Is it possible to do a long drive in an electric car? That was the first question playing on my mind when MG Motor India invited us for a two-day drive from Gurugram to Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan and back. The plan was to take the MG ZS EV, MG Motor India’s flagship electric car from Gurugram, drive to Sambhar Lake, spend some time having fun in the dry lakebed, and then head back. A quick look at Google Maps showed the one-way distance from the MG showroom in Gurugram to the Sambhar Salt Lake showed to be a little over 370 kilometres, one way.
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“A drive in an electric car? Can it cover the distance?” was the question from my wife, as I packed for the overnight trip. It’s a pertinent question, and one that had been playing on my mind as well. Electric cars certainly have come a long way but are more suitable for city use rather than embarking on a road trip. The claimed maximum range of the MG ZS EV is nearly 460 km, but will it be able to cover the distance while cruising at highway speeds without running out of juice? There’s only one way to find out, I thought, as I got behind the wheel of the ZS EV.
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We started off from Gurugram on a cold, foggy morning and hit the Mumbai Expressway towards Jaipur. With nearly 99 per cent charge in the battery, the maximum range showed was 352 km in Eco mode. But as we were to soon find out, it’s one thing about the estimated range and quite another when you actually hit the road and drive. Throttle control, average speed, and selected mode all come together to contribute on the actual distance you can travel on a full charge.
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The MG ZS EV has enough performance to cruise steadily at expressway speed limits.
The outside temperature was a nippy 6 degrees Celsius, and we cruised along the expressway. Speed limit is 120 kmph on the new expressway, but higher speeds will mean the ZS EV’s battery will drain sooner than what it’s expected to. It’s got good performance for the highway, I thought, the ride quality is pliant and overall, it’s up to the task as a comfortable and stable car for the job we were embarking on.
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If you maintain triple digit speeds in Normal mode all way long, expect range to drop.
Perhaps it was the low ambient temperature, or the fact that we weren’t utilising the cruise control as much, or the Eco mode, at just around 150 km, the battery percentage dropped to below 50 per cent. It was also lunchtime, and time to take a break. And the rest stop has two EV charging ports! What luck! This was the exact stop planned for lunch and re-charging our EVs on the drive, and we just chanced upon it.
Time to utilise the lunch stop to re-charge the ZS EV!
The hour-long lunch break was utilised to juice up the MG ZS EV, and we were back to over 98 per cent charge on the battery, when we set out once again, after lunch. Sambhar Salt Lake is still 200 km away, but the MG ZS EV showed us a comfortable range of over 400 km. This time around, we drove well below the speed limit, where the car is at its efficient best, and used cruise control on stretches which allowed us to do so.
But getting off the expressway and into some single lane roads which were being widened and not in the best shape, meant we had to let go of efficiency again. But this is where the MG ZS EV displayed poise and dynamics when handling broken roads and traffic. As long as you're in the driver's seat or the passenger's the ZS EV offers impressive ride quality and comfort, something which isn't quite the case in the rear seat.
The sun disappeared behind the horizon and darkness soon fell. We still had some distance to cover to our destination. By the time we rolled into the Sambhar Salt Lake later that evening, battery percentage was down to 24 per cent, but we still had 94 km range left, and that too, in Normal mode!
Enjoying a bonfire in the middle of Sambhar Salt Lake on a cold winter night.
Sambhar Salt Lake is situated over 80 km from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Widely known as India’s largest saline lake, it occupies an area of around 230 square kilometres, with a length of 35 km and a breadth varying between 3 km and 11 km. After dinner, we started up the MG ZS EV cars we had driven from Gurugram and went on a late night drive into the lakebed. The sandy approach road into the lake from the main road isn’t really the ideal surface for a crossover or sedan, but the ZS EV seemed to shrug off any concerns we had about traction or ground clearance.
The vast emptiness of the Sambhar Salt Lake on a moonlit night is something to be experienced.
We spent a few hours around a bonfire deep inside the lake, or the dry lake bed. The temperatures dropped and in the middle of the vast emptiness that is the Sambhar Salt Lake, even a small gust of wind and the constant breeze was a reminder of how chilly nights in Rajasthan can get this time of the year. But there was a warm fire, hot tea as well as laughter among our motley group of enthusiasts, which kept our hearts and bodies warmed up. A road trip with fellow enthusiasts swapping stories about automobiles in general and about adventures with cars and bikes was the ideal way to call it a night, before we drove back to the resort, well after 3 am.
Range anxiety on an electric car is real, even with the kind of range (over 450 km) the MG ZS EV claims.
Overnight, all the cars, around 6-7 in all, were plugged in to charge up for the drive back. The nearest charging station showed to be around 40 km away, but eventually, we ended up driving over 80 km to Jaipur. I chose to use Eco mode to conserve the battery pack, only using Normal or Sport for a quick overtake when it was needed. For average performance, Normal mode offers enough and more performance for all your needs, and Sport is for the true enthusiast. But keep in mind that Sport ends up consuming the most electricity.
Yes! We did spend quite a bit of charge hooning around Sambhar Salt Lake the next morning as well!
The MG ZS EV we were driving had enough charge to make the 80-odd kilometres to Jaipur, but another car in our group was dangerously low in charge, running on fumes (or sparks in this case), before we made it to the charging point in Jaipur. And it still made the last 4-5 km with the display showing 0 per cent charge left. We juiced up our car as well, while we had supper, and a fast charger at a hotel charged up the ZS EV to 100 per cent in no time. From there on, it was a spirited drive on the expressway towards Gurugram. A 15-minute break on the way back was again utilised to juice up the car, and we finally made it back to the MG showroom in Gurugram.
A road trip with an electric car is quite possible, but charging network, and stops for re-charging will have to be planned in advance.
Venturing out on an inter-city drive, or even a road trip with an electric car is quite possible. The MG ZS EV certainly is an impressive car. Good performance, quite likeable ride quality, and decent ground clearance gives it the ability to take on any kind of road surface that you may encounter on a road trip. And there’s enough range that the ZS EV offers to give you peace of mind, so long as you know how to extract the range from the battery pack.
Extracting performance out of an electric car like the MG ZS EV will mean sacrificing range.
Driving on a highway however isn’t as rewarding if you’re going to be focussing on extracting maximum range. Out on the expressway where the speed limit is 120 kmph, you will end up using more battery power if you’re constantly pushing in triple digit speeds and in Sport mode. The best way to extract range is to use cruise control, without air conditioning, and keep the speed down to around 70 kmph. Not particularly entertaining, or comfortable, if you will be driving in warmer weather.
Charging infrastructure is still something which you have to keep in mind. Do you research and plan your trip with scheduled stops for recharging.
And then there’s the question of charging infrastructure, which is still not readily available everywhere and anywhere. If you are to embark on a long drive on an electric car like the MG ZS EV, do your research on the availability of charging stations on the route, and plan your stops for meals in a way that those can be utilised to top up the charge on your electric car. Once those are sorted, you can very well do a road trip with an electric car, much like what we did with the MG ZS EV on this drive. And yes, electric cars can be fun, entertaining and capable, as long as you plan in advance how, when and where you will be re-charging your car.
