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.