The Epic Record Breaking Story with the
@evgeeksofindia :-
*The MOTIVATION* 💪
- The planning of this feat started in the month of February 2026 on ground when it was constantly being seen here on
@X that certain auto influencers as well as ICED people were/are constantly labelling EVs as being "City Cars" or the same old rant of judging EV infrastructure in India as inadequate even when the existing EV owners from years have witnessed the growth of current EV infrastructure which has improved manifolds compared to the beginning of EV story of India back in late 2020 towards the mainstream direction and even today, is growing each counting day with even better hardware being added to the EV infra grid by both private as well as PSU entities and countless other small and medium sized CPOs ⚡️
- As a community
@evgeeksofindia which is a congregation of vocal EV owners, we were not at all happy that EVs were projected in such a bad light by people who either don't even own an EV or just don't want to have an open mind to understand this brilliant and critical technology thoroughly 🫤
- Thus we set upon this tasking endeavor with a bunch of Geeks coming together to express an unequivocal message that EVs have the endurance to do long-long distance even with the existing infrastructure on one of the most brilliant highways across India i.e Samruddhi Mahamarg built by
@MSRDC_official @CMOMaharashtra 😍
*The PLANNING* 🙆♂️
- It is not tough to get in touch with the EV automakers for such a record with
@indiabookrecord like most of the auto journalists have been doing, do or have done recently but we wanted to make it as a part of community effort where it is completely done on our own terms and conditions, thereby keeping brand pressures or favours out of the scope ❌
- As the Samruddhi Mahamarg has a legal speed limit of 120 kmph for almost 700 km stretch one way, we thought that an EV with minimum 70 kWh battery pack was need to extract around 350 km real life range at continuous 120 kmph speeds, which is what it should be in realistic sense of calculations at such high speeds and planning as experienced EV owners with considerable knowledge of varying efficiency at different speeds on a highway 🔋
- There came in
@anish1027 who owns a BYD eMax7 himself and I have been knowing him since a long in our EV groups together, who was gracious enough to agree to this adventure but even more exited to prove a point for the community that EVs should not be looked down upon as just city cars 🫡
- With the confirmation of the car, then started the most intensive mental exercise of planning precisely where we would need to stop for the DC Fast Charging as the range of the car can vary little bit as per the time of the stop, ambient outside temperatures around and the average speeds we can maintain in an EV, glimpse of the sheet of planning is attached in the images 🧑💻
- When the planning draft was completed I then got in touch with
@Gs_Wanderer who is the latest find of the community, who has been doing long kilometres daily in his Tata Nexon EV 45 kWh and also had recently repaired a Hyundai Kona EV motor for a meagre Rs 800/- when Rs 5L was quote for the replacement of the motor and he was stoked to go on this adventure immediately upon my proposal of this epic adventure 🫂
- I have known
@evelectree for almost 2 years now and the work he has been doing for the EV community with his forum which is what the EV community needs to bring about transparency in the discussions around EVs along with his contribution here on X. Suhail immediately agreed to the idea of doing this endeavor and we had our 4th member for this tussle of more than 24 hours on the road 😎
- Dr
@Xroaders_001 has been an active contributor to the EV community with his groups and has a candid way of rebutting naysayers of EVs with absolute finesse and I was personally elated when he agreed to join us to this EV marathon 🤩
*The EXECUTION* 🔥
- Dr Pervez and Suhail flew down from the north to Mumbai and Selva drove all the way to Mumbai as per the agreed date and time of this run whereas Anish and me converged the group together at the meeting point in Mumbai suburbs ✅
- As this was a long and taxing run for 24 hours at 120 kmph on the main record breaking timeline plus more than 8-10 extra hours of commute to and fro from the beginning and end for the group to assemble and get back to mainland Mumbai from the end of the feat along, we had to have a support car apart from Anish's car in order to meet any unplanned hiccups such as punctures or charger issue etc during the record making and hence we got the support car of similar make and battery pack to make sure we are on the same parameters to meet any exigencies 🎯
- We gathered for a quick breakfast and the final top ups for both the cars just before the first toll and then embarked immediately towards the first toll on the Mumbai side of Samruddhi by the name Amane Toll Plaza where we did the photo and video evidence needed as per IBR guidelines and set our Strava data on duty and started the main run at 9.20 AM on 11th of March 2026 ⏰
- Our record car was set at 120 kmph ACC and the support car was set at 90 kmph ACC so that the record car reaches the first charging point earlier and does the top up in order to minimize wastage of time even for the second car and we have lunch and charging within 3 km of the exit toll of Chh Sambhajinagar on a Replenish charger 🍽️
- The record car then proceeded ahead while the support car was still charging to follow the similar strategy of keeping a bandwidth between both the cars and we kept on passing the baton for driver duties as per the comfort and the schedule of the night driving 🚘
- The next stop for the record car was was HPCL then a BPCL and then some other CPOs where we faced some unexpected issues and story of this will be described by Selva, Suhai & Dr Parvez in depth in their future posts and videos (No spoiler alerts from me for now) 🤪
- But despite this access controlled highway not having a great DC Charging infrastructure right now, we managed to achieve a record of covering 1608 km within 24 hours in an EV at 9.19 AM on 12th of March 2026, which I am sure would and can be broken with the upcoming chargers in a few months on the same road
*The CONCLUSION* 📢
- We need to come out of box mentality and understand that EVs are not just city cars but can do proper long range highway travel today with the right car and a little bit of planning 🔌
- The EV infrastructure has grown manifolds already and growing at a tremendous pace each counting day as it is easier to setup a DC Fast Charging station compared to a petrol pump and most of the hotels/restaurants have and already coming up with their own chargers 💯
- Private CPOs such as
@zeoncharging @StatiqIndia @ZoneCharge @Jiobpofficial @TataPower etc have already moved on to 120 kW DC Fast Chargers on most Indian Highways 👌
- The
@PetroleumMin Ministry should bring about accountability for their territorial managers so that the pumps having chargers already installed under the FAME subsidy are up and operational 24x7 🤞
@HardeepSPuri
- The
@MORTHIndia should come up with their own DC Fast Chargers with minimum 120 kW great hardware at every toll plazas on National Highway 😒
@nitin_gadkari
- Major problem is with the access controlled highways where the L-1 tender process is delaying the establishment of amenities which should be ready before the highway is opened up for the commuters 🙈
@narendramodi @PMOIndia
- Even the Samruddhi Mahamarg yet does not have proper eateries on both the sides of the stretch despite it is opened from last more than 2 years for the majority stretch 🥲
@Dev_Fadnavis @mieknathshinde @SunetraA_Pawar
- I would also like to thank Mr Neerav from
@GroupLandmarkIn Mumbai for gracing up with the crucial support car to make sure we complete our record without any hiccups on such high speed endurance run to meet any kind of exigencies 🚨
- A record without a TEAM is never a record but a mere achievement and so proud of
@Gs_Wanderer @evelectree @Xroaders_001 &
@anish1027 for sticking together without time for a proper meal post that lunch together at the first stop and completing the objective without any complaints for lack of sleep or a proper dinner 😜
- In the end, I would like to thank the entire EV community who are vocal enough to stand up to the challenge of adopting EVs which is now, moresoever, critical and of national importance that we need to diversify our mobility needs with cleanest and cheapest alternatives ❤️
Ending with the lines I love the most with regards to EVs :-
Stop wasting your money on Petrol/Diesel cars and move to EVs if you can 🙏
Evolve (EV) or Perish (E20/85) 🔔
@hormazdsorabjee @autocarindiamag
@SirishChandran @evoIndia
@sidpatankar @AckoDrive
@Tataev @mahindraesuvs
@Vivekvivi @anandmahindra
@HyundaiIndia @KiaInd @MGMotorIn