As electric as it gets!

We had decided to do the daring drive from Kochi to Bangalore on the latest Harrier EV. The beasts had waited enough for this union and were eager to test each others mettle. The beast in Harrier and the other beast driver in me. My friend and husband had planned to pick me by Noon but had to start from their home by 3pm after few detours after running some errands elsewhere. I had already started driving around the monstrous Harrier around Kochi city. I silently enjoyed when the roadside bullies in other cars and motorbikes giving way for the beast to pass. On another day, on a different vehicle these bullies would have not thought twice before showing me their true colour in 8K clarity. Who knew that our beliefs were going to be tested that evening and what night had planned for us.

The fact that whole India was under construction was well reminded by the road maintenance work on the highway between Kochi to Bangalore. Roads were getting clogged up as a heart with cholesterol. We had maintained the pace that was instilled upon us by the trucks in front of us. For a long time, it looked as if I was also driving a slow truck. More than me the Harrier was getting upset with the road which was unlike any he expected when he was born in that Tata factory where for sure his makers would have promised a testing terrain to test himself and prove to the world his power and potential. 

I was encouraged by the owners of the Harry to change to Sport mode which unfortunately had to wait until we found suitable roads. A quick first look at the battery showed me it had 65% and could cover 300kms which gave me the confidence that we would reach Salem before we give some bournvita to boost Harry. We had to reach near Kuthiran to finally feel that there was an accelerator pedal to this car, by then I had mastered the parking, braking and auto other assist features which was very much required in traffic. The twilight caused by the fading day and rising moon had rekindled my heart and I had started to connect with this beauty on my hands. While I was busy cruising in high speeds, my friends reminded me that I had skipped lunch while waiting for them. Little did I realise the car itself took a deviation and sudden turn into the car parking of a highway restaurant as if he was also hungry. It is a questionable coincidence that there was a EV charger where I parked. It had now started to drizzle and while we were having a heavy meal, we had put the car to have a light meal on EV charger. I understood it’s light meal considering the power of the charger. This was something I was destined to learn that night. 

When we were back after an hour the car showed it can go another 200km and some 50% charge. I did a rough calculation and understood that it can reach Salem somehow and then we would need to stop again to feed Harry. By now we had done a dinner which costed around ₹1.5K and some bucks for feeding the EV hunger. Now it was the time to test sports mode and city modes interchangeably. Between three of us, we had enough story to tell that we didn’t realise how soon we had passed Coimbatore. For some reason I had kept an eye on the charge and kilometres from the dinner time as my initial calculation had gone wrong and it was important to keep a check. As I speeding to the limits allowed, Harry for some reason started getting hungrier and eating up the charge faster than earlier. As we were in one of India’s busiest highways, there was no doubt of finding another charging station which made me flex fearlessly on the road. By the time we passed Coimbatore, little did I realise that slowly but steadily I had now turned the newest bully in the mean highway. That was the confidence this Tata beauty gave me. 

All the while, the charge kept draining faster than ever and I realised we won’t reach Salem with current levels and should stop before that for another hunger break but this time only the car was hungry. While waiting even though not hungry, we ended up having the second dinner and it was only 930pm by then. My friend was excited to see a fast charger this time and she said this potent charger could fill up the little Harry in an hour. I was equally thrilled as it meant we are going to reach the garden city sooner. Only difference was that this time we had to pay bit more than other charger for EV as it was a fast charger. Once we came back after an hour, we were surprised to see that it had filled on half as someone else also put their car to charge next to us which halves the charger power to each car. This was news for me but they knew it earlier. This meant we had to make that executive decision at what point to unplug the EV charger. We Three decided on 65% as the magic number supported by google maps showing 230kms to Bangalore. The night was looking slightly longer than expected as the second stop set us back by additional 1.5hrs. 

As they say, the trip is fun based on the company we have and this one was getting interesting with the two of them and Harrier. We had zoomed past Salem and reached the new highway towards Hosur via Rayakotai. The battery which promised us bringing home gold(reaching Bangalore), made us feel like that night even Bronze(reaching Hosur) wouldn’t come home. By the time we were reaching Rayakotai, the battery had drained a new low of 20% and a 90km range. My friend’s husband who had told me you could keep the AC running for two full days without losing a percent of battery in Harrier now suddenly woke up and told be time to turn off AC before we drain further. Both of them had taken up their mobile in hand and the hunt for next charging station had started. I realised they had 10 apps each in both the phones and none of it showed anything close other than Dharmapuri. They were also using google to find chargers. But to reach Dharmapuri via the route we came would leave us drained on the highway and only bet was the take the road via Shoolagiri and now it was around 1am. 

Another executive decision was made, to go through the Shoolagiri which was pitch dark with forest roads and no street lights with sporadic spread of abandoned houses. My friend’s husband suggested to start using regen to keep it alive, I managed to use regent and travel 6-8kms with no power lost all thanks to the hilly roads. Meanwhile car was busy shutting down different services to keep himself alive, finally he declared that he had done what is required and now safer to park him aside before it shutdown without notice. I could see one of the passenger had given up Harry and reached to Tata emergency support. Tata support agent sounded like a suicide help desk at the moment, who kept saying something like breathe in-breathe out, park on side, shutdown and wait for help etc., but where to park as this road an elephant also won’t notice us in this darkness. Tata even sent the link to share geo location to my friend but her husband was confident to test out and go forward. Something about the car’s connection to me also gave me the signal to keep going. She was not convinced and urged us both to stop and wait for rescue. Tata did tell in city they can come in an hour and I was sure they didn’t know what they were signing up for if at all they had to find us in the wild wild west at 1:30 a.m.

As in all unbelievable stories, miraculously a new EV charger showed up on his mobile which said 12kms more. We were earlier heading for 25kms charger and this was a relief and worth the risk. Men will be men for sure when it comes to their overconfidence and trust on vehicles. We kept going and started to see light at the end of the tunnel, and that end was the highway which we originally skipped to take the new Rayakotai highway. The ascend to the highway on that hilly terrain with no rocky terrain mode  or hill hold assist or even air conditioning, this highly potent Harrier was really pitying us that he kept squeezing every percentage. Every percentage really felt like getting that breath after you have drowned for a while. Once we reached highway, I kept the car on extreme left in case it turns off and every 100 metre was a victory in itself. Finally we strolled into the charger as if we were finishing an Iron Man contest. We decided not to even take a reverse to put the charger plug correctly fearing in case it turns off and we reached the charger but plug doesn’t reach. 

It was time to install another charger app as I figured every other charger is from a different company. By now the phone batteries were also dying and screaming for help. Imagine an EV car with no phone working, that is pretty much game over. Tata did call back to confirm whether we still need support. We informed them that we finally reached a charger and for sure they were as thrilled as us otherwise their night would have become a rescue and search operation in Shoolagiri range with no working mobile and a car with no lights turned off inside a single lane road on the darkest of night. 

This new charger was the best we got on the way and another break to charge for 30mins with fastest of charging did get us to Bangalore effortlessly by 4am. This was the longest I ever took to drive this distance with ample food breaks for both us and car. Slowest ever between Rayakotai to Dharmapuri via Shoolagiri where car had to travel under 25km to keep the regen alive. We realised that there was a power beyond us who wanted us to reach home safely. With EV, we are sure to eat more, fill our mobile with apps, buy a MagSafe charger for phones, and end up paying large sums on fast chargers who then slows us by sharing with others while charging. On another day, Swift Diesel would have costed ₹3k to reach this distance with only one break. This multiple chargers got our money stuck across apps and we didn’t end up paying around ₹2k across stations without counting the extra we spend on the food we didn’t want to eat while waiting. Another learning was that fast charging makes it drain faster and slow charger gives the promised range or closest to the promised range. 

India would need another decade to fill with the right amount of EV chargers on the road. Owners would need a year to stabilise their calculations and miscalculations to take control on EV. Another effort to standardise the charging cost and apps are too far behind. But with more adoption and more EV chargers on road, definitely each one of us would become power hungry like our politicians. Hope we produce that from greener sources than the current methods. 

New world, new ways but same old us! 

P.S. A drive is fun when it creates memories and EV is here to stay -  for sure create memories for all us. Trust me driving it is worth the stress and it doesn’t pain one bit today and would have never wished for a better spine chilling story for a first EV long drive.