Our Green 'NoMo'
Soumya Prasad
Owner - Mahindra e2o
City - Delhi
Owner - Mahindra e2o
City - Delhi
Drive to Landour (near Mussoorie) with Nomo - our all electric car!
Soumya. Raman. Abhas. World Environment Day, 2016
Landour, the hill top above Mussorie is far from maddening crowds (~ 40 km). With our friend Abhas M. we planned to drive Nomo (our all electric Mahindra e2o) to Landour, charge the car's and our own batteries and drive down. Simple enough. We have done this tons of times with our other vehicles.
his is the first time we are attempting this on an electric car!
Soumya. Raman. Abhas. World Environment Day, 2016
Landour, the hill top above Mussorie is far from maddening crowds (~ 40 km). With our friend Abhas M. we planned to drive Nomo (our all electric Mahindra e2o) to Landour, charge the car's and our own batteries and drive down. Simple enough. We have done this tons of times with our other vehicles.
his is the first time we are attempting this on an electric car!

We started at 1:30 PM, and chose a slightly longer route (5 km extra) to reach Rajpur, which is the place where the road to Mussorie starts. Along the steady uphill climb from Rajpur to Mussorie, we rode to the music of bird calls, which one can only experience while driving an electric.
The weekend traffic was heavy in many stretches, but Nomo was a breeze to drive. At Mussorie, we chose the bata-ghat route to get to Landour, an additional ~ 5 km. The shorter Landour Bazaar route is extremely steep and very crowded.
When we took the fork to Bataghat at Mussorie, SOC was @ 37%. It drained to 17% in 7 km by the time we reached the base of Landour. We knew that the next one km climb to Landour peak would be the real test for Nomo and Raman’s driving.
At places the slope is over 30 degrees!! We did very well as we climbed up with three people in the car, soaring past Doma’s Inn and sailing up to the last hair-pin bend leading to Landour. Even though we were driving slow, on "E" mode by then, we chugged past several fuel cars that were struggling to do this climb. The electric car gripped the slopes better than any other vehicle we had previously driven on this stretch.
The weekend traffic was heavy in many stretches, but Nomo was a breeze to drive. At Mussorie, we chose the bata-ghat route to get to Landour, an additional ~ 5 km. The shorter Landour Bazaar route is extremely steep and very crowded.
When we took the fork to Bataghat at Mussorie, SOC was @ 37%. It drained to 17% in 7 km by the time we reached the base of Landour. We knew that the next one km climb to Landour peak would be the real test for Nomo and Raman’s driving.
At places the slope is over 30 degrees!! We did very well as we climbed up with three people in the car, soaring past Doma’s Inn and sailing up to the last hair-pin bend leading to Landour. Even though we were driving slow, on "E" mode by then, we chugged past several fuel cars that were struggling to do this climb. The electric car gripped the slopes better than any other vehicle we had previously driven on this stretch.
Just as we reached the last hair-pin bend, we noticed a loaded pajero full of people struggling to climb. The exhaust started blasting huge wafts of black smoke into our faces.
A few seconds later it looked like the whole car was going up in smoke. There was no space for Nomo car to overtake this smoking monster, and the SOC dipped below 10%!
Abhas and I hopped out and let Raman drive Nomo to Landour.
We had been in touch with another EV owner in Landour who had suggested we charge where his car was parked, near Sister’s bazaar. As Raman buzzed up in Nomo car and asked around to find this spot, he realized he was heading into the highest point in Landour (2255 m asl), involving a very, very steep climb. A few metres from the gate, from where he could see the red Revai parked, Nomo car refused to climb. The SOC dipped from 5% to 3%. The drizzle had turned into a steady downpour by now. Abhas and I ran up hill in record time, leaving us with little steam to push Nomo car. Thankfully, two kind guys who hopped out of their own car in the heavy rain, helped us push Nomo into this hill-top sarkari office where the reva-i was parked.
A few seconds later it looked like the whole car was going up in smoke. There was no space for Nomo car to overtake this smoking monster, and the SOC dipped below 10%!
Abhas and I hopped out and let Raman drive Nomo to Landour.
We had been in touch with another EV owner in Landour who had suggested we charge where his car was parked, near Sister’s bazaar. As Raman buzzed up in Nomo car and asked around to find this spot, he realized he was heading into the highest point in Landour (2255 m asl), involving a very, very steep climb. A few metres from the gate, from where he could see the red Revai parked, Nomo car refused to climb. The SOC dipped from 5% to 3%. The drizzle had turned into a steady downpour by now. Abhas and I ran up hill in record time, leaving us with little steam to push Nomo car. Thankfully, two kind guys who hopped out of their own car in the heavy rain, helped us push Nomo into this hill-top sarkari office where the reva-i was parked.
The other EV owner had gone out of Landour that morning, but he was on the phone continuously trying to help us out. Hill folks are helpful. As Raman and Abhas spoke to the security guards to allow us charge, the storm intensified and there were massive lightening strikes. The power supply was out. With great difficulty we managed to convince the guards to plug in the car when the power came back.

Drenched to the skin, we headed to a little store in Sister’s Bazaar. This little store is manned by a chatty woman who spends hours taking to every customer. Another hill custom. Over chai and pakodas that the lady kindly fed us, we ended up buying three shabby kurtas for an astounding amount of money. Just as Raman purchased some umbrellas, the rain came to a complete stop! After a phone call with the sarkari boss of our EV friend to allow us to charge at the hill-top place, we stepped out for a stroll around Landour in our new kurtas and headed to a local pub for some well deserved recharging.
As quickly as weather conditions changes in the Himalayas, situations can also change. We were looking at the menu one minute, and the next minute we were speaking to this anonymous guy who was telling us that we had to remove our car immediately from this premises. This was not an any army / cantonment property, although it was a sarkari office. I tried to assure him that I also worked for the government, and this was an emergency. Our car was at 1% charge and may need to be towed to bring it out. He asked us to contact the local police and get it towed. I requested him to put this down on paper, or atleast give us his name. He refused on both counts.
Thus, on world environment day, having done this brave drive to Landour, we were staring at the prospect of having our car towed. At this point, Abhas casually asked the waiter who was showing us the menu at the local pub if he could get our car towed and find a charging point for us. Without batting an eyelid, our man coolly turned to us, almost like one of those perfect waiters in P.G. Wodehouse novels, and nodded a polite yes. Unbelievable. As simple as that.
As quickly as weather conditions changes in the Himalayas, situations can also change. We were looking at the menu one minute, and the next minute we were speaking to this anonymous guy who was telling us that we had to remove our car immediately from this premises. This was not an any army / cantonment property, although it was a sarkari office. I tried to assure him that I also worked for the government, and this was an emergency. Our car was at 1% charge and may need to be towed to bring it out. He asked us to contact the local police and get it towed. I requested him to put this down on paper, or atleast give us his name. He refused on both counts.
Thus, on world environment day, having done this brave drive to Landour, we were staring at the prospect of having our car towed. At this point, Abhas casually asked the waiter who was showing us the menu at the local pub if he could get our car towed and find a charging point for us. Without batting an eyelid, our man coolly turned to us, almost like one of those perfect waiters in P.G. Wodehouse novels, and nodded a polite yes. Unbelievable. As simple as that.
Raman walked up to the hill top to drive down Nomo car. At this point, we were not sure what the status of charge was, and whether it had charged at the sarkari office, next to the Red Revai. The app was not logging in and calls to MReva’s toll free number did not get through. Thankfully, the kind sarkari official had allowed our car to get to 3% charge (in two hours). This allowed Raman to drive around Landour to find the next charging point at another property owned by the same firm that operated the pub.
As the staff at this property has requested us not to publicize their name, so we are not in a position to share this on the blog. The staff here were also extremely courteous and their electrician gave clear answers to identify an earthed 15 am point. Over a couple of beers, and a lovely sunset, we let Nomo car charge.
That’s the nicest EV experience I have ever had. The music of our car charging drowned out by cicada calls as we sat down to enjoy a lovely meal with friends. With the general attitude within government ranks, private service providers may be the game changers for the EV scene in India.
Raman does not like taking risks, so we left Landour with 59% charge, which we thought would be sufficient to take us home on a down-hill ride. And what a drive that was. Unbelievable to watch the SOC climb back from 59% to 61% and 62% and finally a whopping 74%, that’s a 15% regen with headlights on. Does this mean, we could have left Landour with 3% from the hill-top Sarkari office and still made it to DehraDun?
We will share this experience with the hotel owner @ Landour to thank him, and try to convince him to make his buildings EV friendly. That will surely bring in silent cars and a different genre of tourists into Mussoorie and Landour. The kind that likes silence, and is willing to go the extra mile to find some.
As the staff at this property has requested us not to publicize their name, so we are not in a position to share this on the blog. The staff here were also extremely courteous and their electrician gave clear answers to identify an earthed 15 am point. Over a couple of beers, and a lovely sunset, we let Nomo car charge.
That’s the nicest EV experience I have ever had. The music of our car charging drowned out by cicada calls as we sat down to enjoy a lovely meal with friends. With the general attitude within government ranks, private service providers may be the game changers for the EV scene in India.
Raman does not like taking risks, so we left Landour with 59% charge, which we thought would be sufficient to take us home on a down-hill ride. And what a drive that was. Unbelievable to watch the SOC climb back from 59% to 61% and 62% and finally a whopping 74%, that’s a 15% regen with headlights on. Does this mean, we could have left Landour with 3% from the hill-top Sarkari office and still made it to DehraDun?
We will share this experience with the hotel owner @ Landour to thank him, and try to convince him to make his buildings EV friendly. That will surely bring in silent cars and a different genre of tourists into Mussoorie and Landour. The kind that likes silence, and is willing to go the extra mile to find some.