Should you buy an electric car or not? It’s a very simple question, And we have its detailed answer. We have already made a lot of articles, But today’s article will be very unique, As we have let other people drive an EV. So Tata provided us with their Nexon EV as a long-termer, And we decided to let others experience the car those, Who love EVs, Who have doubts about EVs, Or who may not buy an EV. So we made such types of guys drive the EV, Giving us a clear analysis if you should buy EV or not.
We have made a very interesting article for you, So read the entire article for complete clarity. It doesn’t matter if you are buying Petrol, Diesel, a Hybrid, or an Electric car, This article is for all of you. And if any of your friends are planning to buy a car then share with them as well, As we are sharing such facts in this article that will blow away your mind. So without wasting any time let’s go in the article.
Let’s start with me which is Case no.1 My driving is not a lot with the EV Max. My drive from home to the office and back is hardly 30km, And majorly I drive on open roads and do not get much traffic. In fact, you will get more range on EV in traffic conditions, Compared to petrol, diesel, or a hybrid car. Just sharing a fact with you. So in my daily run, I was approximately getting a range of 300kms. And as my daily drive was 30 km,
I use to charge the car after every 9-10 days with home charging. So I charge it at home and had no problems with that. I was able to charge easily. Use to come home, Plug in the charger, The next day morning it use to be 100%, And then pretty much sorted for the next 10 days. So in my case, the major use was this part. That’s how I never had to use a public charger, And in most cases, I didn’t even think that I have to charge the car or anything such.
So everything was pretty much sorted in my case as my running was fairly limited. Even while going for shoot, reiki, or when I do some other kind of shoots, We use to take the car which we are going to shoot. And so running was fairly limited.
Moving to Case No.2, We handed over the car to someone who drives 70-80 km per day. Now if you have any idea about Mumbai’s geography, Our office is in Vashi, And the person who was using the car lives in Mumbai Central. So on average, his running was 70-75 km. So for the first few days, he was charging the car every third day as range anxiety kicks in right. Every time the range was getting down, Eventually after a couple of weeks, he got very comfortable, And he started to charge the car after every fourth day, Rather than every third day. So that’s the differentiation.
In fact, he got so comfortable that he said he’ll go from Mumbai to Pune, He did that, And even drove the car from Mumbai to Surat. So range anxiety is just a mindset. Once you are confident that even at 5 or 10% battery you can drive for some kilometers, Then you are pretty much sorted. And range anxiety is just a fear in the mind. Overall as I said he was charging the car every fourth day, But in his case, he didn’t have a home charger, And luckily there was a fast charger near his house, And use to charge the car with that.
Now, his running cost with a fast charger was around 2.5rs per km. Whereas in my case where I was using a home charger, My running cost was 1rs per km. Now just for reference, The running cost of a petrol car is around 9-12 rs per km. And that is a major difference in pricing, As the overall running cost was reduced by 80-90%, Which is beneficial to you if your running is a lot more. Now the story becomes even more interesting as we handed the car to a person who drives 90km per day. Yes, you heard it right, 90 km per day.
He stays in Andheri while our office is in Vashi, And the daily running was 85-90 km per day. Also, if you are watching the video in today’s timeline, Then you might be knowing it is very hectic to travel from Andheri West to Andheri East, With increased traffic and ongoing flyover construction. And so he has to encounter heavy traffic. This is the most difficult route I think to encounter. So initially he used to charge the car every 2nd day.
He had that range of anxiety with a fear of battery draining early. But with time the range anxiety was almost gone And started to charge the car every 3rd day, Which was approximately after covering 270-280 km of range, And the car was charged completely on the public charger. Also, if you are buying an electric car, Then you must have a home charger.
So even if you drive a lot within the city, I mean we did an owner’s review, He stays in Panvel and his daily running was to Andheri. So to and fro he used to cover 110 km. And he owns EV Prime, Not even the Max, And he use to charge the car every 2nd day. Meaning he use to charge the car after 220 km. And with us, we use to charge every 3rd day as our running was low, And of course, the battery pack in our car is a lot bigger.
Now let me cover an interesting point for you. One of the two guys who was using the car was not in favor of an EV. And both had range anxiety. So the range anxiety was gone in both cases, But also many points were clarified. Now if you have a charger at home then you will mostly charge at home itself, Which decreases the running cost by 90%. Meaning your running cost is just 1rs per km.
So if you see that as your running cost, Then traveling by public transport like a bus, Your traveling cost will be more than the running cost of an EV. So it is a major differentiation in an electric car where the running cost is low, And even the maintenance cost is close to zero. There is no engine oil, fuel filter, oil filter, or even spark plugs. So there are no moving parts as such bringing your maintenance cost close to zero. The only cost will be the cost of wheel alignment or washing and detailing, And the cost will not be more than 1,000-1,500 rs.
In fact, the brake life is better on an electric car, And even the tire life is better as the majority of EV owners use regenerative braking. So how it benefits is that Suppose the tire life is 40,000-50,000 km, It will be twice on an electric car. The same thing to brake pads, Life is almost double or more in an electric car, Rather than normal life, Due to the regenerative braking. So in terms of the maintenance aspect, There is a major differentiation between the ICE, That is petrol or diesel cars, And the electric car as the EV becomes very affordable.
Now we were not able to do a couple of things with this car, One is we couldn’t complete 15,000 km to give you the service cost, And that is a clear miss out from our end. But I have already shared the approximate service cost. Second is the fact that we were not able to cover 800-900 km in a day. That’s again a clear miss on our part. And for the reason we couldn’t cover that distance in a single day, We are sharing a detailed owner’s review of Nexon EV Prime.
So he covered around 17,000 km in 52 days with his friend in the EV Max. He first traveled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, From there he traveled to North East, Then Bhutan, And then Nepal. So the kilometers he covered were a lot more. And in his entire journey, he had no issues with charging his car, In fact when I asked him how much maximum distance he covered in a day, He covered almost 800-900 km in a single day.
“How much maximum distance did you cover in your highway trip in a single day? Like most kilometers in a day? Around 1050 km -1050 km in a single day? On a few instances, I had to cover 922 km, On other days had to cover some 850 km, Some days it was 1000+ km.” So I am leaving the link in the ‘i’ button and do go and check it out, He himself owns the EV Prime but he covered the distance in his friend’s EV Max. In fact, Much before the lockdown in 2020, When EVs were just begun to launch in the market, I did a trip from Mumbai to Delhi in 48 hrs, And that too using slow chargers. But today there are so many fast chargers, If I do that distance today, I might cover it in just 24 hrs.
So all I am trying to say is what we think is just an assumption, But the reality is something else. If you check in real life then there are people who cover more than 500 km in a single day, And some have even covered 1000 km on their Nexons and other electric cars too. Now some may say that in some particular conditions, the range will deplete in an EV. So that happens with the petrol or diesel cars as well. If you drive a petrol or diesel car uphill, The mileage you get is less. So the same story goes with an electric car with range depleting quickly.
But the advantage electric car holds over petrol or diesel car, Is while coming downhill. You can activate the regen braking while going downhill. It means the car isn’t using the battery power while going downhill, In fact, it utilizes it to charge the battery once again. So you must have heard that while going uphill the range depletes in an EV, But it charges itself while going downhill, Of course, it doesn’t charges back to what it was, But if you calculate the average of going up and coming down, The difference is not a lot compared to the actual range the car was going to achieve.
So, guys, this was our today’s video where we have tried to cover all the facts, And in fact this time we asked different people to drive the car who were EV pro, Who was not in favor of EVs, Or even those who think EV will not succeed in India. We made all those to drive the EV, And we got a clear opinion that once you drive the EV, Like once you drive it for a week, All the anxiety or the confusions you had were simply pointless. So that is what we noticed in most of the cases.
In fact, I chose the topic of Electric cars in my recent seminar at a financial institute, And I kept the open stage and let them ask whatever questions they had. Also if I have to define the fact about electric cars, I would say first use then trust. See the overall experience of EV users in our team, They used to charge every 2nd day, But later they realized they don’t need to charge so soon. And started to charge every 3rd day. So initially they were charging the car even with 20-25% battery left. But later they got so confident that they started to charge the car with just 5% battery left. So where they were confident with a 5 km range in ICE cars, They had similar confidence in 5% battery in the EV. Overall it is evolving and it is a mental block I feel more than anything else.
I am not asking you to buy an electric car only, I am saying to try out the electric car once and you will see the benefits over regular petrol or diesel cars. And I feel it is an amazing technology to buy at the moment. Now if you have more questions, We are always available to support you. We try our best to clarify all your doubts. It’s very easy.
So ending today’s session, See you tomorrow with an all-new article guys, Take care,
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