[speedmiester]

With the year end approaching fast, I was itching for one last longer drive in Lightfury before the end of the year and a solo one at that. An opportunity presented itself with two days of responsibility free time , which is a rare luxury for married men with kids.

During my solo drives, I primarily focus on the drive and not the destination and a good time to gather some thoughts and catch up on few podcasts/ audio books.

With no destination in mind, I winged it by not booking any accommodation. This was a risk given it’s peak holiday season.

Charged the car to full and left home at 4:50AM still unsure of the destination. Finally as I took the car out of the parking space, I decided to hit the southern tip of India, i.e. Kanyakumari.

I took the NICE road and hit the NH44. The early morning traffic out of Bangalore was a bit sparse, and I was able to make quick progress towards the first charging stop at A2B Rasipuram. That’s a distance of 217Kms. I was able to maintain speeds between 100-120kmph.

Surprisingly the traffic was well behaved and disciplined. That’s a rarity on Indian roads.

I reached the Zeon charging point at 7:52AM. There was a Citroen C3 EV test car charging out there which meant I had to wait 15mins before I could plug in.

This gave me an opportunity to explore the C3 in detail. On the exterior except for the charging flap on the bonnet, there isn’t much difference between the EV and it’s ICE sibling. The same goes for the interiors. Only change I could notice was the drive selector in place of gear lever. Unlike the other EVs in the market, the drive selector is similar to the gear selector of Skoda Octavia. Also carry forwards the parking brake of it’s ICE sibling. Battery capacity is 22KW and the peak charge rate was 25KW.I didn’t click any pics though. The driver mentioned the range is around 150-200Kms and it’s not due for launch anytime soon. As I was charging another C3 test car arrived.

I plugged in to charge after the C3 left. Also had a quick breakfast by that time. Charged to 82% from 24% in under 40mins and left towards Kanyakumari. Traffic was sparse after Namakkal and again made quick progress towards Zeon charger at Temple city near Vadipatti. Reached the next charger with 22% SOC left and plugged in for a topup. I had a quick bite to eat and topped up the car to 95% in 50Mins.

I had sufficient charge to reach Kanyakumari and headed off towards the southern tip. The drive was uneventful and I was maintaining 95-100kmph speeds. The road conditions were excellent throughout. Stopped at couple of places for a few pics. I reached Kanyakumari by 3:30PM and first decided to topup the car. Battery SOC was at 18%.

There is a charging station by Relux near Kanyakumari and I headed there. Relux had recently introduced a new feature of reserving a charging slot and I had reserved a slot from 4PM-5PM. Since I was there early, I decided to charge. I could charge to 29% when the was charger reset and session was stopped. Post reset, I was unable to charge because the system was reserved. The charger was not recognizing my reservation. A quick call to Relux support helped. They reset the charger remotely and I was able to charge. The car topped up to 98% in little over an hour. Left the charging station and drove towards Kanyakumari to catch the sunset.

As expected, there was heavy traffic and crowd. There were traffic jams and it looked like I couldn’t reach any good spot for viewing sunset. Also decided against staying overnight at Kanyakumari.

Decided to head for Madurai for night stay. The evening traffic was high, but I was able to reach Madurai by 9PM with 5% SOC. The reason for high consumption was due to multiple quick accelerations to overtake. Also the 3 back to back fast charging sessions with no room for cell balancing had it’s negative effects on the range. I decided to first charge the car and then head to the hotel for stay. I could charge the car to 98% in 70mins and I used the AC charger to top-up the last 2% to 100.

Retired for the night and I was ready at 4AM for the final drive back to Bangalore. The early morning drive was peaceful with minimal traffic and it helped in maintaining higher average speeds. I reached the final charging point at Thoppur toll plaza at 7:30AM. Kept the car to charge while I had my breakfast at nearby hotel. Topped up to 73% from 24% in about 30mins. The last leg to Bangalore had regular heavy traffic especially after Krishnagiri, but I was able to maintain good time finally reaching home at 10:20AM with 31% SOC left.

Final stats:

• Total distance driven: 1314Kms
• Total time: 29h 30Mins
• Driving time: 18h 50mins
• Avg. speed: 70KMPH
• Avg. consumption: 7.2KM/KWH
• Time spent for charging: 4h 36mins
• Total cost of charging: Rs. 4729.51
• Cost per KM: Rs. 3.6/KM

Few pics from the drive.

[kosjam]

It is only through travelogues like yours that we non EV users can gain insight into the planning that goes even on unplanned travels. Thanks for the exhaustive information on your charging.

I have a couple of points I realised while reading your post.

1. The range anxiety ensures that the EV, even with real world ranges upward of 300km, a trip in an EV can only be planned with chargers in the forefront. The EV even today is a city car, not a long distance machine. Many commercial EV charging points still have only 1 charging station, causing lines to be formed (a friend of mine reported 2 EVs to be charged before his and 1 more that came after he did, effectively wasting 2 hours waiting his turn).

2. Unless home charged, the costing at commercial EV charging points is very expensive, almost negating the cost advantage for EV vehicles. For example, my diesel S-Cross 1.6 gives about 5.2 Rs/km (the 1.3 should be even lesser).

My takeaway would be that EVs to be purchased currently should be smaller, and geared towards city cars rather than long distance touring.

[shankar.balan]

Very interesting real life usage experience of your EV.
I am extremely ‘range anxious’ as a person when it comes to EV though not an owner yet.
Reading your thread, it seems to me that there are still a number of stops required for a peaceful experience. And there is also the fear of easy availability of chargers-on-demand. This seems more a highway experience. Wonder how easy or hard it will be when considering a series of rural area visits.
I also would love to know more (as I am sure a lot of others would too), about the actual source of generation of the electricity powering each of these chargers - whether coal or solar or wind or water).
Just so that one can get a real world perspective on the actual effects on the environment.

[rajeevsulu]

Fast chargers are present in enough numbers on the highway. They are usually situated at hotels and ascfar as I have seen these places have only one charging unit. As every ev user is going to club his charging schedule with a meal, it is inevitable that there is a small que. What I have observed is these slots are empty between regular meal times. All one has to do is defer your meal time a bit. It will never ever be a fill it and shut it affair but things can be worked out. Good write up by the way.

[Sankar]

The reason for high consumption was due to multiple quick accelerations to overtake. Also the 3 back to back fast charging sessions with no room for cell balancing had it’s negative effects on the range.

On a road trip fast charging is the only option and if that takes a toll on range then that is a major con.

• Total cost of charging: Rs. 4729.51
• Cost per KM: Rs. 3.6/KM

A similarly sized crossover with a 1.5 Diesel yielding ~17kmpl would need would need ~Rs2.6k (with Diesel at Rs95/L in TN) more to the same circuit. A 1.5 petrol hybrid will close the gap even further if maintaining similar speeds as EV. Now if the EVs were toll exempt then that would be attractive because the tolls from banglore to kanyakumari is Rs1045 one way for LMV. But I don't think its going to happen.

Btw totally awesome unplanned trip A long drive is all that's needed to clear the head and reset the mind.

[Mysticeyes]

Look at those inviting open roads & clouds & mountains & light.. the best way to experience a land. Beautiful snaps too

[yashg]

Wow, that's a quick trip. You reached Madurai at 9 pm and then charged for 70 minutes and some more, so you must have reached the hotel around 10:30 and then you left again next morning at 4. It seems you spent more time charging than sleeping. You have great stamina to drive such long distances without much sleep.

The charging time and the advance planning required to take a long journey in an EV will remain an issue.

[ksbhat]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Decided to head for Madurai for night stay. The evening traffic was high, but I was able to reach Madurai by 9PM with 5% SOC.

There is one in Tirunelveli, almost midway between Kanyakumari and Madurai, called TruePower charging station. I and my friend paused here for a recharge when we did our last Bangalore - Kanyakumari last time. It is inside a garden restaurant, Hi-Fi veg restaurant. You can check it out the next time.

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Also the 3 back to back fast charging sessions with no room for cell balancing had it’s negative effects on the range. I decided to first charge the car and then head to the hotel for stay. I could charge the car to 98% in 70mins and I used the AC charger to top-up the last 2% to 100.

This is absolutely essential, buddy. Balancing the cell charging keeps the battery healthy in the long run.

[sgmuser]

Great to see this drive on an EV. The charging speed is too good still. But on side note, you have spent approximately 6 hours in charging in those 30 hours trip (Yes, I know this is a short trip). But you spent 19 hours driving in these 30 hours plus 6 hours charging time and then you just spent 5 hours seeing places? You did not sleep? Am I missing something?

[swarnava.ch]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Battery capacity is 22KW and the peak charge rate was 25KW.I didn’t click any pics though. The driver mentioned the range is around 150-200Kms and it’s not due for launch anytime soon. As I was charging another C3 test car arrived.

Congrats speedmiester, its a great travelogue and I love reading the exploits of EV owners. BTW a Bangalore to Kanyakumari on an EV is not for the faint hearted.

A side question to you, you mentioned about the encounter with eC3 on your way, I am looking at the eC3 as a viable city EV. The current guesstimates were that eC3 will come with 30kW Battery with atleast 200km usable range but you mentioned 22KW which would be quite less. Can you re confirm that this is what the C3 driver told you ? Its a bit of a disappointment for me honestly.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Final stats:

• Total distance driven: 1314Kms
  ...
• Time spent for charging: 4h 36mins
• Total cost of charging: Rs. 4729.51
• Cost per KM: Rs. 3.6/KM

That's quite an eye-opening expense for charging. We always see and hear ads of cost per km for EVs talking about 1-2 Rs per km. Can you expand a bit more on the cost breakup of the ~5k across the multiple charging setups/locations you leveraged?

Also seeing you had the halt at Madurai, how come you didn't consider for charging at the hotel using a portable charging cable overnight?

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by Sankar

A similarly sized crossover with a 1.5 Diesel yielding ~17kmpl would need would need ~Rs2.6k (with Diesel at Rs95/L in TN) more to the same circuit. A 1.5 petrol hybrid will close the gap even further if maintaining similar speeds as EV.

I didn't understand your calculation. 1314kms @17kmpl would mean 1314/17 = 77.3 L of diesel. At Rs 95/L that comes to Rs 7343. Which translates to Rs 5.59 per km.

When an ICE car gives 20kmpl (a very good FE), and if the fuel costs 100 rupees per litre, that itself means 100 rupees are used up by the time you cover 20km, no ? Which in turn means that for each km, you are using up 5 rupees, a.k.a Rs 5/km isn't it ?

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

That's quite an eye-opening expense for charging. We always see and hear ads of cost per km for EVs talking about 1-2 Rs per km. Can you expand a bit more on the cost breakup of the ~5k across the multiple charging setups/locations you leveraged?

Fast DC charging needs expensive infrastructure. Some of the 50 KW chargers easily need 40L+ capital expenditure. Plus grid demand charges are quite heavy given the rapid consumption of power. All this makes DC charging 3x - 4x more expensive than home charging. In the same charging station Zeon charges close to Rs 30 per unit of power if you use the 50 KW gun and Rs 28 per unit on the 25 KW gun. All prices are inclusive of GST.

It's the blended average cost per KM that matters and for most people it should be less than Rs 1.5 per KM provided majority of their usage is not long distance highway trips and they have AC charging at home/work.

This is a step change from the fossil fuel world where speed of fueling up has no bearing on how much you pay. In the EV world, the users get to make the tradeoff. Quick topups during highway trips or emergencies will cost much more than leisurely charging up at home.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by kosjam

It is only through travelogues like yours that we non EV users can gain insight into the planning that goes even on unplanned travels. Thanks for the exhaustive information on your charging.

My takeaway would be that EVs to be purchased currently should be smaller, and geared towards city cars rather than long distance touring.

Depends on one's perspective, I knew the compromises I had to make with an EV as a primary car, so this has come as no surprise. In fact, close to 80% of the kms covered in my car are from highway drives.

Originally Posted by ksbhat

There is one in Tirunelveli, almost midway between Kanyakumari and Madurai, called TruePower charging station. I and my friend paused here for a recharge when we did our last Bangalore - Kanyakumari last time. It is inside a garden restaurant, Hi-Fi veg restaurant. You can check it out the next time.

This is absolutely essential, buddy. Balancing the cell charging keeps the battery healthy in the long run.

There are two chargers in Tirunelveli, but that would require getting into the city. Since I had enough range to reach Madurai, I didn't consider charging in Tirunelveli.

Yes, cell balancing is very crucial. I usually do full charge at home just to ensure proper cell balancing.

Originally Posted by yashg

Wow, that's a quick trip. You reached Madurai at 9 pm and then charged for 70 minutes and some more, so you must have reached the hotel around 10:30 and then you left again next morning at 4. It seems you spent more time charging than sleeping. You have great stamina to drive such long distances without much sleep.

The charging time and the advance planning required to take a long journey in an EV will remain an issue.

I am very sensitive to caffeine and a cup of coffee after 6PM means I am awake the whole night. This is quite helpful in my long drives at night

Originally Posted by swarnava.ch

Congrats speedmiester, its a great travelogue and I love reading the exploits of EV owners. BTW a Bangalore to Kanyakumari on an EV is not for the faint hearted.

A side question to you, you mentioned about the encounter with eC3 on your way, I am looking at the eC3 as a viable city EV. The current guesstimates were that eC3 will come with 30kW Battery with atleast 200km usable range but you mentioned 22KW which would be quite less. Can you re confirm that this is what the C3 driver told you ? Its a bit of a disappointment for me honestly.

Thanks. C3 will come with 22KW battery, this is as per the driver. Also according to him, the launch is at least two years away. So I will take the info with a pinch of salt.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

That's quite an eye-opening expense for charging. We always see and hear ads of cost per km for EVs talking about 1-2 Rs per km. Can you expand a bit more on the cost breakup of the ~5k across the multiple charging setups/locations you leveraged?

Also seeing you had the halt at Madurai, how come you didn't consider for charging at the hotel using a portable charging cable overnight?

I didn't charge at the hotel as slow charging would have taken longer time. Besides the fast charger was available just a few kms away with an option to topup using AC charger.

EVs cost less to run if charged at home. For a full charge at home, it will cost me about Rs. 330-350 which brings down the running cost to 0.9-1Rs/KM.

Fast charging costs are higher as it is largely driven by private players, there needs to be certain incentive for them to develop the infra else we wouldn't seeing such rapid infra development of fast chargers. Bescom still offers fast charging at Rs. 8.7/KW while the cost per KW for private players like Tata, Zeon, Relux, JioBP varies between Rs 19-25/KW.

Just like fuel prices, cost of commercial power in TN is higher than in Karnataka. Per KW of fast charging by Zeon is Rs. 24.5 in TN, but it's Rs. 20.5 in Karnataka.

Important to note that, today there is an option to drive longer distances in an EV because of fast charging networks that are getting built at good pace. This drive would not have been possible even a year ago.

[Swaminathan]

Final stats:

• Total distance driven: 1314Kms
• Total time: 29h 30Mins
• Driving time: 18h 50mins
• Avg. speed: 70KMPH
• Avg. consumption: 7.2KM/KWH
• Time spent for charging: 4h 36mins
• Total cost of charging: Rs. 4729.51
• Cost per KM: Rs. 3.6/KM

Thanks for the post !
It gives lot of motivation to consider an electric car for long drives as well.

Would be keen to understand more on this as well. The Cost per km can increase based on the SOH (State of health) of the battery as well. Do you see a drop in drive range from the time the vehicle was new to now ? What is the total ODO kms now ? Does the OEM provide insights or coaching on using fast chargers to normal charges ? Thanks in advance for your answers.