[brt_mhn]

Hello everyone. This is my first post on team-bhp. I shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that I am a worthy member.

You have no idea how hard I had to beg my dad for this to happen.

Prologue
We booked our MG ZS EV (Excite) in February 2021. But between various constraints, the delivery got pushed from June to August 2021. It was a very happy day when we got the car. We did have a few issues pertaining to the delivery though. MG Hyderabad (Raam 4 Wheelers) had bungled up the delivery schedule and postponed it from 10 AM to 3 PM. Not a deal breaker. It was only my dad who was upset. In fact, it was so bad that he decided to get the car delivered at home itself instead of the dealership. But I begged him hard saying that this was a once in 10 years opportunity (Our i20 is 9.5 years old now). He finally said alright and we got it delivered there. Once we got the car, I found a few minor niggles. The front fender seems a little discoloured when the light hits it just right. The passenger side A-pillar plastic cover is improperly fit. But again, both of these are one of those once you see, you can’t unsee situations. We didn’t really persuade the dealership because they were so minor. Fast forward a few months and the dream of an EV road trip kept becoming bigger and bigger. We had done a 2200+ km road trip in our i20 in January 2021 and I pestered my dad so hard to do it again but in an EV. But the man had a lot of anxiety and no matter how hard I pleaded and no matter how many times I told him that the max distance we would ever be from a charger was 250 km (we don’t use the AC very often and usually get around 350km on one charge). Dejected, I started looking for shorter routes. I had also thought of Mysore as the total trip would be around 1500-1600 km. He still said no partially because he wanted to visit a Sterling resort on the banks of Godavari. A few days later, I realised that I had not checked the list of fast chargers on that route. I was only ecstatic to find out that we had 6-7 fast chargers on our way spaced out evenly for a distance of 500 km. Now, the longest distance between 2 chargers would only be around 150 km. Still, the man was not convinced. A lot of persuasion later, he finally agreed. We decided to check out a Tata Power charger around 5 km from our house. I had heard of EXICOM charger issues before but experiencing it was a different thing altogether. We tried relentlessly for 30 minutes. 2 of the 5 times, it initialised charging but immediately stopped. Dejected, I knew my father would definitely say no. A few days later, I asked him if we could check out a Delta Charger. This one was around 12 km from our house in the parking lot of a mall and lo! It worked so perfectly. I was ecstatic and my dad had a whole lot more confidence in Tata Power’s charging infrastructure now. I showed him that we would be encountering only one EXICOM charger outside an MG showroom in Vijayawada and even if we skipped it, we would still have more than enough to get to the next chargers.

And so the road trip began on Dec 19 2021. I was able to make many notes on the ZS EV in the 600 km that I drove. First, the obvious. It is insanely quick for a car of this price. MG claims 8.53 seconds but EVO India managed a 7.96 second run. This exhilarating performance is what saves lives sometimes. Needless to say, overtakes are a breeze. Second, the car is very well insulated. When we did our road trip in January 2021, we used the AC only because of the noise. There was absolutely zero noise with the windows up and very minimal with the windows down. This means you don’t have to shout when you want to talk to other occupants making the trip a lot less tiring. Third, the suspension is greatly absorbent in the city but a tiny amount bouncy (but way more settled than the i20 which handled like boat) in the highway. Fourth, Rear seat comfort is just about alright purely because of the knees up position. I got a chance to check out the Astor in the showroom while we stopped to charge in Vijayawada (I’ll get to that in a bit) and did find the Astor’s position a tad bit more comfortable. If anything, the Astor has even more soft touch material on the inside.
Our first charge stop was at Suryapet which was around 180 km from our house. Stopped for lunch and charged up. The next stop was Vijayawada only because we wanted to see if all EXICOM chargers were terrible. Big mistake! It took an hour to enter and exit Vijayawada and 30 minutes trying to (unsuccessfully) charge there. Same deal. Initiated charging but stopped immediately. Atleast I got to see the Astor. Our next stop was Eluru around 7 PM so we decided to have an early dinner and resume our journey. I also spoke to a Nexon EV owner who pulled in after us. He said they got around 250 km on a single charge. We had around 100 km to go when the roads became terrible. The last 30 km didn’t have proper roads at all. Only mud. It was only compounded by the fact that there were no street lamps. We finally reached our destination by 10:20 in the night. Checked in and had some rest. We decided not to use the car in the 2 days we stayed there because we wanted a proper tour of the place (and by we, I mean my parents). Sterling Palavelli Godavari was also kind enough to give us a plug point but damn was that expensive! We had to shell out 500 bucks for 15 units! It costed more than Tata Power’s fast chargers (total cost given in the end). It was an uneventful drive back home after the vacation in a serene green place. While coming back, I decided to try and eke out as much range as possible. The highest efficiency I saw was 9.7 km/kWh. I was determined to get it to 10 but traffic piled up and some enthusiastic driving as compensation later saw me at 7.4 km/kWh. Hit Eluru and Suryapet for charging and skipped the dashed EXICOM charger saving us an hour. The Suryapet charger had to be reset this time around. While we were calling up Tata Power’s customer care another ZS owner pulled in and taught us how to reset it. Since we had come first, he added 10% for himself and then went to another Tata Power station 4 km from there. When we came back from yet another early dinner we found another Nexon EV waiting for the spot. We started the last leg of our journey confident of reaching home by 9:30 PM. But it took 30 minutes more because my mom spotted a shop making idols and wanted to buy one of Krishna. Reached home by around 10:00 PM.

Couple of notes regarding the experience:
1. People have a lot of questions about EVs in charging stations so be prepared to answer a few.
2. I have heard many people in the UK saying MG is quoting the total size of the battery pack (44.5 kWh) and not the useable size (40 kWh). Waiting for a comment from MG.
3. Range anxiety was never a thing. There are enough chargers to skip a few. Time anxiety is possible though. Charging is fast enough (Car finished charging before we finished our meals every single time) but with not enough stations in one location, it can be a bit of a trouble. Case in point, return journey at Suryapet. Had there not been a station in the vicinity, Nexon EV owner would have had to wait a full 3 hours before resuming his journey.
4. EXICOM chargers are extremely unreliable. While planning a trip, keep in mind that the EXICOM charger will almost certainly fail. (Does anybody know a fix for this? If yes, please let me know)
5. Some people have no respect for EVs and park right in front of charging stations. Politely request them to move.
6. Regenerative braking is awesome. Once you get used to it, you will never want to give it up.
7. Carry an extension cable with you. Even though we didn’t have to use it, the peace of mind was worth it. Your local electrician can make one for you.
8. Range depends on the driver even more than a turbo petrol. My dad gets around 360-370 km on one charge while I get around 330-340 (both in Normal and AC off).
9. The lower spec Excite does not show State of Charge in %. It shows it only as 8 bars (each bar = 12.5%) or distance to empty. It says 320 km in Normal with AC off. Since range meter is not adaptive, simply divide DTE km by 3.2 to get percentage. Weirdly, it shows the % while charging up. This is purely crippling the software to differentiate higher and lower models and it is disappointing that MG did this.
10. Electricity is much cheaper than petrol with a full charge at home costing us 180/-. With a monthly running of 650 km. It costs us 250 to 300 per month. Service costs are also much much lower. Comparable Creta costs 20L OTR. ZS EV Excite was 22L OTR (apart from 0 registeration tax, no subsidies in Telangana). With current prices of fuel, we will hit Breakeven in around 4 years after which we will save roughly 4500 per month.
11. Total cost incurred by Charging at Tata Power (not considering Sterling’s exorbitant price of 500 for 15 units) was 1413.83 for 78.546 units.

Thanks for reading.

[brt_mhn]

Apologies for forgetting to add photos!

[raghupro]

Congrats on your first long trip in your new EV. Couple of questions I would like you to shed some light on.

1. How do you rate the highway driving experience and stress levels on MG ZS EV as compared to Hyundai i20? I drove from Hyderabad to Dindi twice in the past, once in Grand i10 and other time in i20. The route until Vijaywada was a breeze, until eluru mediocre and from Eluru to Dindi was painstakingly slow.

2. Did you try the charging station in Hotel Vivera, Narketpally, as well? How were they?

3. The one in Suryapet that you had used is in "7"? I am assuming there is one more in Suryapet as well isn't it?

4. Was your return journey on a Sunday evening? I think the Hyderabad - Vijayawada highway is a very busy route on Sunday evening with many trying to get back to city for work after weekends. How many vehicles did you spot waiting for the charging ports? How many charging ports were available overall in Suryapet?

5. How many KM did you use once you were in Sterling Palavelli? Did you go around to Antarvedi, Bhimavaram etc and how did you mange the charging apart from plugging in the resort once?

I travel quite often between Hyderabad - Suryapet - Dantalapally which is oveall around 180km from home. Contemplating between ZS EV and Nexon EV.

[DarthVeda]

Originally Posted by brt_mhn

Couple of notes regarding the experience:
9. The lower spec Excite does not show State of Charge in %. It shows it only as 8 bars (each bar = 12.5%) or distance to empty. It says 320 km in Normal with AC off. Since range meter is not adaptive, simply divide DTE km by 3.2 to get percentage. Weirdly, it shows the % while charging up. This is purely crippling the software to differentiate higher and lower models and it is disappointing that MG did this.

This is disheartening to know, I can't believe MG did this either, it's not like the excite model is cheap either. Can't it show the Battery remaining in % on the center console?

[brt_mhn]

That is true. I have no idea why other posts haven't mentioned it either. One more thing that basically no reviewer has mentioned is that Excite gets halogen projectors while Exclusive gets LED projectors.

[brt_mhn]

1) It was a much less stressful. Body movement is much better contained making it so much more comfortable. Also, i20's seats used to make my rear hurt after an hour or two. As for the suspension, it did as much as it could on those non existent roads XD. What you said was correct. Roads are good till Vijayawada and horrible after Eluru

2) Did not try it because had enough range. But fellow EV owner told me that it is a delta charger and works well.

3) Yes, it was 7. There is also another in (I think the name is) Rajugari Thotam.

4) Onward was Sunday and return was on Wednesday. Traffic was manageable both times. As mentioned, spotted a Nexon EV waiting to charge in Eluru during onward journey and a ZS and a Nexon at Suryapet while returning. You have 2 at Suryapet.

5) We left the car and used an auto even though we had enough range. Also, Sterling gave us a plug point but charged an exorbitant amount as mentioned

Last, if you don't need the extra range, I strongly suggest getting a Nexon if you don't mind the "poorer" interiors. It rides mich better, feels more tough and also found that rear seat comfort was much better. Maybe wait for Nexon EV with the rumoured 40 kWh battery?

You can also use Plugshare app to plan your trip as I did.

Thanks

[raghupro]

Originally Posted by brt_mhn

1) It was a much less stressful. Body movement is much better contained making it so much more comfortable. Also, i20's seats used to make my rear hurt after an hour or two. As for the suspension, it did as much as it could on those non existent roads XD. What you said was correct. Roads are good till Vijayawada and horrible after Eluru

Thanks for taking your time out and giving a detailed response.

I just wish Tata Motors were more sorted out with respect to providing test drives to customers. I hear such good things about Nexon EV but unable to experience it to take a decision. I tried placing request in person in 2 different showrooms in Hyderabad, placed request twice on Nexon EV's website, tagged and tweeted about it as well but nothing seems to help. Wonder how a potential customer can take an informed decision to invest a hefty amount without even a test drive.

Anyways, wishing you the best with your EV. Ride safe.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by brt_mhn

This is my first post on team-bhp.

And a rockstar first post it is! Tons of us curious about the feasibility of doing long distances in an EV and those queries will only go up in the years to come. So, thanks for this detailed post!

(Request to mods: please put this on our homepage, certainly deserves the visibility!)

[padmrajravi]

Thank you for this. Such experiences are gold for us fence-sitters who are looking for the right time to switch. Wish you lakhs of kms of happy ownership.

Originally Posted by brt_mhn

3. Range anxiety was never a thing. There are enough chargers to skip a few. Time anxiety is possible though. Charging is fast enough (Car finished charging before we finished our meals every single time) but with not enough stations in one location, it can be a bit of a trouble. Case in point, return journey at Suryapet. Had there not been a station in the vicinity, Nexon EV owner would have had to wait a full 3 hours before resuming his journey.

This is my biggest worry as of now. It just takes two or three cars in line for a fast charger to play havoc with the whole schedule of a trip. With petrol cars, even if there is a 5 or 6 car line, I will still get my opportunity to fill up in the 15 mins. When more EVs get on roads, such queues can happen, especially during festivals or holiday weekends. But then this is a cat and mouse game. When the demand increases, more players will come in and eventually it will settle down just like the fuel pumps these days.

[brt_mhn]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

But then this is a cat and mouse game. When the demand increases, more players will come in and eventually it will settle down just like the fuel pumps these days.

Thank you for your words and what you say is Very true. But if you're confident that the infrastructure will get better, all the subsidies (that may head out soon) around make it the best time ever to get an EV. Be quick because this is an offer valid till stocks last only

Originally Posted by am1m

And a rockstar first post it is! Tons of us curious about the feasibility of doing long distances in an EV and those queries will only go up in the years to come. So, thanks for this detailed post!

(Request to mods: please put this on our homepage, certainly deserves the visibility!)

Thank you for your kind words! Regarding visibility, GTO has already mentioned that it will be on the homepage tomorrow or the day after.
Thanks

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by brt_mhn

Thank you for your words and what you say is Very true. But if you're confident that the infrastructure will get better, all the subsidies (that may head out soon) around make it the best time ever to get an EV. Be quick because this is an offer valid till stocks last only

Unfortunately, Kerala doesn't have the kind of subsidies like Telangana. The ZS EV Excite version costs 26 L in my city. From a financial perspective, I am better off buying the Astor top end for 20L and spending the extra 6L for fuel. For me, the only incentive to buy an EV as of now is to enjoy the acceleration and refinement, which in itself is a serious motivator; Enough to make one ignore the infrastructure limitations.

[Shivam]

Congratulations on your new car as well as the adventure! It is heart warming to see posts about long drives with EVs. The detailing is great! Definitely a good input for future buyers.
A few more questions here:

When you charged up during lunch, I assume the car still had about half of total charge. How long does it take from empty to full on a fast charger?
With the hotel charging, how much was the charging time? Did they have specific point or just a regular plug point?
In case of a dry up situation, what was the contingency measure?

[flanker]

Originally Posted by brt_mhn

That is true. I have no idea why other posts haven't mentioned it either. One more thing that basically no reviewer has mentioned is that Excite gets halogen projectors while Exclusive gets LED projectors.

I have the exclusive, and it also has halogen bulbs. I put in LED bulbs myself. Also, MG is now offering LED bulbs at 3 to 4K.

[brt_mhn]

Originally Posted by flanker

I have the exclusive, and it also has halogen bulbs. I put in LED bulbs myself. Also, MG is now offering LED bulbs at 3 to 4K.

That's interesting. All the exclusives I've seen so far have LEDs. Is yours a 2020 or 2021?

Thanks

[flanker]

Originally Posted by brt_mhn

That's interesting. All the exclusives I've seen so far have LEDs. Is yours a 2020 or 2021?

Thanks

Mine is 2020. I just asked people on the MG ZS EV India whatsapp group with 2021 exclusive and they all confirm that they got halogen as standard . Most people have either upgraded to HID or LED.