Electric Car Owner Forced To Take Bus After 6 Faulty Highway Chargers Leave Him Stranded

Brands and government authorities asking people to switch to electric vehicles has become a common thing. Many have even opted for EVs too. While many like the transition and are enjoying the overall EV experience, there are others who are struggling and facing issues. Here we have one such social media post from an MG Windsor EV Pro owner who left his car and took a bus after six dysfunctional chargers left him stranded on a highway in the middle of a road trip.

The post was shared by Smit Shrivastava on Facebook in the EV Owners Group India. In this post, the owner mentioned that he decided to go from Raipur to Seoni, which is around a 368 km drive. The owner was fully confident and excited about the trip. He shared this experience in the group because he felt this was the most frustrated he had ever been on a road trip.

The owner mentions that he started the trip with full confidence in his Windsor Pro EV. During the journey, the owner stopped at six different charging stations, only to realise that none of them were working. He mentioned that some had network connection issues, some showed that the charger was offline, and many others had no power supply at all.

The owner’s excitement vanished when he realised what was happening. He was driving an electric vehicle with a dropping SOC on a highway and was not able to find a working charging station. He added that the mobile app was showing all these EV chargers as available and online.

He mentioned in the post that he even tried calling customer service and helpline numbers, but they were of no use. They either didn’t respond or simply suggested he check for other charging stations. It was mentally exhausting, and finally, the car ran out of charge. He was so frustrated that he decided to park the car at a non-functioning EV charging station and took a bus to Seoni.

The reason the customer bought an EV was because he liked the idea of sustainable travel, but after this incident, he feels the system isn’t ready. He asked three questions in the post -

1. Where are the authorities 2. Why are they not maintaining these charging stations? His concern is that the charging stations are shown as online in the app but, in reality, were not in working condition at all.

While brands and authorities are pushing for EVs, the video shows how scary the ownership experience can actually be. Driving an EV on a highway is a painful thing as of today. Hopefully, things will improve and offer a better experience in the coming years or decades. While planning a road trip with an EV, you need to have proper planning and a bit of luck because even if you make it to a working charger on the highway, there’s a possibility that the charger might run out of power.

The comment section under this post consists of mixed reactions:

Chinmay Dangre wrote,

“I run two emergency charging points... of course not fast charging... but good for emergencies... so many people call me before coming to hook up their vehicles. Only thing is I am helpless during power-down status. When I am not near the charging point, I never get to know the power status from MSEB (since I am from Pune)... otherwise, most of the time, people call and confirm the status. Also, I maintain it regularly so clients will not have any issues. Now I am starting my charging point in Dapoli. Since there is a power supply fluctuation issue, I am waiting for my mainline stabilizer, which can control the charging point... so these are the main factors which are important... generally, when you are on a trip, it’s better to make sure charging points are working and active.”

Bernadino Costa wrote,

“I have said before and will say again: EVs are not meant for long-distance trips, only point-to-point intra-city travel. The negatives are too many - as you mentioned - range anxiety, poor infrastructure, electricity grids not having sufficient loads, and mainly the non-cooperation of fuel pump owners who do not want to encourage EV charging points on their forecourt.”

Ajit Shrikhande wrote,

I'm using evs since 2020. Crossed 2.5 lakh kms in 4evs . Not a single extreme bad experience. 2-3 times before 2022 some waiting and some low SOC driving happened but that was enjoyed too. Now, charging network is really increased. I think you should check charger available or not online and reach there. Majority ev owners reach at charger and then open app or look at charger status.

Sanjay S wrote,

I have had issues with vehicle but never went wrong with charger so far or in emergency mode for charging

Ashish Kumar wrote,

I made a long trip yesterday. Planned ahead to ensure the chargers were working. The Tata iRA app helped by showing which ones were used in the last 24 hours.