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Old 6th March 2018, 10:17   #1
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Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

What I like
  • Small size is perfect for the city
  • My sister (car owner) likes the good visibility
  • Silent-There is a high frequency fan noise but still a few other road users have been shocked by the sudden appearance of a car
  • Amazing legroom at the rear
  • 110 Km is more than enough for the usage
  • low running cost-almost negligible

What I dislike
  • Absolutely no safety features
  • Pathetic brakes
  • Build quality leaves a lot to be desired
  • Even with the cheap running cost it's expensive in the beginning
  • Range anxiety will always be there-not for the fainthearted
  • I hate using horn, but because the car is silent, I'm forced to use the horn

My sister took the delivery of her brand new E2O on Sunday, 4th March 2018. This is my sister and Brother-in-law's second car. One is the City and this is only for the city
This ownership report is for that car and as is the case with many of the TBHPians, any car in the family is their car. So I'm writing about this car. Another reason being, that there are hardly any ownership reviews of the E2O on TBHP(understandably so).

The need
  • My Brother-in-law(BIL) owns a City. He and my sister generally visit Jayanagar 4th block for shopping. Parking a sedan was becoming tougher and tougher by the day.
  • My sister is a freelancer and she usually takes an Ola or Uber whenever she has work. Off late her traveling for work had increased.
  • My sister drops and picks her son up from school which is around 5 kms one way. She was doing it in her Vespa. One afternoon, my nephew told “Mom, it is so hot and dusty, how I wish we go in car”
  • My BIL is fascinated about and wanted to own an electric car since long.
All these 4 things put together and My BIL and Sister decided to buy an E2O

The choice
Seriously speaking, there is no option at all when we have the above mentioned 4 conditions to meet. e-verito is the only other car but it is not a small car, per se, and it is atrociously priced too. The choice was only about which variant to buy than anything else. It then came to me! There were 4 variants:
  • P2: 48V architechture, 280ah battery, 140Kms displayed range, Quick charge (0-8% charge in 1h 35m), no infotainment system, positioned for only fleet companies like Lithium.
  • P4: 48V architechture, 210ah battery, 110Kms displayed range, No quick charge, No infotainment system,
  • P6: all features of P4 and additionally it comes with infotainment system and black roof, Reverse parking camera, lamp under the hood and body colored door handles and mirrors.
  • 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.
I have a friend who works in Mahindra Electric and I consulted him. He suggested me to go for the 48V models only as they are more mature in their design. So, the obvious choice for us was the P6 variant.

The other point was the colour. My nephew wanted Blue. But there was no blue in stock and we were told that it may take more than a month for the blue. My BIL was not ready to wait for so long. Somehow, we convinced my nephew for the next favorite-White.

Test drive and buying experience:
Not all Mahindra showrooms deal with the E2O. We went to Sireesha Motors on Hosur road. As soon as we went and inquired about the car, the sales lady explained the features, differences of the variants very well. The test drive was arranged fairly quickly (it was the P6 variant).
The test drive went well, and the car performed as expected. A mechanic had also come with us. There were some unknown noises from the boot which the mechanic told is expected and nothing to worry about. He was also quick to add that the new cars will have much less of these noises. I had read about these noises in the TBHP review too.
The only thing I was not happy was the weak drum brakes-they are really scary and inadequate. The mechanic told that it would be better in a new car. We knew that it couldn’t be radically different, so we took that with a pinch of salt. The TD was mainly in traffic conditions but since this car won’t hit the highway, it was perfect. All in all, it was decent I felt. As I written earlier, we don’t have any other option.

After the test drive, we asked for the price list which was handed over to us. The sales lady also informed that some 2017 models are available with 80K discount. After a quick thought, we decided to take that. We asked for the proforma invoice and came home. They were surprised at our quick decision. They sent the invoice the next day.

The Ex showroom price including GST was 9.33L. The FAME subsidy is 1.24L, 2017 model discount was 80K, 10K was registration fees and other charges. Note that there is no Road tax for EVs. The dealer quoted a whopping 31K for the Insurance and gave a grand total of 7.7L OTR price.
I told that we will get the insurance outside and they agreed. The quote for it outside was 16.5K. The dealer called 2 days later and told they will match the same premium and requested to take the insurance from them only. We agreed for this. With the help of my friend in Mahindra Electric, I could squeeze in some additional discounts and freebies. The final OTR for us was 7.3L

The whole buying exercise was in just 1 week after it was decided to buy an Electric car. 24th February we went for a test drive. By 27th, price was finalized and payment made. 28th loan application was filled and it was approved on 2nd March. PDI on 2nd, vehicle registration on 3rd and delivery on 4th!

The Delivery
We had called the sales lady to have the car fully charged at the time of delivery which she told would be taken care of. We had also informed that we'll reach by noon. We reached by 12:30. Within this time, by 12:15, we got a call that the vehicle is ready and they were waiting for us! As we reached, it was indeed waiting there. 45 minutes of some final paperwork we were ready to go.

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Welcome the new member to the Family

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Most excited about the car-My nephew and my daughter

The car was delivered as usual with a key-handover and a photo session. For the memento, there were no chocolates, instead they gave a small pot of some ornamental plant-that was a good choice for the E2O! Car was delivered with 100% charge as promised. All in all, was impressed with the whole experience.

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Go Green!

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100% charge 110Km DTE. Already 50Kms run

My sister and BIL drove it home. A drive of 13Kms and the DTE reduced by 35Kms! This was mostly because the AC was fully on, so was the music system and most importantly, the Accelerator pedal was always pressed. Not the recommended style of driving for an EV. More than anything else, it was just a matter of getting used to IMO.

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Owner of the car driving it home

In the backseat with the 2 kids, I found the leg room very adequate, much better than my GT. Not that it was very comfortable (because of the low under thigh support), but legroom is absolutely not an issue for this car.
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Good legroom

Since this was also a white car like her Vespa, my sister asked me to get some stickers from JC road. She preferred the same Abarth stripes that is there on her Vespa too

After lunch I took it out and got it done. But even before that, the first thing I did was to remove the plastic covers from the seat.
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Plastic covers removed!
Check the puny 165/60R14 Conti tyres. For this car, it is still ok, But I can't digest Hyundai giving the same size tyres for the Grand i10 and the xcent! Anyway that's for another day.

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E2O Abarthed!
Notice the design on the fuel/charging cap. I got this idea while waiting for the stripes to be pasted. Within a few minutes it was on the car!

Another Idea I had for an EV since many days...
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EMISSION IMPOSSBLE
Initially it felt huge but now it gels well I feel.

The registration number was given the next day and immediately we ordered a set of plates on movell.

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...

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Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!-20180527_112258.jpg

The car
I'll only limit to my impressions. For the detailed comprehensive review, nothing better than the TBHP official review of E2O and E2O Plus

Exterior: The car is evidently very tall. Although it still looks quirky, it is much better than the previous generation Reva i. Added to that, the 4 doors make it more car-like. The front has the new Mahindra Scorpio-esque grill with the Mahindra logo.
The width of the vehicle is not proportional to the height which is what makes it looks quirky IMO. The side view shown the boxy looks. But it is decent. The beat like door handle gels well IMO. Bloated wheel arches could have been avoided IMO but overall it is quite decent. The best part of the design for me is the tail lamp. These tall lamps house LEDs. The headlamps are also nice dual pod design with a projector low beams. P6 gets a Black roof which looks good. Huge inconsistent panel gaps are present all over, but it is not flimsy. The doors are heavy and close with a metal like thud (puts some premium hatchbacks to shame in this department). Some pictures I took recently.

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Interior: You realise immediately that you can walk into the car than sit in. Elder folks will like this.

The next thing that catches your eye is the circular completely-digital display. It looks like a huge smartwatch screen! It is lit is a blue backlight with top circumference showing speed segments. Just below that is the Reva logo (one of the few places that it continues). Below that is a line for scrolling messages. It scrolls all sorts of messages like WELCOME, AUTHENTICATE KEY, AMBIENT TEMPERATURE XX⁰C, ENGAGE HANDBRAKE, POWER SAVE MODE, UNPLUG CHARGER, CHARGING, CHARGING COMPLETE, INSERT PLUG COMPLETELY, etc… Below that is the 2 large 8-segment digits for speed. Under that is the ODO meter with Trip A and Trip B. Then at the bottom centre is the most important thing-Statement Of Charge abbreviated as SOC which shows the percentage of charge remaining as bars. On it's left is the percentage value and the DTE is on the right. Also in the console is the efficiency meter which has high, low and E gen markings. If we drive with a heavy foot, then the efficiency is low and if we drive with a light foot, it is High. If we coast downhill or press brakes, the Regeneration works and range increases to a small extent. Around this display are normal tell tale lamps like the seat belt reminder, headlamps, Handbrake etc.. In addition to these is the charging tell tale which glows when the car is plugged to the power line.

Steering wheel is very small and feels like a toy car. The horn also sounds like a toy! The usual light and wiper stacks are on the right and left respectively. The wiper wipes from center outwards ala a civic.
The center dashboard has AC vents and controls, ICE with Reverse camera. Also we can find the hazard lamp switch and boot release button. This entire layout somehow reminds me of the Micra. Below that is the gear lever or mode selector rather. Behind that is the power windows switches for the front 2 windows. The mode selector has R(everse), N(eutral), F(orward) and B(oost) modes. Boost gives the vehicle more power but is far less efficient.
The seat is quite high because the battery pack is under the seat. But it gives a good view. Otherwise it is cramped inside because of the small width. Adjusting the backrest angle is difficult with the door closed. Talking of the seats, they’ve retained the seats from the 2-door version and hence we can actually fold the seat and take it forward with the press of a lever and enter the rear seat if you want to. This is my daughter’s new favorite. This also means that the seat belt is quite far behind and it’s a nice stretch to put on the seat belt.
On the floor we get the fuel lid release lever similar to any other normal car. on the right side in the bottom half of the dashboard, there is the headlamp leveling switch and the ORVM adjustment buttons (odd placing I must say). Close to that is the start stop button

Move to the rear and immediately you'll be surprised at the rear leg room. the seat is average with virtually no under-thigh support. the door has power window switches and door opening lever. also there is a small 0.5 litre bottle holder.

Overall the beige plastic panels are average in the cabin, not fixed properly and have lot of sharp edges in them. This leaves a lot to be desired.

The drive:
The car has till today run over 2200 Kms out of which I would’ve driven around 1500Kms. Once we sit in the car, we have to press the start stop button. The LED on it glows orange and a message says "Authenticate key" appears. We have to place the front portion of the key and the amber turns to green which means that the car is started. This has to be done with the gear in N and brakes pressed.
It's a strange feeling not to experience any sound or vibration when the vehicle is started.

Change the gear to F or R and the car rolls on. In R the camera activates if the ICE is on. Or else it's just a mild beep. This mild beep also comes on if the seat belt isn't worn or handbrake is engaged. It's so mild that sometimes it is inaudible.

Press the accelerator and it pushes forward quite well. The fact that it is a rear wheel drive is immediately evident. The 70Nm Torque, which is available at all speeds, pushes the car ahead. The steering is light and nice. it's a direct drive gearbox so there are no gears to change. Switch it to Boost mode and the car pushes more. This is good for small sections of highways that the car may drive on or during quick overtake moves. Also on empty city roads, its fun. Whenever we take off the foot from the pedal or press the brake, it regenerates energy and we can actually see the range increasing sometimes.
Talking of brakes, they are very mediocre, Scary at times. But since it is not meant for high-speed roads, we can manage.
Also mediocre is the rear suspension. it is partly because of the rear mounted motor I guess. On bad roads no one at the rear will like it. Even as a driver, on rough roads I feel that the rear wheel is jumping in the air and loosing traction. What adds to this weird feeling is some clatter from underneath the boot
Talking about the boot, it is just right for 3 backpacks to be placed side by side. It would've been better if this was increased by reducing a little of the rear legroom.

ICE:The touchscreen unit is decent with Radio, Bluetooth, CD, Aux and USB. I'm not a big music buff also to save power, I've mostly not used it. But I know it's only average.

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It's the Kenwood DDX415BT model and also has navigation and Video input capabilities. But it doesn't in the by default. Not interested to get it working as well. What I'm not able to figure out still is how to pair it with my phone over bluetooth. IT simply doesn't pair. I've read the ICE manual, but if I don't get it, I'll ask the dealer during the first service which is at 3000Kms

Kitna deti hain? For a 100% charge the DTE is 110Kms. It consumes 11 units of power(KWH). Electricity in Bangalore is ₹7.8 per unit at the highest slab including taxes. I've seen that with spirited driving with Boost mode on always, we can drive only around 70kms. With light foot, we can even extract the full 110Kms too as per my experience. So, it costs around ₹0.80 to ₹1.20 rupee per kilometer based on driving style. That's around 6 times cheaper than an average petrol car and 4 times less than an avg diesel car in city conditions.

One other thing with the E2O is the mobile app. Named as the E2O remote, it connects our smartphone and our car over GSM. It is part of what Mahindra calls as Intelligent Energy Management System (IEMS). It collects data from all sensors in the car and pairs with our smartphone to control many things like the A/C, Doors Battery. Note that it pairs with only one phone which is registered (My BIL can login but I can't).

Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!-screenshot_20180703202205_e2o-remote.jpg
App opening banner

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The menu
Here apart from your profile details, you can contact the RSA, send message to them or check notifications if any.

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Charging Dashboard
The charging dashboard shows the SOC, Range and current charging status.

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A/C on/off
On this screen you can control the A/C. On a hot day, we can pre-cool your car before entering it. it also displays the cabin temperature

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Door Lock/Unlock
This lets you lock or unlock the doors remotely. A good option that all cars should have IMO. So many times I go inside some office and then worry if the car my car is actually locked or not.

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REVive
The most important use of the app. This is an offering by Mahindra to kill range anxiety it seems. when used, it gives an additional 10Kms of range. Never used it till today and don't want to use it either. The dealer told it's available only once in lifetime (I think that's not too good). Whatever it is, it's a good option in case of emergency.

Last edited by GTO : 5th July 2018 at 08:30. Reason: Moving likes & dislikes to the top - thanks for sharing :)
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Old 12th June 2018, 11:49   #2
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Since the arrival of the E2O, I had got this crazy idea to take it on a road trip. A maximum of either a 100Kms round trip or a 100Kms one way trip with a 15A charging point.
I first told this idea to bhpian avinashsg who is usual accomplice in such crazy ideas of mine. As usual he told me that he is in.
Then the next person who was informed was my sister for she is the owner and I will need to take the car on a planned date.
Initially it was planned that only avinashsg and I would go on this trip and we started scouting for places in the 50-100Kms radius.

Then one day, avinashsg called me and told that one of his friends has a Mango farm near his village in Bidadi and we could go there. He sent the location of the village. Google Maps showed 49Kms from my home and just perfect.
Since it was summer holidays for kids, and my daughter loves Mangoes, I thought it would be good to take her too.
So, the plan changed to a family outing. avinashsg gave another idea that we could also take a Vespa (Both of us have a black S125) along so that everyone can be seated comfortably. I liked this idea for this reason and also for the distant possibility that if the car runs out of charge, one could come home faster and get my GT and tow it home.
Now that the E2O had Red stripes, we decided to take my sister's Vespa which had similar stripes so that it'll be good for photos too.
When I told this to my sister, she told she needed at least one vehicle on that day. We gave her the black Vespa keys and that was settled.

The date was fixed on 26th May. The plan was quite simple, Drive for 45Kms and spend some time in the Mango farm and return back.
Previous night, I put the E2O for charging and slept. avinashsg confirmed his friend about the time of our visit and everything was set!

As planned we were ready to leave home by 9AM after finishing breakfast. avinashsg and his family reached my home at 9:45 and we were near the car soon.

What I saw surprised me. The car was only 95% charged. I don't know why but strangely, it had not charged fully overnight!
Even though I removed the plug and put it again, it was not charging fully but it was displaying "CHARGING COMPLETE"
Then I started the car and moved it backwards and then again forwards. After that When I put it for charging, it started to charge. and it displayed TTC(Time To Charge as 0.5hr)

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Only 95% charge!

I didn't want to leave with anything less than 100% so we waited. strangely again in 5 minutes it went from 95% to 100%
avinashsg took the Vespa while we three adults and 2 kids were in the E2O. We started at 10AM.

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ODO 1746. Locked and Loaded

I informed everyone that the AC and music will not be switched on to preserve as much battery as we could. I joined the Mysore highway and was cruising at 40-50kmph. More than the speed, I was more focused on keeping the efficiency high. In every possible downward gradient I would switch to Neutral and just coast along to conserve energy. My right foot was never limited by my brain so much. I drove with my lightest foot ever. Mysore highway on a Saturday morning is pretty slow, so even after such a controlled driving, never did I feel like a slowpoke.

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Coasting on the Highway

Since the farm owner was waiting for us at his home, we didn't stop anywhere for a break except at one place 5 kms before the destination where the Kids wanted to ride on the Vespa. By 1120 we reached the destination. The ODO was showing 48 Kms and the DTE was 65Kms So it was an efficient drive.

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Nice village roads

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Best snap of the trip

After a small coffee session we were ready to go the Mango farm. It was 2Kms from there on some gravel roads. With the rains, it was quite bad in some stretches. But with good GC, the car fared really well. We parked the vehicles and went inside to pluck Mangoes.


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Ran out of Road

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unfamiliar territory

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The Italian

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Beauty in Nature

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Green path

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The farm!


We plucked one sack full of Raspuri Mangoes. The farm owner was unhappy that we took only one sack but we were limited by the E2O's boot space. Also we had 4 medium sized Jackfruits to keep in the boot too. after an hour or so, we came back and stuffed the boot. there were some minute spaces here and there, which was stuffed with another variety of Mango in another farm on the way back. So Basically we had filled the boot to the brim.

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Mangoes

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Kids experiencing mango plucking

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Jackfruit

A short video of the car driving along a mud road is below



After coming back to his home, he took us to a good view point on top of a hillock 2 Kms on the other side. After spending some time there, we returned back to his home.

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Steps carved out of the Hillock

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Steep

We drank some Mango juice and leisurely spent time talking for some minutes. These two small visits added 8 Kms to the ODO. The ODO was now 56Kms with the DTE also at 56Kms
With 48 Kms to go, the out-of-charge anxiety started to kick in. Although I was sure of reaching home, the looming rain bearing clouds was a reason for my worry as that would mean wipers and AC. It was 3:15 by the time we left.

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Returning home

At 3:45PM we stopped at a Restaurant on the Highway for Lunch where we spent an hour. When we left at 4:40PM, it started to drizzle. What I observed was that there were less number of downward gradients on the way back. Never had I realized this till now The DTE was always 10Kms more than the distance to my home. We were so focused on this that we realized we hadn't stopped anywhere for pictures of the 2 vehicles together! But it was too late as the rain slowly started to get heavier. avinash wore his raincoat and we moved along together. As soon as we hit NICE road, the rain got real heavy. I switched on the AC and wipers. It was 90Kms now and there was 25% SOC.

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SOC 25%. Observe N because I was conserving energy

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Rain Rain Go away, Come again another day, Little E2O wants to play

When we crossed 94Kms, the SOC% and DTE was 20 with 8Kms to go. For the first time the Mode changed from F to E. E means Emergency and it comes on at 20% SOC. I can't switch to B mode from here on even if I wish to.

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E for Emergency

Soon we crossed 100Kms and the SOC% and DTE was now 12 with 2 more kms to go. I could see the effect of wipers and AC here.

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Century!

During the onward journey, the SOC% and DTE was reducing by almost 1 for each 1Km actually travelled. But now it was reducing faster. Everyone in the car was tensed At 101Kms the SOC% and DTE came down to 10 and for the first time the mode changed to L meaning Limp home. Even AC turns off to conserve power.

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L for Limp home

But now we were only a Kms away from home. So happily I reached home and parked the vehicle. From the time we hit the NICE road, it was anxious times in the car, in covering the last 12 Kms the SOC% and DTE came down from 25 to 9!

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102 Kms trip

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ODO 1848

Finally at 5:30PM we reached home and that's the only time we took pictures of both vehicles together!

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The only picture of the day with both the vehicles together

We spent some time in our home dividing the fruits and avinashsg and his family left home.

Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!-20180526_175151.jpg
The spoils of the day

All in all we were happy with the trip. We could check the E2O's complete range and capabilities in this trip. Good roads, bad patches, off-road tracks, it could go on quite effortlessly I would say. To be worry-free, it's best not to plan anything over 80kms.

Last edited by hemanth.anand : 4th July 2018 at 15:17.
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Old 4th July 2018, 17:29   #3
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 4th July 2018, 18:10   #4
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Beautiful report on what remains a unique car and what locales!

Care to share the location - those roads look delicious!
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Old 4th July 2018, 18:31   #5
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Congratulations for a step towards a greener future. Very detailed insight into one of the oldest selling electric cars (read reva). Back in my Bangalore days always thought of owning one for the city ride. If done right this vehicle can seriously being about a lot of change. The short trip along with the initial ownership tells a lot about the car. The stickering looks grand.

Last edited by ARAY : 4th July 2018 at 18:34.
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Old 4th July 2018, 18:31   #6
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

It is great to hear that the car does the distance indicated in the display.
Maybe it could have been run experimentally a little further till the battery drained out fully or till the on board computer shut it down.
It would let us into the secret if the manufacturer has provided some extra for a real emergency.
Maybe you could try it the next time. A wonderful report nevertheless !
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Old 4th July 2018, 21:22   #7
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Congratulations!!!
E stands for Economy mode.
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Old 4th July 2018, 21:43   #8
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Congrats on the car. Stickers are tasteful.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hemanth.anand View Post
...In every possible downward gradient I would switch to Neutral and just coast along to conserve energy...
Two questions:

1. Is it safe? Especially since you mentioned brakes are bad, how was the braking when you were coasting in neutral.

2. Is it not better to coast when in drive, so re-generative braking kicks in. I remember seeing a video where someone drove down a ghat in their E2O and ended up with more charge than when they started off.

Check from 8:30.
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Old 4th July 2018, 22:17   #9
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sai_ace View Post
Care to share the location - those roads look delicious!
It's in and around the Ramanagara-Magadi road.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fiestarry View Post
Maybe it could have been run experimentally a little further till the battery drained out fully or till the on board computer shut it down.
It would let us into the secret if the manufacturer has provided some extra for a real emergency.
Maybe you could try it the next time. A wonderful report nevertheless !
The below statement from my previous post is what stopped me from doing it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hemanth.anand View Post
the dealer told it's available only once in lifetime (I think that's not too good). Whatever it is, it's a good option in case of emergency.

Quote:
Originally Posted by anoop_lamba View Post
Congratulations!!!
E stands for Economy mode.
Thanks for pointing that out. It's not emergency

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bh.P View Post
Congrats on the car. Stickers are tasteful.
Thanks


Quote:
Two questions:

1. Is it safe? Especially since you mentioned brakes are bad, how was the braking when you were coasting in neutral.
these were not hilly sections and steep gradients. Very small gradients. As i wrote, all these years of driving on the same road in other cars i didn't even know there were such gradients, i only thought the road was flat

Quote:
2. Is it not better to coast when in drive, so re-generative braking kicks in. I remember seeing a video where someone drove down a ghat in their E2O and ended up with more charge than when they started off.
Check from 8:30.
Yes I've seen this video. True, Down the ghats it's always in gear. When in gear it definitely regenerates but it doesn't coast for long. It's good for ghat sections. But on near flat roads, it drastically slows down. And again to gain speed, it would consume more power. In Neutral, it coasts for longer distances. I was driving at a max speed of 50kmph. So the brakes were good enough.

Last edited by Rehaan : 6th July 2018 at 17:49. Reason: Removing video from quote :)
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Old 5th July 2018, 09:22   #10
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Excellent write-up. Thanks for sharing.

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 ?

Also, on regular household plug, how long does it take to go from 0-100 % charge ?
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Old 5th July 2018, 09:37   #11
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

Quote:
Originally Posted by hemanth.anand View Post
What I like
Small size is perfect for the city
Great review Hemanth! I was eagerly awaiting a report on this car and I was not disappointed. Great stuff. You have covered almost all that one a prospective buyer would need to know.

I'm fascinated by electric cars, and had even considered using one as a second car, however it did not happen. Until late last year local Mahindra dealers had leftover 2-door e2O, but the only catch was a leased battery. So, despite a considerable discount, I'd end up paying lease emissions + car emi ~ 11k a month. On the other hand, the same would get me a CNG WagonR (O) with airbags. I know its an unfair comparison, but the common man needs to have an incentive over the equivalent ICE car to adopt these.

Now, Zoomcar is offering e20 for 10k+ taxes every month for a period of 6-24 months. This means, for people with business or those companies getting such cars for their employees could claim gst on it? (Not very sure on this, some other members could enlighten a bit more on this).

A neighbour in my aunts building (where I park my car at times), just got a spanking new e2O from Zoomcar. Planning to go speak with him later this week and maybe ask for a small test drive as well.

PS- I love the Emission: Impossible sticker and the Abarth stripes on the sides!

Last edited by blackwasp : 5th July 2018 at 09:39.
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Old 5th July 2018, 12:49   #12
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

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:
Quote:
Originally Posted by hemanth.anand View Post
What I saw surprised me. The car was only 95% charged. I don't know why but strangely, it had not charged fully overnight!
Even though I removed the plug and put it again, it was not charging fully but it was displaying "CHARGING COMPLETE"
Then I started the car and moved it backwards and then again forwards. After that When I put it for charging, it started to charge. and it displayed TTC(Time To Charge as 0.5hr)
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.

Quote:

I informed everyone that the AC and music will not be switched on to preserve as much battery as we could. I joined the Mysore highway and was cruising at 40-50kmph. More than the speed, I was more focused on keeping the efficiency high. In every possible downward gradient I would switch to Neutral and just coast along to conserve energy.
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.

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.

Quote:
When we crossed 94Kms, the SOC% and DTE was 20 with 8Kms to go. For the first time the Mode changed from F to E. E means Emergency and it comes on at 20% SOC. I can't switch to B mode from here on even if I wish to.
This is one feature I hate in the E2O. There is no option to override the car switching to E or L Mode. Even when I am just 2 Kms away from my place or a place where I can recharge, the car just gets into E mode when SOC falls below 20%. This reduces the speed and acceleration of the car immediately. It can be quite dangerous in slightly fast moving traffic. Always keep a eye on it to avoid surprises.

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.
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Old 5th July 2018, 13:03   #13
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

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

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?

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.
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Old 5th July 2018, 13:08   #14
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

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

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

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.
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Old 5th July 2018, 23:20   #15
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re: Emission Impossible - Owning an EV, the Mahindra E2O P6 UPDATE: Sold!

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.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hemanth.anand View Post
During the onward journey, the SOC% and DTE was reducing by almost 1 for each 1Km actually travelled. But now it was reducing faster. Everyone in the car was tensed At 101Kms the SOC% and DTE came down to 10 and for the first time the mode changed to L meaning Limp home. Even AC turns off to conserve power.
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.

Quote:
Originally Posted by speedmiester View Post
Shifting to neutral while coasting or to conserve energy is wrong way to drive.
+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.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl View Post
Love the stripes on the car! Adds a lot of character and looks nice.

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 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.

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.

Last edited by samabhi : 5th July 2018 at 23:25.
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