By Kamlesh Mallick

Welcome to brand new series - Charging Infrastructure Watch. This will be a weekly series, where we will talk about electric vehicle charging infrastructure coming up between important cities and towns. These videos and companion articles will act like a reference for electric car owners all over India. In this article, we talk about traveling between Chennai and Coimbatore.

By Atul Gopal

The PluginIndia team went on an electric car drive using the Tata Tigor EV. We used the Zeon Fast Charger network extensively to do the journey. This will show how Electric cars can be practical and more enjoyable on a highway ride!

Guest Post for the EV Community
Mr Vinod Pillai,
​Owner of MG ZS EV
Photos credit Mrs Devika Pillai

We undertook a drive from Delhi to Kochi in an MG ZS EV. The confidence to do this was in part inspired by the fact that we had completed a round trip from Delhi to Pune earlier in Jan 21. So at least part of the route was well known to us. My effort in penning our experience is primarily to highlight the lessons learnt in driving an EV long distance over a period of 6 days, through 8 states through the lockdown imposed by the pandemic.

By Atul Gopal

I had a business meeting in Nashik. Instead of taking a bus, I decided to use my electric bicycle. I suggested it to a few friends who also had electric cycles and they decided to join me. We had 2 Felidae branded electric cycles and 1 Hero Lectro eBike. Let's find out how our electric cycles performed!

By Team PluginIndia

Akhil Venkateshwaran‎ is an owner of the Hyundai Kona Electric SUV, based out of Bengaluru. He shared with us details of his 385km, Electric Car Road Trip from Bengaluru to Coimbatore on his Kona Electric. The PluginIndia team asked him some questions on his epic journey that shows electric vehicles offer incredible cost benefits during such trips.

By Team PluginIndia
​So an incredible EV recce drive/rally comes to an end! The Dehradun highway is now electrified and the electric car community can go upto Dehradun due to reliable points by ZeroBill
As usual we have tons of memories to share and some statistics in this photo-info blog!  

By Kamlesh Mallick

As we shared in our previous blog, Team PluginIndia and Delhi Community are organizing the Electric Car Recce Drive from Feb 15th to Feb 19th. 
​Five days to go and we were grossly under prepared. We basically had 2 or 3 contacts and hoped to charge our Electric Cars.
It was underwhelming. We needed to do more.
​And then, out of nowhere, the nice people of ZeroBill stepped in and took the task of installing community charge points to the next level!

By Team PluginIndia

PluginIndia team along with 'Been There Doon That' and Delhi EV community, are organising an Electric Car Rally and an EV education event ​at Dehradun on February 14th to 18th

By Shikha Krishna

Electric Vehicles can take you places! Quite literally!
​
In the last one month I have received requests to connect with numerous EV enthusiasts and it only builds my assurance how promising the EV industry is in India. Where there is demand, there is sure to be supply! With current product portfolio available in India - across cars/vans and buses EV's are limited to city commute, however they have a potential to transform intercity commute as well.

By Kamlesh Mallick

Days 5, 6 and 7 of our Chalo Dilli tour was all about meeting people! 
We met an EV pioneer - Ms Rita Nahata, based out of Delhi, who drove a DC Reva, then a Revai, then an e2o and now the e2o Plus. We recorded some great stories and insights by Rita on her EV journey. We met the Managing Director of Terra Motors India, Mr Akihiro Ueda. Then we visited the factory of Chinese battery manufacturer of Lithium-Ion battery packs - Coslight, who have invested in India in Manesar. During the last day of our trip, we visit the headquarters of Okinawa scooters!

By Kamlesh Mallick

Day 3 and 4 of our Chalo Chilli tour was very hectic but very exciting!
We visited DLF Mall of India at Noida to check out the work CleanMotion is doing. We met some amazing people at URV enterprises who are going to launch disruptive EV products soon. We then met the EV community and members of EV industry in an event organised by us. We thank Mahindra Electric, Hero Electric and Okinawa for showcasing the e2o Plus, Hero Electric Optima Li-Ion and Okinawa Ridge e-Scooter.

By Kamlesh Mallick

Team PlugInIndia is in New Delhi, India's capital city. We plan to visit manufacturers of Electric Vehicles, meet EV community members and government officials. We also are organising an EV community/industry meetup this Saturday! This photo blog documents the events of Day 1 and 2!

By Kamlesh

The EV community in the cities of Pune and Mumbai did a series of test rides on an electric car - The Mahindra e2o between Mumbai and Pune over the last 2 weeks. A total of 5 electric cars drove around 1500 km with enthusiastic owners feeling green and great!  
​Together we saved more than 125 liters of petrol for our country and we did not pollute the air in the beautiful western ghat mountains.  All of us would want to do this again and again and again!

By Kamlesh Mallick

I just felt like taking a day off my crazy schedule.  I decided to take my Mahindra e2o electric car for a spin to the mountains near Pune city. I decided to go to Lavasa, around 58 km from home. My plan was to just walk in the rain, do nothing, stare at the mist covered mountains, enjoy good food and also check out the Segway rides, launched recently. The concern at the back of my mind was this - I needed to cover 120 km (2 way) on an electric car that goes 100 km.  And that too the route involved climbing steep hills - a big battery drainer.  I did the same trip one year back, i barely made it back! (The magic of Regen!)  This year, i wanted to plug in the car to ensure i was comfortable getting back.
But this time, what i found out was that, businesses and people, generally go out of their way to ensure EVs are plugged in and you return safely home. All you need to do is ask!

By Kamlesh Mallick

I just had the pleasure of visiting Europe for three weeks, recently. To be specific south France and Italy. The car scene is dominated by companies like Peugot, Renault, Citroen and Fiat. And like the rest of the world ICE based engines rule here, guzzling huge amounts of oil and spewing out tons of bad stuff in the atmosphere. Even the little scooters you see in Italian cities are petrol based.
I hardly see an EV here.  Although I did spot few DC quick charging stations in roads and few electric cars plugged in. The overriding feeling i got is that electric vehicles still are driven mostly by enthusiasts, just like in India.