The owner of an ageing Nexon EV Max has just proven that the usual 250 km range of the old EVs is not the be-all and end-all. Having undertaken a single-day drive from Faridabad to Amritsar, the car managed to log 554 km before reaching its destination. And the time spent on the road, including the charging and short breaks, only summed up to 9.5 hours. The EV’s battery has nearly 84,000 km on it and is still using the original 40 kWh pack.
The charging speed is nowhere close to what the newer models are capable of, but once on the highway, the car began to consume power at a rate that allowed for a good range. The distance travelled on a full charge was also consistent, so that the driver never felt rushed to get to the next charging station.
The extra time spent topping up the battery could be used for meals and short siestas. Along the route, the charging infrastructure proved to be sufficient to make the journey possible. Each individual charge took much longer than one would typically expect from a modern EV, but these detours were well within the overall length of the drive. The battery was still sufficiently charged when the driver saw the signs pointing to Amritsar, meaning that the car had the power to spare. Thus, the drive from Faridabad to Amritsar demonstrated that long-distance travel in an aging EV is perfectly feasible.
And the car didn’t need to make any special efforts to accomplish this task. So when an owner of a 40 kWh EV from the early years of the startup seeks to plan a similar drive, he doesn’t have to be intimidated by the long range and the power of his car. It managed to get to Amritsar from Faridabad within a reasonable amount of time and still have enough battery to continue driving.