EV Charging through MP (Planned vs Actual)

2,931 km. 15 days. ₹9,428 in electricity. Here’s what the charging actually looked like. This isn’t a BE6 review - there are plenty of those. This is a log of what worked, and what didn’t, from someone who just spent 15 days on the road in an EV. This is a follow on post from my earlier post Using AI to Plan (and Debug) a 15-Day EV Road Trip and focuses on the EV Charging aspects.

The Setup

Mahindra BE6 Pack 3, 79kWh - 3 passengers with enough luggage for 15 days and 12V Car fridge. Our route was Gurgaon → Orchha → Khajuraho → Jabalpur → Kanha → Amarkantak → Sagar → Chanderi → Gwalior → Agra → Gurgaon. Flat terrain throughout - no Himachal, no Uttarakhand, no winding ghats. We planned for overnight 15A hotel charges and topped up with DC fast chargers at lunch stops in between.

The ARAI range on the BE6 is 682km. Real-world in June with highway speeds and AC running full-time is closer to 350-400km. That’s the number to plan around.

My Maps Link

What Worked

15A sockets for overnight charging: Free charging - 95kWh total across Orchha, Bhedaghat, Kanha, and Amarkantak. None of these hotels list EV charging anywhere publicly, but the staff was helpful and allowed overnight charging. One thing to note - make sure you have an extension chord with an earthing rod, as some of the hotels do not have proper earthing. I had purchased a 25m extension chord from Amazon, and it was a life-saver.

Charging stops for lunch: The best charge stops on the entire trip were the ones where the car was doing something useful while we weren’t driving.

• Taj Usha Kiran, Gwalior: Tata Power 30kW - 34.56kWh added, and ₹893 spent.
• Chulhewala in Jhansi: Tata Power 25kW within the dhaba parking - 21.6kWh added and ₹574 spent
• Small dhaba in Dindori: BPCL 60kW (dhaba opposite the Petrol Pump) - 31.32kWh added and ₹521 spent
• Taste of Egg in Sagar: BPCL 60kW (3 minutes walk from the Petrol Pump) - 48.6kWh added and ₹775 spent

Morning departures on the expressway: We planned a DC charge stop in Agra on Day 1 - the Gurgaon to Orchha leg is 440km, which on paper exceeds the BE6’s summer range. We skipped it. Left Gurgaon at 7am with a full charge, drove 369km to Gwalior before stopping - where we were having lunch anyway. Consistent highway speeds, cooler morning temperatures, AC not working as hard at 7am. The 340km estimate assumes worst-case afternoon conditions. It has more margin in the morning than the number suggests.

Tata Power reliability. Four Tata Power stops on this trip. All four operational, all four on the Tata Power EZ Charge app, all four exactly as listed. Not a single issue. This is not the experience across all networks.

What Didn’t Work

Wayside Restaurant, Katni - charger not working: en route from Khajuraho to Jabalpur - took a 20 minute detour. The ATGL app had the charger online - and I even reserved the time slot. When we reached, the charger panel showed it as operational, however, It simply refused to start the charge. This is the scenario that every EV road trip post warns about - the charger that is technically on but functionally dead. We had enough range to make Jabalpur anyway, so the detour was annoying rather than stranding. We ended up charging at the Statiq Charger in Jabalpur the next day.

Some hotels were not able to provide 15A sockets: A few hotels were not able to provide a 15A socket for overnight charging - MPT Payal, Khajuraho; Narmada Jacksons, Jabalpur; to name a few. Alternatives were to find DC chargers nearby - The Bundela in Khajuraho, Chulhewala in Jhansi the next day. Something to be cognizant of.

The hidden transport costs: Two charge stops required autos - ₹100 for the auto to the market from Hotel Bundela in Khajuraho (Jun 19 dinner stop), and ₹171 for the auto to and from the Statiq station in Jabalpur (Jun 21). Small individually, worth knowing collectively. Not every charger is walkable or in a location where you can actually do something while waiting. This is worth checking before committing to a stop.

The Actual Numbers

• Free (hotel 15A): 95 kWh, ₹0, 4 sessions
• Paid DC: 354.24 kWh, ₹8,957, 8 sessions
• Home start: 79 kWh (100%), ₹703
• Home return credit: -26 (33%) kWh, -₹535

The return credit is because we arrived home with significant charge remaining - the Agra to Gurgaon leg is only 230km and the Taj Hotel Tata Power charger ran overnight. Small but real. Networks used:

• Tata Power (4 sessions, 0 failures)
• Adani ATGL (2 sessions, 1 failure)
• Statiq (1 session, worked)
• BPCL (2 sessions — 0 failures).

The Full Charging Log

Total electricity spend: ₹9,428 for 2,931km. ₹3.22/km.