[sunilch]

Thanks for the review and the details. I love this forum simply for the variety of opinion and experiences shared here. It is unparalleled.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

.....
Couple of days before the delivery, we had called our apartment Electrician and carpenter. The Electrician drew a long line of wire through electrical pipes from the electric meter to the parking slot and put a 15A socket as well as a normal 6A size socket. the carpenter made a box with lock around that with a small hole for the wire to pass through. Pictures below...

This might be nit picking but isn't it forbidden to do any such work on a Pillar? I mean the box and the wiring would have required drilling into the pillar and it is usually not recommended to do so.


-Sunil

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by sunilch

Thanks for the review and the details. I love this forum simply for the variety of opinion and experiences shared here. It is unparalleled.



This might be nit picking but isn't it forbidden to do any such work on a Pillar? I mean the box and the wiring would have required drilling into the pillar and it is usually not recommended to do so.


-Sunil

This will be very small holes drilled to place the wooden box and the power supply. This will not have any impact on the wall.

At my place, I didn't install any box and a lock. The plug was kept open, since there is a CCTV camera close by and the security is always present in that area, I didn't have any reason to worry about the plug.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by vaasscit

A question on this battery pack : I've heard people complaining that the battery capacity is dropping steeply in 3rd year of usage. Did you gather any information on this ?

from 2 of my friends who are using it for 4 years now, I've understood that it definitely drops but not by a huge margin. One friend was using a 6 year old car for 40Kms office commute everyday with 25% SOC left by the end of each day. For the usage of our car, it is ok.

Also, on regular household plug, how long does it take to go from 0-100 % charge ?

Not sure of 0-100 but. But, it should be around 5-6 hours. I have taken it to my office daily for 3 weeks. I used to plug it in at 6:30 in the evening with around 35% remaining and by 10:30PM I used to remove it when it was full.

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Congrats on the E2O Plus.
White is good choice for the car, I had a blue 2 door E2O(now sold).
Enjoy the car, it is a great car for the city.

Some pointers:


Once the car is fully charged, the battery will slowly discharge just like a mobile phone.
If you put the car to charge overnight, the charging might be completed in the middle of the night. From that moment, the battery will slowly discharge due to multiple telematics and monitoring systems that will be active at all time.

You will need to remove the plug and reinsert it for the car to start charging again.

Thanks speedmiester for the pointers

Shifting to neutral while coasting or to conserve energy is wrong way to drive.
Regen works well when the car is in gear i.e. F or B mode.

Yes, In fact I don't think it regenerates in N at all (it doesn't display anything)

The older E2O did not have the creep function and the regen was much better, I have driven for 92KMs on a single charge with 11% SOC left in the car. My car had a range of 80KMs.

The newer E2O Plus come with creep function and it is not very efficient.
Also the regen function is quite poorly executed compared to E2O. It is very difficult to gain any kind of range in E2O plus, one of the main reason why I didn't go for E2O plus.

This is the reason why I didn't use Regen in that particular trip. For me the most important thing was to cover more distance. Even with Regen I don't think I could've covered this much distance. The Regen kind of almost applies brakes.

Once when the car was in E mode, it went into a decent sized pothole, which are pretty much part of all Bangalore roads. The car didn't have enough juice to get itself out of the pothole as the acceleration is reduced in E mode. I had to get help from two people to push the car out of the pothole. This would not be a problem if the car was in F mode.
I had complained multiple times to Mahindra Electric to provide an option for the driver to override this power saving feature with little luck.

Thanks. Will keep this in mind. For the regular usage, I don't see the charge going below 30% before it is charged again. These long trips will be a very rare thing.

Originally Posted by ;4424398

Love the stripes on the car! Adds a lot of character and looks nice.

Thanks Tejas@perioimpl, Glad you liked it

A quick question.

If the car runs out of charge can it be towed or does the shifter automatically lock to park? I'm assuming there is a tow hook option in the front?

Towing is possible, I've seen a couple of E2Os being towed on road.

The US has a lot of options for roof mounted solar panels for EVs. Do a search. Expensive but great for long drives on the highway to extend range.

I had this idea and did a brief but people say that the options available in India are not still very efficient and the advantage is very less when we take into account the weight it adds.
Also Mahindra uses solar charging at their factory here in Bangalore. I checked if we can get it installed in our apartment or office. Mahindra told that this solution is still not available for customers.

Originally Posted by gkveda

Congratulations. Review is very unbiased and neutral.

I always have this prejudice. if you take the car for one day outing (Say 100 Kms oneway), how do you charge the car and how do you come back?

Since you have gone up to Ramanagar(around 50 Kms from Bangalore) and Further down towards Magadi Road (Another appx 50 Kms max), I am assuming you would have done a round trip of more than 100 Kms

No need to assume, take a look at my posts - it was 102Kms to be exact.

I am very skeptic of taking e-vehicle where you dont get fuel on the way. Appreciate your risk taking ability to take the vehicle on a long drive without testing the tank (Or Battery ? ) capacity

As I have written I checked the distances to the place I am planning to visit and the round trip came to 92 Kms. With a 110 Kms range, I don't think it was such a big risk.

Also, Not sure, even if you have tested once when battery condition is new, DTE is very inaccurate since variables are too many like driving style, battery storage-ability as the battery ages, Music system used, AC used, headlights usage time(I mean night journey), etc will vary from drive to drive. So, it is very dangerous to take the vehicle for long drive without planning for a fueling station in between.

Valid thoughts. But if you see the ODO picture, the car had run for 1700+ Kms before that trip and I had driven more than 1000Kms to understand how much range I can extract in varied conditions. It's not like I took it to this trip straight out of the showroom.

Originally Posted by samabhi

Congratulations to your family on getting a E2O. Its a lovely city car and you will enjoy driving it within the city. Avoid taking the car on bad roads. The suspension of E20 is really bad and can easily give up.

Thanks samabhi. Yes it'll mostly run on roans inside the cuty of Bangalore. Good or bad, we don't have any choice. Otherwise driving on roads as in the video will be a rare occurrence.

I had an E2O for about 2 years and there were very few times that I had to drive with the charge below 10%. Driving in the range of 10% - 20% was very frequent. However for better long term maintenance of the battery, I wouldnot recommend at all to drive below 10% charge, especially with a full load. I once had to stuff our car with the monthly grocery and the charge was near to 14%. On an ideal case, I could easily reach home with that SOC left. However the car gave up completely and refused to move further even though there was sufficient charge available. I couldnt use the revive as the charge was not less than 10%. Luckily I was a Km away from home, so pushed the car easily and charged the car. It behaved as if nothing has happened. I later dropped the car with Mahindra to check the condition of the battery and why it happened that way. They kept the car with them for 3 days, ran multiple tests and confirmed that there was nothing wrong. They changed few sensors and thats about that. After that incident I never attempted to drive the car with a full load when the SOC is less.

Thanks for useful information.

+1.
Infact, one doesnt need to wait for the lower gradient roads to get the regen kicked in. You can always do it on the roads which are linear as well. I used to do this regularly to increase the SOC.

Like speedmiester mentioned, the creep function on the E2O plus is the difference I guess. Anyway this will not be my normal driving style. Since it was the first long trip, I had to extract the maximum distance.

Towing is easy and we can just tow the car without any help, as long as there is no uphill. The steering will be little tight, but one can still maneuver the car easily. Towing with the car power on is a very bad idea. I did this once when the car stalled, in order to use the steering easily. It was so difficult to push the car even with 3 persons. And when I turned off the power, the car just moved very easily. Not sure if there is some sort of resistance activated to let the car move.

Really bad idea to tow with the vehicle on. It's like towing any other car in gear. Will damage the motor.

As long as one is in the city, you never have to worry about the range. All it needs is a 15 AMP socket and they are available at many places. The old navigation unit on the E2O even showed the nearest charging points that one could charge the car for free.

The sales lady told that in all Mahindra showrooms, we can charge for free (don't really know if this is really true). Also now the Ather grid is growing. Anyway, as you told, we won't need to worry as long as we are inside the city.

Originally Posted by sunilch

Thanks for the review and the details. I love this forum simply for the variety of opinion and experiences shared here. It is unparalleled.

Thanks

This might be nit picking but isn't it forbidden to do any such work on a Pillar? I mean the box and the wiring would have required drilling into the pillar and it is usually not recommended to do so.
-Sunil

We got it done from the in-house electrician itself with supervision from association office bearers and estate manager. It's not some big drilling that will pose a danger structurally. only small screws to keep the pipe and box in place.

[Ragavsr]

Was eagerly waiting for your review and finally its here.

For some one with 50-60 Km running per day, this car is a no brainer. Use the car for 1.5 L KM and you have all but refunded back the entire cost of the vehicle in fuel savings.

A plug in EV with a range extender is ideal for me as my daily commute is only 20 Km and most of my real usage is on highways. Still, if no affordable plug in vehicles are on the horizon, I plan to get one in a year or two.

The only issue is the creep is not strong enough to prevent roll back on hills after coming to a dead halt. You need to be quick in shifting from the brake pedal to the accelerator. The roll back is of zero concern in Chennai though.

The other issue is the narrow footwells plus the brake pedal is present at a place where the clutch for other vehicles is present. It's not present to the right of centre.

[T1000]

Excellent review!

Can a portable Yamaha generator charge the battery?
If so, does it makes sense to carry it in the boot?

Right now, every return journey sounds like a movie climax :-)

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by T1000

Excellent review!

Can a portable Yamaha generator charge the battery?
If so, does it makes sense to carry it in the boot?

Right now, every return journey sounds like a movie climax :-)

I guess it should be able to charge, I don't have much idea about generators. But I think those are heavy and do not know if it can really fit in the boot too. Also I don't think the car can be driven whilst charging. And this car is not for driving 100Kms daily. So, in short, I don't think it makes sense to do what you say

[T1000]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I guess it should be able to charge, I don't have much idea about generators. But I think those are heavy and do not know if it can really fit in the boot too. Also I don't think the car can be driven whilst charging. And this car is not for driving 100Kms daily. So, in short, I don't think it makes sense to do what you say

Please check the link, a genset of this size can fit in the boot. This is a 650watt genset, I'm not sure about the minimum wattage requirement for the car.
Your are right, the car cannot be charged while in use.

I see two purpose here,
1. In this case, the car could have been charged at the farm. Even if the genset charges the car for additional 10-20 kms, it makes the return journey tension free.

2. There is no fear of getting stranded at a remote place. In case the of zero charge, the vehicle can be charged for cpl of hours using the genset.

https://m.banggood.com/220V-650W-Inv...-1276671.html?

[coolmind]

My hearty congratulations towards a great step towards green world.
We might see see more number of electric vehicles on roads(atleast in cities) with increasing fuel cost day by day.
Only concern which I see the deterioration of mileage with life of battery getting done.
Any idea on what is the life of the battery and how much does it cost for a replacement?

If government plans for setting up charging stations on highways, then it will be big boost to use these cars for outstation journeys and hence we can see more in numbers on roads.

[kutoos]

Very nicely written. A larger range is definitely the need because of the unpredictable traffice conditions. Reading your article gave me the feel of having teh fuel gauge reach empty while on a highway ride.

I do have a question, will it be dangerous if the car sloshes through normal puddles? Is there any chance of short circuiting?

Cheers

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by kutoos

I do have a question, will it be dangerous if the car sloshes through normal puddles? Is there any chance of short circuiting?

Cheers

The batteries are well insulated the ground clearance is quite high.
I have driven in heavy rains and deep water filled potholes and no issues.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by kutoos

Very nicely written. A larger range is definitely the need because of the unpredictable traffice conditions. Reading your article gave me the feel of having teh fuel gauge reach empty while on a highway ride.

I do have a question, will it be dangerous if the car sloshes through normal puddles? Is there any chance of short circuiting?

Cheers

1. The GC is high
2. Motor and Battery pack are located inside the cabin. This is also the reason why the seating position is high
So it is well protected from water and the fear of short circuit is not there.

[AdityaDeane]

Thanks for sharing the detailed ownership review, I have always loved this car. And as I own a Nano, I am waiting for the Nano EV or Jayem Neo to launch to replace my car with an electric one for City usage. I have a question for all BHPians, maybe someone would have tried it, maybe someone will after reading it here. But, I need an answer to this thought some day.

The question is, "Has anyone tried to make their E2O or E2O Plus a REEV (Range Extender EV) by putting a portable Honda Generator Set in the boot to take care of the Range Anxiety that is accompanied by EVs in India?"

I remember Honda had a small genset costing about 20K which can easily sit in the boot space and can be used to charge the EV on the go using Kerosene or Petrol. I know that there will be problems of Exhaust Gases of the genset which need to be thrown out in order to breathe properly, but just for fun sake as a DIY project, has anyone ever tried this?

Tata showcased the Tata Megapixel concept which was a REEV with a 1L or some small capacity IC-Engine to charge the EV on the go once the battery depletes. India needs REEVs till there is a good charging infrastructure in order to shift from ICE vehicles to EVs by 2030 or later. Even Hybrids and Plug-In Hybrids have to be the way forward than directly jumping in the EV band wagon.

Look at what happened with the EVs bought by EESL for Govt. vehicle uses. Many of the people returned their cars stating Low Running Range as the reason, the actual reason may be different as hinted by many news articles. But, this Range Anxiety will be a crucial deterrent for many common people as not everyone can afford 2-3 vehicles in the family, and even the E2O costs a bomb compared to the traditional ICE cars of it's size.

Till today, I had never noticed that E2O Plus has Butterfly Type Front Wipers like Hexa, Aria, Civic etc.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

I remember Honda had a small genset costing about 20K which can easily sit in the boot space and can be used to charge the EV on the go using Kerosene or Petrol. I know that there will be problems of Exhaust Gases of the genset which need to be thrown out in order to breathe properly, but just for fun sake as a DIY project, has anyone ever tried this?

Would not work as the car cannot be operated when it is charging.
The need of the hour is petrol Electric hybrid like the Chevy Volt. This has a proper battery and a small petrol engine which is used solely to charge the battery than to drive the wheels.
The efficiency of a petrol engine while it is used only to charge the battery will be much higher than when driving the wheels.
This solves the range anxiety.

Pity GM closed the doors when they had a great opportunity to be a leader in the hybrid space in India.

[AdityaDeane]

Does anyone have any idea if the P8 version of E2O Plus has been discontinued? I remember hearing about a p* version as well, but now the website and price list shows only P6 as the top variant. What did it have over P6 except for longer range and fast charging option?

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

Does anyone have any idea if the P8 version of E2O Plus has been discontinued? I remember hearing about a p* version as well, but now the website and price list shows only P6 as the top variant. What did it have over P6 except for longer range and fast charging option?

Answer to your question is in my opening post of this thread

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

[*]P8: 72V architecture, 280ah battery and 140Kms range. In addition to the P6, it came with alloy wheels and Quick charge, it was discontinued from 2018 and only a few unsold 2017 models were available.