Bengaluru to Chennai on one 22-minute charge
346 km, a single splash at Chittoor, and 49% still in the tank. Here's the exact plan — to the rupee.
Everyone told me a Bengaluru–Chennai run needs two charge stops and a lot of nail-biting. It needs neither. Here's the plan Wattway drew for my BE 6 — and how it actually played out on the road.
The car, honestly
Mahindra BE 6, 79 kWh pack, CCS2. I left Indiranagar at 90% because I'm not brave enough for 100→0 maths on a work week. Real-world efficiency on NH48 with the AC fighting a Chennai summer: about 5.7 km per kWh. Not ARAI numbers. Real ones.
The plan Wattway drew
One stop. The planner put it at Chittoor because that's where the battery wants a break anyway, and because it could see the hub had five of six guns free at 10:30 am. That last bit is the whole trick — a stop is only a good stop if the plug is actually open when you roll in.
“A charge stop is only a good stop if the plug is open when you get there.”— The one rule of EV road trips
The stop itself
Chittoor hub: clean, 120 kW, a filter coffee that could wake the dead. I plugged in at 54%, walked in for the coffee, and the app buzzed at 90% before I'd finished it. 22 minutes, 28.4 kWh, ₹512. I padded it to a round 24 because the coffee was that good.
What I'd tell past me
- Leave with 90%, not 100%. The first fast leg is happiest between 90 and 40.
- Trust the availability count. A '5 of 6 free' beats a closer station showing 'all in use' every time.
- Pad your charge estimate by five minutes for the coffee. You'll want the coffee.
Reached Marina at 49%. Enough to potter around the city for two days before thinking about a plug again. One stop. Twenty-two minutes. That's the whole story.