Trip report : 1650 Kms across 3 states in EV

         A voucher from Club Mahindra & the pictures of floating cottages at their Ashtamudi resort motivated enough to book a couple of nights stay there. It was not until 3 months later & a week before the trip that I looked up where Ashtamudi was and how far a drive it was. However, thanks to the MG owners whatsapp group & plugshare app, I was able to plan a drive in my EV with confidence. The most important & impactful tip was to leave Bangalore by 4AM, which reduced the overall commute time and enabled to drive through the traffic clogged Kerala roads early in the evening when I still had energy left. This was my first long trip in nearly 2 months, so motivation was plenty to leave that early in the morning.

In brief :

Places visited: Ashtamudi, Tiruvananthapuram, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Bangalore

Charging stops: Rasipuram, Vadipatti, Rajapalyam, Ashtamudi, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Vadipatti, Rasipuram, Krishnagiri

Total distance: 1650kms     |  Cost of charging: ₹ 6500     |   Toll cost: ₹2000

 

Charging at Marshal E Tech, Kanyakumari

Leg 1 | 700 kms | 3 stops

        We started from Yeshwanthpur by 4:30 AM and made the first stop at Zeon Rasipuram by 8:30AM with 30% SoC left. The 50kW charger was free and so was the restaurant. Charging was as seemless as the delcisiousness of Idli & Pongal at A2B. By the time we savoured our breakfast & finished the filter coffee it was close to an hour and car was at 99%. The next stop was at Zeon 50kW again at Hotel Temple City, Vadipatti. We reached there at 11:40 with 29% SoC left. It got a little uneasy when we rolled in to see another MG charging and a Volvo XC40 waiting. But the unease was quickly resolved when the MG owner said he was done & moved out, and the Volvo owner said he only had to travel 10kms but had to charge in full for future travel. So agreed to let us charge first and that he would wait until we are done. Thanks to Nallasivam for presenting the idea to ask the Volvo owner. We had just eaten breakfast, so spent the 40 minutes of charging time having a 'EV ownership experience' chat with the Volvo owner over lime soda. We rolled out with 90% SoC and headed to Relux at AK Dynasty in Rajapalyam. This stretch was an awesome drive with clear flat road & great view of surrounding mountains throughout the way. Reached AK Dynasty with 54% SoC left, no hiccups with starting charge. Was able to get full 30kW speed, however the restuarant was a fast food chain which we dint prefer for lunch. Thankfully, the restaurant folks were kind enough to let us hang out inside the AC restaurant while charging so that we dont get baked in the 38 degree heat outside. We thanked them with a salad purchase & headed towards Tenkasi where  we stopped for a heavy lunch of rice & sambar on plaintain leaf. The time gained until Tenkasi made up for the next stretch after entering Kerala as it was mostly single lane road and moving but slow traffic. However, it started to rain lightly as we were clibming up the ghat making it a beautiful drive. W finally reached Club Mahindra Ashtamudi after a long drive at around 8:30PM, plugged in the car at their EV buggy charging wall socket, that they kindly provided, and we hit the bed to recharge ourselves for next day.

Leg 2 | 460 kms | 1 stop

        After a lazing & relaxing stay at the resort, it was time to head back home but not without a little deviation. We started from Club Mahindra Ashtamudi early, at 7AM, with 92% SoC and reached Tiruvananthapuram with enough SoC to skip charging there. We finished darshana of Ananthapadhmanabha, had a scumptous breakfast of puttu before heading towards Madurai for an overnight stay. The drive from Tiruvananthapuram to Bangalore was going to be a long one, so we thought of breaking it with an overnight stay at Madurai. However, when we were somewhere close to Nagercoil the road signs tempted us to make a short deviation to Kanyakumari. The Relux charger at Kanyakumari encouraged us to make the unplanned deviation. While at the Relux 30kW charging station we saw they had a private 7kW AC charger too. We took advantage of it to top up from 80% SoC & balance the cells while we made a trip to Vivekananda rock & Bhagavati Temple. Thanks to the balanced SoC, we headed from Kanyakumari and made a non stop drive to Madurai with 16% SoC left and in time for dinner. We stayed overnight and charged up at the 7kW Zeon AC charger at JC Residency in Madurai.

 

Charging at 50kW DC charger at A2B Rasipuram

Leg 3 | 500 kms | 3 stops

        When in Madurai, who can miss visiting & walking in the grand temple. Ofcourse we too did that and started the journey back home at around 9:30AM. The 7kW AC charger had only delivered ~3kW and so the overnight charging had only taken us to 74% by morning. But we started regardless and stopped at the 50kW Zeon charger at Hotel Temple City in Vadipatti. This time though there were no other EVs, lucky us. The breakfast combo was so delicious & filling that we had to counter it with two filter coffees to ensure we dont sleep on the wheel. Started from Vadipatti with 94% SoC and reached Rasipuram in no time, thanks to the clear, wide, traffic-free road. Who would eat within 2 hours of a heavy breakfast? But we wanted to be in AC, so we entered the restuarant and were trying to play around & kill time with one glass of butter milk. The waiter at A2B understood what we were doing and showed us to a set of seating where there was no service. He said we could sit there as long as we wished without blocking tables during the peak hours that was just starting. We charged up from 18% to 74% in 35 minutes and rolled out. Next stop was at Krishnagiri and hour & half later. We reached Krishnagiri with 21% SoC left and charged up to 54% on the 50kW charger, while filling ourselves with a late-light lunch. Heading home from Krishnagiri, we got to enjoy the weekday peak hour traffic of Bangalore and reached home in about 3 hours with 14% SoC left.

Overall a wonderful, stress-free & anxiety-free trip. Thanks to the 50kW Zeon chargers, we dint spend significant amount of time for charging outside of food stops. Both the Relux chargers we got use are placed in highly strategic & crucial points. The staff of Marshal E Tech at Kanyakumari are very friendly and are doing a great job to support EV adoption in the southern most city of our mainland.

Bengaluru to Tirupati

 The most difficult part of planning a trip to Tirupati is getting the Darshan tickets and the easiest part is to plan EV charging.

 Thankfully we were able to resolve the most difficult part and got Darshan tickets for Saturday 4PM. We left home Friday at 5PM and stopped at Nandi food plaza, Chittor for dinner at around 9PM. We dint really need to charge plus there was a Nexon already charging there. So we just finished dinner and reached Tirupati at 10:20PM with 30% SoC left, thanks to the elevation loss from Bangalore to Tirupati.

There are plenty of charging options at Tirupati. Since we staying overnight i chose to charge at the 7kW slow charger at Taj Tirupati. I had booked a room at service apartment next to Hotel bliss. The plan was to use DC charger at Bliss or Bhimas as backup if Taj wasn't available. But the AC charger at Taj worked like a charm and started in one go. I left the car for overnight charge and took a 20 minute walk to our service apartment. Then did a 20 minute walk in the morning and picked up the car at 7:30AM with 100% SoC. The staff were very helpful and said i could leave the car for even 24hrs without a worry. There weren't many other cars seeking this charger. We visited in Tirupati all morning and started to Tirumala at 12:30.

30kW DC Fast chargers by Tata at Taj Tirupati

Two 7kW slow chargers by Tata at Taj Tirupati

The drive uphill, as expected, was quite draining and i spent 15% SoC for the 26km drive. The drive back down after Darshan though was less rewarding that I had expected. I only gained 2% SoC while using Eco and Regen 3

The rest of the way to Bangalore was a smooth drive with good roads and very little traffic. On both ways I was able to use cruise control comfortably for long stretches. Which I think was a huge contributor to good efficiency. On the return journey, we did a dinner stop again at Nandi food plaza and also did a top up. Both the food and charging was a mix bag experience. Dosa was no better than napkin in texture and was cold, we complained and they dint charge us. So that was free. Charger had error code 400A, it took a couple of tries and releasing emergency button to start charging. Then it again did not stop through app and had to press the emergency, so charging was free too. Backup charger to Nandi plaza was Zeon 50kW at Aaradhya grand, Kolar. They close at 11pm though, so need to plan accordingly.

Bengaluru - Horanadu - Sringeri - Hariharapura - Bengaluru

We had been wanting to go to Horanadu for quite a while. Although we had travelled all the way to Sringeri a couple of times in the last month, we weren't able to drive down to Horanadu due to absence of chargers in this area. 

Last week, we were traveling to Hariharapura for an event and had some extra time at hand before reaching there. So decided to give a shot at visiting Horanadu. So i messaged a friend from the MG owners WhatsApp group who had recently visited Horanadu and gotten support from the admin to show charge at their office. 

After speaking to the admin and getting assurance that he will provide a power point for slow charging we started from home at 5pm. The plan was to reach Horanadu by mid night and leave the car on charge until late morning. Then to decide a drive to Udupi and top up at Manipal inn or to directly head to Hariharapura. If we did not go to Udupi and charged to 100% at Horanadu, we will be able to easily make it back until Gateway hotel Chikmagalur.

Charging at Relux Shantigrama alongside a Nexon

So, we stopped at Relux Shantigrama for a top up and reached Horanadu as per plan at 1230. To our surprise a Nexon was already charging there! The person at the counter said that the Nexon EV had reached at 1030 and had plugged in at the only accessible 15A plug. Without the ability to charge here, we would be stuck.

We waited until morning and called the admin to explain the situation. He arranged an alternative location, which lost power after an hour. By then the Nexon had finished charging and we plugged in. 

Charging at Horanadu admin office

So we now decided to skip Udupi and stay for getting some more charge in the car, and have lunch at Horanadu. Mom wanted to have Annapurneshwari's prasada for lunch. Squeezing in Udupi would be too tiring, since we were already sleep deprived.

We charged for a couple of hours that gave about 10% SoC boost and with 63% headed to Hariharapura via Sringeri, being aware that we have to critically find a place to charge there. We most likely won't be able to make it back to Chikmagalur or Shivamogga FCs.

Luckily, the manager at Hariharapura Mutt was very supportive and helped find a wall plug to charge. We were happy souls and let the car charge until morning to get to 100%. 

Then we left after lunch and headed all the way to paakashala Yediyur without a single charging stop. This is probably the longest i have driven without charging stop. Given it was a Saturday evening, there was practically no traffic on the road. I was able to set cruise control at 95 and just enjoy the drive. It gave good efficiency too.

A bus being charged at Paakashala Yediyur

We reached Paakashala with 19% SoC left. A bus was charging at the 50kW charger but they obliged and unplugged allowing us to charge. We did a 20 minute top up that took the SoC to 55%, more than sufficient to reach home. We finished dinner at paakashala and finally reached home close to miss night with 24% SoC left.

With just one charging stop each way and little bit of asking around for wall socket to charge, i think i am climbing up the learning curve of trip planning on EV.

Bescom Lt6 connection for home charger

 

Once we bring our EV car home, the next logical task is to get a charger installed at home. In most cases the sanctioned load in our home may not be sufficient to meet the needs of the car charger and hence we will have to enhance the sanction and change the electricity meter along with it. Thankfully for those of us in Bangalore, Bescom has a special tariff plan - LT6 which offers electricity at a flat & lower rate for EV owners.

Like most EV owners, I too got a 7.2kW charger. The sanctioned load on my existing connection was just 2kW. So I had a choice to enhance the existing load or take a separate LT6 connection. I decided to take a separate LT6c connection and in this post I am sharing my analysis of the difference in cost between the two decisions. Getting the separate connection costed me about 35,000 in total including the deposit, new meter charges, material etc. Further below, you will find the process I went through for getting the connection as well as contact info for my electrical contractor who did the job for me. But first, the math to see if a dedicated LT6c connection is worth it.

Price comparison:

Enhancing the existing connection means a single connection of 10kW, which is 2kW for existing house load plus a 8kW additional load because of the charger. Although it might be possible to enhance the load to 8 or 9kW in total, it will mean you have to shut off all major home appliances such as heater or A/C when charging the car. Hence I was recommended to enhance to 10kW and that is what I am using for calculation. The fifth column in below table '10kW LT2 connection' is representing this number.

The fourth column 'Lt6c dedicated + current Lt2' represents the total cost incurred by both the 2kW home connection plus the LT6 dedicated connection.

To make the comparison close to real life, I am making the following assumptions :

- Car usage of 25kms per weekday and 25kms over the weekend. This would all be city usage which will require charging at home. This translates to 150kms per week or 600kms per month.

- Economy rate of 6km/kWh which is an acceptable average I have seen when driving within city traffic.

This translates to 100kW or 100units consumption per month for charging the car. House consumption column in the table below shows various consumption levels and reflects what we see in our bill. The number would naturally be higher in summers and lower in winters. But the idea is to get an idea across the board.

I have used the slabs and pricing published by Bescom here, to do the below calculation and also verified the math against our last few months bills to ensure the calculations are correct.  I have also included FAC charges applied by Bescom (fixed per unit cost) but have not added taxes. 

The table above clearly shows having a dedicated LT6 connection results in overall lower cost even if house consumption is very low at 40 units per month. Indeed the difference only gets larger if the house consumption is larger. Extrapolating the same trend to increase our car usage, the delta gets larger as well. In summary, higher the consumption lower is the price for us with the dedicated LT6 connection. Ofcourse there is an initial cost for getting the new connection, but there will also be an initial cost for enhancing the existing connection's sanctioned load - deposit for the additional 8kW sanction plus the new meter. My electrician estimated that the cost would not have been less than 30,000 for it. So, the difference of 5,000 would be broken even in 10 months. Assuming Bescom continues to have the same pricing and rebate for LT6c.

To understand these numbers a little more, below is how I arrived at them. The first table below is calculating each of the fixed and variable cost for a 10kW sanction load. Fixed cost is the same throughout since its dependent on the sanctioned load (100 for first kW and 110 for each thereafter). Variable cost or energy consumption cost increases based on slabs and hence it can be seen increasing exponentially.

The second table below is the same view but for two connections - The existing LT2 for home use and the LT6c for car. Variable or energy consumption cost is the same for LT6c as there are no slabs for LT6c connection. Its a flat rate of Rs5 per unit.

Process of getting the separate LT6c connection

My electrical contractor did it very easy to get the connection by taking care of most of the leg work necessary. The only amount of work I did was an initial enquiry at the Bescom office to get the connection. I was told by someone that the LT6 connection is only for commercial uses. Then a friend at Bescom informed me about an amendment circular (link) which showed that Bescom would give it for individuals too. I then contacted Arasu, my electrical contractor, and asked him to do the necessary work. He called me at frequent intervals to obtain the necessary documents such as my existing Bescom bills, house floor plan and to get the signatures. Then, once it was sanctioned he gave me the papers requesting deposit to be paid. I got the DD from bank. He then took care of rest of the work to do the wiring as per specifications given by the charger company, get in inspected and approved all the way until writing the RR number on the new meter. I am completely happy with Arasu and would recommend him to anyone. I am sharing his number below.

Arasu - +91 98451 42475

I am yet to get my first bill on the new connection, but am confident it will match my calculations above. Unless Bescom changes their tariff and removes the reduced pricing on LT6c, I will be able to have a low running cost and overall lower cost.

 

Bengaluru to Kodaikanal

        By now it's evident that I love doing long trips with my new EV and I grab every opportunity to do so. With the car being a month old and having completed 2.7K kms already, it was time for the challenge of a much longer drive to Kodaikanal. This entire trip clocked about 1000 kms and charging stops made almost zero difference to the travel time. If you are planning to do a similar trip, ensure to read the route and planning sections along with the tips at the end.

Route:

Onward journey to Kodaikanal

Onward journey:

- Started at 5:30AM and made first stop at 7:15AM at Hotel Surya complex, Krishnagiri. I had 72% SoC left when I reached and charging was not strictly necessary, but I did it to be rounded. The food was good at Sree Saravana Bhavan. In 45 minutes we had finished breakfast and car was at 100%, thanks to the 50kW charger.

- Next was a quick coffee stop at 11AM at Saravana Bhavan, Sankagiri. Charged from 55% to 95% in 35 minutes while having coffee. This too was a 50kW charger.

- Third and a critical stop at Ganpat grand, Palani. Charged from 30% to 42% in 16 minutes. This was at 3:40 PM.

- Reached hotel kodai international at 6pm with only 5% SoC left.

I stayed at LePoshe Kodaikanal. They refused to allow charging. So after deciding never to visit them again, I charged at Zeon 24kW at hotel Kodai international.

Return journey to Bengaluru

Return journey:

- Started from Kodaikanal at 9:30AM with 94% SoC

- First stop at Adyar Anand Bhavan, Rasipuram at 2PM. Had reached with 26% SoC left. Charged to 96% in 56 minutes on the 50kW charger.

- Then did a coffee stop at 5:30pm at Hotel Surya complex, Krishnagiri. Charging was not critically necessary, so decided to use the 24kW charger this time and topped up from 45% to 60% in 22 minutes.

- Reached home with 28% SoC at 10pm after crawling through the Christmas Eve traffic win the city.

Charging at Hotel Surya Complex, Krishnagiri

Planning:

Planning this trip had the inverse problem - the problem of plenty. There are so many charging options along the Bengaluru - Kodaikanal route that I could choose the stops where food was good and also had multiple backups.

After multiple recommendations and discussions in the MG ZS owners WhatsApp group, I had kept two route options : 

Option 1 - Krishnagiri - Salem - Karur - Dindigul - Kodaikanal

Option 2 - Krishnagiri - Salem - Erode - Palani - Kodaikanal 

In both options Zeon 50kW at Hotel Surya complex was the first stop, with Relux 30kW at Hotel Alps residency as backup.

Then in option 1 :

Second stop was 50kW Zeon at Adyar Anand Bhavan, Rasipuram and backup was Zeon 24kW at Omalur which is 20-30 minutes before Rasipuram. Not the ideal backup plan but what was available.

Third stop for a top up was at Zeon 24kW at Subbanna hotel, Karur. Tata 25kW at Kaveri Tata Dindigul, which is 74kms away was first backup and Zeon at hotel temple City which was even further away and 30 minutes deviation was second backup.

Similarly, for option 2:

Second stop was Zeon 50kW at Sankari, with backup as Relux 30kW at Perundurai.

Third top-up stop at Zeon 24kW, in Ganpat grand, Palani without backup.

Given the no backup situation for Palani, the distance from Sankari and ghat climb of Kodai, I started with route option 1 in mind. Moreover, Relux app had a message that there was a maintenance and that charging would not be available that morning. So option 1 seemed ideal 

However, when nearing Salem we realised that we will reach Rasipuram at 11 which is too early for lunch. So, thought of making a lunch stop at Subbanna hotel Karur instead. But that charger was showing offline, so I made a split second plan change to head towards Sankari and then top up at Palani. All of which were showing available. The road was not very great, it went through small towns which cut down the speed and added to commute time.

Some learnings & tips:

1. Have ample amount of charge before starting the ghat climb. Atleast 60% or more. Account for a burn rate of 2km/kWh or less.

2. Route via Palani works better for onward journey, to start the ghat with plenty of charge. But also creates a critical dependency on the only charger at Palani.

3. Starting the return journey with 75% or 80% SoC might be better instead of near full charge. Regen will anyway push it to near full charge by the time of climbing down. Plus, regen 3 will help with breaking while climbing down. Regen doesn't work if battery is full and the vehicle keeps rolling.

Bengaluru to Agumbe - Seethanadi nature camp

Day 12 with the new car, 1K kms completed and first service was already done. We had planned a trip to Mantralaya. That would have been a continued temple run and couple of cousins wanted to go there with family. But that plan had to be changed due to ekadashi. The new destination was Seethanadi nature camp by JLR which is on the other side of Agumbe ghat. This trip was with 4 other cousins who are all ICE owners. So this was kind of an Agni pariksha for my EV on viability.

Route

Route to Agumbe from Bangalore goes via Sringeri, so this trip route turned out highly overlapping with the previous one. Infact we stopped at Sringeri in the morning for breakfast at holla's before continuing to Seethanadi. So, planning charging stops was not difficult as i had already done it last week. The changes from last week was that there was a new Relux charger at Shantigrama and i negotiated slow charging while staying at the JLR.

Onward journey : 

A stop at Relux Shantigrama right after Paakashala was not necessary. But we met another MG at paakashala who were returning from Mangalore, they said the new Relux at Shantigrama was not working. So we stopped to test out and report if there were issues. It was delivering only 20kW. 

Until here the journey was great and at par with a journey in any ICE car. May be a tad bit better on comfort, silence and pickup. The next charging stop brought in the impact to journey time due to EV. 

We had to do the critical stop at Gateway Chikmagalur. At the 24kW charger, going from 45% SOC to 100% took 1 hour and 21 minutes. We chose to take a nap in the car.

The drive through Agumbe ghat was fun and we gained 2% soc. (A seperate post coming up on the ghat topic.) We reached Seethanadi nature camp with 63% soc left.

They were accommodating enough at JLR to let me charge the car. The socket was far (~20ft) but my newly brought extension proved helpful. 63% to 100% SOC on granny charger took from 2pm to 11pm.

Return journey:

After starting from the camp at 100% , we drove through the rugged roads of Kudlu theertha falls and then reached Hariharapura for lunch at 67% SOC. We continued with the destination as Gateway Chikmagalur, but a reassessment during a coffee stop at Khandya cafe showed we could comfortably make it to Shantigrama. That would be a better choice for food.

We reached Sky bird Shantigrama at 12% SOC. But there was some issue with the charger. It would shut off immediately after charging starts and we had to move ahead after a couple of tries. Imagine if Relux wasn't there within a couple of kms distance, Phew!

The thankfulness to Relux soon turned into complaints! Isn't it human nature after all? Food is not great there, smell of grilling meat from Empire was pretty strong plus the charger was only delivering 20kW.

So we plugged out at 35% soc and decided to head to paakashala for dinner. It was 9:15 when we started from Relux and had to reach paakashala within an hour, since it closes at 10:30pm. So that meant a mad rush drive plus banian mode at stretches. We managed to reach Mayura at 2%soc and plugged in there since the 50kW at paakashala was occupied. We walked to paakashala for dinner while the car got charged and then after some negotiations, had the Nexon move to Mayura and we came to paakashala. Nexons can only take a maximum of 29kW, so the 50kW was being under utilised at paakashala until the swap.

We were able to pull in 49kW speed, charged until 95% and headed home. There were 2 Nexons waiting while we were charging at paakashala.

Bangalore - Sringeri - Bangalore in ZS EV

    For a new EV owner, or even for someone considering to buy an EV, long or highway drives are the main fear drivers. I wanted to face this fear and test my trust in the EV infrastructure. Because, darr kea age jeet hai. So I took my less than a week old EV into the wooded & serene parts of Karanataka, to a place I always enjoy visiting – Sringeri. This post is to help build confidence for those with similar jitters. With a little planning you can comfortably win over the fear and enjoy a worryfree & enjoyable drive in your EV. 

Route:

Consumption details

    The first stretch until Hotel sky bird was pure fun drive. Without much EV highway driving experience, I was weaving through vehicles with regen at 3, constantly braking & enjoying the adrenaline rush from instant pickup. I think that was a little reckless driving which was just draining the battery at 5 or 5.5 km/kWh. Then while waiting at the FC, I received a lot of feedback and tips from the MG EV owners WhatsApp group (an awesome EV support system which deserves separate post). Based on the feedback I made a couple of minor modifications to my driving style:

·        Keeping regen at 1 on long, straight Highway stretches. Because the loss from acceleration is higher on such stretches than the gain from regen.

·        Speeds above 80 is okay but did it with a gradual pickup keeping the % power under 50

Though it initially felt like uncle style driving, it paid off well. I got 6.5 to 7 km/kWh through the ghat sections and that can be seen in the efficiency column as well. I did a 244 km stretch comfortably with 24% soc still remaining.

The last stretch from Paakashala to home was back to reckless driving. It was late in the night, I was super tired and slipped into the mode of enjoying reckless driving at the cost of efficiency. Afterall I was driving to the comfort of home.

 

Planning

As I said earlier, with a little planning you can overcome the range fear and have a worry-free drive. Here is how I planned, which may not be a big deal for an experienced EV owner, but is a good starting point for a newbie.

Starting from any part of Bangalore, there is abundance of chargers until Hassan. But beyond Hassan when heading towards Sringeri, the Tata FC at Gateway hotel Chickamagalur is a critical dependency. Gateway hotel to Sringeri & back is a good 200+ kms. Considering the hilly drives, I expected a stop here atleast on one way would be must. Hence, I chose to stop at Shantigrama during my onward journey instead of the more popular Yadiyur chargers. That way, if the Tata FC at Gateway hotel was out or unavailable, I could head to Sringeri and stop at it on the way back. Though the FC at Gateway hotel was available during both legs of my journey.

On the return journey though, the Tata FC had some hiccups likely due to voltage fluctuations. It turned off automatically a couple of times. I had to spend a total of 1.5 hrs + here. I was tempted to leave with enough SOC to reach Yediyur and charge at Paakashala or Hotel Mayura. But the risk of availability far too great. Hassan to Bangalore is a busy route on Sunday evenings. If I get hit up by another EV charging at one of these stations then I would get stuck with too long a wait. Hence, I decided to rather spend the extra time at Gateway hotel and charge enough to reach home if need be. I was checking charger statuses at both Paakashala & Hotel Mayura  when I was 2 hours away and both chargers were continually getting used. The risk of availability did prove to be real. As luck would have it, the charger just got freed up as I was pulling into the parking lot of Paakashala. The 50kw charger was super amazing. In 40 minutes, by the time we finished our dinner, my car too got fed stomach full.

So key takeaways on planning:

1.      Plan for charging stops where chargers are reliable and preferable where multiple chargers are within short distance away

2.      For a 300 km+ trip, account for 1.5 to 2 additional hours for commute than an ICE car. This helps not have high pressure on time loss.

 The experience of driving a ZS EV is a whole lot of fun and worth a separate post.

Foodie tip: Along the Sringer-Chikmagalur route, near Balehonnur there are two great places for awesome coffee : Bhadra coffee stop & Khandya Cafe.