Road Trip To Goa For A Bachelor Party! Ft. Tata Harrier EV

It’s not every day that your college best friend gets to tie the knot; until and unless he’s one of the people who’s terrible at relationship management. Irrespective, a wedding meant a bachelor party was due, and we chose the best possible place to celebrate that in India - Goa.

Now all my friends were flying in from Delhi, but because I’m based in Pune, taking a flight for just 400km didn’t make much sense. Instead, doing a 10-hour+ road trip for those 400km seemed very fascinating, especially because we had the Tata Harrier EV all-wheel drive in the office. So that’s exactly what I did, and here’s how it went.

The Start

It was 6 AM on a Thursday morning, and the car had a 97% charge. With an indicated range of 356km, I was left a little disappointed, but I also knew that was in respect to how the car was being driven before, which was mostly in the city, so the efficiency was understandably less.

The destination, which was our stay in Assagao, was exactly 420km from my place, and given that we had range tested the Harrier EV previously, where it did 412km on a full charge, I was confident that if I was gentle on the throttle, cruised before braking, and used as much regen, I wouldn’t need a quick top up at all. However, a reality check would hit me pretty soon.

The Journey

The initial drive towards Goa involved very steep inclines, which took an immediate toll on the range. The numbers kept tumbling very quickly, and the decline didn’t help much either.

However, after I hit the highway and crunched some miles with consistent speeds, the range started to recalibrate, and I was getting an efficiency of 5.4 km/kWh, which isn’t bad for an SUV with dual motors and a heavy kerb weight.

Now I had to stop to refuel myself, and while the car could probably have reached my destination in one single charge, there are two very good reasons why I didn’t do it:

1. There’s a ghat section just before Goa, which would mean that the range would deplete quickly once again, so I didn’t want to risk it.

2. And even if the car reached the destination, I wouldn’t have enough range left for runabouts in Goa itself, and would’ve had to scrape for chargers. 

So while I stuffed myself with some unhealthy carbs, I put the car in for some healthy electrons. The charger had some network issues, so I had to connect with the customer care, which was actually surprisingly proactive, and helped me start the charge within minutes. 

The Final Leg

Now that I had more than enough charge, the last leg was swift while maintaining speed limits. What impressed me was how comfortable the Harrier EV was the entire journey. It is a tall and heavy SUV, yet the suspension manages that weight very well. Bump absorption is genuinely impressive, and it’s a rarity for you to feel anything inside the cabin. It does take some time to settle over heavy undulations at higher speeds, but it’s not to the point where it gets unsettling or nausea-inducing. I had done the same journey in a Creta EV a month before, and while the Hyundai itself is a great mile muncher, this was far more effortless. 

If you are one of those people with a typical stereotype for EVs and believe you can’t road trip with them, you’re wrong. Is it as easy as it would be in an ICE vehicle? No. But all you need to do is plan ahead. Mark your stops, make sure there’s a charger there, and don’t cut it too close in case that charger isn’t working. That’s it. Because once you get the hang of it, the driving experience of an EV is far more refined and effortless than any petrol or diesel vehicle, not to mention, they are a lot easier on the pocket too.