of other EV vehicles owned by my friends and we loved the experience and with the current price of petrol, we thought EV is a great option.

How we landed at Tata Tiago EV:

We were considering vehicles like Citroen and Mahindra whereas Tata was NOT something we were thinking about initially until I travelled in my friends Tata Altroz and I was really pleasantly surprised with the ride comfort and material quality. If they had an EV option for Altroz, we would have definitely purchased that.

I did some online research on Tata Tiago EV and found out that it was a very practical car for city usage even though some people faced battery High Voltage Alert issues which was also something faced by a TeamBHP member and some other minor issues which I thought back then could happen to any other EV in the market.

Despite these reviews, the very next day, I visited Marina Motors in Calicut to check out the Tiago EV. I was pleased with the spaciousness and the features it offered. The sales executive informed me that the vehicle could be delivered in about a month. After a test drive, I was convinced, and I booked the Medium Range version in Midnight Plum colour, offering a 250 km range, over the Long Range option with a 315 km range, as we believed the medium range was perfect for our needs.

]After a month of waiting, the car was not delivered and they said it might take longer for the vehicle to arrive due to some issues and I was getting impatient, so I went to Rotana Motors in Calicut to check if they had a car available for immediate delivery.

In the mean time, my family and I decided to book the long range vehicle with 315km range and I asked the sales executive if they have a vehicle that can be delivered immediately and he said that they can deliver the vehicle which is in transit within 7-10 days and after confirming the same, I paid the booking amount and asked them to let me know when the vehicle arrives so that I could check the condition of the vehicle.

As promised by the sales executive, the vehicle arrived on time and I checked the VIN number and the condition of the vehicle and I made the remaining payment and the vehicle was delivered in 3 days time. All in all, it was a very good experience from Rotana Motors.. so far!

Delivery Experience:

On 27th July 2023, the day of delivery, I informed the sales executive about the delivery time and he agreed and my brother and I arrived at the showroom on time but the sales executive had gone out for a test drive and arrived an hour late and even after he got back in the showroom it took over 45 minutes to finally get the vehicle keys officially in my hand.
The entire process took 2 hours+ and it was very tiring.

As a very new EV owner, I expected the sales executive to explain things like how to get maximum range, cars various functions and how the app Zconnect works, etc.

But all he explained to me was how to turn on the vehicle (which was by turning the keys obviously) and how regenerative braking works and I thought that is all there is to it and drove off happily.

Driving Experience and Suspicions about the range:

Even though the company claims 315km range for the vehicle, I was always expecting a realistic range of 240-260km at least. But a week into using the vehicle daily, I was surprised to see that the vehicle was reaching 20% charge from 100% with less than 120km reading driven in the ODO meter and I informed the sales executive about this and he said that it will take 3-4 full charge from the charger installed at home to get the actual range of the vehicle which seemed weird but I thought I would try that out.

Even when the vehicle was charged up to 99% the range showed only 150-160km range which is less than half of what the company is claiming.

This was my first suspicion about the battery issue and wanted to get it checked. As I was busy with work, I requested the sales executive to arrange a pick up for the vehicle and he told me he would personally come and pick up the vehicle and get the issue checked but long story short, even after two weeks of contacting him DAILY, he never came to pick up nor did he arrange a pick up by anyone else. He promised every day that he would come to pick up the vehicle.

I even contacted the showroom directly and they said another executive would call me back asap but I never got a call back form anyone from Rotana Motors Main Showroom/Service. This was clearly very unprofessional from the dealers side! Once they are done with the sales, no support/ responsibility w.r.t to car/ customer. They have ensured that I will never walk back to the showroom if i get a TATA, in future.

On August 10th 2023, I emailed Tata motors to their customer care email id regarding this range issue and about the executives irresponsibility and they immediately got back to me. Even the sales executive (who did not care a bit earlier) called me up to ask if I had filed a complaint. I had slight hopes that things would be taken seriously from now but even after escalation he never came to pick up the vehicle, despite his promises.

On 18-August-2023, the car ran 123.6km with only 17% charge remaining and on 23-August-2023 the vehicle ran only 118km with 18% charge remaining.

I had only heard about any car dealers services being terrible and this was my first time experiencing something like this ever and I had given up on the vehicle by now and felt completely helpless.

As I am a businessman based in Calicut, I did not have the time to go to the showroom directly and argue with the executive but with all the cars I have ever owned, this sales executive is the most irresponsible person I have ever met and did not care the least bit about his customers after delivery.

It Continues:

After another email to Tata Motors, I was finally contacted by another executive from Rotana Motors, Meenchanda showroom, which is an exclusive showroom for EVs, regarding the range issue and I was asked by the new executive to bring my “AEC” (charge consumption value) to below 100Wh/km by low acceleration, etc and at that time, the AEC value was somewhere between 140-155Wh/km.

This should have been explained to me by the first sales executive on the day of delivery but you all know by now how that went.

First Major Issue with Battery:

Over the next couple of weeks, I tried to bring down the AEC to below 110Wh/km but that was very difficult for me since the lowest I got it down to was 135Wh/km.

This went on for the next couple of weeks until 16-Sept-2023 where I was driving to the neighboring town which was 30km away. I started from my house with 68% battery remaining but after reaching a certain point, the vehicles total “range remaining” went down to 21km and soon showed “recharge” even when the percentage was showing 60% and the car had run a total of 74km including the trip we were on.

I reported this issue to the new executive who asked me if I could bring the vehicle to their service centre and I gave the car to get it checked myself after work. During this 30km+ drive from that town to the service centre, I noticed that the “range” which was supposed to go down from the then 21km was increasing and by the time I reached the service centre, the Range increased from 21km/recharge to 70km. Basically the entire range system was reversed.

Luckily the new executive was very helpful and checked the vehicle where it showed that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and asked me to try to charge the vehicle to 100% and then if the issue still remains unsolved, he said he’d get the first service done as the vehicle was nearing 1000km mark and I thought hopefully that will solve the issue.

But the best part was that the new executive took me on a drive and showed me how to drive maintaining “AEC number” of the vehicle by reducing constant acceleration and braking and even using the regenerative braking correctly.

From that day, I drove the vehicle exactly like how the executive had demonstrated and I even managed to bring the “AEC value” to less than 110Wh/km and I was getting a range of 180km with 20% charge remaining where at 100% the vehicle even showed a range of 240km.

Limp Mode Issue:

I was conscious about my acceleration and braking after that and I wanted to check the full range of the vehicle since I had done that with one of my friends MG EV where we drove it down to 3% before we charged it.

I left for work with 20% charge and when the car hit 17% with 39km range, limp mode got activated and the AC got cut off and the cars power was reduced and the constant ringing noise was definitely a pain.

I was shocked when limp mode got activated at 17% because I had read somewhere that it usually only happens below or close to 10%.

I booked for another appointment at the new service centre and they came and picked the vehicle unlike the first place and the executive called me up to say that no issue was being shown on the system and I was given the car back on the same day after more checkups. This is when I was convinced that the car had battery issues even though nothing was being shown on their computer.

Over the next couple of trips after 100% charge, limp mode got activated at 20% and this time the car was not getting charged when connected to the cable and just kept making the ringing sound from the dash. So I let the car cool down for a while and tried connecting the charger again after 30 mins and it started charging.

After completing that 100% cycle, limp mode got activated at 26% with 53km range on 17-Oct-2023. Imagine on a 180km realistic range car, the limp mode getting activated upon crossing 150kms?

And then at 28% on 21-Oct–2023.

I just sent the video to the executive and did not bother explaining things anymore because I was already regretting buying this car. Basically, I had given up and did not know what to do. But I made sure all this was being reported to Tata motors, so I sent emails constantly regarding every single issue I have been facing then and when it happens.

Car break down and HV Alert:

On 22-Oct-2023, what I had feared officially happened.

My family had taken the car to church and the car did not turn on later. It just showed “HV Critical Alert” at 25%.

I called up breakdown service via Tata Motors customer care number and I must say that they were very professional and arrived on time. I had even called up the executive and he said he will look in to it 24-Oct-2023 as the showroom was shut on the occasion of Dussera.

Battery Replacement and Temporary Car:

I was contacted by the executive on 24-Oct-2023 and he told me that the vehicle had battery complaints and would be fully replaced under warranty and I was later on contacted by the Service Manager and informed that it would take 15-20 days for the vehicle to be fixed since the battery has to arrive from their plant in Gujarat and I asked for a temporary vehicle during this period and he said that they do not have any vehicles readily available.

I am lucky to have another vehicle with me, but for someone who only owns this vehicle would have faced so many issues. But I told him that it is not possible and that they had to arrange a vehicle for me since we are a family of 4 and we all needed vehicles for work and personal purposes all the time, so he said I could rent a vehicle with Rs. 1000 as the per day budget where we would have the pay for the fuel and that made no sense to me.

After calling him every day, he said another vehicle that was given to another customer during his “Battery Change” period is back in the showroom. But the vehicle met with an accident while it was with the customer and it can be given only after fixing it.

As I write this on 02-Nov-2023, I am yet to get any updates regarding the temporary vehicle and it has been 11 days since my car broke down.

Conclusion:

My three month experience with the Tata Tiago EV has been far from satisfactory. What initially seemed like a promising solution for city driving turned into a nightmare of issues and disappointments.

From the very beginning, the sales executive’s very poor and irresponsible post-delivery support left me extremely unsatisfied. My optimism about the claimed 315 km range evaporated as the vehicle consistently fell short, with the real-world range proving to be just a fraction of what was promised.

I still think that if the car had worked properly, it would be the perfect option for city users like myself. But that was not the case obviously. I made a total of 6 visits to the service centre in 2 months (some registered visits and some unregistered).

I tried to save fuel money by buying an EV but I ended up stressing and losing my time instead.

I even called up the first sales executive to know if he can arrange a temporary vehicle for me, to which he said he will ask and get back to me and as you can guess, he has not contacted me till date. He should learn from other brands executives on how to treat a customer.

Being a family of 4 with members working in different fields, our daily commute itself has become really difficult. One of my relatives was considering buying a Tata Tiago EV or Nexon EV but I strongly recommended against buying any EV from Tata based on my personal experience and they have put the purchase on hold.

To conclude in simple words:

Do I regret buying this car?

YES.

Would I recommend this car to someone else based on my personal experience?

NO.

Was the switch from petrol to EV worth it, based on my 3 months experience,

NO, definitely not worth the hassle and stress.

My intention in sharing this review is to provide an honest account of my experience with the Tata Tiago EV, with the hope that it can serve as a cautionary tale for those considering this vehicle. Despite its promising size for city use and an okay range, the litany of issues I've faced makes it clear that this is not a vehicle I would recommend to anyone.

In my view, Tata Motors has a long way to go in addressing the reliability and quality concerns in their electric offerings. I would advise potential buyers to thoroughly research and consider alternatives, as my journey with the Tata Tiago EV has been nothing short of a disappointing and frustrating ordeal. Cheers! "

Although TATA looks like catering to the needs of customers, a huge void is to be filled in respect of after sales experience and training for staff. Hope TATA does something about the recurring complaints from customers regarding the above.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

In my view, Tata Motors has a long way to go in addressing the reliability and quality concerns in their electric offerings.

BHPian rt363 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A close friend of mine based out of Calicut, Kerala had to /is facing multiple issues with his new Tata Tiago EV. Despite low running per year, he chose the Tiago EV due to the convenience of driving an electric car, lower running costs and better value derived from the car in the long run!

Unfortunately, the mental stress and agony that he had to go through because of the faulty battery in the car wipes out all the pros that you attach to an EV and the TATAs. Since he is not a T-bhp member, posting his narrative here on his behalf.

"Team BHPians,

This is going to be a long and detailed write up is about my purchase and 3 months experience of using TATA Tiago EV XT LR Variant.

Why Tata Tiago EV?

Tiago EV was a replacement for my daily driven Hyundai Grand i10 Automatic which we had used for 7 years but had covered only 36,000km as the car was mainly used for our commute from home to work which was just 3.5km away (one way) and usual city runs for errands and other short drives. I also own a BMW 3 series G20 2020 model and I am awaiting my Toyota Innova Hycross which was booked a few months back.

The reason for changing my Hyundai Grand i10 was low fuel economy of the vehicle along with the soaring prices of fuel and also my family and I felt like it was time for a change.

When my family and I started thinking of a new car, we knew that EV was the right option as it will be just for city usage and we had also driven a couple of other EV vehicles owned by my friends and we loved the experience and with the current price of petrol, we thought EV is a great option.

How we landed at Tata Tiago EV

We were considering vehicles like Citroen and Mahindra whereas Tata was NOT something we were thinking about initially until I travelled in my friends Tata Altroz and I was really pleasantly surprised with the ride comfort and material quality. If they had an EV option for Altroz, we would have definitely purchased that.

I did some online research on Tata Tiago EV and found out that it was a very practical car for city usage even though some people faced battery High Voltage Alert issues which was also something faced by a TeamBHP member and some other minor issues which I thought back then could happen to any other EV in the market.

Despite these reviews, the very next day, I visited Marina Motors in Calicut to check out the Tiago EV. I was pleased with the spaciousness and the features it offered. The sales executive informed me that the vehicle could be delivered in about a month. After a test drive, I was convinced, and I booked the Medium Range version in Midnight Plum colour, offering a 250 km range, over the Long Range option with a 315 km range, as we believed the medium range was perfect for our needs.

After a month of waiting, the car was not delivered and they said it might take longer for the vehicle to arrive due to some issues and I was getting impatient, so I went to Rotana Motors in Calicut to check if they had a car available for immediate delivery.

In the mean time, my family and I decided to book the long range vehicle with 315km range and I asked the sales executive if they have a vehicle that can be delivered immediately and he said that they can deliver the vehicle which is in transit within 7-10 days and after confirming the same, I paid the booking amount and asked them to let me know when the vehicle arrives so that I could check the condition of the vehicle.

As promised by the sales executive, the vehicle arrived on time and I checked the VIN number and the condition of the vehicle and I made the remaining payment and the vehicle was delivered in 3 days time. All in all, it was a very good experience from Rotana Motors.. so far!

Delivery Experience

On 27th July 2023, the day of delivery, I informed the sales executive about the delivery time and he agreed and my brother and I arrived at the showroom on time but the sales executive had gone out for a test drive and arrived an hour late and even after he got back in the showroom it took over 45 minutes to finally get the vehicle keys officially in my hand.

The entire process took 2 hours+ and it was very tiring.

As a very new EV owner, I expected the sales executive to explain things like how to get maximum range, cars various functions and how the app zconnect works, etc.

But all he explained to me was how to turn on the vehicle (which was by turning the keys obviously) and how regenerative braking works and I thought that is all there is to it and drove off happily.

Driving Experience and Suspicions about the range

Even though the company claims 315km range for the vehicle, I was always expecting a realistic range of 240-260km at least. But a week into using the vehicle daily, I was surprised to see that the vehicle was reaching 20% charge from 100% with less than 120km reading driven in the ODO meter and I informed the sales executive about this and he said that it will take 3-4 full charge from the charger installed at home to get the actual range of the vehicle which seemed weird but I thought I would try that out.

Even when the vehicle was charged up to 99% the range showed only 150-160km range which is less than half of what the company is claiming.

This was my first suspicion about the battery issue and wanted to get it checked. As I was busy with work, I requested the sales executive to arrange a pick up for the vehicle and he told me he would personally come and pick up the vehicle and get the issue checked but long story short, even after two weeks of contacting him DAILY, he never came to pick up nor did he arrange a pick up by anyone else. He promised every day that he would come to pick up the vehicle.

I even contacted the showroom directly and they said another executive would call me back asap but I never got a call back form anyone from Rotana Motors Main Showroom/Service. This was clearly very unprofessional from the dealers side! Once they are done with the sales, no support/ responsibility w.r.t to car/ customer. They have ensured that I will never walk back to the showroom if i get a TATA, in future.

On august 10th 2023, I emailed Tata motors to their customer care email id regarding this range issue and about the executives irresponsibility and they immediately got back to me. Even the sales executive (who didnot care a bit earlier) called me up to ask if I had filed a complaint. I had slight hopes that things would be taken seriously from now but even after escalation he never came to pick up the vehicle, despite his promises.

On 18-August-2023, the car ran 123.6km with only 17% charge remaining and on 23-August-2023 the vehicle ran only 118km with 18% charge remaining.

I had only heard about any car dealers services being terrible and this was my first time experiencing something like this ever and I had given up on the vehicle by now and felt completely helpless.

As I am a businessman based in Calicut, I did not have the time to go to the showroom directly and argue with the executive but with all the cars I have ever owned, this sales executive is the most irresponsible person I have ever met and did not care the least bit about his customers after delivery.

It Continues

After another email to Tata Motors, I was finally contacted by another executive from Rotana Motors, Meenchanda showroom, which is an exclusive showroom for EVs, regarding the range issue and I was asked by the new executive to bring my “AEC” (charge consumption value) to below 100Wh/km by low acceleration, etc and at that time, the AEC value was somewhere between 140-155Wh/km.

This should have been explained to me by the first sales executive on the day of delivery but you all know by now how that went.

First Major Issue with Battery

Over the next couple of weeks, I tried to bring down the AEC to below 110Wh/km but that was very difficult for me since the lowest I got it down to was 135Wh/km.

This went on for the next couple of weeks until 16-Sept-2023 where I was driving to the neighboring town which was 30km away. I started from my house with 68% battery remaining but after reaching a certain point, the vehicles total “range remaining” went down to 21km and soon showed “recharge” even when the percentage was showing 60% and the car had run a total of 74km including the trip we were on.

I reported this issue to the new executive who asked me if I could bring the vehicle to their service centre and I gave the car to get it checked myself after work. During this 30km+ drive from that town to the service centre, I noticed that the “range” which was supposed to go down from the then 21km was increasing and by the time I reached the service centre, the Range increased from 21km/recharge to 70km. Basically the entire range system was reversed.

Luckily the new executive was very helpful and checked the vehicle where it showed that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and asked me to try to charge the vehicle to 100% and then if the issue still remains unsolved, he said he’d get the first service done as the vehicle was nearing 1000km mark and I thought hopefully that will solve the issue.

But the best part was that the new executive took me on a drive and showed me how to drive maintaining “AEC number” of the vehicle by reducing constant acceleration and braking and even using the regenerative braking correctly.

From that day, I drove the vehicle exactly like how the executive had demonstrated and I even managed to bring the “AEC value” to less than 110Wh/km and I was getting a range of 180km with 20% charge remaining where at 100% the vehicle even showed a range of 240km.

Limp Mode Issue

I was conscious about my acceleration and braking after that and I wanted to check the full range of the vehicle since I had done that with one of my friends MG EV where we drove it down to 3% before we charged it.

I left for work with 20% charge and when the car hit 17% with 39km range, limp mode got activated and the AC got cut off and the cars power was reduced and the constant ringing noise was definitely a pain.

I was shocked when limp mode got activated at 17% because I had read somewhere that it usually only happens below or close to 10%.

I booked for another appointment at the new service centre and they came and picked the vehicle unlike the first place and the executive called me up to say that no issue was being shown on the system and I was given the car back on the same day after more checkups. This is when I was convinced that the car had battery issues even though nothing was being shown on their computer.

Over the next couple of trips after 100% charge, limp mode got activated at 20% and this time the car was not getting charged when connected to the cable and just kept making the ringing sound from the dash. So I let the car cool down for a while and tried connecting the charger again after 30 mins and it started charging.

After completing that 100% cycle, limp mode got activated at 26% with 53km range on 17-Oct-2023. Imagine on a 180km realistic range car, the limp mode getting activated upon crossing 150kms?

And then at 28% on 21-Oct–2023.

I just sent the video to the executive and did not bother explaining things anymore because I was already regretting buying this car. Basically, I had given up and did not know what to do. But I made sure all this was being reported to Tata motors, so I sent emails constantly regarding every single issue I have been facing then and when it happens.

Car break down and HV Alert

On 22-Oct-2023, what I had feared officially happened.

My family had taken the car to church and the car did not turn on later. It just showed “HV Critical Alert” at 25%.

I called up breakdown service via Tata Motors customer care number and I must say that they were very professional and arrived on time. I had even called up the executive and he said he will look in to it 24-Oct-2023 as the showroom was shut on the occasion of Dussera.

Battery Replacement and Temporary Car

I was contacted by the executive on 24-Oct-2023 and he told me that the vehicle had battery complaints and would be fully replaced under warranty and I was later on contacted by the Service Manager and informed that it would take 15-20 days for the vehicle to be fixed since the battery has to arrive from their plant in Gujarat and I asked for a temporary vehicle during this period and he said that they do not have any vehicles readily available.

I am lucky to have another vehicle with me, but for someone who only owns this vehicle would have faced so many issues. But I told him that it is not possible and that they had to arrange a vehicle for me since we are a family of 4 and we all needed vehicles for work and personal purposes all the time, so he said I could rent a vehicle with Rs. 1000 as the per day budget where we would have the pay for the fuel and that made no sense to me.

After calling him every day, he said another vehicle that was given to another customer during his “Battery Change” period is back in the showroom. But the vehicle met with an accident while it was with the customer and it can be given only after fixing it.

As I write this on 02-Nov-2023, I am yet to get any updates regarding the temporary vehicle and it has been 11 days since my car broke down.

Conclusion

My three month experience with the Tata Tiago EV has been far from satisfactory. What initially seemed like a promising solution for city driving turned into a nightmare of issues and disappointments.

From the very beginning, the sales executive’s very poor and irresponsible post-delivery support left me extremely unsatisfied. My optimism about the claimed 315 km range evaporated as the vehicle consistently fell short, with the real-world range proving to be just a fraction of what was promised.

I still think that if the car had worked properly, it would be the perfect option for city users like myself. But that was not the case obviously. I made a total of 6 visits to the service centre in 2 months (some registered visits and some unregistered).

I tried to save fuel money by buying an EV but I ended up stressing and losing my time instead.

I even called up the first sales executive to know if he can arrange a temporary vehicle for me, to which he said he will ask and get back to me and as you can guess, he has not contacted me till date. He should learn from other brands executives on how to treat a customer.

Being a family of 4 with members working in different fields, our daily commute itself has become really difficult. One of my relatives was considering buying a Tata Tiago EV or Nexon EV but I strongly recommended against buying any EV from Tata based on my personal experience and they have put the purchase on hold.

To conclude in simple words:

• Do I regret buying this car?
• YES.
• Would I recommend this car to someone else based on my personal experience?
• NO.
• Was the switch from petrol to EV worth it, based on my 3 months experience,
• NO, definitely not worth the hassle and stress.

My intention in sharing this review is to provide an honest account of my experience with the Tata Tiago EV, with the hope that it can serve as a cautionary tale for those considering this vehicle. Despite its promising size for city use and an okay range, the litany of issues I've faced makes it clear that this is not a vehicle I would recommend to anyone.

In my view, Tata Motors has a long way to go in addressing the reliability and quality concerns in their electric offerings. I would advise potential buyers to thoroughly research and consider alternatives, as my journey with the Tata Tiago EV has been nothing short of a disappointing and frustrating ordeal. Cheers! "

Although TATA looks like catering to the needs of customers, a huge void is to be filled in respect of after sales experience and training for staff. Hope TATA does something about the recurring complaints from customers regarding the above.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

It’s quite disappointing to note the quality of Tata Motors products, as well as the service that leaves a lot to be desired.

BHPian krishnadevjs recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Today morning I got the HV Critical Alert on my Tiago EV XT. The car's done just about 2000km and has always been charged on a slow charger. The car drives around fine, and all regen modes also work, but the HV alert light is still on.

I've called Tata's service center, Trident Motors in Kurla, and they've promptly arranged a driver to pickup the car. Hopefully, this is not the start of a long ordeal with Tata Motors.

Here's what BHPian payeng had to say on the matter:

If the car is has been running Ok, I guess its not too much to be bothered about.

Anyway do keep us updated on the developments.

Here's what BHPian ferrarirules had to say on the matter:

If the car is driving fine, i think it should be ok. Can you please share your charging graph/soc history from zconnect app?

BHPian krishnadevjs replied:

This is the SOC from the app, for the last 4 months.

Final update:

Update on my HV Critical Alert.

After 3 days of silence, after I followed up, the Service team at Trident has replied that it is an issue with the AC compressor, for which they’ve escalated to Tata Motors and are awaiting a response.

This seems highly unlikely as the AC works on the 12V battery system whereas the HV Critical Alert should refer to an issue in the EV battery - wiring - MCU circuit. Despite me telling the SA this, he is insisting that it’s a compressor issue.

I’ve written to Tata Motors customer care highlighting the issue and my concerns on the diagnosis. Nevertheless, it’s quite disappointing to note the quality of Tata Motors products, as well as the service that leaves a lot to be desired.

My father just booked an Altroz DCA, which is to be delivered next week. My father in law was planning to buy a Tiago EV. Both are now waiting to see how this pans out before taking the plunge.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Tata should sell it as an amazing driving experience, which is reasonably priced while also being economical in the long run.

BHPian crodjer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The car is amazing to drive. No non-EV that I have test driven responds like this one. I find it odd that when comparing EVs, people consider the price premium as a negative while the price premium for ICE cars for a better engine/drive train is okay.

Tata should instead sell it as an amazing driving experience, which is reasonably priced while also being economical in the long run. A Citroen dealer tried to push me for the ICE car based on my (low) running numbers. And I find it funny, because from that logic all low running folks should just buy an Alto. EV sales folks should sell the driving experience, with the fuel/cost savings as a plus.

There were a few issues that I encountered as well:

I got my ZConnect activated (8 days after delivery) and feels pretty much like a gimmic, no utility day-to-day.

• It would be useful in an emergency situation when I forget lock the key in the car. It can happen in (non XZ+ Lux) Tiago as the boot is independent of car-lock.
• The app logs you out every two days, rendering the geo-fencing notification useless and the app is readily unavailable right when needed.
• Pre-coolling doesn't work and I am not going to try to get it to work. As someone in software industry I refuse to interact with such crap-ware day to day.
• OTP is the _sole_ authentication mechanism. So, if you know someone has a Tata EV and what their phone number is, all you have to do is get duplicate SIM (trivial) and volla they have access to your car. But at least they won't be damaging it while stealing it, so that's a plus. I am a software engineer and know for a fact that SMS based OTP isn't safe even as a 2nd factor, let alone it being just one factor.
• At some point I'd like to figure out a way to completely de-activate ZConnect so that my car can't be stolen with a fake SIM. Moreover, SMS as a technology was an afterthought and never meant to be a secure medium.

Wheel alignment was off from factory.

• On my first non-congestion drive, I realized that wheel alignment was off. I'd have to keep pulling the steering toward the left to go straight.
• I had the same issue with my Petrol Tiago as well in 2019. Is bad wheel alignment a general Tata car thing? Perhaps other owners could share their experience, or maybe keep an eye out now if you notice it
• Although I didn't want to use my dealership's service center, I did in this case and paid dearly in my time. I reached their center at 9:30 (their opening time) and they handed me over the car at 3:30 PM. From the glass I could see that they did the alignment and test-drives thrice - still not okay to take 6 hours for this on a weekday.
• For future services, I'll anyway not be using this service center as my original plan. I did it in this case as there were a few things pending on them still and I may need them for any major early issues.

Bad fit and finish. I really expected this and its true.

• The paint quality isn't good - their are fragments which are uneven.
• Roof upholstery is ugly from the corners and one can clearly see threads dangling. My old Tiago petrol had this as well.
• Doors don't close easily. It is particularly an issue with child lock, as I have to get down and close it again every time we are ready to leave for somewhere.
• Dangling wires - well everyone knows this is how Tata chose to do things.
• The rubber mats that I got don't fit right. At some point, I'll look for alternative mats which fit. This perhaps is the dealership's fault.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

I managed to achieve an average of 93Wh/km, factoring the average cost of electricity across all charging sessions, cost per km was 1.95 rupee.

BHPian thilak29 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Preface - In July, MD (When 17 cars get drenched in the rains | 2000 km journey to the Konkan coast | Monsoon Drive 2023) helped me explore some beautiful stretches in the Konkan region, however the itch to travel was not satisfied completely. I was looking for an opportunity and that neatly landed on my lap. I work remotely on most days of the month and visit the office for some days for in person interactions, so there came the need to be in office around the 21st of Aug. The previous week also happened to be a long one. So, I decided to take a long drive from Puttur (a small town on the coastal belt of KA) to Bangalore. Instead of taking a routine route via Hassan, the idea was to take a longer one, really long!

Vehicle - Back in April, I did a Puttur - Hyderabad drive in Compass, this car is a good highway rider, munches miles well and feels comfortable onboard. I took delivery of Tiago EV around mid-March. Since then, I have done multiple trips to Bangalore in this and even been to Pondicherry recently. This car has its fair share of positives and limitations of its own. I felt a long drive in an EV could be an enjoyable experience to have, mostly seen as an experiment with potentially uncertain outcomes. Finally, the choice was the Tigao EV. The day before the journey the car was washed, minor DIY detailing and charged to the brim at home.

Intent - Old things charm me, things stuck in time or ones that act as time capsules/vehicles to take us back to a time when realities were different.
I have been planning a visit to Thanjavur for many months, for various reasons it just did not materialise despite best efforts. After watching the Ponniyin Selvan series of movies, this urge only became stronger. The other place which caught my attention is Karaikudi/Chettinad belt. The business adventure stories (stretching to far regions like Burma) of people from this part have engaged me in the past.

So, Thanjavur and Chettinad were central to travel, and any other interesting place around them were considered too.

Route -

Plugshare is that tool which EV owners rely on to plan their travel by meeting charging requirements. It's a simple app/web interface offering enough inputs to have fairly reliable route planning. I spent couple of hours and finalised this route -

Home - Palakkad (via Kozhikode) - Madurai(via Palani) - Chettinad - Thanjavur - Trichy - Mahabalipuram - Kanchi - Bangalore (via Krishnagiri) <few days in Bangalore > - Hassan - Home

Here is the route map:

Itinerary -

Day 1:

I started early (just before 5AM) as I had a longer distance to cover. The first stop for charging was at Kannur (GO EC), a marked site on the premise of a mall. I initiated charging and headed for a place to have breakfast, Indian Coffee House about half a km away. Tasty food, decent coffee. When I reached the car, it had charged to 90% and I decided not to wait further (the last 10% usually takes longer as charging rate significantly reduces to enable thermal and cell balancing activities). I had marked another charger at Perintalmanna (from GO EC), as I reached closer, I noticed the charger was occupied (app shows the status) and this town had a couple of other chargers to choose from, based on proximity I set destination to an EESL (Govt. entity) run charger. The site of this charger left me surprised - in the middle (literally) of a busy private bus stand (see pic). I initiated charging and started scouting for a good place that serves a good Avil Milk. After finding one and relishing it, I noticed the car was about to reach 85% and I made it back to the charging station to see curious peepers around the car. I disconnected the charger and set Palakkad as my lunch venue (with a charger, Go EC again). The drive to Palakkad was nicer than what I had experienced since entering Kerala. I reached the lunch venue (closer to 3PM, rather late for lunch, I know! But Avil Milk was heavy with all the rich fillings!). At this place, my aim was to get the car fully charged as the road ahead involves inclined elevation and there is going to be higher charge consumption. Restaurant had only North Indian curries and Kerala Parotta to offer that late (BTW- never understood the logic of not offering local curries with local breads!), lunch and a mocktail in and I was out of the restaurant. This location was like ones you notice in western countries where a stopover place has stores, restaurants, kids play areas, restrooms within a compound (of course this had EV chargers too). We need more of this! After some strolling, answering a few questions on charging from strangers, and helping a fellow EV owner figure out the charging process using the second gun, Tiago reached 100% levels. Next planned stop for a quick top up was Palani. There were two chargers in this holy town (run by Relux and Zeon individually). Zeon showed offline, tried calling their customer care, calls were not connecting at all despite repeated tries. I sent them a Whatsapp to know if there is any issue at their Palani site. I kept driving towards Pollachi and that evening drive was one of the best I have experienced recently. Top class roads, coconut groves on both sides, minimal traffic to encounter. This joy of driving was interrupted by a call from Zeon who informed me that the site will be under maintenance for the next two days. I knew at that moment; this wasn't a good sign. I exited Pollachi town and parked on the kerbside to look at options at hand.

• Option 1 - Continue to Palani, hoping Relux charger is available (may be with some waiting)
• Option 2 - Drive Dindigul and top up there (slight risk of experiencing limp mode)

I took my chances and decided to head to Palani. Sun gradually changed the hues in the sky, tall windmills on both sides of the road began to appear and disappear, roads were wider and very well laid. Somehow my mind was numb to these changes and kept wondering “What if?” and I still had about 180 kms cover for the day.

The Relux charger continuously appears busy. I still decided to take a diversion from the highway and drove towards the Relux charger site in Palani. Town was very crowded (for the weekend or for some religious reason?) The charger was set up right at the foot hill entry to the temple. A BYD Atto was plugged in and there were 5 Nexons in the queue for this charger. That sight made me realise, ‘What if’ is now a harsher reality to reckon. I did a quick calculation to see if I could make it to Madurai comfortably, the answer was no. I called up Tata in Dindigul to understand if they allow charging post business hours, they said yes! I was happy and the well-lit hills of Palani appeared even more beautiful than I found a few moments ago. By entering Palani and exiting it, I clearly lost some range. Now I had to drive conservatively, stay frugal for the next sixty-five kms to avoid limp mode on a highway. That is exactly what I did and reached the Tata charger in Dindigul, I put it to charge up and called the Hotel I had booked to inform about late check in. I pushed back and took a good nap. I woke up to the knocks on the windows, disoriented with an unexpected wake call, asked that stranger if something was wrong? He politely apologized for waking me up and asked if he could use the charger if my needs were met. Dashboard indicated 85% and charging, I happily agreed and moved on.

The drive to the hotel in Madurai was pleasant and I checked in. Before I checked in, I glanced at the trip reading.

Total Drive: 590 km

Duration: 16 hours (Google map says typical time is 14 hours, not bad, eh?)

Day 2 :

Plan for the day was to visit Chettinad and Athangudi. Courtyard by Marriott in Madurai had a Charge Zone set up, while the car got charged and spent time on breakfast.

My first destination was Athangudi Palace. Palace is situated in the middle of nowhere in a village, this place is popular for its unique designer floor tiles. Palace access was limited to a few portions, however whatever I saw was indeed beautiful. I stepped out and strolled the streets of the village to find a couple of antique shops and shops with woodwork on display.

On my way to this palace, I noticed a few huts preparing tiles and packing them (it was Sunday!)

On my way out I stopped at one of such huts to see them at work. The person kindly invited me inside and explained to me the entire process with a demo. As I was about to leave, he handed me over his cards and mentioned he has a YouTube channel highlighting designs and work, impressive!

I left Athangudi and reached Kanadukathan village. This village is full of deserted palatial buildings with planned,marked streets. I parked my car and took a long walk around this village only to find myself astonished. So many abandoned structures (some are being renovated or partly occupied with small commercial establishments) in a few blocks of this area. Beautiful buildings, well laid townships, large courtyards - indeed tragic.

I found a nice restaurant built in a renovated structure. The restaurant had just opened for lunch. The food was not ready, that gave me ample time to experience the beauty of that building and interiors. I relished a delicious Chettinad vegetarian thali, and it was the best one I had in recent times.

Post lunch I visited a couple of handicraft shops and liked a few of their works, ending up buying them.

Next in plan was to visit Karaikudi town to visit antique stores, Google said, being Sunday, most shops will be closed. I missed this detail during the planning of this day's itinerary. I headed back to Madurai, an enjoyable drive except for the blaring sun. I noticed EV efficiency dropped, possibly to keep the car cabin and battery at optimal temperature.

Back in Madurai, headed back to the hotel, parked the car and headed for a walk. I took interest in a couple of eateries around, tasted local snacks and tried a popular drink called jigarthanda in a shop serving this for the last five decades (not impressed)!

Day 3

Visit to Madurai is incomplete without visiting Meenakshi Temple; I personally prefer visiting temples early in the mornings for the serene experience it offers. After I had returned from Chettinad drive, the car was not charged. Since I left home, the car was getting charged with fast chargers only, I wanted to break that cycle with a slow charging session. I had noted two Zeon chargers within a couple of kms of range where I could get this done. Both locations were within premises of prominent hotels, around 4 AM I checked out from my hotel and the car had 13% of charge left. I visited the charging point (JC Residency) and found it occupied with an ICE car parked. Security refused to move the car stating there was limited parking space at their hotel. He even tried to falsely claim that the charger was out of order, which was not the case. I left that place and headed to the other one (Regency), I left the car to charge. The car indicated that it may need approx. 4.5 hours for slow charging to complete, I was in no hurry either. Temple of few kms away and I hopped on to an Auto. Being a popular temple, there was some crowd already, the entire temple complex was imposing. After some wait, I entered the temple's sanctum sanctorum. After darshan, I roamed the temple complex to experience its vastness and beauty. I left the temple complex, looked up Google for a good breakfast joint and found one. A good long walk and tasty food there made it all worth it. The car was showing inching towards 90 plus SOC and I headed back to the place where it was parked all this while. As there were a few more minutes left for it to reach 100% level, I began planning the day (possible charging stops, place of interest, hotel check ins etc.), the next destination was Trichy.

Driving to Trichy from Madurai involves some extremely good roads and beautiful recurring landscapes I have experienced. After a couple of hours of driving, time to charge and take a break. I reached Trichy and completed the check-in formalities at the hotel I booked and without wasting much time, I headed to Thanjavur. When I reached, it was past my typical lunch hour, I looked up for a good place to find a popular one and reached to find it crowded, waited a bit and the meal was delicious.

Next stop was a handicrafts shop run by TN Govt, near the restaurant where I had my lunch. I made some purchases and asked the store manager if he was okay with having my car parked in front of their shop for the next couple of hours. He happily agreed (insisted I return before 7 PM though) and I left for a city stroll and reached the magnificent temple of Thanjavur.

Words fail to describe its magnificence. The sheer fact that someone conceived the idea and executed it so well makes my heart swell with pride for the engineering and management skills we natively had many centuries ago to execute projects of this scale.

On my way back I stopped briefly for a charging session and headed back to the hotel.

Day 4

Srirangam is a river island and is famous for the temple with the largest Gopuram in the world. I started at the wee hours after checking out, the drive was short, town was waking up to the smells of flowers and filter coffee. There was some waiting to enter the innermost portion of the temple but nothing discomforting.

After Darshan, I started my drive for the day - Mahabalipuram was the destination. The previous night, I had planned my itinerary in detail with stopovers for charging/food breaks. I reached Mahabalipuram in the afternoon. Since it was Independence Day/Holiday, it felt there was a good number of people in that small quarter of the area. The entire city was choked with traffic and the sun was blasting mercilessly. I had decided to leave my car for a slow charging session at a resort and take a walk to beach side structures. The folks at the resort were friendly and allowed parking/charging.

That day Red Bull had arranged a sea surfing event as well, which had many onlookers. I did not find this place exciting, unsure if it was poor crowd management or scorching heat or the way ASI managed this site. I left Mahabalipuram and drove to Kanchi.

Day 5

As you would have guessed from earlier posts, my morning routine is to visit a prominent temple, so I visited Kanchi temple. The temple is well maintained (must have been renovated) and serene.

I had to reach Bangalore in the afternoon, so I left Kanchi to finish breakfast. There were two routes to opt from, via Hosur or Kolar. Based on charging option availability, I felt Hosur one is better compared to one via Kolar (this route has chargers but not well spread).

I made two stops (Vellore and Krishnagiri) for quick top ups, reached Bangalore. Chennai - Bangalore highway is undergoing maintenance and makeovers at multiple points, so the pace was not that great.

Roads & Drive -

• KL is working on widening their highways, state highways were decent but national highways were terrible
• In KL, Buses were rash, I wonder why no one protests (considering the state has a thing for protests) for their unsafe driving putting citizens at high risk, I have witnessed so many near misses due to their negligent timing.
• Palakkad to Madurai was a beautiful drive to experience with a good mix of roads through the rural setup of Pollachi and good highways.
• 99% of roads I experienced in TN were in top shape, kudos to those who made this possible, no wonder this state is progressing well.

What I couldn't do -

I wanted to visit Pamban bridge and reach the tip of Dhanushkodi from Madurai. However, two chargers enroute to enable this were not reliable, hence dropped the idea.

Charging experience -

• Charging stations (barring one, near Melur) had marked parking and easily accessible.
• TN and KL has best charging infra as on date, undisputedly
• Chargers were reliable, experienced power outage only once which was restored within a few minutes.
• Most use hardware from ABB or Delta, few in KL seem to be China made.
• In KL charging costs nearly half much as seen in TN or KA
• Have patience to answer questions (most are repetitive to you) from curious individuals

Efficiency & cost -

I managed to achieve an average of 93Wh/km, factoring the average cost of electricity across all charging sessions, cost per km was 1.95 rupee.

After a couple of days spent in Bangalore, I headed home and when I reached home the trip meter showed above numbers.

That concludes my solo drive in a little EV.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

With the AC on and the regen level set to 1, approximate range is around 225 km.

BHPian swami69 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Done about 600 km, daily to office, round trip 55 km

• Home Charging - I bring it down to 40% and charge it back to 95-100% alternatively

• Real world range - With all time A/C ON and mostly at Regen 1, the range is approx 225 kms @ 96 Wh/km efficiency

• Air Conditioning - It is not bone chilling like my Fortuner, but OK. Need to check whether they can do any tricks in the Battery Management System to provide more power to make the A/C provide more cooling ?

• Drive - Absolutely fantastic. But one thing, after doing these Regen Exercises, i did drive it with Zero Regen yesterday and it just felt so more comfortable and like any other car. In Regens, the vehicle slows down without any rear Red light warning and I have a sense the motorists behind in close traffic are caught off guard. I could see on more than few occasions that they apply brakes too close to my car because they do not get the Rear Red light connect.

• Climbs - It rained heavily yesterday evening in Chennai and my trip back home had two jam packed flyovers with stop and go tightly packed traffic. Just turned on to S mode and there was absolutely no rolling back, a split second like a normal car and it moved forward without any complications. I have read people saying, it rolls back by 1 feet ! it did not.

• Charging port door issue - Yes, I faced it once and adjusted the locking lever slightly. Then, i do pull the opening lever near the driver seat two times in succession and the door opens without any problems. TATA should fix it though with a tougher door.

• Mode Selector - This being just a knob, I think people have to be extremely cautious. i.e., As i usually do in my other Automatics, i have practiced now to turn it back to N when in Stop Light, and move it back to D to drive. If by mistake I turn in the wrong way, it would go to R and without realizing, if we press the pedal, the car will go back - . I do not see any protective mechanisms to avoid this EXCEPT being really attentive. In other cars whether it is Automatic or Manual, putting it in Reverse need a conscious effort and there are fail safe mechanisms - OR is there something in this EV which I do not know off / or thinking too much ?

Nothing more to report at this point and I will alternate between No Regen and Regen 1 depending on the traffic situations.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.