My Electricity bill has increased only by about 500 Rupees for almost 800 Km of driving + charge taken by the Ola S1 pro Scooter.

BHPian Aceman82 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Got my Tiago EV Tech Lux pack last month for my better half. Wanted to spend a month with the car before penning my thoughts.

Pros:

Amazing NVH: Cannot being to describe how amazing the lack of noise (or) any vibrations feels in the car. Even luxury ICE engine cars cannot come close. I find the Tiago's NVH as good (or) beter than my sisters superb. Its now a pleasure to listen to Audiobooks with minimal volume and peacefully sit in traffic. Driving the XUV500 now feels like i am driving an industrial equipment (or) an tractor for that matter. XUV500 is now almost un-used and would be used only for really long drives.

If 'built to cost' EV car is this good, this gets me thinking on what USP will luxury brands have to differentiate ? It can only be software & bigger batteries as there is not much to differentiate on the core 'car' experience.

Use as portable AC unit: This is one of intangible benefits in running a EV car for which one needs to own an EV to experience. With the XUV500, there is always a question of "Should i come inside for shop just for AC and act interested in whats happening, or just give the credit card, let the car idle with AC and stay in the car". Now i can have small sleep with AC on without any worries (or) pestering my family on when shopping will be done. No amount of excel sheet calculation can capture these benefits .

Excellent torque: EV cars torque delivery is immediate. The ramp to my parking is a steep 4 feet incline (had over engineered this). My XUV500 cannot climb up the ramp in reverse and have to floor the throttle to climb up in the forward direction. With the Superb, one needs to be careful to not hit the front bumper overhang, and floor the throttle. With the Tiago EV, reverse climbing is not an issue (as you can see from the image), forward, side (or) any angle works with minimal throttle, and its able to climb up without a even a wheel spin. In city driving, the torque is just additive, almost like an go-kart.

Low cost of running: My EB bill has increased only by ~500 Rupees for almost 800 Km of driving + charge taken by the Ola S1 pro Scooter. Planning on keeping a 10-15 Kva Gird connected solar panel so that it will basically be zero cost to drive the car. This also has the added benefit of not worrying about E10/E20, emission norms, taxes, not buying oil sourced from conflict areas & indirectly play a part in perpetuating invasion (however miniscule) and its green for the environment.

Cons:

Poor QC from Tata: Considering that this is the 21st century, I have rigours requirements from a new car like the doors should open (or) close properly, fuel/charge lid will open/close when needed...etc.

Unfortunately, within one month of having this car, the 'right rear door' does not open properly from the outside, and the 'left rear door 'does not open properly from inside (7/10 times).

In-addition, the fuel/charge flap did not open. The car had 15% charge left, and wanted to charge but the flap was stuck. Had to run to a nearby Tata service centre with just 8% charge remaining, who first refused to touch the EV car since its a not 'EV' authorised service centre. After explaining that the car will literally run of battery before reaching the 'EV' centre, they finally relented and fixed the charger flap but no job card as they are not 'allowed' to work on Tiago EV.

Doors, i can live with it and fix in the first service, but the charge flap not opening in a brand new car which was less than a month is not cool. Almost half a day was wasted in waiting for a service centre to open, running with limited charge and finally fighting to fix the issue. This really shakes the confidence on the Tata brand and the kind of Quality assurance which is being done.

Had faced such issues the Indica which i had owned ~2 decades prior and assumed that Tata motors would have come a long way in QC since then.

Apollo tyres are terrible: I guess there are low friction tyres, but they seem to have no friction. They lose traction fast, got one puncture within the first month and its overall terrible (my first puncture on more than a decade, which included cross India trips in Xuv500, Linea and Skoda) . Would have loved to get the Tiago EV with 15inch Alloys and proper tyres.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

My car is around 5 months old and done 8500 km till now.

BHPian anshumandhun recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I've been facing "HV Critical Alert" on my Tiago EV since 1 month now. My car is around 5 months old and done 8500kms till now.

The first time I faced this issue was 6875 kms while coming back from office. I was at Regen 1 and I used brakes to slow down on a speed breaker and just as I approached the speed breaker, the car lost power and started beeping while giving HV Critical alert. Thankfully the car had enough momentum to keep rolling and be taken to the side of the road. I tried starting the car but it didn't work for 5 minutes. Then I started calling Tata service guys to take their advice but no one knew what to do. So the last resort was to call the helpline and get a tow truck. All these calls took 15 minutes and I tried to start the car and this time it just started like normal!

Since the car had got the alert while slowing down, I made a random guess that maybe its related to regen so I switched regen to 0 and drove back 50 kms to home without any incident.

The next day I sent the car to service center (Prerana Motors, Yelahanka) for second service as well as to resolve the issue. They were not able to figure out the exact issue as they could not replicate the problem and gave the car back with a software check/update.

The car worked well for one week before the HV alert came back again. It again happened while slowing down for a speed breaker. This time I wasn’t very lucky with car’s momentum and the car stopped right in the middle of the road causing a huge traffic jam. I somehow pushed the car to the side and called helpline. By the time the helpline guys arranged for a call back from the towing company, it was 15-20 minutes and the car started again normally with no error. I cancelled the towing service and drove back home in 0 regen mode.

Next day I had to use the car for some urgent meeting so I used the car in 0 regen mode and it worked fine. That evening I forgot to change regen to 0 (car starts automatically in regen 1) and the HV alert came again. The car started after 10 minutes or so but the HV alert came once more and this time the car refused to start even after 20-30 minutes. So I called the helpline and tow truck was arranged which came after 2 hours. It was already 10:30pm by then. And guess what! The car started when the tow truck arrived. I anyway loaded the car on the tow truck and the car was taken to Adishakti Tata Service center near hebbal since that was the closest service center (although I asked them to take it to Yelahanka since my car had been there before for service as well as this complaint but their protocol asks them to take the car to nearest center only).

Next day the service center guys called me and said that they don’t know for sure the reason and since the car is starting normally, I should go and take back the car. So I went and saw the condition of the service center, it was so crowded with too many cars. I knew these guys will never have the time to take my car for test drive and spend time to find out the issue or resolve it. So I took back the car and in a couple of days the HV alert happened again.

So I used the car in 0 regen mode for a couple of days and then dropped the car to Prerana motors Yelahanka service center last Saturday (24th June). I went there personally and met the manager and explained the issue. They have informed me that one Tata engineer is visiting them on Monday to have a look at my car’s issue. I have also requested them to give me a loaner car if they have to keep my car for more than 1-2 days since the Tiago is my daily commute vehicle. Fingers crossed now! Hopefully there will be a quick and easy resolution. It’s not a good feeling at all to be stranded on the road so many times with a new car. If I did not love the Tiago EV as much as I do for the amazing product that it is, I would have been much more frustrated.

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

I guess the summary is that if you set the regen to any level other than 0 then the HV critical error is poping up. Let me ask you a question. Suppose you charge your car to 100% SoC and keep regen at say 1 (or better 3), is the regen meter showing regeneration ? Nexon EVs when they are charged to 100% works as if regen is 0 till the SoC drops to something like 97 I think.

Why I ask this ? So far I have heard of people getting HV critical errors at certain fast chargers. The explanation seems to be that ziptron system is unable to tell those chargers to stop sending in current when the system has reached 100%SoC. May be there is something faulty in your regen limiting circuit which means charge goes to the battery
even when the battery is fully charged.

In any case this looks like a serious error which I have not seen reported anywhere else.

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

Looks like a BMS issue to me. This has to be confirmed from a Service Engineer dedicated for EV from TATA Motors. Please get in touch with the dealership and request for service engineer to check the vehicle for this particular issue, until then chances of fixing it in dealership level is minimal.

BHPian anshumandun had the following update to share on the matter:

The Yelahanka service station guys had asked me to send the car to their Peenya Service center as that is the main center where the Tata engineers visit often. So the car was with them for 1 week. I was told that the Tata engineer had come and spent 2 days to diagnose and the most probably culprit is the MCU (Motor Control Unit). The MCU has been replaced and a software update was done and I got the car back this weekend.

I've used the car for around 100kms after this and no issues so far. I am using 3rd level regeneration while driving now as a worst case scenario for testing since the issue was more prevalent during regeneration. I will update again after 500 km of driving.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Driving around started becoming an expensive hobby. That’s when the EV came as a breath of fresh air.

BHPian Mr. Perera recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Let me start with something that I never thought I would say in my life,“The current bunch of EVs are super fun cars to drive and the future isnt as bad as I thought!”

In the past one year my time spent behind the wheel has increased drastically. The main reason being me shifting to a new house in the outskirts of the city, combined with my work which includes lots of site visits in and around town. My monthly car usage became around 1500 to 2000 kms and fuel expenses started skyrocketing which in some months used to cross the 25k mark. With the ever increasing fuel costs I wanted something that could help me bring down my fuel expense and had fair bit of creature comforts so that I did not come back home tired after all this running around. Since my house had an 8KW rooftop solar plant which has been producing excess electricity I thought to get an EV so that I could use the excess power generated for my daily commutes. Also I did not want to spend more than 10 lakhs since I was not much convinced on spending a lot on this new technology. Thats when Tata announced the Tiago EV in September last year at a pretty good price. The enthusiast in me still was skeptical whether I am doing justice to myself. How could I live with a boring ‘battery powered’ car. Just to save some money am I sacrificing my love for ‘real’ automobiles ?

The EV will be joining our garage which includes a 2021 Thar (the current daily driver + used for estate runs) , a 2020 Skoda Karoq (the good boy, used mostly for long drives and when everyone in the family are travelling together), a 2002 BMW E46 320i (6 cylinder NA petrol RWD gem, generally taken out for weekend spins), a 1980 Mercedes W123 (for the love of a well engineered German classic, the Sunday morning coffee partner), a 2010 Toyota Innova (the beater, used for airport runs and transporting large items mostly my office consignments) and a 2011 Honda City (which has covered around 1.5 lakh kms and the car that the Tiago will be replacing eventually since the City has being showing signs of age). Every car has a dedicated purpose and all of them have been doing a great job in bringing a smile on my face every time I spend time with them. The Tiago EV had just one duty, to do the daily runarounds comfortably without breaking the bank. I didn’t have much expectations from it.

The Booking Process:

Right when the Tiago EV was announced I had registered my interest on the website. After few days I got a call from  my local Tata dealer, who asked me to do an advance payment of Rs 5,000 as booking amount. The mid variant XT was the model I initially planned to book. But like most car buyers the feature list made me rethink that if i spend another 1.3 lakhs I could get essential features like fog lights, rear wiper, driver seat height adjust, reversing camera and other feel good features like leather steering, leatherette seats, push button start, electric tail gate, cruise control and auto headlamp/wipers. So ended up booking the XZ+ Tech Lux Long Range variant in Daytona Grey colour. The Tiago EV came with 2 charging options, a 3.3 KW AC Slow charger and a 7.2KW AC Fast charger. For the Fast charger I had to spend another 55 thousand rupees extra. But I opted for the slow charger since my charging routine would be mostly overnight charging.

The booking was done on the first week of October and the delivery time they said was January 2023. By mid November I got a call from my sales associate asking me to pay another Rs 16,000 for the booking since Tata announced that the booking amount is Rs 21,000 for Tiago EV. I transfered the balance amount and waited. By January the reviews started coming online and the car was launched. I got a call from my dealer inviting me for the launch function of the Tiago EV at the showroom. I went for the function the next day and boy I was suprised to see the crowd there ! There were around 200 people in that small showroom and all of them were people who had booked the car. I met my sales associate who showed me the display car which was in a stunning shade of Tropical Mist. The colour actually looked pretty good on the Tiago. The interiors looked well put together. When I checked regarding the test drives they had no clue and said since the car is in very high demand they are prioritising the deliveries and haven’t got any update regarding test drives.

The ‘Horrible’ buying experience:

I waited for around 2 weeks after the launch and the initial timeline my sales associate gave had already passed. Whenever I ask him regarding the status of my car or the test drive car he says “Sir, the car is having very high demand, that’s why the delay”. Already few cars had been delivered and since mine was one of the first bookings made I got quite restless. I asked them if they can atleast check if the car has been sent from factory for which they gave a not so satisfying response that they can’t know about the status of the car until its offloaded from the container after reaching their yard. And again I waited. Finally I got the contact of the sales manager through a friend, he told me that there has been unexpectedly high demand but only few cars have reached them and the initial few cars were reserved for TCS employees and since my booking was one of the first they said they will prioritise my delivery.

I had applied for a 10 lakh loan for this purchase through the showroom. The loan amount was approved the same day and I had instructed the bank to do the dispersal only after I gave the heads up. Exactly on 31st of January I get a call from my sales associate asking me to pay the remaining amount of around 12 lakhs. I asked him whether my car had come, for which he said no. I told him Il do the balance payment only after the car has reached. He then pulled up the trick saying that only after I do the payment they can prioritise my car, since there are so many people waiting only those people who have done the full payment will get the priority. I told him to stop all this nonsense and asked him to call for payment only after the car reaches. Still he tried his best saying that there are few cars coming the next week and my car is there in that, I reminded him that he only told me they can’t get the details of the car until it has offloaded from the container. He finally understood that I won’t do the payment and I hung up the call. At around 7 pm that day (the 31st of Jan) I get a call from the Sales Manager who again asks me to send atleast 10 lakhs to them. I told them I can’t do that since the car hasn’t reached yet. He promised me that the car will be delivered the next week itself. Fed up, I tried avoiding saying that it’s already 7 pm and the bank might have closed for which he said the bank people are with him only and if I just say a “yes” they will disperse the amount ! I was shocked to see how desperate they were to get the money. And he even ended up saying that it’s month end and they have targets so only if I give this amount they can meet it. Having heard of horror stories of Trivandrum motors before, I told him that I will do the dispersal only after the car has reached.

Few weeks passed, still no signs of my car or the test drive vehicle. I was thinking how these guys tried misleading me saying in few days my car is coming. On 17th of Feb I get a call from the sales guy saying that my car has reached. He said it’s being offloaded from the container. Finally a sign of relief ! I called up the bank and asked to disperse the 10 lakhs. After sometime the sales associate calls saying they have received the amount. I told him that I would like to come see the car. He said he will try arranging it. After sometime he calls me back saying that there has been some confusion and the container hasn’t reached yet and will reach only after 2 days ! At this point I lost my cool and I felt cheated very badly and they lied to me to get the money from me. I called up the sales manager, blasted him royally. I could feel that it was a trick pulled up by them and they were trying to put the blame on their ‘boss’ who had given some wrong information regarding a container that never arrived at the first place. I managed to get contact of the South India Sales Head of Tata and I had explained this situation to him. He was very unhappy with what had happened to me and he said he has been getting constant complaints regarding the dealership and he said he will look into the situation and he will try his best that I get the car soon.

After 2 days my sales associate sends me a photo of a Tropical Mist Tiago EV XZ+ Tech Lux that just reached their yard and told me that this car was allotted for another customer but they can give it to me. I was already fed up waiting and asked them to proceed with the car. The same day one person from Tata Power comes home and fixed the provision for the AC wall car charger. Meanwhile I went to the yard.

The first photo taken of the car taken at the yard.

Coincidentally the same week the registration number of my choice was available and I told them that I will be booking fancy number so asked them to pay the tax and give me the acknowledgment number so that I can go ahead with the fancy number booking. This information was given to him in the morning. It was a Saturday and the fancy number booking closes on Saturday evening. By evening when I checked with them for the acknowledgment number they said he haven’t done the tax payment yet ! At 6 pm they call me saying there is some technical error and they are unable to pay the tax now. I got really frustrated and asked them to leave it. They had all day and did nothing. Customer satisfaction is not at all there in their books and they were so careless and unbothered.The next Monday morning the number I wanted got auto allotted to someone else. I told the showroom that I don’t want any fancy number just give me my car. The next day they said the car registration is done and the HSRP is fixed and car is ready for delivery. But since I was really held up with work I asked them to deliver the car at my house which was near the showroom.

By around 6 pm I reached home and still the car hasn’t come. When I called them they said he is just starting and will reach in sometime. And finally he arrives home with the brand new Tiago EV.

The car after reaching home:

I took a walk around the car and found out that the car isn’t washed properly and found bird poop marks on the roof and a fairly large scratch on the boot. I was quite disappointed and looked at the sales guy who seemed to be searching frantically for something inside the car. Meanwhile there was another Tata guy who came with him who said that there is a water leak under the front passenger footwell which seems to from the AC and he asked me to take the car to showroom the next day to fix it. The already frustrated me became a steam engine and I told them to take the car back and fix all these and bring the car tomorrow. And on the other side the Sales associate who is still searching for something inside the car comes and tells me “Sir the key is missing sir !”. Since the car is having keyless ignition they came up with the conclusion that the key was in the showroom and they started the car kept the key there unknowingly and drove the car. Between all this I see a black item under my front windshield and look at it and found out that these people have kept the key between my windshield and the front hood and drove it all the way here ! What careless people these are. I gave them the key (what an irony , for my car delivery where I was supposed to get the key from them and I find the key and give it to them) and gave them a good mouthful and asked them to take the car back and fix all the issues and bring it. They tell me within an hour they will fix all this and bring the car. Finally after the car was washed properly, the scratch on the boot was polished and the AC leak was fixed, on 21 Feb 8 pm the car comes home.

The overall buying experience was so horrible that never in my life I decided to go to this dealer again. But sadly ended up with them again for buying a Tata Punch for my in-laws. That too wasn’t a great experience though.

It was the same sales associate who sold me the Punch as well. There had been an incident during the Punch purchase where after enquiring about the Punch , the sales associate calls me after few days and asks me when I will make the purchase, I messaged him saying that I am still deciding between the Punch AMT and the Venue 1.0 DCT and will update him once I make the decision. For which he sent me a voice message saying that “Sir, Venue is such a bad car, it only has a 1 litre engine whereas Punch has a 1.2 litre engine” . I tell him even if the Venue has a 1 litre engine it puts up around 120 bhp whereas the Punch only has 75 bhp. The reply he gave for that was epic “Sir that’s the problem, in such a small engine Hyundai has given so much stress to the engine and is squeezing that much power and in long term use the engine will get damaged fast , but Tata is safe as 75 bhp is the safest power that a 1.2 litre engine can produce”. I literally bursted into laughter on what stupidity these guys are saying to mislead the customer to buy their product and label the competition as bad products. I called him and calmly explained to him how these days modern turbo engines can make lots of power irrespective of their displacement and told him whatever he told me should be the last time he is telling such nonsense to customers! Such is the sad state of Tata motors sales team.

Enough of the rant, let’s now go to the car itself.

The first few hours with the Tiago EV:

The night the car was delivered, I took it out for a short spin. The car already had around 80% charge. Since I couldn’t get a test drive before purchasing this was my first time inside the Tiago EV. The first thing that surprised me was the lack of any sound when the car was ON. Only the AC compressor sound can be heard. The car is pin drop silent and it’s the best tool to sneak out and in the house without anyone knowing. Depress the brake pedal, press the start/ stop button the MID cluster comes to life, and shows a message ‘Ready to Drive’. Rotate the rotary drive selector to D and take your foot off the brake pedal and the car starts moving forward. With just the tyre noise heard outside. All these makes It feels like a new gadget more than a car. Having driven different type of automatic transmissions before, the lack of any transmission in the EV was a whole new experience. I felt that there was an issue with the front passenger door that unless you give too much of pressure the door doesn’t close properly. Thought to show the same in the first service.

Living with the EV:

Since the last 4 months the Tiago has been doing my daily runabouts.

Things I like:

The instant torque- This is something that still gives me big thrills. In D mode the car is very relaxed and the torque delivery is very linear. But in S mode, the instant torque is so addictive and makes zipping around the city so much fun. Overtakings are so much joyful in the EV. In an IC powered automatic car when you plan to overtake the car in front, you put your foot down and after a slight delay the gear downshifts, and the car gains speed and pulls away when it reaches the power band. But in the EV there is no such delay, press the accelerator and before you blink the car leaps forward. That too at whatever speed you are doing, the torque is available right at the disposal. I’m having so much fun driving the EV. Remember the Tiago is one of India’s most affordable electric car with a not so great spec sheet. I can only imagine how much fun the more powerful EVs would be. Before I got the Thar I used to drive a 2017 Octavia vRS, with a stage 1 tune from APR putting around 300bhp. I have had so much fun with that car. But since the low slung sedan was not an ideal option for my work drives which included construction site visits and minor off roading at times I ended up selling the vRS and got the Thar. I still miss the vRS for my daily drives, but after the Tiago EV came my daily drives have started becoming FUN ! Yes the Tiago EV will loose its steam once it reaches triple digit speeds but for my specific use which is running around the city this is more than sufficient. Once you live with an EV for few days, you will love it ! It’s the perfect city car.

The suspension- I am really impressed by the suspension set up of the car. There is a slight firmness to the setup but it equally gobbles up the undulations and potholes giving a very relaxed ride. It is sufficiently stiff to hold the car in place when you are gunning in S mode also equally comfortable in not tossing you around when the roads gets bad.

The freedom of driving around a car with such less running cost- Before, Whenever I pay after a full tank, I used to think “damn I just filled up a week back”. Driving around started becoming an expensive hobby. That’s when the EV came as a breath of fresh air. With the excess electricity from the solar panels charging the EV, right now I have a feeling of driving around for FREE. I can go wherever I want without spending anything for fuel. I am now doing more site visits for work , visiting friends and family more often, whereas before I was lazy to fill fuel on a weekly basis.

The Range- I was pretty sure that even though Tata claims a range of 320 kms I would get only around 200 kms. Which I am getting on a regular basis. There have been days the battery reached 10% after I did 160 kms and there have been days where it had did 240 kms. It all depends on how aggressive your throttle usage is. If we drive in D mode sanely, plan and use the regen mode well, the car will definitely give around 250 kms range. But if you are driving in a spirited manner in S mode the range will reduce to the 150 to 180 mark. But most of the time I drive in D mode, and when I want that sudden surge of torque I put it in S mode.

The Regen feature- The regen feature does allow for one pedal driving within the city. I find it very convenient when I see a red signal coming up, I just modulate the throttle and the car comes to a stop. Most of the time my car is in Regen 2 because I felt it is the most comfortable and less aggressive setting. City drives includes lots of regenerative braking and everytime it recharges the battery also as well while doing so.

Things I don’t like/problems:

The fit and finish isn’t the best in my opinion. For a 12 lakh car the panel gaps, plastic quality seems to be just average. At times when I remove the rear parcel tray, the entire panel which is fitted onto the body comes off. It’s so delicate. Also the front passenger door had some alignment issue it used to close only if I give lots of pressure. For my first service I told the service people to look into the door. After I got the car from service the door could be closed with less pressure, but there was gap between the door and the body. The service people said to rectify that they had to take it to the bodyshop.

Notice the door gap.

Central locking bug- This is a very mysterious issue I am facing with the car. I have had 2 instances where the car had locked itself with the key inside and me outside the car. While I come to a hault, switch off the car, get out from the car and close the driver’s door and go behind to open the boot to take something and then I close the boot, the car automatically locks itself after 3 seconds. Two times I had been stranded with the key inside. I had to get someone from home bring the extra key and open the door. Normally if the remote key is inside the car the central locking does sense it and does not lock the car. But there is some bug in the whole central locking mechanism. Showed this to the service people and they couldn’t do anything regarding it.

The Z connect app and its remote access feature- The car has remote access feature where you can control things like the lock/unlock, AC, lights etc with a phone app. The second time I got stranded with the key inside, I downloaded the app and gave my car chassis number etc. But still it was not detecting the car. When I called the customer service they said that I need to do my KYC registration first with the dealer and after 48 hours only it will be activated. Later when I got this done, the app takes an eternity to communicate with the car. 90% of the time it doesn’t work. You press the unlock button in the app, and it just keeps on buffering and after 5 mins nothing happens. What a waste of time. If it doesn’t work properly why did they even give this in the first place. I hope at least in future software updates this gets sorted so that I can atleast open the car when I am stranded with the key locked inside !

Left Indicator not working at times- Another mysterious issue faced for few days, the left indicator didn't work for around 4 days. Later it started working.

Apple car play bugs- At times the infotainment system doesn’t recognise the phone connected. After multiple reconnecting attempts then only it works.

The light coloured seats- Something I regret choosing . For a daily use car a light colour upholstery isn’t a good idea. It gets soiled very fast and the interiors look very unpleasant. I try my best to clean the driver seat atleast once a month so that it doesn’t look like a boys hostel inside.

Never got the right seating position- I feel the seating position isn’t great in the Tiago. I always struggle to find the right comfortable position and being above 6 feet tall, the seat height still feels a bit too high for me at its lowest position.

The Charging Infrastructure- No matter how much the charging infrastructure has improved, there have been instances where I reached a public charging station and it was not working. Everyone is aggressively setting up charging stations but most of them doesn't seem to work when you need it. This can be a serious issue when you are on a highway drive and you reach a charging station with low battery and there is no other charging station nearby. So unless this gets fixed I am not confident enough to take electric cars on long highway drives and will stick to mostly drives within 200 km radius.

Other pointers:

Charging experience- In total I have done around 46 charging cycles in the EV. Around 42 of these were AC slow charging at home. Most of these were done when the battery was around 10 percent and I left the car for overnight charging. It normally takes around 8 hours for the car to charge from 10 to 100 %. 4 times I used DC fast public charging, when I wanted to add some juice for the drive ahead, all this time I have just topped up the battery for around 15 to 20 mins which gave me enough charge for my journey ahead. I found out that mostly every alternate day I put the car for charge at home. Daily usage is around 60 to 100 kms. So mostly after coming back home after work every second day I put the car for overnight charging.

The Tiago's first visit to a public charging station.

Highway drives in the EV - 95% of my use was within the city. Most of the highway drives were distances within 200 kms so that I could go and come in a single charge. Just once I took the car on a 300 km round trip, in that trip I charged the car at a restaurant which had a DC fast charger. The car had around 20% charge left and in around 40 mins of fast charging it was topped up to 80%. And I paid around 200 Rs for that. One thing I noticed that is on open highways the charge gets reduced drastically. The main reason being the constant throttle input at around 80 kmph which depletes the battery fast. Cruise control also doesn’t help much since the car is constantly giving power to maintain that speed. The city is its ideal place where the stop start traffic and constant regen keeps the battery happy.

Taken during a recent highway drive.

Service costs till date- The car has a service internal of 7500 kms. There was a service at 1000 kms which was more of a checkup , where they just did some software update and tried fixing the front passenger door which eventually led to a big door gap. I drove around with that for around 7000 kms and decided to get it fixed during the second service. During the second service they fixed the door gap and also filled transmission fluid and an underbody anti rust treatment. Which all costed around Rs 3500.

A good sized boot with almost flat folding rear seats means the Tiago EV has started to do the beater duties. It easily accomodated 2 sets of my motorcycle tyres which my Thar could have never even dreamt of.

Is an EV a good option for everyone?

No ! It makes sense only for the people who has atleast 1000 kms per month of usage. As a primary car it doesn’t make sense. Still I’m not convinced on the highway manners of the EV and the charging infrastructure. It’s good to have another IC engine car for long drives and keep the EV for the city drives. Also it’s best for those people who have a private parking space with a charging port so that the car can be left for overnight charging. If you have solar panels at home that produce excess current then thats a great thing. Relying just on public chargers for charging will end up being such a waste of time waiting for the car to be charged.

So the EV is not for everyone, but for the user who ticks all the above boxes it is a wonderful option.

Am I going to buy only electric cars going forward ?

No. As much as I love the EV I equally love my other cars as well. I still love the feeling of cranking the engine and hearing the sound of the exhaust every time I push the pedal. Each gearshift is a wonderful feeling. But the electric cars are not as bad as we think. It is really peppy and convenient to drive, making it quite fun in a way of their own. We are so lucky to have both of the cars co existing together at the same time and having the opportunity to experience both of them. Getting stuck in traffic is boring, daily commutes are boring, for those I feel an electric car is a good option. With its instant torque and low running cost it is the perfect commuting tool. But for the rest I would still prefer an IC engine. Anyways for the next 5 years I think the EV will do my daily duties.

Conclusion:

The Tiago has made my life much easier in the past 4 months and having clocked around 10,000 kms, my fuel bills have come down drastically. If it was in the Thar I had covered these 10,000 kms I would have spent atleast Rs 80,000 just for fuel. With the EV, I have spent just Rs 550 in total for charging that too because I used the public charger few times. If I had purchased the ICE version of the Tiago, I would have spent around 9 lakhs. For the EV I paid a premium of 3 lakhs over it. As per my current usage, I think in 5 months I can save around 1 lakh spent on fuel. And in around a year and a half I would make up the extra amount I paid for the EV. So with this basic calculation I feel the EV was a good decision. The Tiago EV has helped me save on my fuel costs and also gives good thrills at the same time. Touchwoood I havent faced any major issues with the EV yet, untill then I am a super happy EV owner !

PS: I haven’t gone into the topic of how much of an environmental impact these lithium ion batteries create and the pros/ cons of it. There are multiple threads on this forum regarding it. These are just my personal experiences and perspectives of owning an electric car in the current scenario.

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I've started to realize that people simply don't notice the car because it makes no noise at all.

BHPian marcussantiago recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Just bought my first car, and it's an EV!

Boring backstory (feel free to skip):

I've never owned a car before. I've been riding bikes all this time and felt I didn't need a car in a place as crowded as Delhi. My wife was happy with her scooter, I'm happy with my bike, and we don't have kids. So it didn't seem necessary.

However, since I work from home and my wife has to commute to her office daily, safety became a bit of a concern. Riding a scooter daily has its drawbacks, like exposure to weather (too hot in summer, too cold in winter, it rains sometimes, and of course the dust pollution). So she wanted a car.

While I'm purely a biker and not really into cars apart from binging episodes of Top Gear / Grand Tour, I was reluctant at the idea. So we laid down some ground rules. She wasn't going to budge on an automatic. Which I agreed since she'll be doing a lot of driving in rush hour traffic. I insisted on a car that's safe and ideally as small as possible, since we don't need a land yacht and Delhi traffic can be a hassle, along with parking in tight spots.

Why the EV?

Long story short, I kept coming back to the tantalizing idea of owning an EV. Checked out many options and none of them really ticked enough boxes on our list. Our first choice was the Honda Jazz because three different close friends of ours owned them in the past and gave absolutely stellar rave long-term ownership reviews. Two of them had to get rid of it because of Delhi's scrappage scam-- I mean, scheme. So that was a no-brainer, with Honda's legendary reliability and all.

BUT. Honda went and discontinued the Jazz and WRV right as we were interested in shopping around. Heartbreak.

My wife then fell in love with the Honda Amaze. I wasn't a fan of its looks, but once I got past that, the problem was its size. I really felt like a small hatch is best for our needs, and the Amaze is definitely not in that category.

I liked the i20 simply because of its mad looks and snazzy interior. My wife hated it specifically because of its mad looks and snazzy interior. So that was out.

Meanwhile, this entire time, a dark and tantalizing thought kept lurking in my mind. What if I went electric? But right off the bat, there's not many good options.

Or were there? The Tiago EV dropped and I felt much like a deer in headlights. My wife was not too impressed at first.

Finally, we had a long discussion about it and I basically got her to agree to at least give it a chance. Let's just check it out in person and see for ourselves. Bear in mind, the main reason to buy a car was for her use, not mine, so I acquiesced and told her the final decision would be hers alone.

(A little bit about my wife: We're total opposites. She's level-headed, street-smart, very laid-back and not prone to impulsive decisions. Meanwhile I'm the opposite. I suspect she married me purely for the entertainment value of living with a man-child, or perhaps she lost a bet. It's a mystery, and I've given up trying to figure it out. Now back to the story.)

The "Shut Up and Take My Money" Meme Moment:

So we went for a test drive. And next thing I know, my usually calm, careful, methodical head-before-heart wife was dropping the booking money then and there. Eight weeks later we had the power charging point installed and the car parked downstairs. We went for the second-from-the-top end model, the long range one. The top model is identical, the only difference is that you get a fast charging point installed at your home rather than a slow-charger (which is what we went for).

Of course it was a bit overwhelming, since we're new not just to EVs but cars in general. We're still learning to drive but getting better at it daily. And we had the usual range-anxiety-freakout that appears to be a normal thing for EV owners at first, now we don't worry about it at all.

The overall sales experience was a breeze. Of course, as total car newbies we have no real frame of reference here, but there were no hassles or complications. When we booked it, our sales guy told us it would be six to eight weeks. And sure enough, eight weeks later it was home. Simple as that.

Being an "Early" Adopter

Of course, no matter how much research you do and advice you seek, buying a car always comes with at least some unknowns. There's no guarantee that you will never face any problems. And many friends advised me against an EV, but ultimately it just made the most sense overall.

There's a Catch-22 situation with EVs. They're still considered new and untested, so a lot of people won't buy them. But then because a lot of people won't buy them, EVs are considered new and untested. It's a closed loop.

The whole Climate Change / Environmentalism thing, a Quick Rant:

I want to point out that I've been yelling about climate change since 1996, and rode a bicycle everywhere through my 20s because environment blah blah blah. I still think it's easily one of the biggest problems humanity faces as a species and threatens our very survival.

But I'll be honest, that's not why I went for an EV. At least, it's not very high on the list. Ultimately, it was the hassle of high fuel costs, the scrappage policies, and the fact that I'm not mechanically savvy enough that I'll get ripped off by mechanics and such.

EVs are polarizing politically, because on one end of the spectrum, you got people who yell about how EVs are a scam, they're not "real" cars, the battery causes a ton of environmental destruction and are not recyclable and whatnot. And on the other end of the spectrum, you got the hippie types with stars in their eyes that think EVs will single-handedly stop climate change or something. And both are wrong.

As someone wiser than I said it best: the EV isn't here to save the world. It's here to save the car. That's all. It's just one of a million steps we need to take to combat climate change. And yes, the battery is problematic when you consider things like lithium mining in inhumane conditions and whatnot.

Political rant over, back to the car and more lighthearted bits lol.

The Ridiculous Questions I've Been Asked

Probably the most unexpected part of buying an EV was the level of almost hilarious ignorance from friends / family / co-workers.

I mean I get it, EVs are not perfect. Range anxiety, battery issues, lack of charging infrastructure, the purely subjective thing of whether it feels like driving a "real" car or not, all that stuff. And that's fair, and we shouldn't sugar-coat EVs as though they're some magical solution to the world's problems or anything. We should be pragmatic and skeptical in all things, as always.

BUT!

Some of the things I've heard made me and my wife laugh and roll our eyes.

A sampling:

• "But what if it rains?" Okay, seriously? It's not a laptop, it's as weatherproof as any other vehicle. Do people really think a light drizzle would cause the car to short-circuit and die like a phone being dropped into a swimming pool or something? And these are college-educated people saying stuff like this with a serious face. Hilarious.

• "Won't it run up your electricity bill?" Have these people never filled a tank of petrol and noticed how much it costs? What's going on in their minds here. Yes, it does add to your electricity bill, but even the most die-hard EV-hating petrolhead would grudgingly admit that it's not even close to the cost of petrol, especially here in India.

• "What if it breaks down?" Apparently petrol cars never, ever break down either? I don't know what to tell you. I'm no mechanical expert but it's a simple hard fact that EVs have much simpler engines, far less moving parts, it's about as simple as a motor can get, mechanically. That said, the battery is more prone to causing problems, of course. But my point is, no car is so perfect that it would never break down ever. Ultimately, this falls under the "it's a risk but we can't predict the future" part of our decision-making.

• "But it's untested technology" Well yes, but... also no, not really. Electric cars were invented before the petrol engine. And while it's relatively new for ordinary consumers to buy electric cars, it's a technology that's been around for longer than people think, and there's a big incentive for automotive giants to invest heavily into it. There's a strong drive to keep improving the technology and charging. Every major carmaker worth their salt is putting out practical EVs now. Not just for an arguably fringe group trying to make a statement (like when the Prius first came out) but for the common man.

• "What if you have power cuts?" Sure, but we don't drive so much that we need to recharge it every single night. With our usage, we only need to charge it around once or twice a week. And just like with our phones and laptops, we tend not to let the battery run down to below half before we charge it again. We don't get many power cuts anyway in our neighborhood so we don't see this as a problem. As a bonus, there's a fast charging station right in our neighborhood, so we could use that if there's an issue charging at home and get it topped up within 50 minutes.

• "Doesn't it drain the battery heavily when using the AC?" I mean technically it does, but it's actually better in an EV, because you can crank up the AC even if you're not driving, it makes little difference. Compare with petrol cars where if you use the AC and electronics heavily without the engine running you risk draining the battery. So it's actually better.

The Tiago EV Experience So Far (Just Under Two Months In):

Honestly, it's been great. Now the car's still kind of brand new, so of course this is the honeymoon period where everything's awesome.

Pros and Cons:

• Range anxiety was a thing at first. When the battery was at 75% I was panicking and wanted to charge it up. But eventually the wife and I realized this was silly, since we don't drive long distances anyway (that's what our bike is for, a Kawasaki Vulcan) and there's plenty of range for our uses at any time. I did really careful calculations of the range and distances we were doing because I was paranoid that the battery could be faulty, since I've heard many horror stories about EVs. But ultimately it's fine. So far it seems we get somewhere between 150 and 200 km range, which is about as expected, especially considering the Delhi summer heat and AC usage, and that we're still learning to drive, so it would probably improve as we drive better and the weather cools later this year.

• That torque though. I've heard about EVs having insane torque right from zero, and now I know for myself that it's not hype. It's just lovely. I know the Tiago isn't meant to be some Tesla-killer or sporty monster like the Kia EV6 (which makes me drool), after all it's an economical hatchback and the cheapest EV from Tata's range. But it was still surprising.

• It's cheap, but not cheap-feeling. Again, I'm no petrolhead, being a biker primarily. But one thing I'm really loving about the Tiago is that nothing on it feels cheap. It's just nice all around, great sound system, decent array of features, it all feels like a good place to be in. I didn't think I'd like driving so much!

• And finally, a weird quirk I'm noticing slowly: It's almost too quiet. I've started to realize that people simply don't notice the car because it makes no noise at all. I tend never to use the horn except in absolute emergencies, so I'm training myself to honk more often, especially when pedestrians are walking around oblivious.

• Meanwhile, inside the car, the driving experience is a little strange-- not because it's so quiet inside, but because you more clearly hear the tyres and A/C running and it seems louder than it should be. Others have pointed this out too. But friends and family have pointed out how quiet it is and were impressed.

Well that was my coffee-fueled rant. I look forward to writing a more long-term review once I've lived with this strange cute car for a little longer than two months.

Thanks for reading!

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The dilemma is that while Tiago EV suits our requirement to a T, the Etios is working so well, it begs the question: why fix something that's not broken?

BHPian rrsteer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I booked a Tiago EV when it was launched with the thought of replacing our Etios. I made the booking thinking will make the final decision whenever the booking comes to fruit. The Etios in question is a VX petrol, 12 years old and has been driven for 77k kms. Its our second car and used only in the city. The demands from the second car is just to be a reliable means of transport for daily errands.

The Tata dealership is now ready to honour the booking and I need to make a decision fast.

The dilemma is that while Tiago EV suits our requirement to a T, the Etios is working so well, it begs the question: why fix something that's not broken? Another equally important consideration is if I should wait 2-3 more years for a more 'futuristic' grounds up small EV like BYD Seagull? Just like the Etios, we will hold on to this car for a longer time so obsolescence is a factor that plays in my mind. But given the purpose, I am loathe to spend more than INR 10-12 lacs on the second car.

To help make the decision, I made the following list of points for both the choices:

Tiago EV:

• Seems perfect for the usage pattern - multiple trips a day for a total distance covered of no more than 25 - 30 kms
• No hassles with home charging whatsoever; infact I fell for this very idea - your own petrol pump!
• Potentially zero running costs (as a result of state govt. offering some free units per connection and us having an unused connection. Even so, we have rooftop solar that mostly powers the house)
• I believe it would be cheapest to purchase the car now - launch price benefit + PB govt recently waived off registration charges for EVs + the exchange price from Etios will only reduce in the future + expect new cars (especially EVs) to only get costlier
• New car benefits - more features, nicer interiors, compacter dimensions, better drive for the city (comparatively less space not an issue)
• But, with the Etios running so well, at the moment feels like an unjustified cash outflow of atleast 8lacs
• Tata Motors' quality and service remains a hit or a miss

Etios

• It provides an exceptionally trouble free ownership experience (which is most important)
• Just love the Etios - very practical, juicy engine, nice handling, ample space and robust build (no rattles!)
• Toyota's consistent and fuss free service experience
• Being a petrol, and the city mileage of around 9kmpl - has a monthly running cost of ~INR 4-5k (for EV it would be almost nothing)
• All said and done, it is old, so can expect potentially expensive maintenance bills (but just got its annual service done, currently its fit as a fiddle)

What do you advise?

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

My two cents, you can evaluate it this way. Say you keep the current car for another 3 years

1. Based on your running, you will spend 50,000k in running cost an year additional over an EV which imputes a value of 1.5 lakhs.

2. The free registration is not going to be there forever. That is another 1 lakh Rs of benefit.

3. Calculate the resale value your etios will lose over next three years.

So 2.5 lakhs + loss of resale value is what you are looking at gain in the next three years.

Now coming to the cars, there is no doubt that Toyota cars are mechanically brilliant but the car won't have the creature comforts of a new car. Plus the peppy, smooth and effortless drive of an EV will be an pleasent upgrade

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

Why replace whats not broken? Both are just econo boxes (daresay almost appliances) meant for frugal commuting. Its not like Tiago.ev is your dream car that you have to take a hard decision. Also, given the minimal usage, the savings in fuel + maintenace probably wont negate the high upfront cost + increased insurance costs (due to higher IDV). Keep etios unless annual maintenance costs are very high.

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

Here is my perspective.

My brother is a Doctor who recently bought a Tiago EV. His workplace is 50kms away making it 100kms round-trip. He also has a Vento Petrol. Before Tiago EV he used to commute via Vento and the monthly fuel cost came out to be ~ Rs 18000.

Tiago has been with him for 4 months and he commutes via Tiago EV everyday. His monthly electricity bill now is Rs 3500/- an increase of Rs 1000 approx after he started charging (Fast Charger) the EV at home.

So atleast my brother has been saving around Rs 17000 per month which makes it 17000 x 4 = 68000/-

Believe me if your usage is high then you will recover the cost of the car even before you realize. So go ahead and buy it if you want. You will be literally driving free of cost since you have a solar plant.

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The Comet has enough space for my daily commute to office where I can carry my office bag and drive myself.

BHPian Manuggn recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So after watching multiple videos on YouTube and reading the entire forum took the plunge and booked the car today. Dealers are not officially taking bookings but taking cheque of Rs. 25000 and booking will be confirmed on 14th May. Mine was 17th booking at MG showroom at 32nd Milestone Gurgaon.

What I liked:

• Small form factor.
• Decent range for city driving (Gurgaon).
• Enough space for my daily commute to office where I can carry my office bag and drive myself.
• Loved the interiors.

What I don’t like:

• Exterior design is OK.
• Speakers are as bad as they can get. Need to change them.
• No arm rest will not be very comfortable.

Expected delivery in June. Will keep you all posted.

I also decided to visit the TATA showroom to check the Tiago EV.

Note - I am comparing with the medium range XT model. Which is 10.45 on road Gurgaon.

Pros:

• Looks like a proper car.
• Solid build quality.
• Actual range is 170 km perfect for city driving.
• Option of fast charging which can charge battery in around 3.5 hours (takes half time. Compared to MG Comet).
• Better speakers.
• Proper boot.
• Proper 5 seater with 4 doors.

Cons:

• Interior looks bad with hard quality plastic on doors.
• Touch screen system was not working properly even in demo car.
• Driver information display had all the info but was missing the wow factor.

Looking at pros and cons TATA seems to be a better car but can still not be used as a primary car due to limited range. Also Tiago will not be bullied as much on road by SUVs as Comet will be.

But will I take the Tiago? Answer is no, reasons are mentioned below:

• Comet interior build and finish quality gives you a wow feeling while driving.
• I already have Audi A4 for my long commutes and need a small car for my daily run to office.
• I need a two seater max as I drive to office alone.

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At the end, the battery level drops very slowly, so I suppose the car could've done upto 225km without deep discharge.

BHPian EVwaleGgn recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I tried to test the full range of my Tiago EV LR XZ+ for the first time since purchase, and the result was more than satisfactory. Starting will full charge and 1197km on odometer on Tuesday morning (18/04/23), I drove back and forth from home to office (~23km one way), for 4 consecutive days, along with a small detour on the last day. I'll have to say I was a bit anxious on the last leg because I recently read a post by a Nexon EV owner about the battery suddenly dropping. However, such a drop didn't happen till the end of my trip, by which point the battery was at 8% & odometer at 1398km. In fact, beyond 10%, battery was dropping very slowly as the limited performance mode had been activated. I didn't note down the odometer reading at 10% battery level, but the distance of the point where I got the warning to my home is around 10km.

In the attached graph, you can see the drop of battery level with distance covered. I only noted the reading at stops, so smaller variations are already averaged out. As I mentioned, at the end, the battery drops very slowly, so I suppose the car could've done upto 225km without deep discharge. I would note here that I kept the climate control to about 27 deg everyday, and charged my phone in the car ~50% of the time.

I am not a very experienced EV driver, as you can see from the odometer reading (of my first EV). My driving score is ~8 currently, as seen in the ZConnect app (screenshot attached). I am hoping that in the future I might be able to get somewhat higher range. Maybe about 10kms more. However, I can say for sure that an ICE car driver will not be able to get this much range on the first day of him driving a Tiago EV.

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I am getting a range of approx 190-200 km so there is no negative effect on range after wheel upgrade.

BHPian anshumandun recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I've added a few accessories on my Tiago EV.

Alloy Wheels

Got the alloy wheels from Boodmo. These are the OEM ones that come on the petrol Tiago. Costed me around 37k for 4 wheels. Also got the Tata logo hub caps from Boodmo which were around Rs 900 for 4.

Since these are 15", had to change the tyres also. I chose Ceat Secura Drive in 175/60 R15 size since others were either not available in this size or were too costly. The Ceats costed me 16k for 4 tyres. I also sold the stock 14" wheels and tyres through Facebook marketplace for 17k.

The car looks much better with these wheels but the ride has become stiffer. My other drive is a GT TSI which is a whole another level stiff so I still find the ride quite comfortable.

I am getting a range of approx 190-200 kms so there is no negative effect on range I guess.

Leather Wrap on the Steering

I saw the thread on leather upholstery in Bangalore on tbhp which spoke highly about Nagaraj so spoke to him and got to know that he has opened a shop near Nagarbhavi. Went to his place and he showed 2 options:

• Stanley leather - Rs 2200
• Napa leather - Rs 4300

I don't know much about leather but I knew that I wanted the smooth matt finish type one and the Napa leather seemed perfect. Price was steep but steering is the main connection between the driver and the car so I went ahead with that and this is the best 4300 Rupees I've spent. The steering feels so much better to grip and use, it has significantly changed the way I feel about driving the car.

The whole job took just over an hour and the workmanship from Nagaraj is superb. Icing on the cake: he had the teal coloured thread for stitching to go with the overall theme of the EV and it complements the black fabric seats with tri-arrow pattern on my XZ+ model.

Tata OEM Armrest

Costed me around 5k from the Tata Accessories list which is a rip-off considering that similar or better armrest is available on Boodmo (wish I had checked earlier). The armrest looks good but it is very flimsy and creaks as soon as you put your arm on it. I asked the service guys to check it during the first service but there is nothing that can be done on a flimsy design with cheap plastics.

Carpet Mats and Mudflaps

Got these from Tata directly. They do the job, nothing special to write about.

I've done 3000 kms so far and really enjoying the peppy and silent drive with very low running cost. Perfect city car with no competition so far! Let's see what the MG Comet has to offer.

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In the morning, I am getting an unbelievable efficiency of 92Wh/km and the display shows 183kms range with 75% battery remaining.

BHPian anshumandun recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am getting 220 kms real world range for my office commute which is around 61 kms one side. This is with using 3rd level of regeneration.

Morning trip information:

In the morning, I am getting unbelievable efficiency of 92Wh/km and the display shows 183kms range with 75% battery remaining. There are 2 major factors for this figure:

• Morning traffic is less
• Home to office has a lot of coasting as the altitude decreases so lot of downslopes.

Information after evening trip back home:

The overall efficiency settled to 105 Wh/km after getting back home and the range shown was 97km with 44% battery left.

In summary, I think an efficiency of around 110-120 Wh/km is what the car is capable of which translates to a real world range of approx 210 kms.

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Have covered over 500 km this week itself. If it was a petrol even if it gave 20km/l i would need 2500 bucks worth of fuel!

BHPian Nanolover recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The silver lining and the main reason for an EV. If you have long inner city commutes, there is no beating the Tigor or indeed Tiago for driving comfort (in that budget I mean).

Had done 162 kms in a single day inside Trivandrum city and covered 162 km in peak heat. My driver had kept AC on 80% of the time . (He switches off the ac when he drives alone. Still 24% range left).

Have covered over 500 km this week itself. If it was a petrol even if it gave 20km/l I would need 2500 bucks worth of fuel!

Excuse the top speed of 121.95 km/h. That was in sports mode and down an incline by me!

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