Long distance, no compromise EV driving in India is now a reality thanks to Zeon Charging! Drove my Hyundai Kona from Bangalore to my ancestral home near Alathur, Kerala. Total distance of 470km, done in 9 hrs including a 45min charge+30min food stop at Saravana Bhavan Vaigundam.

Started Bangalore at 3.30pm, car was fully loaded with 3 of us and a full heavy boot. Battery at 100% SoC and 393km in the console. Kept the AC on throughout the journey and didn't hold back the speeds at 110-120kph throughout. 
Unrestricted driving thanks to

the confidence given to me by the amazing team at @zeoncharging who kept checking on my trip progress. Reached the charging point at Saravana Bhavan, Vaigundam around 7.15pm and 250km later. Car was at 28% and had about 108km to go. 
The charger, a 50kW Delta unit having 2 CCS2 connectors, is going online in a day or two on the app. Zeon guys were very gracious and helpful and didn't charge me anything for the charge since it was not officially open yet. Plugged in and my Kona started taking in 30kW initially, and went upto 32kW till 75% SoC, after which the car tapered it down to 14kW (happens normally in all EVs). 

My destination was another 215km away, so I only needed about 80% charge, giving me about 300km in range. Took about 40min from 28% to 85% during which I chatted with the company guys, post which I went and had my dinner. 

Finally left at 8.45pm and reached my destination at 11.45pm. Zeon guys were very gracious and helpful and didn't charge me anything for the charge since it was not officially open yet.
Final stats at the destination. Plugged in through my Brightblu charger set at 20A for a slow and steady charge, in time for my return journey! Will be stopping at the same charging point on my way back to get a top up to Bangalore.

COSTS so far: I charge using my rooftop solar at home, so I don't pay anything for charging the car at home. Zeon didn't charge me anything for the top up so didn't pay anything there. In Kerala, the cost of residential power is around Rs. 6, so will be incurring around Rs. 200. 
That's my total cost for the onward journey. Rs. 200/- !

Will update regarding my return journey once I return.

Anticipating some usual extra smart comments/questions, and answering the same below:
1) Normal charging time with my 20A charger from 0-100% : 10 hours. I reach my destination, plug it in overnight, it's ready to go the next morning.
2) Range with AC: 350km, 380km without. (Both are actual tested figures)
3) NO, power is not being generated out of coal alone, we are quickly moving towards renewable sources of energy in the last 3-4 years, please look it up.
4) NO, batteries are not harmful for disposal, and can be re-purposed very easily after 8-9 years. Am using my old e2o batteries in my rooftop solar system, and is easily retaining about 80% of the charge it used to retain when new. 
5) Yes mining minerals for the battery pack is messy, but still lot cleaner than regular fossil fuels.

- Akhil Venkateshwaran

I have purchase tata harrier in December 2019 and my experience with this car is awesome, it makes me feels me like I am driving a luxurious car like Fortuner but some small enhancement should have been done like 4*4 drive option, automatic drive option, and the head lamp should be white in colour also sunroof in 2019 model should be given by the company. Overall experience was satisfactory...

- Nitin Dixit

Highly under rated performer :
2 year ownership review of ford freestyle 
#fordfreestyle

Need to buy a new car Phase

 Beginning of 2018 is when we started thinking seriously to buy a car , and the intial thought was to TD tata tiago the hot budget hatch, back then
since my maximum budget was 8 lakh and was looking for something strong and sturdy for the price and have heard some good reviews from one of my buddy who owned it so decided to go for a test drive .
Test drive car was petrol, and truly speaking wasnt impressed at all

by the interior fit and  quality especially the steering wheel controls and the power window buttons
i was TDing a petrol engine and not sure if it was because of a test drive car the engine wasnt refined and it was pretty loud ,nvh levels were bad . i felt very crunched inside the cabin may be due to my height so decided to drop  tiago from the list

Next up in the list was Grand I10 , and the showroom experience was entirely different from what it was in tata, as soon as we entered the showroom  sales advisor came in and asked about our requirements and budget and he recommended grand i10 sports variant with mindblowing cash discounts ???? There were hell lot of features for the amount you pay, was a vfm proposition if you see the build quality and features
so quickly went for a test drive , felt like it was a decent car but only draw back was the steering feedback and handling , coming after driving a polo for couple of years ,the bat was set a bit high as far as handling and dynamics were concerned.
It had all the safety features and blings like airbags , ebd , infotainment system with AA
so i almoast decided to go with i10

but things changed drastically when i saw an ad  
  next day  about a new car from ford it was a brownish coloured high GC hatchback with nice looks and looked like a pretty big car , and  it was ford freestyle  with ex showroom 5.59lks
.

 so contacted the nearest ford dealer which was fortune ford and booked a test drive next day , Sales executive came with a petrol variant and i went for the TD

things that striked me during the TD were
 • Very ligh short travel clutch
 • High seating postion due the GC may be 
 • Nice responsive steering wheel

All in all me and my wife loved the car especially the feel you get when you drive it , driving dynamics was top notch , i did go for a long distance TD :D

i was only sceptical about the maintenance cost as the little birds used to say that ford maintainence was at par with the germans , but the sales executive cleared the doubts and he told that gone are those days when ford was only an ameeron wala car , and he insisted me to go through https://www.fordservicepricepromise.com/ that really cleard all my doubts :) So i enquired  for a PDI before i make the payment and they agreed and took me to the stock yard in the outer limits of the city and i got a chance to choose my car  :) and i went for a Canyon ridge Titanium petrol variant :D

Just delivered!! : 

On sept 14 2018 , was the day the beauty was delivered to us and it coincided with our marriage anniversary as well, got the key from Mr.Naresh (sales executive from Fortune ford hyderabad ) And i did give a small gift as a token of appreciation for all the soeedy service he did for us
So finally we got our ford freestyle titanium Petrol variant after 4 months of extensive research on several cars .

Pros of the car
There isnt a perfect car , there will always be pros and cons and they are.  

1.The USP of freedtyle is its driving dynamics offcourse and it is comparable  with VW/Fiat
it will surely bring a smile on your face when you do a tight cornering :)

2.New 1.2 l dragon engine , 1.2l three cylinder engine is one of the   most powerful and refined  engine in the segment 

3.Back seat passenger comfort

Back seat is pretty spacious and have good thigh support and knee room, 3 passengers of average build can easily sit and travel comfortably and no complaints whatsoever

4 Driving Comfort

Peppy and enthusiastic drives on highways due to fords dna and top notch de ving dynamics is clearly evident  , i have the car in hyderabad and have done couple of long drives clocking 950+ kms one side to my hometown  Thalassery,Kannur , and i can clearly say that its  a no nonsense car.

5.Fuel Consumption:

Average mileage figures are pretty decent for a car of such weight (kerb weight is  1031kg) best figures i have got till date is 21kmpl using tankfull to tankfull calculation for a journey of 950kms. usual city mileage is around 13 in hyderabad traffic and highways average is around 19.
 

6. Annual maintenance cost: 
There is a misconceprion about ford vehicles , that the maintenance costs are sjy high and its very difficult to maintain a ford car , yesh its true that there was a time in the past when the maintainence cost was cery high , but now that has changed a lot and its pretty cheap now cheaper than the "major" brand 
i had two major service during these 2 years and a free checkup at 2500km

1. 10000km or 1year 
Total cost 1500
 
2. 20000km or 2 year
total cost 4000

maintainence cost details can be checked at  https://www.fordservicepricepromise.com/ amnd you dint have to pay anything more than that abd thats promise from ford to its customers.
The service exoerience at Fortune ford hyderabad and Malayalam Ford kannur were top notch :)

7.Safety 
Ford has given high importance to safety features,  TCS, EBD HLA,dual airbags(6 air bags available in Top variant) are available   Anti rollover protection (ARP)  is also available and this means that the chances of the car turning "turtle" is very less. 

Cons 

1. Interior could have been better , during  2018  it was pretty upscale and new but now comparatively its feeling   outdated 

2.Headlights , the power and throw of the headlights are pretty low  and its a nightmare to drive at nights especially if its raining

3.Suspension stiffness 
Since the ground clearance is high the suspension is set to be stiff , so driving through small potholes and humps may be felt and there is a thud sound 

4.Boot space
Boot space is  less when compared to other cars in the segment thats mainly due to the increased legroom in the backseat

5.Cruise control and arm rest 
Personally one of the biggest miss was cruise control , which is necessary for highway drives , and an armrest

these are the process s and cons i felt.

Long Drives till date

 • Hyderabad to Hampi
 • Hyderabad to Bangalore
 • Hyderabad to Kannur
 • Kannur to Kochi

All in all im pretry happy nad content with the purchase of ford freestyle and if anyone looking for a car with in 9lakh budget then this is one of the eligible candidate for a test drive 

this one is indeed an "Highly under rated performer "
#fordfreestyle

- Manas Chandran