Range Anxiety Is Real: MG Windsor EV Owner's Noida-Jaipur Trip Proves This!
EV adoption has lately been increasing rapidly in India. The range and charging speeds of electric cars have improved dramatically over the years. For under 40 lakh rupees, you can now buy electric cars that support DC charging speeds of up to 140kW. All these have added to customers’ confidence of doing long drives with these. Driving electric cars for hundreds of kilometres is indeed possible, but are subject to conditions. A recent experience shared by a Windsor EV Pro owner talks about the actual pain points of doing road trips with EVs and how to handle them correctly.
This experience was shared by Kalpana Sharma on Times Now News. She owns an MG Windsor EV Pro as her second car. The family often does long drives and road trips, but always relies on their petrol car for the same. Recently, however, they decided to drive the Windsor Pro from Noida to Jaipur. This decision proved to the family that range anxiety was real and also taught them a lesson or two on how to drive an electric car without compromising energy efficiency.
The car was fully charged before starting the drive. The cluster showed a range of 430km. The Windsor, if you remember, has an ARAI range of 449km per charge, and the company has always been vocal about its inter-city commuting abilities. The actual distance from their location in Noida to the destination in Jaipur was just 298km. Ideally, the EV should be able to cover this without having to stop for charging. With electric cars, however, there can be a lot of grey areas and last-minute confusion.
The family took to the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway. Sharma’s article doesn’t, however, mention how many people were inside the car during the road trip. An EV’s load can have a minor impact on the actual range.
On the expressway, the EV was doing a speed of 100 kph consistently. They also had to drive through dense fog for half an hour. This meant that the EV owner had to use the defrost. They also had music playing inside. 1 hour and 36 minutes into the drive, they realised that the vehicle’s battery level had dropped to 36%. This sent chills to the owner. They were now in need of a quick charging stop.
The nearest charger was 12km away. They, however, had to drive more before arriving at Indian Oil EV charging station near Ferozepur Jhirka. Kalpana now had to download the charger’s dedicated application and added Rs 1000 to its wallet. The EV was then plugged in but the charging did not initiate. There was some issue with the charger. While they were fiddling with the charger, a Tesla arrived as well. Its owner faced the same issue.
Kalpana’s family then located another charger and reached there soon. The second charger was inside an Indian Oil petrol pump. A car was already charging on one of its plugs. Kalpana plugged the Windsor Pro into the second gun. Here too, the charger’s application did not work properly. The charging station’s helper then initiated charging using some workaround. Even after waiting for 20 minutes, the charger wasn’t working. The helper was summoned again. He implemented the fix again, and that initiated charging. In another 45 minutes, the charge levels reached 94%.
Determined not to waste any more time, the family continued their journey to Jaipur. They now knew what drained their battery so rapidly- speed and the use of AC and defroster. This time, they switched off the AC and drove at lower speeds. When they finally reached Jaipur, the battery level had dropped to 32%. Time to plug it in, again.
They moved to a charger at the Marriot Jaipur. It was run by the operator ‘Statiq’. The owner had to download another application to initiate charging, but the speed and quality this time, were much better. Later that day, they even went on a short night drive and used just 10% charge. This made them realise that EVs lose their charge much slower inside cities. The Windsor EV Pro, in particular, is optimised for city use. It capitalises on the immense regeneration opportunities that the busy Indian city roads being along.
The next day, they started their journey back to Delhi. The car had 100% charge and the navigation app showed an estimated travel time of 3 hours and 40 minutes. The driver was careful with the throttle this time, and the vehicle moved at an efficient pace, thereby extending travel time.
As soon as the battery levels dropped to 70%, they took a charging stop- they simply did not want to have range anxiety again! They moved to a 270 kW ‘Electreefi’ charger. A BYD was already plugged in and they had to wait. Just as they completed setting up charger app and added money to its wallet, the power went off! They had to wait 15 minutes to get the same restored and for the charging to begin.
Delhi was still 2 hours and 20 minutes away. They drove carefully and efficiently- sometimes speeding, otherwise doing sub-80 speeds, and constantly monitoring charge levels.
This road trip taught this Windsor EV Pro user several lessons which apply to most EV users. Being gentle with the throttle and utilising regeneration opportunities are critical. Next, it is important to plan proper charging stops while doing long drives with EVs. Dedicated applications can be used for this.
And finally, the charging infrastructure in many places needs work. From faulty chargers to power outages, a lot can bother EV owners on road trips. And finally, rely on centralised charging applications and not individual apps. Many car companies now have such apps available.