Nexon EV review Part 1 - (3000 km/26 days)
Hi all,
I am not more of a writer, so this may look awkward. But I tried to add all necessary points in this review. I started with all the processes including what was the motive, the risk calculations and points to be noted. So this can be used as a buyers guide for all kind of electric car. All the details mentioned in this review is as per my understanding and errors will be corrected as soon as I realize/get notified about it. This article is too long, but I can’t compress it as it reduces the details. So I decided to split this article. This would be better for those who are really interested in EV.
SITUATION
Even though I was aware about Nexon EV from my brother (mid May 2020), we were simply checking on the specs and other features as a reputed car manufacturer comes with an electric vehicle with the same chassis and body of their safest car. We were interested in Nexon since it got 5 star rating. From Tiago onwards, I think TATA started focusing in safety and other design features. However, the main attraction was 8 year warranty for motor & battery pack and has a price of 14lakhs onwards. Once I realized it is limited by 1.6lakh Kms, I dropped the idea. I particularly mentioned “reputed car manufacturer” because we can trust the vehicle as they have experience in chassis, body and other parts of a normal car.
After that, we thought of purchasing a new car due to this covid situation and my brother's upcoming marriage. So I again thought a bit about it and booked in 5 days after talking with the dealer. I haven’t regretted in that decision yet now.
Nexon EV review Part 2 - (4000 km/31 days)
WHY ELECTRIC?
When I think of myself, I would say two important points.
1) Environmental friendly.
2) Technology experiencing.
These two factors and our old electric scooter (with its efficiency) made me think about it. However, when we think about a new technology, we need to think about the cost/utilization side and its risks also. I won't say it as a profit or loss (buying this vehicle), because profit or loss comes with different variables which varies from user to user.
Moreover, it is having little noise and has less mechanical parts. When I say less mechanical parts, I would like to highlight that most people call it ‘automatic’. I think that's not a good term. In this vehicle, the motor is connected to a gear which drives the differential and wheel. So there is no gear selection required. Hence the term automatic is not advisable.
One big advantage is power (127bhp). It is not the higher power that matters. It is the power delivery that matters. Once you turn ON the vehicle, you will have this power. So if you are on a steep hill, you can comfortably move without effort. (***Edit - You will need to use hand brake in case you make sudden brake in steep climbing. But it is far easy to manage than in IC engine vehicles***). Please read the “power v/s range" section to understand the practical constraints (This part will be uploaded later).
Some are focused on lower running cost and low maintenance of the vehicle, but they need to do their own calculation before thinking about this car. This vehicle will be more useful for those who plan this for short distance car pooling and those who would like to have an effortless, comfortable drive.
Nexon EV review Part 3 - (4000 km/32 days)
RESEARCH/THOUGHTS BEFORE SELECTION OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV)
Don't ever buy one electric car without thinking about the following points.
1) USAGE
Before buying an electric car, normally it is better to estimate your usage (a vague figure will do). I think electric vehicles are better for those who can have an idea about daily use AND those who don't have frequent long journeys (exceeds maximum usable range of car per charge).
a) Total usage per year
5k or 10k or 50k km per year. If you already have a car, it will be easy to calculate that. In our case considering daily use itself covers around 40-50k km per year.
b) Maximum range
Maximum distance you are planning to go with a single charge. This is not applicable for petrol and diesel cars since those are easy to refill and refill doesn't cost you much time or other inconvenience.
When planning for an electric vehicle, take at least 20% extra of the maximum range as the battery capacity may decay year after year. I normally calculate the range using 80% (100% to 20%) of the battery only. Because it is always better not to discharge beyond 20% daily. It helps to reduce charging time. This range should match with the maximum usable range of the vehicle (not the range stated by the manufacturer).
c) Time to charge
How much time you can spare for charging the vehicle? You need to take least of your available time. Don’t purely depend on the charging time provided by the manufacturer, it may vary according to different factors. For us, it takes around 8-9.5 hours for charging from 18-22% to 100%. You need to consider power outages also.
d) Terrain
You may get advantage of terrain if you have steep hills and slopes (due to regenerative breaking). You won’t understand the benefit of terrain unless you realize that. 2021-01-29 As of now I feel terrain won’t get much advantage as the climbing part takes more energy. You may be able to save some if you climb slowly and descend relatively fastly.
e) Driving style
This is applicable only if your maximum range is above 50% of maximum usable range of the vehicle. If your maximum range (daily) is greater than 50% of maximum usable range, then you may need to control acceleration and power carefully for reaching the destination. For the Nexon EV, if your maximum range is greater than 130-140 km, I think you may need to control your driving style. But it may not reduce your travel time, as the average running speed won’t vary. Regenerative braking also helps to gain more range.
Nexon EV review Part 4 - (4990 km/40 days)
2) DATA PROVIDED BY THE MANUFACTURER.
Try to understand the situation in which the values provided by the manufacturer is applicable.
a) Range/Time to charge
When talking about range, manufacturers may tell range with 100% discharge (which is not advisable for daily use). So just enquire values from different owners and it highly depends on driving. Please go through the "power v/s range" section.
The recharging time specified by manufacturers may vary. For Nexon EV, charging time is specified from 20% to 100% for slow charging (8-8.5hrs) and 0% to 80% for fast charging (60min). As far as I know battery percentage is linearly decreasing or increasing with the energy available in the battery.
So, what I wanted to convey is, don't think about recharging your battery with 'x' hours specified by the manufacturer, if you are planning to completely discharge the battery.
Please note: Fast charging is not recommended for daily use (unless specifically mentioned by the manufacturer). I think it may decrease the life of the battery also.
b) Try to get a user manual and read it before booking/buying. Read it properly before using the car.
c) Charging point requirements
Please verify the charging point requirement for charging vehicles at home. Nexon EV needs only a 15A socket with proper grounding for slow charging. As I know, MG and Hyundai also using the same type of charging port (CSS 2) and I hope they also need similar requirements only (even though charging time may vary).
Nexon EV review Part 5 - (5260 km/41 days)
3) POWER V/S RANGE AND REGENERATION
EVERYONE MUST READ THIS SECTION.
Many people don't know about this portion and have a lot of confusion regarding this. I will talk with Nexon EV as I own one. Manufacturer states single charge range as 312 km. And they say motor power is 127 BHP. You will never get this range if you focus more on power. It is more like mileage in other vehicles. If we use the vehicle with full power, you won't get that mileage.
So if you are a power hungry person, forget about the figure and take somewhere around 100km and depending on power usage it may get decreased. It is all about how much power you use. Using high power for a short duration can reduce your range drastically.
It doesn't mean that you are not supposed to climb steep roads. You can climb steep roads starting with low acceleration and eventually reach higher speed without much power drain. And in case of hilly areas with a lot of steep roads, you can climb with low power and while descending, get maximum speed without much throttle/power and charge battery using regenerative braking. It helps a lot to increase your range. Initially I thought regeneration was just a word and has no practical significance, but if you use it wisely, it can improve your range per charge.
On an average, when I go to the office, I can reach the office by using as less as 31% and as high as 41%. If I use the advantage of descending steep roads, and drive responsibly, I need only 31%. If I am not using regeneration much, it increases to 34%. If I am driving as in a normal car with less than 60 speed and getting advantage of regeneration, I will consume 36% and not using regeneration means 41%. This covers my travel from my home to office only (85kms). In the morning the traffic will be less, so that these values are without considering traffic. These are the values WITH AC.
I personally use two values to show my usage range per charge.
1% range - Kilometres that can be travelled using 1% of charge.
80% range - Kilometres that can be travelled using 80% of charge. (60% km can be used in case of fast charging)
For daily use assessment, this calculation will be sufficient. If you compute for 100%, range may increase due to power saving features for the last 10% of charge. Easier way is to use ‘Wh per km’ reading in the trip meter. But I found it hard to relate with battery percentage and km.
Now I am gonna make an unrealistic comparison. First of all please understand that normal engine vehicles and electric vehicles work in entirely different ways. In normal vehicles, if it states 22 kmpl, it will surely give at least 10 kmpl. But in electric vehicles, if you think you will get at least 100 km for a full charge (whereas the manufacturer states 312km) and drive with full power, you may not even get 100 or 50 km. It is all depending on the driving conditions and terrain directly. In layman’s terms and using conventional technology, assume a Nexon diesel car with 20 kmpl mileage. But imagine it is having only 15 litres fuel storage tank. If you ride without quick acceleration and not using all the power, you can travel upto 300 kms using this car with full fuel capacity. If you use quick acceleration and make a power hungry drive, it may give only 10 kmpl and you can travel upto 150 kms only. Since petrol/diesel is having very high energy density and is easily portable, you can carry it with you and refill it almost instantaneously. But that is not possible in electric vehicles. Please note this is an exaggerated comparison and use it for understanding purposes only.
Nexon EV review Part 6 - (5932 km/47 days)
4) RISK
There are lots of risks associated with buying an electric car. Kindly know the vehicle and its possible problems before owning one.
a) Planned trips
Plan before you go for a trip. Unless sufficient charging stations are available in your state, you need to plan your trip in advance and if required book a particular time slot for charging the vehicle also. You may be able to combine it with your food timings so that you won't have to wait for the entire charging duration.
b) Capacity degradation
Battery capacity degradation. Even though the battery and motor are having 8 years/1.6 lakh kms warranty coverage, normal degradation due to ageing won't be considered for warranty.
c) Maintenance cost
Even though the maintenance cost for the electric vehicle will be less than conventional vehicles, there is a risk of replacing damaged electronic/electric parts. There is a lot of other electric/electronic devices (other than battery and motor) which may fail and drain your money. (Vehicle warranty is available for 1.25 lakh kms or 3 years).
d) Battery replacement
I heard the cost of a battery pack (in case of replacement) is around 45% of the vehicle cost. i.e. approx 6 lakhs. I heard there may be a possibility to change individual cells as required. However, these are fully grey areas and under risk. Battery cost may decrease or increase in future.
e) Technology improvements
Now all players are working on electric vehicles and trying to come with new technology. So if better technology comes, it may affect the future of our vehicle.
f) Bugs and other problems
Bugs and other problems are common in a new technology. As a new technology, vehicle service and fault correction may take more time compared to conventional technology vehicles. I recommend installing updates via the service centre as soon as it releases. I already faced 3 bugs in the vehicle where 2 of them were serious issues which affected my journey.
First bug - Showing wrong battery % while vehicle is OFF. Never repeated after updating the vehicle software.
Second bug - Vehicle was not changing to drive mode after fast charging. HV error indication was shown in the instrument panel. Vehicle towed to the service centre and rectified the fault. It took almost 1.5 days.
Third bug - Charging gun is not getting disconnected from the charging port (after slow charging and fast charging). Service technician reached home and disconnected the charging gun. Then submitted the vehicle for 2 days and the problem was identified as a faulty lock pin. Ordered for a spare part and it will reach soon. Currently I need to wait for 3-4 minutes and apply some force to remove the charging gun.
Some owners told their vehicle got stopped in the middle of the road also.
g) Resale value
There may not be much resale value for the vehicle.
h) Return for investment
Calculate according to your requirement. I bought our Nexon EV XZ+ for 16.56 lakhs (onroad). As per my calculation, Nexon EV uses approx. 1.17 rupee per km whereas diesel vehicles cost 4.45 rupees per km and petrol vehicles costs 5.73 rupees per km (including maintenance cost). Please check the attached tables to see my calculations and correct me if I am wrong. If compared to petrol equivalent, you need to travel at least 1.75 lakh km (minimum) to get the excess amount invested in purchase of the car. If compared to diesel equivalent, you need to travel at least 2.25 lakh km (minimum) to get the excess amount invested in purchase of the car. Amount varies if you select the base model.
i) Power failure
Power failure can affect your travel. Even during emergencies, you may be forced to wait at the charging station or may need to drive carefully due to range constraints.
j) Charging halt
Charging may take upto 1hr. When the number of vehicles increases, queue may form in charging stations which in turn leads to an increase in halt time (unless booked for a slot in advance). Let us hope charging stations will increase in near future. As I know more than 20 charging stations are being planned for Kollam district alone.
k) Lifetime of vehicle
As of current situation, it is better not to buy electric vehicles for long term use (10-15 years). I suggest this due to the lifetime of the battery and performance of the battery may degrade due to aging. It is better not to buy these vehicles like normal vehicles and use them once in a while.
l) Driving feel
Driving feel differs from normal vehicles. You will feel almost the same feeling while driving at 40kmph and 60kmph. Driving with little acceleration can help you gain more kms of range, but it won't give you the feel of driving. However your driving will improve a lot. Climbing steep roads won’t be a problem for the vehicle (in high speed as well as too low speeds). But if you brake while climbing a steep road, you need to apply handbrake before releasing the brake pedal or the vehicle may roll back. It is far easier than IC engine vehicles.
Nexon EV review Part 7 - (7581 km/61 days)
REVIEW - Design/Noticeable
Firstly let me say this is our third car. First one was KWID which we used for 55,000 kms (around 2 years) and it started making problems and service costs were high. It was not safe either (even though it had an airbag). Then we bought an Ecosport (Diesel). It recently crossed 1.1lakh km within 3.5 years. So I will be telling my observations compared to our ecosport.
Nexon EV looks impressive and has a premium finish in overall interior and exterior. But if you look close, you may be able to find a lot of minor imperfections. In our vehicle, the front grill's trilobes are not fully coloured in futuristic blue colour as shown in the website but in some awkward way. We were informed that it is a new design from October onwards. However, there are lots of video reviews about looks and it is similar to the nexon petrol/diesel vehicle.
In the engine hood area (under bonnet), there are dc converters and other electronic/electric modules with the main motor (drives the vehicle) below it. However, the entire area is covered using a protection shield and it is fixed using 5 nuts which is provided for safety. Even though service engineers from TATA recommend not to open the shield, while vehicle registration, RTO officers may demand to see the motor number which is located well below the shield. So in my personal experience, you may need to open the protective shield during registration (in Kerala).
I need to point out one major flaw in design. High tension cables from battery to motor are not having adequate protection/mechanical support. It simply hangs in the bottom like a rope(with a flexible plastic hose/sheath). Even though this vehicle is having a good ground clearance, it is possible for a small metal rod or wire to accidentally scratch in between wires. I think they could have made little more protective fixed shields with a proper pathway so that it won't be hanging in the cable ties. Orange wire may even attract animals such as dogs or rats. I personally feel it's a serious flaw.
Nexon EV review Part 8 - (16963 km/3 months 22 days)
REVIEW - EV extras
I am gonna explain about the extra functional items that come with the EV. This vehicle is powered by a 30.2 kWh battery. This may be the prime factor which increases this vehicle’s weight (150 kg heavier than its diesel equivalent). You can see the creative visuals, size & shape of the battery from the official site. Even Though it is hard, I am sharing some pictures of the battery. As the battery is kept under the seats (using entire area below all four seats), it helps to keep the centre of gravity of the vehicle in the middle center which enhances stability of the vehicle.
Then the main part is the Motor. It is not visible from outside. Please note that you need to remove the outer protection sheet for verifying the motor number/engine number. Even Though service centre/vehicle manufacturer advises not to remove the protection cover, you may need to remove the cover in order to show the motor number to the RTO officer/Traffic police (if you are not good with spanners, take a friend who can do this for you). Caution don’t touch anywhere under the bonnet. Motor/battery coolant tube is also visible while opening the bonnet. Every 50,000 kms, you may need to replace the coolant via an authorized service centre (use only recommended coolant).
The third part is the charging port and the charger. This vehicle uses a CCS2 charging port and it consists of two parts. Top portion consists of 5 pins which are used for slow charging and communication between charger and vehicle. This vehicle consists of a battery management system and as I think it is not a conventional charger. It is more like an intelligent charger where the charger communicates with the vehicle/vehicle’s battery management system and ensures the voltage of battery and temperature of the battery. The charging will start only when the vehicle gives a green signal to the charger. I don’t know much about internal working, but I think so. Since the communication is handled using top portion (5pins), that portion is required for both slow charging from home and fast charging from a DC fast charging station. The bottom portion consists of two pins which are used for DC fast charging.
Slow charging is simple. Slow charging takes around 8-9 hours for charging from 20-30% to 100%. One charger comes with the vehicle. One side of the charger is a 15A plug top which can be connected to any 15A socket. But ensure the wiring is proper and the socket can deliver at least 2.5 kW power. Thanks to the intelligent charger, it won’t charge if AC voltage is too low/Earth Neutral Voltage is too high etc. The charger is approximately 3.5 meters long. I made an extension box with 4 sq.mm. 3core cable (20m long) for use in case of emergency. Don’t buy a low quality extension box for charging purposes as it takes upto 2.5kW/13A. I prefer to create one for your own use and ensure there are no loose connections present in the extension box (One MCB and ELCB/RLCB are preferable-16A). Fast charging method varies from charging station to charging station. However I will try to add a video showing the entire charging process soon. Fast charging takes around 1min for 1% of charge. Hence it takes around 60 min for charging from 20% to 80%.
Battery charge/SOC(State of charge) shown in the instrument panel and helps you to assess the energy remaining in the battery. Instrument panel shows instantaneous power usage via a graph and power mode gauge. Instead of a gear lever, this vehicle comes with a rotary kobe for drive mode selection. I will discuss it in the next post which includes driving experience.
Nexon EV review Part 9 - (17091 km/4 months 1 day)
EV driving experience/range
TATA hasn't started sharing proper documentation/videos telling us how we should drive our Nexon EV properly. Other than oral explanations while delivery of the vehicle and from service centres, there is no proper documentation or videos from trained professionals. I already requested TATA regarding these and I hope they will provide some reply soon. However I am trying to point out the details which I felt were correct. Please note these are my assumptions / understandings only.
You can ride an EV similar to an automatic petrol/diesel vehicle. I will just mention four noticeable differences. As my writeup takes up a lot of space, I am splitting it into two parts.
First of all, normal EV (Electric vehicles OR BOV-Battery operated vehicles) won't have multiple gears for adjusting torque & speed. Motor will be directly connected to a gear which will drive the wheels. So increasing the speed of the vehicle or climbing a hill won't make extra jerks or power lag.
In Nexon EV, there are 4 modes for driving viz. Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Sports. Reverse - used to move backwards, Neutral - to release the connection between the engine/motor to the wheel, Drive - used to mode forward, Sports - helps to move forward with more acceleration & torque.
Drive mode is more than sufficient for all normal uses. Sports mode will be helpful when you need to chase a car cruising in high speed or to catch a hit & run vehicle. Drive mode is enough for overtaking at 70-90 kmph. Sports mode consumes more battery charge and it will decrease the range (It depends on the acceleration, gentle acceleration in Sports mode also gives good range). Since torque/acceleration is more in sports mode, drivers (beginners) may lose control if they press the accelerator pedal aggressively. Normally i won't use sports mode (Now a days I am driving the vehicle in Sports mode only).
While changing the mode, whether the mode is actually changed or not can be identified using two types of beeps. The mode of vehicle is indicated in the gear knob and in the instrument cluster. Try to change gear just by listening to the beeps. Otherwise use the indication in the instrument cluster rather than the indication in the gear knob as the indication in the gear knob is designed for night times and may not be visible always. Holding the brake pedal is mandatory for changing from Neutral to Drive/Reverse mode. There is 1-2 sec lag while switching from Drive to Reverse mode and vice versa. If you are not holding the break properly, it may not shift the mode. Brake should be applied while powering the vehicle (turning on the vehicle ).
Secondly there is a difference in the usage of accelerator pedal. In petrol/diesel vehicles, drivers may need to give heavy acceleration in first and second gear. Mostly this won't be required in this vehicle. In this vehicle if you are pressing accelerator pedal to some point, it will affect the acceleration of the vehicle and tries to increase the speed with that acceleration as long as you holds it in the same position. So once you reach the required speed, you can reduce the pressure on the pedal, which will help you to maintain your speed and reduce the power consumption.
Third difference is also related to the accelerator pedal. This EV has regenerative braking which helps to charge the battery while you apply brakes or drive through a descending slope. So if you release the acceleration pedal, the speed decreases. In petrol or diesel vehicles, this speed reduction is in a constant rate, but for this EV it depends on the remaining charge in the battery. In some EVs it is possible to select the regeneration rate and can be set by drivers. The brake pedal also utilizes this feature and hence the initial pressing of the brake will utilize the regeneration to reduce the speed of the vehicle and after that if you press more, the drum brake will come into effect. So normally drivers won't be using the drum brake. So try sudden braking in an open ground and get used to it, else it may not be easy to make a sudden brake while required.
Nexon EV review Part 10 - (17091 km/4 months 10 days)
Fourth point is actually not a big difference. As I know all automatic vehicles without hill assist have this problem. You can easily climb a steep road using Nexon EV with high speed or low speed. But if you stop (not slowing down, stopping by applying the brake using the brake pedal) the vehicle while climbing the steep road, it is better to use hand brake before removing the brake pedal. Even if you release the brake pedal, the vehicle will roll down a bit and climb the hill even if you are not pressing the accelerator pedal. If the vehicle stopped behind you parked without any clearance, it may hit the vehicle behind. This creates a problem while we try to park vehicles in a slanted parking lot where there is not much clearance in front of the parking slot. Since traction control is not available, it may cast small pebbles/stone on the road to front/back in case it is not a tarred road. I haven't used petrol or diesel automatic vehicle, so I can't compare exactly. But as I heard, these problems are worse in petrol/diesel automatic vehicles.
All variants have a push to start mechanism. If the key is detected inside the vehicle, it won't allow the vehicle to be locked from outside. Since the vehicle is silent, we may go out thinking it is in the OFF state, then the vehicle will warn you by blowing the horn. Tyre grip is not very good. The user manual also suggests to change the tyre to all weather tyre if you are planning to drive in wet roads. If you are giving higher acceleration in sports mode, the wheel may spin freely.
I drove my vehicle around 17,000 kms but still I can't say how can I get maximum range out of this vehicle (without much effort). For my normal use (4 persons, with Average AC, 50-70 kmph, low traffic), i get around 180 - 210 kms using 80% of the battery capacity. I drive daily around 175-180 kms and when I return home it displays around 20% to 30% battery capacity remaining in the vehicle (It even showed 41% one day). It takes around 8-10 hours to reach 100% again (using slow charging at home). I saw comments/posts by Nexon EV owners claiming 250 to 280 km per charge. I strongly believe there will be the benefit of terrain or they will be driving without any traffic.
The readings showing in the instrument cluster in the halfway may not have any connection with the reading at the end of ride. I hope these problems will be solved in the upcoming updates. When I got the vehicle, it was showing the DTE as 312 kms even after consuming 30%. However, this issue got cleared after the update which I got in November.
If I come across a downhill, I still don't know how to gain maximum regeneration from that. If I release the accelerator pedal, vehicle speed decreases due to regenerative braking. It creates chaos for the vehicles behind me. I normally reduce the pressure on accelerator pedal so that the vehicle goes in good speed but the power gauge won't show neither regeneration nor power discharge from battery. I don't know whether this is the most efficient method or not. I already asked this to TATA and am waiting for a reply.
Overall, it is so comfortable to ride the vehicle. Even though some users may feel a small lag while using the Drive mode, I haven't experienced it as a big problem. If it is a big concern, just give more pressure to the accelerator, that's all you need to do. I daily drive around 180 km, but still it is not a tiring drive for me. Sometimes when I drive through an even road, with almost constant speed, there is an up/down motion in the vehicle which is similar as we travel in a boat. I experienced this problem 3-4 times only and for a short duration only.
Nexon EV review Part 11 - (17217 km/4 months 15 days)
Range indicators in EV, charging and cost effectiveness
I am ending my reviews with this post. I may post one more post about the EV, but it won't be a review.
I already posted some suggestions for those who are planning to buy an EV. I am pointing out a few more points here. This vehicle is powered by battery only. Don't buy this vehicle considering the availability of fast charging stations alone. Frequent fast charging is not advisable for the vehicle. There are a lot of EV owners who don't know/don't consider this fact. Try to limit fast charging for once in a week or once in two weeks or once in a month. Even if you are going for a trip, try to use slow charging if it is available and practicable.
Now let's come to the topic. In normal vehicles, DTE (Distance to Empty), Fuel Gauge and Mileage help us to assess the distance which can be covered using the vehicle. But an EV(Electric Vehicle) doesn't have a fuel tank or fuel gauge, it has a battery only. EV/BOV(Battery Operated Vehicle) has a DTE, but it computes the range mainly according to the latest driving style. After the update received in November, it is showing a somewhat correct figure, but I think it is foolish to take decisions according to this reading.
Then we have a SOC (State of charge) which corresponds to fuel gauge. This is a processed value. For normal vehicles, fuel in the fuel tank can be measured and indicated easily, but for an EV, the capacity remaining in the battery can't be indicated easily. So EVs have a BMS (Battery Management System) which indicates the capacity remaining in the battery as SOC by checking the voltage, current taken by the motor and voltage change due to the current etc. In my experience this also takes previous energy usage for computing the SOC. So we can't fully rely on this too. Normally when I reach my office, my vehicle shows 68% to 72% as SOC. But on the weekend I used my vehicle in Sports mode (without too much acceleration and speed). After that, the vehicle is showing 62%-64% after reaching the office. There is no big change observed for the battery charging.
Last one is Average power consumption shown with the trip meter which is similar to mileage in normal vehicles. It will the energy utilization since the trip meter reset. It is denoted in Wh/km. The capacity of the battery is 30kWh. So if we drive with an average power consumption of 100 Wh/km, we may reach 300 kms. Similarly if we drive with an average power consumption of 150 Wh/km, we may reach 200 kms. However, I doesn't feel this is as a reliable figure. I even reached home with 96 Wh/km, but still I didn't notice much difference.
What I am trying to say is that I thought SOC can be taken as an accurate reference for the drive. But I started losing hope in the same. However, all these parameters and it's reliability can be enhanced using updates. I usually assess twice the SOC reading as the kms remaining. If it shoes 70%, I will assess the vehicle will go 140 kms at maximum and plan for 100 kms as I don't want to discharge my battery below 20%. However, normally I used to get more than 2 kms per 1% of SOC, so it didn't disappoint me.
Now coming to the second point. It's related to charging. As I told in the beginning, try to avoid fast charging whenever possible. Try to avoid fast charging for daily trips, try to plan so that fast charging doesn't come frequently. When you travel long drives, (as of current scenario) try to plan for a secondary charging station and plan to reach a second charging station even if the first one is not working. Whenever planning, try to keep the SOC above 20% at all times. It is a little bit difficult for long drives, but try to keep at least above 10%.
Now the third point which is cost effectiveness. Charging the vehicle from home won't cost much as of now. It depends on the unit cost and kms travelled per month. However, the running cost (cost per km) will be too less than petrol/diesel vehicles. As of now in kerala, some charging stations are billing around 15 rupees to 25 rupees per unit. KSEB charging stations are free till 9th March 2021. Even with this cost, running cost (cost per km) is almost equivalent to petrol/diesel vehicles. Please note that this is not a regular expense. If you are planning to use EV properly, the billing rate variations at charging stations won't affect you but the billing rate variations at home or workplace will surely do.
I drive around 175-180 kms daily. I usually start from my home by morning 6:00 and reach office by 8:00-8:15 after travelling 85-87 kms. Then the vehicle shows around 62%-71% SOC. I usually return by 17:00-17:15 from the office and reach home by 19:45-20:15. Then it shows around 21% - 30%. If I start slow charging then, it will be fully charged by morning 6:00 which is ok for me. For this charging it consumes around 24 units of electricity. Some days I leave the office by 18:00 or later, then I fast charge my vehicle for 30-40 min on my way. The remaining charging will be completed by slow charging at home. This is my usage and my experience.
My thanks to those who read my review and I hope it helped at least a few people.
I am ending my review here.
Some pictures shared by him
