[docelectric2020]

I just completed my longest road trip on my MG ZS EV. The entire trip was 1210 Kms.
Before I decided to go on this trip, I had convinced myself that I will not be doing any hypermiling/conservative driving as I wanted a “Range-Anxiety” free drive. I truly believe this post will be useful for fellow Ev users for planning a hassle free road trip.

For the record, the car can easily do 300kms on a single charge if we drive it at 80kms/hr with the AC On.

Attachment 2215186

The route which I preferred to take was the shortest one, starting from Chennai – Chengelpet – Tindivanam – Attur – Salem – Avinashi – Annur – Mettupalayam – Ooty.

The chargers available for usage en route are

1. Chengelpet – Fairfield Marriot Hotel – Tata Power 25kw
2. Tindivanam – A2B – Zeon Charging 50kw
3. Tindivanam – Aiswarya Bhavan – Relux Electric 25kw
4. Attur, Salem – A2B – Zeon Charging 50kw
5. Salem – Tata showroom – Tata Power – 25kw
6. Sankari – Sree Saravana Bhavan – Zeon Charging 50kw
7. IOCL COCO – Vadamugam Kangayapalayam – Tata Power
8. Avinashi – Sree Annapoorna Hotel – Zeon Charging 50kw
9. Coimbatore - MG showroom - Tata Power 25kw
10. Coimbatore - TML Tata showroom - Tata Power 25kw
11. Coimbatore - Brookefields mall - Zeon Charging 24kw
12. Mettupalayam – Black Thunder – VEEV Charger – 30kw
13. Ooty – Hotel Gem Park – Zeon Charging – 7kw

I had chosen to use only Zeon Charging stations because of their high reliability. The Tata Power chargers are annoyingly unreliable. I have had 2 bad experiences with Tata power chargers, both of which left me stranded without proper customer care support. Having learnt from my experience as well as fellow EV user experiences, I didn’t want to take a risk this time with Tata chargers especially because I was travelling with my kid. Getting stranded on the highways with the family onboard would be a nightmare.

Zeon Chargers are made by ABB, whereas the Tata chargers are made by Exicom and Delta. In my experience, the Exicom made Tata Chargers are the most unreliable ones.

The ABB made Zeon chargers on the other hand have seamless operation and have a good customer support. I had recently purchased the RFID tags for these Zeon chargers, which make the charging experience even more delightful. All we need to do for initiating charge is to plug in the charging gun and flash the RFID tag and the charging starts. Payment is done via the Zeon app’s wallet.


I started from my home in Porur, Chennai at 5.15 Am


5.15 AM
Porur, Chennai
Battery SOC (State of Charge) – 100%
|
|
|
| 110 kms
| (Cruise control 90km/hr and sometimes 100km/hr) AC on
|
|
|
6.42 AM
Tindivanam – A2B – Coffee break
SOC – 62%
Zeon Charging – From 62% to 87% in 17 Mins – Rs.244
7.07am
|
|
|
| 177 kms
| (Speed mostly of 100 to 120 kmhr) Avg Speed – 86kmph
|
|
|
9:15am
Attur, Salem – A2B – Breakfast
SOC - 9%
Zeon Charging – From 9% to 94% in 51 mins – Rs.760
10.11am
|
|
|
| 181 kms
| (driving at speeds of 100 to 120kmph with few short stops for restroom & for child)
| Avg speed – 69kmph
|
|
|
12.48pm
Avinashi Bye pass – Sree Annapoorna hotel – Lunch
SOC - 14%
Zeon Charging – 14% to 100% in 48min s– Rs. 741
1.50pm
|
|
|
| 49 kms
| Avg Speed – 40kmph
| This road had a lot of construction work going on, so it took a long time to
| reach Mettupalayam
|
|
|
3.15pm
Mettupalayam – Ooty Foothills
SOC - 82%
|
|
|
| 51 kms - Uphill
|
|
|
5.05pm
Hotel Gem Park Ooty
SOC - 42%

The uphill climb takes huge battery consumption at about 1% for 1km. I was driving as I would drive any ICE cars, with some stops for pictures. As expected, when I reached Hotel gem park ooty, I had 42% left.
The entire Chennai to Ooty trip took me 12 hours, which would have been the exact travel time if I had driven an ICE car.

I used the 7kw AC charging by Zeon in Gem Park Hotel to charge up the battery to 100% which took 4hrs and Rs.621.

My next stop was at Destiny Farmstay, Avalanji, which is a 25km drive from ooty. The drive is a combination of uphill, plains and mostly downhill drives which took 8% of my battery in sports mode. I didn’t have the need to charge my vehicle there.
However, after speaking to the manager about the possibility of EV charging, they had agreed to allow EV users to use the 15amps plug in their car parking for charging.

While returning, Avalanji to ooty took 10% battery with my SOC being 82%. Ooty to Mettupalayam was a downhill drive which gave me an increase of 13% battery due to regen, SOC was 95% at Mettupalayam. The return was uneventful where I used the same chargers for reaching Chennai.

Cons
Fear of power outage in the charging station.
Extra hours to spend if there was a que at the charging station.

Pros
Smooth vibration less drive
Silent noiseless drive in comparison to ICE cars
And of course, money spent for the Chennai to Ooty trip was Rs.1925 for electricity. If I had taken my Hyundai i10 Automatic, with driving at speeds like this, I would have spent about Rs.5000 minimum.



If I had driven my electric in a more sedate way, I would have had to spend about Rs. 1400 max.

[obaidhakim]

From my last trip in the EV from mumbai to Goa and back.
I have learnt that the most efficient and cost effective trick is to charge upto 80% and move on unless absolutely necessary.
The time and cost incurred to charge above 80% SOC is significantly higher.

[obaidhakim]

Originally Posted by carthick1000

I think it would be far helpful if all the EV users in India start using https://www.plugshare.com/



You can read more about it here.

Hey, check out this new EV-focused app called Pulse Energy.
A must-have if you are an EV owner or are considering its purchase in India. Wake up to a daily dose of India-specific EV news and be up-to-date with the latest videos of PlugInIndia, a site that boasts the largest database of EV chargers in the country.

https://apps.apple.com/in/app/pulse-energy/id1526714273

[salbin]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

I just completed my longest road trip on my MG ZS EV. The entire trip was 1210 Kms.
Before I decided to go on this trip, I had convinced myself that I will not be doing any hypermiling/conservative driving as I wanted a “Range-Anxiety” free drive. I truly believe this post will be useful for fellow Ev users for planning a hassle free road trip.

Cons
Fear of power outage in the charging station.
Extra hours to spend if there was a que at the charging station.

You are absolutely right.. We should not be driving like hypermiling when going for long trips. It just spoils the whole trip. When I did Bangalore to Kochi trip in Nexon EV, I also preferred to drive at reasonable speeds and didn't care about the range. Here is a video..

https://youtu.be/xF40GtA575Q

The power outages are real concern in TN. Have faced power outage 2 times at Zeon Walayar. Luckily both times I was lucky that the SoC was at 95% when power went off and decided to continue without waiting.

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by salbin

You are absolutely right.. We should not be driving like hypermiling when going for long trips. It just spoils the whole trip. When I did Bangalore to Kochi trip in Nexon EV, I also preferred to drive at reasonable speeds and didn't care about the range. Here is a video..
https://Youtu.be/xF40GtA575Q

Google maps says 10hrs for the travel, absolutely wonderful to see an EV which fast charges at max 25kw can do the same in 12hrs.

I guess with proper infrastructure in place the distance can be covered with just 2 stops on a Nexon EV and saving another 30mins. If we bring the Kona or ZS EV, the same distance can be covered with 1 stop and in the same time as an ICE car.

For those occasional 1-2 outstation trips a year, spending 4-5 hours extra time(if at all required) should not be a problem for most people.

[salbin]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Google maps says 10hrs for the travel, absolutely wonderful to see an EV which fast charges at max 25kw can do the same in 12hrs.

I guess with proper infrastructure in place the distance can be covered with just 2 stops on a Nexon EV and saving another 30mins. If we bring the Kona or ZS EV, the same distance can be covered with 1 stop and in the same time as an ICE car.

For those occasional 1-2 outstation trips a year, spending 4-5 hours extra time(if at all required) should not be a problem for most people.

This was my first long drive in EV that too with family. Hence took more time. My second trip took only 11hours 15 minutes.
I would prefer one extra Top-up charging with a refreshment stop rather than going with low SoC with power saving mode. Kona /ZS need only one FC for the same route. Also less charging time if 50kW compatible car.

[denny_ace]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

9:15am
Attur, Salem – A2B – Breakfast
SOC - 9%
Zeon Charging – From 9% to 94% in 51 mins – Rs.760

SOC - 9% when you reached Salem? Perhaps the only occasion during your entire trip when the SOC dropped to a single digit figure. I would have had butterflies in my stomach in such a situation. But of course, with your careful planning you had an amazing EV trip I guess. Both the travellers and the car refuelling at the same time is pretty cool. Once there are more EV users on highways in the predictable future, let's hope that the number of charging stations/points too increase considerably.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Google maps says 10hrs for the travel, absolutely wonderful to see an EV which fast charges at max 25kw can do the same in 12hrs.

ZS can charge at a rate of 80KW maximum not 25KW.

[ike]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

Cons
Fear of power outage in the charging station.
Extra hours to spend if there was a que at the charging station.

Does the range suffer if your headlights are kept on continuously? If it isn't a material factor I think driving at night will help to extract more range since the traffic is less. Or is it a no go since range is reduced considerably?

[Abhijoy]

Originally Posted by ike

Does the range suffer if your headlights are kept on continuously? If it isn't a material factor I think driving at night will help to extract more range since the traffic is less. Or is it a no go since range is reduced considerably?

Does not cause significant reduction in range.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

If I had driven my electric in a more sedate way, I would have had to spend about Rs. 1400 max.

Very nice.

If I am reading your stats right, you took your first break around the 110km mark, you were left with 62% charge and you topped up. However, for the second break, you were down to 9%, having traveled 177km. That a sharp drop from 87%. Is it due to elevation? That's 67km more distance covered compared to your first pit stop.

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by docelectric2020

5.15 AM
Porur, Chennai
Battery SOC (State of Charge) – 100%
|
|
|
| 110 kms
| (Cruise control 90km/hr and sometimes 100km/hr) AC on
|
|
|
6.42 AM
Tindivanam – A2B – Coffee break
SOC – 62%
Zeon Charging – From 62% to 87% in 17 Mins – Rs.244
7.07am
|
|
|
| 177 kms
| (Speed mostly of 100 to 120 kmhr) Avg Speed – 86kmph
|
|
|
9:15am
Attur, Salem – A2B – Breakfast
SOC - 9%

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

That a sharp drop from 87%. Is it due to elevation? That's 67km more distance covered compared to your first pit stop.

There could be multiple reasons. The 3 most important influencers I can think of are :
1. Increase in average speed (which inherently means stronger accelerations consuming more power too) : Leg2 is 7kmph faster than Leg1. This is easier to understand if efficiency figures are compared. Here a comparison. I have used usable capacity of 40kWh for MG ZS EV



2.Increase in net elevation difference between Leg1 and Leg2:



3. Time of day. Leg1 is done at slightly cooler weather than Leg2 and Airconditioning has to work a bit harder during Leg2, if cabin temperature is set the same. Minor but still has some influence.

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by carthick1000

Attachment 2221319

Correction: Cells H2 and H3 in my previous post are swapped/wrong. Corrected version here:

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

ZS can charge at a rate of 80KW maximum not 25KW.

Yes, the 25kw I mentioned is about Nexon EV which @salbin owns.

Originally Posted by ike

Does the range suffer if your headlights are kept on continuously? If it isn't a material factor I think driving at night will help to extract more range since the traffic is less. Or is it a no go since range is reduced considerably?

The lights are around 100W, so 12hrs of usage reduces a range of 10kms. I think with the present infrastructure night travel increases your range anxiety, also I have read that some chargers are turned off after 11pm.

[Kannan]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Very nice.

If I am reading your stats right, you took your first break around the 110km mark, you were left with 62% charge and you topped up. However, for the second break, you were down to 9%, having traveled 177km. That a sharp drop from 87%. Is it due to elevation? That's 67km more distance covered compared to your first pit stop.

I can think of two reasons for the consumption.

1. The section between Chennai to Ulundurpet is a 4 lane, but the traffic in this route is quite high and with trucks in this lane, more frequent braking and overtaking are required.
2. The section between Ulundurpet and Attur is a section where the road keeps switching between 4 lanes and 2 lanes and the elevation also slight keep changing. When travelling in 2 lanes, most of the time braking and overtaking is required due to a lot of peekaboo manoeuvre which almost all the cars do.