This Man From Noida Covered 1 Lakh Km In Less Than Rs 1 Lakh With His Electric Car

What is the minimum expense you expect for your car by the time it hits the 1 lakh km mark? Some might quote a really low price, keeping in mind the savings that they have gotten from CNG kit or free maintenance. Well, whatever it is, chances are it will never beat what this man from Noida managed to do.

KV Suresh, a resident of Noida Uttar Pradesh claims to have covered more than 1 lakh km in his Mahindra E2O electric car. For those unaware, the Mahindra E20 is the first electric car from the house of Mahindra after the Mahindra Reva. The electric hatchback made its way to the Indian market back in August 2014 and that is when Suresh bought it for around Rs 6 lakh. In the five years of its running, Suresh has managed to pile up 1 lakh km from the car and even more impressively, at an expense of less than Rs 1 lakh.

In an interview, Suresh shares his experience of being an EV owner in India. Suresh charges his E2O every night and uses it for his commute to office regularly. The one time of charging is enough for the vehicle to cover around 100 km, when driven normally. With a lighter foot, it manages to cover up to 120 km on the same charge.

As for the cost borne on its running, Suresh shares that the electric car covers around 10 km for every unit of electricity consumed. Since the cost of one unit of electricity is around Rs 5, the cost of covering 1 lakh km in the vehicle comes out to be Rs 50,000. Consider this to be the expense on ¡°fuel¡± for an average car.

Mahindra E2O Plus (Image: Mahindra Electric)

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In addition to this, Suresh has spent just as little amount on the maintenance of the E20. He claims that during the five years of operation, the car has only demanded Rs 35,000 as a maintenance expense. He breaks down the charge into couple of instances wherein he had to get the car¡¯s rear wheel¡¯s ball bearings changed, same with the front wheel and once the locks of the cars had to be replaced. No more expense has been borne by him.

After successfully covering 1 lakh km, the car is still in good working condition according to Suresh. Though he doesn¡¯t trust it to go the full 120 or 100 km now and makes sure he limits his drive to somewhere around 80 km at max. Though he has not felt the need to change the battery of the E20 until now.

His savings

So let us calculate the expense that a petrol car covering a similar distance will bear. An average petrol car with a 12 kmpl mileage will cost a whopping Rs 5 lakh 83 thousand to cover the distance of 1 lakh km, considering the price of petrol to be Rs 70 on an average. By this logic, Suresh has saved Rs 5 lakh 83 thousand straight up from his electric car till now!

Don¡¯t forget the cost of maintenance of the IC engine vehicles. Servicing a petrol car every 10,000 km would, at an average of Rs 5,000 per service adds up to Rs 50,000 over this period.

Mahindra E2O Plus (Image: Mahindra Electric)

Limitations

Well, there isn¡¯t just a plus side. As can be deduced from the experience shared by Suresh, the electric car will not really be able to cater to those covering more than 100 km on a regular basis. Had there been a widespread network of charging stations in India, this might not have been a problem though.

But as the country embraces electric vehicles with its steadfast agendas on making a switch to EVs from IC engines, people will find that owning an electric car is much less costly in the long haul. KV Suresh, with his electric E2O, is a prime example of that! And don't forget, you will be considered a hero for the environment as well!