[Dippy]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

No. The major difference is, Comet can't be charged at fast-charge stations. It doesn't have the requisite socket. You will have to rely only on home-charging. Even occasional highway runs can't be undertaken. Tiago can be charged at fast-charge stations.

The Comet can be charged at a public charging station as long as they do have an AC charger apart from DC fast chargers. Yes charging will be slow but not impossible.

[callmeneo]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

No. The major difference is, Comet can't be charged at fast-charge stations. It doesn't have the requisite socket. You will have to rely only on home-charging. Even occasional highway runs can't be undertaken. Tiago can be charged at fast-charge stations.

Hi . I have already mentioned that in the last sentence - lack of fast charging.

[cvkone1]

Originally Posted by lemedico

Off topic,
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all EVs have a push button start? You've mentioned that the lower variants of the Tiago don't have a flip key.

Yes the Tiago Base Model doesn't have a flip key. It comes with a simple looking key I had with my Tata Manza with no remote lock/unlock facililtes. You need to turn the car on by turning the key like any traditoional car.
The same is true for my Comet as well. The car doesn't have keyless entry and you need to turn the key around for it to start.

[cvkone1]

Originally Posted by vinya_jag

I hope this segment hots up. Will surely consider this over anything else, when we come to replacing our, now 8 year old Diesel Polo. We use it entirely for city commute, and my father finds it hard to drive it around. The heavy clutch and lowish visibility (Compared to the Alto he was driving for very long) makes it difficult for him. Also, I am sure the Comet would have freed up space inside the garage.
For now, will plan on installing Solar panels atop our house. Any suggestions on going for Battery ones, or non battery ones that feeds back to the circuit?

Not the most educated regarding this topic but I could tell you my rational behind choosing the grid option.
In my mind, the battery option is mainly for people who want to go off the grid completely but it adds cost during initial installation and the potential savings are low as well as any extra electricity produced can't be stored once the batteries are fully charged.

On the other hand, if you send the surplus back to the grid the initial setup costs are comparatively lower and there's also a chance that your local electricity company might pay you for the extra electricity that you produce.

[v01d]

Originally Posted by vinya_jag

For now, will plan on installing Solar panels atop our house. Any suggestions on going for Battery ones, or non battery ones that feeds back to the circuit?

During powercuts, grid-connected solar systems stop feeding the power to the grid due to safety measures. So if there are a lot of powercuts in your area, it would be better to buy a system with battery, else the grid-connected systems are good enough. The amount of money you will be paid for surplus generation would depend on your discom. It's generally a good idea to look at your last 12-months' electricity consumption and decide how large a plant you wish to setup.

Originally Posted by maverick029

In another perspective no EV in current market across globe is entirely green in a way due to.
1. Lithium mining pollution being way more that any ICE production and running.
2. Electricity generation at least in india is primarily coal powered

It is true that manufacturing of EVs has more emissions than ICE manufacturing primarily due to battery, but if you consider the vehicle's entire lifetime, an EV is better than an ICE or a CNG powered vehicle by a factor of ~3 if I remember correctly. I hope sodium batteries make that number even larger!
True that power generation coal:renewable is still 60:40. Long way to go.

Originally Posted by EV Fan

In essence unless you are not connected to the grid, and you are using an off grid solar setup to directly charge your EV then it will not matter.

This is not about convenience, it is about "Grid Stability".

More importantly the night temperatures are cooler, making the charging better and more effective at night unless temperatures in the area are sub 10 degrees Celsius(in which case it would be better to charge during day).

Very true that this is geo specific and depends on the discom's load patterns.

If I understand correctly, there are two sections of the power that a Discoms buys:
1. Long term contracts to meet the fixed minimum demand.
2. Short term contracts to meet the variable part of the demand.
The former is cheap and the latter is expensive.

Now, smoother the load curve, a discom can sign more long term contracts for cheaper power and make more money. So you are right that an operator will never advise to charge during the day.

However, these long term contracts are signed with power plants which are mostly coal powered and some nuclear/hydro powered. Wind and energy being sporadic, are unreliable for guaranteeing minimum demand. They are used to compensate for day time variable demand and hence daytime power is cheap.

If in an alternate reality, the discom is interested in a sustainable world, they will always advise to make the curve in congruence with renewable power supply, rather than a smooth curve.

For us in Rajasthan, this is what the load curve looks like as per this NREL report:

almost all solar power generated during the day is being curtailed (sent to the ground) on a typical day in May! And in November, a little portion is being curtailed and we're importing in the night! A ToD tarriff will rather be helpful for day charging here.

But for somewhere else, this may not be true. So this balancing act gets even harder. Integration with renewables will be tricky for discoms.

Also, the estimated ratio of power that EVs are supposed to consume is huge!
Check this out:

Source

An off grid setup would also require a battery pack which further raises questions about its sustainability. While directly hooking a solar system to cars would be ideal for green-ness, it is far from reality as of now. But I think the way grid-tied solar systems are connected is that they first pump the electricity in homes and if spare are offloaded to the grid. I say so because our electricity bill has 3 sections: solar generation, imported power and exported power. And the generation is always more than the export.

Thanks for the temperature tip. I didn't know sub 10 degree temperatures would be detrimental!

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by callmeneo

Hi . I have already mentioned that in the last sentence - lack of fast charging.

Sorry. My bad. Missed it.

Originally Posted by Dippy

The Comet can be charged at a public charging station as long as they do have an AC charger apart from DC fast chargers. Yes charging will be slow but not impossible.

But I was only referring to fast-charging. Not slow-charging. In any case slow-charging from 20% to 100% will take 6 to 7 hours, I am pretty sure. It is practically impossible to wait for 6 to 7 hours mid-way on highway, even if that place has a restaurant. Right?

[Djay]

Originally Posted by cvkone1

Yes the Tiago Base Model doesn't have a flip key. It comes with a simple looking key I had with my Tata Manza with no remote lock/unlock facililtes. You need to turn the car on by turning the key like any traditoional car.
The same is true for my Comet as well. The car doesn't have keyless entry and you need to turn the key around for it to start.

I believe you mean that the car does have keyless entry but need to turn around the key to start the car. Atleast our base version Comet came with a key with remote lock/unlock and boot opening options. Hopefully that is still the case.

Originally Posted by nik0502

Congratulations on the purchase. Definitely it’s a worthy option to consider as a city car. I am surprised to see a real world range of ~ 200 kms. That’s what Tiago LR is delivering.

Our Comet routinely gives around 200 kms range in the city. I think thats what most users are getting. I believe the small size and lesser weight helps in extracting maximum range out of the smaller size battery.

[mally2]

Originally Posted by callmeneo

We are in the process of booking a Comet in Bangalore at the Kalyan Nagar showroom.

I had the same thinking as you until the day I test drove it.

My respect for it increased leaps and bounds because MG offered something radical where in it had everything for everyone who used in inside the city on a daily basis.

Its not different to a tiago except for the fact that it has 2 doors less and a lot less boot space( and I believe this isn't important to a car which will majorly be driven in the city and will carry only 1 or 2 passengers most of the time).

But we always compare the price we pay to the real estate we get and this is where the Comet looses out, in the overall end to end dimensions.

The rear seats can seat adults in as much comfort as a tiago does. No two thoughts about it. I would say test it to believe it.

This car is exactly what a city like Bangalore needs.

The only fly in the ointment would be its puny tires and lack of fast charging.

It’s a great car no doubt. I have both the comet and Tiago ev within my family. But comparing the rear seat of the comet to the Tiago is pushing it imo

The Tiago rear seats are actually a bit more comfortable than the Nexon LR ( which we also have in our family ) due to the better floor height and can seat two adults and one child easily. Not the comet.

[mally2]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Sorry. My bad. Missed it.



But I was only referring to fast-charging. Not slow-charging. In any case slow-charging from 20% to 100% will take 6 to 7 hours, I am pretty sure. It is practically impossible to wait for 6 to 7 hours mid-way on highway, even if that place has a restaurant. Right?

A very reliable birdie told me that the comet will be launched soon with 7.4kw AC FC.

[touring_spirit]

I guess people misinterpret what being Carbon Neutral is. ��. The manufacturing of any of the components of the EV and the power required to run an EV definitely is not carbon neutral especially in India. Had half of the components been completely made out of renewable energy, the power used to charge and make the car was renewable, maybe we have been closer to carbon neutral. And then there is the process of lithium ore extraction too.Just my two pennies. ☺️.

[Dippy]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Sorry. My bad. Missed it.



But I was only referring to fast-charging. Not slow-charging. In any case slow-charging from 20% to 100% will take 6 to 7 hours, I am pretty sure. It is practically impossible to wait for 6 to 7 hours mid-way on highway, even if that place has a restaurant. Right?

Correct my bad. I thought you were only talking about charging at public chargers not being possible. I get you now. Fast charging not possible, slow charging yes. That's why the Comet is best for only city runs.

MG just sent me a Comet for 3 months to use. Its just been a couple of days that Ive been driving it. The first time I drove it was during the media drive last year.

Lets see how it goes

[callmeneo]

Originally Posted by mally2

It’s a great car no doubt. I have both the comet and Tiago ev within my family. But comparing the rear seat of the comet to the Tiago is pushing it imo

The Tiago rear seats are actually a bit more comfortable than the Nexon LR ( which we also have in our family ) due to the better floor height and can seat two adults and one child easily. Not the comet.

You are right about the difference in the no of passengers each can carry but my feedback was mainly for the thigh support, seating position and the positive hip angle resulting in better comfort. But yes, comfort varies from person to person though.

[EV Fan]

Originally Posted by v01d

However, these long term contracts are signed with power plants which are mostly coal powered and some nuclear/hydro powered.

Unfortunately true,hence EV charging on Indian grid has quite some CO2 implications. And an On-Grid setup can qualify as an Carbon offset rather than being called fully green/sustainable.

Originally Posted by v01d

almost all solar power generated during the day is being curtailed (sent to the ground) on a typical day in May! And in November, a little portion is being curtailed and we're importing in the night! A ToD tarriff will rather be helpful for day charging here.
But for somewhere else, this may not be true. So this balancing act gets even harder. Integration with renewables will be tricky for discoms.

And the big irony of curtailment, yes i remember this demon. You would be correct to say if instead of curtailing we can use this for charging the EV's.
But the problem, "is the major reason for curtailment", we do not have sufficient Transmission & Distribution (T&D) network for power evacuation, basically to send this power from generators to load centers.

Basically the discoms cannot send this power to load centers like cities where most of the EV's might be. Result curtailment at generator side, but unfortunately we have even seen scenarios where during this same moment of curtailment, the load centers having a short fall resulting in load shedding & higher tariff's.

Consider an example where you have a 5000liter tank supplied by a 1" water pipe and at distribution side tap you need water at a rate that has to be supplied by a 1" pipe but unfortunately the pipe from tank to your tap is only 1/2".
So even if supply is there with a 1" pipe and demand is also there, the 1/2" distribution pipe means the supply tank would overflow unless we don't throttle the supply.

So, even on a sunny day when we might correctly assume that solar plants are generating on full blast, putting EV's to charge may or may not be prudent.

A Time of Day (TOD) tariff could have given a clear idea,
- if tariff's are lower then that means all the renewable power is available (thanks to a good T&D network) and best to charge the EV
- if tariff's are still higher, that means we have a T&D bottleneck, so all the solar generated cannot be made available at the city center, better not to put the additional load.

As you said, "the balancing act", it becomes crucial especially in the face of a bottleneck(insufficient T&D network) that Indian grid operators face.

Originally Posted by v01d

Thanks for the temperature tip. I didn't know sub 10 degree temperatures would be detrimental!

Below is a reference temperature scale for the Li batteries. Basically in colder environments the battery needs to be pre-heated for the charging session so additional energy is required.

[v01d]

Originally Posted by EV Fan

Basically the discoms cannot send this power to load centers like cities where most of the EV's might be. Result curtailment at generator side, but unfortunately we have even seen scenarios where during this same moment of curtailment, the load centers having a short fall resulting in load shedding & higher tariff's.

That's sad. I hope we're working towards making the required links.
Thanks for the insider view!

Originally Posted by EV Fan

A Time of Day (TOD) tariff could have given a clear idea,
- if tariff's are lower then that means all the renewable power is available (thanks to a good T&D network) and best to charge the EV
- if tariff's are still higher, that means we have a T&D bottleneck, so all the solar generated cannot be made available at the city center, better not to put the additional load.

Right. A ToD tariff will be useful for guaging what's happening behind the scenes. This article tells me that ToD tariff will reach domestic consumers by next year.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by v01d

This article[/url] tells me that ToD tariff will reach domestic consumers by next year.

Well, even if there is a ToD policy, I am not sure how long it will take to implement it as the meters that do the measurement are the normal meters without being able to measure units across various time segments. Or are the meters already capable of doing those?