Used cruise control through out on the expressway and as much as possible on the highway.
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Trip report –
Just concluded a one night trip to Jaipur. Now there nothing special about going from Faridabad to Jaipur. The distance is 260-280 kms (depending on route taken) and can be easily covered by Nexon EV Max.
Recommended route and the fast charging options
So then what is the catch? The catch is that there is a new expressway – Delhi Mumbai expressway to Jaipur and there is connector to it from Faridabad making it an ideal route to go to Jaipur. Expressways and current Indian EVs are not a good match. With the problem statement set, how to get around it?
You will be thinking here is another hypermiling in an EV story. Na, it is not. Below is how I tackled it:
Now, we started after breakfast at 9:30 AM as the previous day was Diwali Day. Now you get on to the connector to DME, the speed limit allowed is 100 kmph. So I targeted 90 kmph which is decent as per the highway. The challenge comes the moment you get on to DME, the speed limit is 120 kmph. Now I chose to start off at 90 kmph, it is slow for expressway standards but I wanted to be cautious. As the time progressed and I was content with the discharge I drove at 100 as well for some time. Reached the lunch stop on Dausa – Jaipur highway with 14% SOC left, charged to 39% while having lunch and then moved on to the hotel.
Result – Covered 281 kms in 104% SOC. 5 hrs including 1 hr lunch stop
While coming back, we left Jaipur at 2 PM and thought that we will have lunch after entering the expressway which takes around an hour to reach. We reached the rest stop with 73% SOC left, so charged to 90% while having lunch. With previous day’s experience under the belt kept speed at 100 kmph for most of the expressway.
Result – Covered 286 kms in 106% SOC. Travel time – 4.5 hrs including 30 min lunch stop
Total trip was 601 kms – I spent Rs 1310 (Rs 1030 on commercial charging and Rs. 280 on home charging). That makes it Rs 2.1 per km of running cost. I didn’t need a fast charger to charge my car to 100% because Fairmont had a Sunfuel type 2 charger setup, I charged my car to 100% overnight.
Used cruise control through out on the expressway and as much as possible on the highway. I have attached the zconnect graphs for both the drives.
Learning – I can drive my car at 100 kmph, if there are ample charging options within 200-220 kms of the starting point.
Discharge curve and speed graph – Faridabad to Jaipur
Keyword: 600 km roadtrip with my Nexon EV Max: Some crucial lessons learnt