Although this was a one-of-a-kind, I couldn’t help but wonder how we ended up having such an experience in a city like Mangalore
BHPian adithya.m.bhat recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Another Weekend Trip to the Coast â EV Chronicles
Another weekend, another trip! We started from Bangalore on Friday, the 25th, headed toward my hometown near Kalasa. The weather held up nicely, sunny to mildly cloudy, and no rains till Hassan. Given the heavy rainfall reported in the Western Ghats, I was a bit unsure about electricity availability back home. Trees often fall during monsoons and take power lines down with them. Outages for days aren’t uncommon. However, I got news that power was available at our home that very day. Still, as we needed a break and some dose, I decided to top up at the Sky Bird Zeon charger. Drawing a steady ~50kW power, we charged for 39 minutes, increasing battery SoC from 53% to 87%, more than enough to reach home and later, Mangalore.
Image below from Zeon Charing at Hotel Sky Bird – EV adoption looking promising!
Hoping to see more 120kW+ chargers across key routes & food outlets.
The rest of the drive to Kalasa was uneventful. I had planned to slow charge the car using a 3-pin plug the next morning. Unfortunately, the power went out around midnight and didnât return for two days. We started our generator the next day, and I attempted to charge. Interestingly, the charger showed the green light, but the car’s display stayed at 0 kW input.
After 22 minutes, the battery still showed 0% charge added, yet the range increased by 17km. For context, I typically get 5â6 km/kWh, so a 17 km increase shouldâve reflected a 3â4% battery gain. Quite odd!
Not too concerned, though, as we had enough juice to head downhill to the coast. We left post-lunch at 3 PM and reached Mangalore by 6:30 PM. The plan was to DC fast charge up to ~70% in Mangalore, enough for the next legs of the journey (to reach Hotel ShivSurya on the way to Bangalore, after 2 days) with a 10â15% buffer. I had shortlisted a few chargers near restaurants to kill time while charging. And this is where the real adventure began…
- Shell Recharge near DMart
Arrived here just as it started pouring. PlugShare had listed it as a 60kW gun, but Statiq showed one gun in use and the second offering only 15kW shared power. Given the weather and slow speed, we skipped it.
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- 60kW Zeon charger at City Centre Mall
Traffic was unusually heavy for Mangalore, almost felt like Bangalore for a moment. The crowd heading to the mall and the cinema in front had completely choked the road. This time, I checked the Zeon app for details. All looked promising; the charger supported 60 kW and was available. Pre-loaded the wallet to save time during session initiation. What I missed, though, was that the charger was located in the upper parking zone on the 7th floor. Unaware of this, I joined the queue for basement parking, only to find out from the toll attendants that I was in the wrong entry. Thankfully, I exited within the 10-minute free window and avoided a parking charge. But once we got out, traffic outside was even worse. Security guards were redirecting vehicles away from the 7th-floor entry due to congestion. With no way in, I had to abandon the attempt altogether.
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- Fiza Mall â € “JIOBP 60KW
Endured crazy traffic over the entrance and made it in after purchasing a â¹20 ticket. Loaded the JioBp app with some cash again in the hopes of a quick charge initiation. Security guards directed me to the JioBP charger with two guns; however, both were in use. Two more EVs were parked in the adjacent EV bays, but their statiq chargers were uncommissioned. The power to the JioBP charger had tripped, and though the security reset it, the charging hadn’t resumed. A security guard found me a nearby free parking space. I was told to wait until the owners noticed the problem, came down, restarted their session, and moved their cars. Wait time was uncertain, and hence I moved on.
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- MESCOM STATIQ 25KW
Desperate now, I turned to the âPlan Bâ list, the slow 25â30kW chargers. This one, near Bharat Mall, seemed promising as we could head in for a snack at Ideals (I am assuming you know the brand by now, but if you donât, this is a must-try place for ice creams and snacks in Mangalore).
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Reached the location entrance around 7:20, but the gate was locked. The adjacent buildingâs guard allowed me in only after I agreed to exit before 8:30 PM, which happened to be his shift end time. Plugged in but without any sign of charging. The guard mentioned that the unit has issues. Called Statiq customer support to get it sorted, restarted the unit multiple times, still nothing. Gave up after 20 minutes.
Side story: An interesting and memorable encounter here was with an auto driver who was also charging his EV auto in the same premises with a slow gun. His attire and his English proficiency had no correlation whatsoever! This guy was speaking with such fluency that it would put many so-called educated engineers to shame! Encounters like these are a reminder of the strong educational roots in the MangaloreâUdupiâManipal belt.
Back to the main story â the security guard directed me to the nearby Tata Power charger mentioning that it’s open 24×7. I had no experience using Tata Chargers before and hence was skeptical. But, with no option in sight decided to give it a shot.
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- Tata Power â 30kW
Installed the app only to find that it didnât support ad-hoc charging. Only future slot bookings were available; the earliest was post-10 PM. Maybe I missed something, but by this point, after almost 2 hours of driving around, my patience (and cognitive bandwidth) was wearing thin. To make things worse, it had started raining intermittently, and I really didnât have the energy or the will to step out and test the connection while getting drenched. Not helpful at all.
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Checked for the nearby BP 30kW charger in the statiq app, but it was busy with another vehicle charging. Another dead end.
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- Shell Recharge â Second Attempt
App showed availability and hence returned to Shell Recharge near DMartâboth connectors were shown as available. Asked around, the staff at DMart had no clue about any DC fast charger. They only pointed me to a 3-pin socket in the basement. I walked around the premises, including adjacent buildings. Couldnât spot the charger despite referencing PlugShare photos. Gave up. It was 8:30 PMâtwo full hours of wandering around the city!
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Tempers were flaring within the car. Mrs and I vented, cursed, and even made backup plans to stay overnight at a relativeâs place and slow-charge.
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- Back to Zeon @ City Centre Mall â Final Try
Decided to try City Centre one last time. This time, the path to the 7th-floor entry was open. Charger was right after the barrier, easily spotted. Connected at 15% SoC, and finally, we were charging!
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We headed to the food court, Kakunjeâs Parathas filled our tummies and eased our frustration. Couldnât stop at one and had a second round, plus dessert. Came back to a healthy 78% SoC and hit the road. Reached our destination by 11:15 PM.Â
A Few Takeaways:
- Total hunt time: Nearly 3 hours in a tier-2 city!
- Charging availability: Poor. Either occupied, faulty, or hidden away.
- No unified app: Had to top up multiple operator wallets; money locked.
- Charger discovery needs improvement â Apps need better mapping, and on-ground signage is poor.
Two days later, we started the return leg to Bangalore.
Started: 70% SoC
Charged: At Hotel ShivSurya, topped up from 21% to 69% using a 120kW charger
Reached Bangalore: At 14% SoC
Distance covered: 367 km
Battery SoC consumed: 104%
Summary of full weekend trip:
Current Odo Reading: 9498 km
Cheers!
Kilometers were easy. Kilowatts, not so much.
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