Birthday By The Beach

– Getting Started

Long Weekend

Being my 40th birthday and a long weekend coming up, with no plans at hand, I was left with having to do something last minute. For sure, I didn’t want to spend it holed indoors. I was itching to spend it by the beach. Now to make a choice on which location to go. I started looking up flight tickets but the prices were sky high. I pondered on it for a while and rather decided to make it into a road trip with my new car.

Challenges

I was sitting with a car that’s less than a month old, trying to understand more about charging and how this car performs. Long trips were never a consideration for this car. Nonetheless, I felt it would be perfect to do something a little uncomfortable and the night before, I started mapping out the EV charging infrastructure along 2 routes that I am familiar with - Goa and Pondicherry. The route to Goa was longer but it being a National Highway, there were sufficiently good number of chargers. I started marking them and keeping a mental note of distances between them. Hey! I enjoy Math problems and this was a fairly simple one.

I ensured that I am never going more than 150 kms without stopping for charging. There was still some apprehension about non functional chargers and backup options. I had to take a leap of faith and continue.

With all the chargers that I could find, I saved them in a Google Maps list. Created a route map that would have least diversions. Booked a hotel room, where I got lucky with a really cheap place. Time to get a good night’s sleep.

Dawn

The long weekend began with me heading out towards the first planned stop at a shell charging station where I’d top my the car battery to 100% and fuel myself as well, with some coffee and snacks.

Took about an hour to complete charging and ready to go. Chugging along, I ran into a long weekend traffic jam that caused about a 2 hour delay. But, once crossed, I smoothly reached the next charging point with 24% battery left, at lunch time, having covered about 150 kms. I spent the next 1:15 hours letting the battery reach 100% while I had a good lunch.

Locations

I managed to cruise along at about 50 kmph while being gentle on the accelerator as possible. But, I did manage to reach the next stop at around 300 kms just beyond Davangare, around 5 pm with 16% battery left. Letting the car charge again, I had a snack and some tea and later took a 30 minute nap while charging completed.

By the time, it was already 6 pm. Clearly I was well beyond my estimated time and a big challenge lay ahead, having to enter the Goan ghats at night. There were a lot of thoughts going through my head but I decided to take it one step at a time and head out to the next leg of the journey.

Locations

Implementing Learnings

Having learnt better battery management in the last leg, I kept driving in as smooth a zone as possible. The initial 100 odd kms were smooth highway roads. With cruising speed, driving in the night was no challenge except some rains along the way.

The last 30 odd kms from Hubbali till the charging point just beyond Dharwad was a bit tiring, with the roadworks along the way leading to slow and chaotic traffic. Managed to reach the charging point with 28% battery, around 9:30 pm. Figured that this stop is in middle of nowhere. I scoured around for food but found none. Took about an hour’s nap while the car was charging. Woke up, freshened up(luckily they had a toilet next to the charging point) and planned my next leg. As per reviews around, taking Chorla Ghat via Belgaum was a good option. Also there were charging stations in Belgaum which would allow me to head to Goa safely after topping up. Belgaum was also promising place to find some food, I was famished!

The journey was nice and easy to Belgaum, reached the charging point but it was occupied and the guard told me that car owner would return only in the morning. I was very unhappy and worried as I had ghats to deal with and battery was marginal. Explained that to the guard, who informed me about another charging point at a nearby hotel. Reached the hotel and kept running into issues with both the charging guns. My luck!

Thankfully, just as I was leaving, I noticed there’s another charging station within the hotel with 2 guns and belonged to a different brand that was more reliable. More about the locations and chargers at the end of this post. Put my car for charging and went out to figure food. And as my luck would have it, there was a Shell bunk right next door. I grabbed some maggi and coffee at 12:30 am. I also picked up a can of Coke Zero for some more caffiene burst as I resolved to power through the night and only stop once I reach Goa.

Locations

Around 3 am, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, I reached a point along the ghats where it was foggy and had practically no visibility. I had my heart in my mouth. For the next 10-15 minutes, that felt like hours, I crawled trying to stay on the road. Not knowing how long will this last. Thankfully as the descent started, the fog cleared up and I heaved a sigh of relief. From here it was an uneventful drive down to the hotel. I reached at 5:30 am, 21 hours on the road covering 600 kms. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but for me the journey was worth it. Destination was just a checkpoint.

They had a short delay in checkin thanks to my arrival at an unearthly hour. I was tired and grumpy but kept it to myself. When I got to my room, I was taken aback by how huge it was. How did I get this place in Goa on a long weekend and at the most touristy spot for this price!!! I decided to continue the thought later and lay on the bed. I was fast asleep before I knew.

Ring in the new year

Spent a day going around to some of my favourite places in Goa, especially Artjuna Cafe. Wandered around at the beach at midnight. Kept it easy, soaking in the feeling. No rush - that was the motto throughout the trip. Rung in my birthday sitting at the beach and feeling the breeze on my face and hearing the gentle waves of the sea, craving to dive in.

Locations

The return through the ghats during the day was ethereal. And I was in no tearing hurry, I could soak it in. Slowly the ghat started getting steeper and started eating up more battery.

I was left with 30% battery and 30 km to go, consuming battery @ 1% per km. Down to 21% with 22 km to go but don’t with the inclines. “Don’t Press the Red Button”. Yes, I was anxious, thankfully no panic. I had to drive very carefully and mindfully. 4 km to go and 10% battery left, the car shuts down as many electronic functions as it can. The car is panicking more than me! I finally made it to the charger with 7% to go. Thankfully, it was the familiar one at the same hotel, no hassle this time around. Had a meal while the car repleinshed itself.

Locations

Continued onwards for another 100 km as I knew the next stop after that is another 150 km away so charging up to 100% here was the wise thing to do. It was already 7 pm so I decided to have an early dinner too as the next stop would be late.

The skies were darker now and I was driving down slowly enjoying the breeze. 150 km covered in a little over 3 hours. Reached the charging station at 11:15 pm. There was some initial hiccup while getting the charging to start but 10 minutes later it was sorted out. I was tired and took a nap. A tad bit longer than I should but I was fresher. I resumed the journey back around 1 am.

Locations

It took about an hour to cover next 15-18 km. But then we were going again. Reached my last pitstop at Shell Petrol Pump in Nagasandra. Put my car for charging, took a nap again, it was almost 4:45 am and I had to be in office by 9 am. Woke up an hour later, freshened up, got some coffee and started to zig zag my way through the early morning city traffic to reach home and freshen up before heading to work.

Locations