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.