Real Life EV Story
Ranjan Ray
Owner - Mahindra e2o
City - New Delhi
Owner - Mahindra e2o
City - New Delhi
The e2o Chronicles
50000 km completed! 50000 km - 0 OIL - 100% bliss!
The e2o Chronicles.04 – DEV.D - Including numbers for month of June
The e2o Chronicles.03: Bhaag Bluey Bhaag - Including numbers for month of May
The e2o Chronicles.02: 3 States - The story of the first month with my e2o
The e2o Chronicles.01 - Shifting loyalties but still proudly Indian
50000 km completed! 50000 km - 0 OIL - 100% bliss!
The e2o Chronicles.04 – DEV.D - Including numbers for month of June
The e2o Chronicles.03: Bhaag Bluey Bhaag - Including numbers for month of May
The e2o Chronicles.02: 3 States - The story of the first month with my e2o
The e2o Chronicles.01 - Shifting loyalties but still proudly Indian
PluginIndia spoke to me after i completed 50000 km driving Bluey!
* DEV.D was acclaimed director, Anurag Kashyap’s quirky but fabulous 2009 version of the immortal novel and movie, Devdas. DEV.D is still remembered today for its unforgettable song, “Emosanal Atyachar”
In June 2014, I created a facebook page exclusively for electric vehicle owners in Delhi NCR and titled it DEV.D_Driving Electric Vehicles in Delhi.
This has been a busy month with my e2o.
First, I beat last month’s record of kilometres driven in a month and crossed 8000kms on the odometer. Read the monthly charts at the end for the figures
Second, I helped set the ball rolling for some ideas which would help in spreading awareness about electric vehicles in Delhi NCR and in the process showcase Mahindra Reva vehicles.
As mentioned in my last month’s post, I invited the MREV Delhi team to my office and spent an hour with Vikash Kumar (Asst. Sales Manager, North Zone, MREV), Kushagra Kumar (Business Development, North Zone, MREV) and Lalit Naagar (Experience Executive, Koncept Mahindra). We agreed that the e2o required more visibility and were happy to help with organising informal events at regular intervals. I have also met and had regular chats with other members of the MREV team in Delhi who have been most helpful, always.
In June 2014, I created a facebook page exclusively for electric vehicle owners in Delhi NCR and titled it DEV.D_Driving Electric Vehicles in Delhi.
This has been a busy month with my e2o.
First, I beat last month’s record of kilometres driven in a month and crossed 8000kms on the odometer. Read the monthly charts at the end for the figures
Second, I helped set the ball rolling for some ideas which would help in spreading awareness about electric vehicles in Delhi NCR and in the process showcase Mahindra Reva vehicles.
As mentioned in my last month’s post, I invited the MREV Delhi team to my office and spent an hour with Vikash Kumar (Asst. Sales Manager, North Zone, MREV), Kushagra Kumar (Business Development, North Zone, MREV) and Lalit Naagar (Experience Executive, Koncept Mahindra). We agreed that the e2o required more visibility and were happy to help with organising informal events at regular intervals. I have also met and had regular chats with other members of the MREV team in Delhi who have been most helpful, always.
MREV Delhi team outside my office (L to R) - Vikash Kumar, Kushagra Kumar, Lalit Naagar
|
MREV DELHI TEAM (L to R) - Supreet Singh, Sunil Kumar, Umesh Sharma, Aman Sharma
|
MREV TEAM outside my office with GOOD OLD ME:)
I offered to take the first step and created a facebook group – DEV.D_Driving Electric Vehicles in Delhi - https://www.facebook.com/groups/537871159669150/ . Let’s hope that more people like me join and are enthusiastic towards the cause of driving vehicles which run on clean energy. Once we have enough members, we will have a ‘Clean, Green Drive’ in Central Delhi soon.
Finally, e2o’s big brother, my new Mahindra XUV500 came home. The XUV replaced my Tata Manza and thus completed my transition from Tata to Mahindra. My e2o need not worry as I still maintain the same driving regime Watch this space for some amusing pictures of both my new cars, in the next post.
Here are the stats for the month of June for my E2O.
* Continuing with my fascination for Indian films’ inspired titles for my blog, this one is from ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ (Run Milkha Run), a biographical film about one of India’s greatest athletes, Milkha Singh a.k.a The Flying Sikh. Similar to the endurance of that man, the e2o is also able to put behind many miles with just a bit of energy consumption!
My e2o is not a fast car in terms of kmph but the numbers that it has racked up in two months is surely some sort of record in this segment of cars. When you compare the kilometers and the money spent on traveling that distance, there is simply no match across any segment of automobiles.
I just completed my second month with the e2o, it crossed the 5000km mark on the 54th day of ownership and I am yet to fork out 3000 rupees on the electricity charges. My daily routine has not changed at all and I have not run out of charge and been stranded on the road yet!
However, some aspects of my life have surely changed. The most important one being that I now plan out my daily schedule more efficiently. My site visits and out of office meetings are organized well in advance and I am not rushing from one place to the other anymore. My organizational skills have become better and that is reflecting in my work now.
Every coin has two sides. While I have been gushing about the good points of the e2o for the past two months, I have also used this time to look at those aspects of the car which should be improved – Mahindra Reva – hope you are reading this.
I am more than happy to spread the awareness about this EV.
I have invited the Delhi Mahindra Reva marketing team for an informal chat and have offered to help in their awareness program in this part of the country. Watch this space for more developments on that front.
My e2o is not a fast car in terms of kmph but the numbers that it has racked up in two months is surely some sort of record in this segment of cars. When you compare the kilometers and the money spent on traveling that distance, there is simply no match across any segment of automobiles.
I just completed my second month with the e2o, it crossed the 5000km mark on the 54th day of ownership and I am yet to fork out 3000 rupees on the electricity charges. My daily routine has not changed at all and I have not run out of charge and been stranded on the road yet!
However, some aspects of my life have surely changed. The most important one being that I now plan out my daily schedule more efficiently. My site visits and out of office meetings are organized well in advance and I am not rushing from one place to the other anymore. My organizational skills have become better and that is reflecting in my work now.
Every coin has two sides. While I have been gushing about the good points of the e2o for the past two months, I have also used this time to look at those aspects of the car which should be improved – Mahindra Reva – hope you are reading this.
- Power Steering – This is not exactly a big issue but it still is one of those things which would be welcomed. It seems that there may be an upgrade to a power assisted steering in the next couple of months. If and when it happens, I will update you guys.
- Suspension / Shock Absorbers – This is my biggest complaint. The only time I am uncomfortable in the E2O is when I go over a speed breaker. The ‘springy’ action as seen in other cars is missing and it almost feels that the E2O does not have any shock absorbers.
- Touch Panel Interface – The touch panel interface is slow and has quite a few issues with its circuiting. I am not going to list out all issues here but I hope Mahindra is able to upgrade the interface in future. Another problem is that 1/3rd of the screen is hidden by the steering wheel which is quite irritating.
I am more than happy to spread the awareness about this EV.
I have invited the Delhi Mahindra Reva marketing team for an informal chat and have offered to help in their awareness program in this part of the country. Watch this space for more developments on that front.
Till then here are the stats for the month of May for my e2o
The e2o Chronicles.02: 3 States*
The story of the first month with my e2o
The story of the first month with my e2o
* I am a great fan of the Indian Film Industry especially Hindi Films. Films have a way of entering our daily lives and affecting our day to day routine in some way or the other. As a dedication to the world’s largest entertainment industry, I have decided that the titles of all my blog entries will be inspired from films.
This one of course is from ‘2 States – The Story of my Marriage’ the novel by Chetan Bhagat which has been turned in one of 2014’s most successful films by the same name.
April 05, 2014 will always be a memorable day in my life. It was the day that ‘Bluey’ drove into our lives. After having made the decision to buy the Mahindra E2O, it was time to take the delivery of the vehicle. At Koncept Mahindra, Lajpat Nagar, the whole delivery process took a mere 60 mins and I was home in 90 minutes. It took the technician another one hour to install the wall charger in my garage and we were all ready to go.
My three year old daughter is at that age where she goes around naming everything that she encounters. When asked about the E2O, she promptly name it ‘Bluey’ since it was blue! She then went a step further and named my three year old Tata Manza, ‘Purpley’. No prizes for guessing why. Since then that is what we have been calling both our cars at home.
It is an absolute joy driving the E2O. Its quick, its nimble and since it does not occupy too much space, it gets to its destination faster than many of its larger counterparts.
This one of course is from ‘2 States – The Story of my Marriage’ the novel by Chetan Bhagat which has been turned in one of 2014’s most successful films by the same name.
April 05, 2014 will always be a memorable day in my life. It was the day that ‘Bluey’ drove into our lives. After having made the decision to buy the Mahindra E2O, it was time to take the delivery of the vehicle. At Koncept Mahindra, Lajpat Nagar, the whole delivery process took a mere 60 mins and I was home in 90 minutes. It took the technician another one hour to install the wall charger in my garage and we were all ready to go.
My three year old daughter is at that age where she goes around naming everything that she encounters. When asked about the E2O, she promptly name it ‘Bluey’ since it was blue! She then went a step further and named my three year old Tata Manza, ‘Purpley’. No prizes for guessing why. Since then that is what we have been calling both our cars at home.
It is an absolute joy driving the E2O. Its quick, its nimble and since it does not occupy too much space, it gets to its destination faster than many of its larger counterparts.
Here is my daily commute routine. I stay in Noida and my office is in Gurgaon. The one way distance which covers 3 states – U.P., Delhi and Haryana - is 45 kms. Before the E2O, I used to do a combination of car/metro or only car. Other than fuel consumed, the time taken from home to office at 7.30 am was a minimum 75-80 minutes.
With the E2O, the time has actually reduced to 65-70 mins, due to the absence of gears and a clutch pedal, my drive is absolutely painless and I arrive at office fresh and ready.
On the way back home, the earlier drive of 105-120 mins has now reduced to 90-100 minutes. The way the E2O comfortably squeezes into tight spaces during bumper to bumper traffic is absolutely fantastic.
So on an average, my E2O travels about 100 kms daily and I charge it in the office also. I have actually not been to a fuel station in over a month and believe me that is a very satisfying feeling.
In the first month, I have had daily queries about the car, with people actually forcing me to pull over once at 11.30pm (that was one scary experience!) just to ask about the car.
I have put together the seven most asked questions:
I will have my own version of answers to these queries along with other questions in an upcoming post.
With the E2O, the time has actually reduced to 65-70 mins, due to the absence of gears and a clutch pedal, my drive is absolutely painless and I arrive at office fresh and ready.
On the way back home, the earlier drive of 105-120 mins has now reduced to 90-100 minutes. The way the E2O comfortably squeezes into tight spaces during bumper to bumper traffic is absolutely fantastic.
So on an average, my E2O travels about 100 kms daily and I charge it in the office also. I have actually not been to a fuel station in over a month and believe me that is a very satisfying feeling.
In the first month, I have had daily queries about the car, with people actually forcing me to pull over once at 11.30pm (that was one scary experience!) just to ask about the car.
I have put together the seven most asked questions:
- Does it run on petrol, diesel or CNG?
- What is the price?
- What is the charge range?
- What is the top speed?
- How do you get into the back seat?
- Is it really a Mahindra car or have you stuck the logo yourself? (this was a gem)
- What’s under the bonnet? Can you open it and show me?
I will have my own version of answers to these queries along with other questions in an upcoming post.
Till then here are the stats for the month of April for my E2O.
My E2O Statistics_APRIL 2014 (@ INR 5.27/Kwh)
My E2O Statistics_APRIL 2014 (@ INR 5.27/Kwh)
The e2o Chronicles.01
Shifting loyalties but still proudly Indian
Shifting loyalties but still proudly Indian
The E2O Chronicles 1: My Indian Car brigade
It all started with my desire to own and drive the World’s Cheapest car. The fact is that I have always bought an INDIAN car. My first was a Tata Indigo (which I sold off after driving 145,000 kms) and the second a Tata Manza (110,000 and still going strong). Call it patriotism or whatever you will but I firmly believe that we are fast approaching a stage when Indian manufacturers (Tata, Mahindra, Force etc.) will be giving the others a run for their money in terms of technology and finished product.
Now I need to give you a background about myself first. Currently I stay in Delhi NCR and am a practicing architect but I spent the first 18 years of my life in the steel city of Jamshedpur, the land of the Tatas. My loyalty towards everything that starts with Tata is a result of the first half of my life!
When it came to domestic cars (not JLR), Tata Motors have had their ups and down and currently are going through a rough patch. In spite of this, I walked into a Tata showroom in Noida wanting to test drive the new Nano Twist. With a on road price of almost INR 3 lakhs, I was ready to pick it up for my daily home to office commute – Noida – Gurgaon – Noida, round trip of about 90 kms. The reason I needed a new car was because my 3 year old daughter was about to start formal school and the Manza was required at home. I was quite happy to drive a smaller car as I needed it just for my basic needs. The service executive for the Nano was not available and I was promised a home test drive which never materialized even after patiently waiting for 2 weeks.
During this time, Mahindra E2O came out with their scheme – “Goodbye Fuel, Hello Electric” and I saw an ad in the paper. I had read a favorable review of the car in Autocar magazine last year when it was launched and had not given the car really much thought. On logging into the website, I was pleasantly surprised by the design of the car and its forward thinking features. Being an architect, design and innovation are two things that appeal to me and I was pretty impressed with what Mahindra Reva had on offer. The Reva-i had had its own share of issues but the E2O was a huge step ahead with a ‘proper’ 4 seater car.
It took just one call to the Koncept Mahindra Showroom at Lajpat Nagar to get in touch with Lalit Nagar, their ‘experience executive’. A prompt test drive at home and a quick discussion with my office building at Gurgaon with regarding to a charging point and I was sold. My office is in a LEED rated building with car charging points which had never been used! The building guys were probably as excited as I was.
What also worked to my advantage is the fact that the Delhi Govt. currently has a subsidy on the E2O and also allows a depreciation of 80% in the first year if bought under a company name or by a self employed individual. Regular cars can only claim 15% every year. This means I will save INR 140,000 on income tax this year!
Finally, the biggest hurdle, the price tag. Even after Govt. subsidy and Mahindra’s scheme, the E2O is a good two times the cost of the top end Nano or at least INR 1 Lakh more than a similar petrol car. I overcame this by looking at the car 18 months from now. My calculations told me that in 18 months I would have got back the money I would spend today on buying the E20 and after that I would be spending only INR 1200/month, which is 6% the amount of INR 20,000/ month that I was currently spending on the Manza.
Now, How in the world would the E20 help me achieve all of this? Keep reading this section to know more.
To cut a long story short I ended up buying an Indian electric car and I have loved every moment of it since then.
To add to it, I am driving a sound free, smoke free car which is not harming the environment and us.
Its ta ta to Tata for the moment and hello to Mahindra and I sincerely hope that Tata comes up with something electrifying
in the days to come.
Now I need to give you a background about myself first. Currently I stay in Delhi NCR and am a practicing architect but I spent the first 18 years of my life in the steel city of Jamshedpur, the land of the Tatas. My loyalty towards everything that starts with Tata is a result of the first half of my life!
When it came to domestic cars (not JLR), Tata Motors have had their ups and down and currently are going through a rough patch. In spite of this, I walked into a Tata showroom in Noida wanting to test drive the new Nano Twist. With a on road price of almost INR 3 lakhs, I was ready to pick it up for my daily home to office commute – Noida – Gurgaon – Noida, round trip of about 90 kms. The reason I needed a new car was because my 3 year old daughter was about to start formal school and the Manza was required at home. I was quite happy to drive a smaller car as I needed it just for my basic needs. The service executive for the Nano was not available and I was promised a home test drive which never materialized even after patiently waiting for 2 weeks.
During this time, Mahindra E2O came out with their scheme – “Goodbye Fuel, Hello Electric” and I saw an ad in the paper. I had read a favorable review of the car in Autocar magazine last year when it was launched and had not given the car really much thought. On logging into the website, I was pleasantly surprised by the design of the car and its forward thinking features. Being an architect, design and innovation are two things that appeal to me and I was pretty impressed with what Mahindra Reva had on offer. The Reva-i had had its own share of issues but the E2O was a huge step ahead with a ‘proper’ 4 seater car.
It took just one call to the Koncept Mahindra Showroom at Lajpat Nagar to get in touch with Lalit Nagar, their ‘experience executive’. A prompt test drive at home and a quick discussion with my office building at Gurgaon with regarding to a charging point and I was sold. My office is in a LEED rated building with car charging points which had never been used! The building guys were probably as excited as I was.
What also worked to my advantage is the fact that the Delhi Govt. currently has a subsidy on the E2O and also allows a depreciation of 80% in the first year if bought under a company name or by a self employed individual. Regular cars can only claim 15% every year. This means I will save INR 140,000 on income tax this year!
Finally, the biggest hurdle, the price tag. Even after Govt. subsidy and Mahindra’s scheme, the E2O is a good two times the cost of the top end Nano or at least INR 1 Lakh more than a similar petrol car. I overcame this by looking at the car 18 months from now. My calculations told me that in 18 months I would have got back the money I would spend today on buying the E20 and after that I would be spending only INR 1200/month, which is 6% the amount of INR 20,000/ month that I was currently spending on the Manza.
Now, How in the world would the E20 help me achieve all of this? Keep reading this section to know more.
To cut a long story short I ended up buying an Indian electric car and I have loved every moment of it since then.
To add to it, I am driving a sound free, smoke free car which is not harming the environment and us.
Its ta ta to Tata for the moment and hello to Mahindra and I sincerely hope that Tata comes up with something electrifying
in the days to come.
Tell us your EV story!
Do you use an electric car or an e-bike and would like to share your experience for the benefit of others?
If yes, please contact us and we will be happy to include your story. Do send us some pics!
Do you use an electric car or an e-bike and would like to share your experience for the benefit of others?
If yes, please contact us and we will be happy to include your story. Do send us some pics!