Here is a well documented EV driving experience from Azlan Salim.
It is easy for the very rich in Malaysia to take up electric vehicle ownership with the current tax free selling prices and the very necessary ‘spare petrol or hybrid cars’ already in their garage. Most new EV owners today have at least a plug-in hybrid vehicle already in their garage.
Meanwhile, for the rest of us, taking ownership of an electric vehicle (with no other vehicle in our ownership) is not that easy. So, some Malaysians have been renting and sharing their experience with their rented EV and here below is one very truthful and well documented experience from Azlan Salim who allowed us to share his experience wit a rented GoCar Nissan Leaf.
So recently I wanted to understand the EV ecosystem since I don’t own one. I have a meeting in JB and I am based in KL, decided to rent a Nissan Leaf (only EV car available to rent) from GoCar Malaysia under it’s GoEV program (got RM80 off for first time booking).
It came with ChargeEV card. Knowing EV city driving is no issue, decided to do a long trip instead. It’s going to be a long post too…but do read to see how it goes and my thoughts after experiencing this first hand at the end of this post.
Preparation before hand:
– Read posts and download apps recommended from this group.
1. KL – Petronas Ayer Keroh.
– Pickup car from MyTown at 96%. Went makan first.
– Started in KL (Raja Chulan) with about 93% (~224km) battery capacity.
– Since I have a VC at 4pm, arrived just in time to use the ChargeEV. No one was using it at point of arriving.
– Battery was at already down to 27% (~64km) before start of charge.
– Driving speed was ‘Had Laju Kebangsaan’ throughout this section.
– VC for about 1hr.
– Battery up to 41% (~96km) at end of charge.
– Next point to charge according to ABRP is R&R Pagoh.
– 4pm – 5pm (~1hr charging time)
2. Petronas Ayer Keroh – R&R Pagoh (ChargeEV).
– Again, this section was mostly ‘Had Laju Kebangsaan’.
– Barely made it with ~14km to spare.
– Went for toilet break, prayer and dinner.
– Battery up to 52% (~127km) at end of charge. Already doubting whether can make it to next charging station.
– Next available charger was : JomCharge (DCFC) Kluang or JomCharge (DCFC) Skudai.
– 6pm – 830pm (~2.5hrs charging time)
– By the way, be careful when you charge here during senja…see video.
3. R&R Pagoh – Petron Kluang
– Had to exit Ayer Hitam because don’t think can make it to JomCharge Skudai. Detoured to Petron Kluang. It was already around 9pm.
– Battery was down to about ~38km to spare.
– Lucky no one was using the bay.
– First time charging on JomCharge.
– Frankly, it was easy to use!
– Got the battery charged up to 78% (~186km)
– RM61.20
– Skipped JomCharge Skudai because enough to go to Hotel in JB.
– 930pm – 1030pm (~50mins + ?)
– Suddenly car came with notification (during driving) battery temperature was getting quite high. Must be the effect from DC charging I guess.
4. Arrived at Amari Hotel JB with 26% battery (~67km)
– Tomorrow the meeting will last about 2hrs+.
– And I know at Komtar JBCC there’s a ChargeEV.
– Will charge there during meeting tomorrow.
– The charger (JomCharge AC & DC) at this building not yet commissioned. Expected in September.
– End of Day 01.
5. KOMTAR JBCC.
– Meeting lasted 3hrs instead.
– Manage to bring the car charge up to 76% (~191km) on the Charge EV (station on Level 4)
– Paid parking RM4.00 (2hrs 48mins)
– Next trip : makan lunch at Mall of Medini.
6. MALL OF MEDINI.
– Arrived with 61% (~146km)
– As usual, no one was charging, except that 1 bay was faulty.
– Lunch KFC with Legoland view
– Paid parking RM1.00 (~1hr)
– Battery up to 78% (~186km)
– According to ABRP, my next stop will be Petron Kluang (JomCharge).
– Went for a quick discussion at Medini Office before heading back to KL.
– 1pm – 2pm (~1hr)
7. Medini – Petron Kluang.
– Arrived with 25% (~59km)
– Charge up to 78% (~183km)
– RM44.40
– 5pm – 6pm (~40mins + ?)
8. Petron Kluang – Caltex Ayer Keroh.
– Barely made it to Caltex Ayer Keroh since the distance from Kluang to here according to Google Map is about 150km.
– Should’ve charged longer in Petron Kluang.
– Plugged in DC ChaDemo, estimate about 2hrs for makan, toilet and prayer break.
– Came back to see it was charging at AC speed! What the…
9. Caltex Ayer Keroh.
– Called in JomCharge support to ask for advice because :
1. AC speed using DC charger.
2. App was not detecting charger.
3. App could not be used to stop charging.
– EV Connection support was very helpful to hard reset and remote stop the charger.
– Wasted some time here because of slower than expected charging.
– Brought the battery up to 69% (~166km)
– 730pm – 10pm (~2.5hrs)
– Arrived home at 1130pm with ~33km left.
– End of Day 2
10. Nizra Motorsport
– Knew that there was DCFC at Nizra which is about 5mins away from home.
– Same thing happened with JomCharge. Could not stop from the app. Contacted support and they remotely stopped it.
– Took the car for a wash before returning it back to MyTown.
All in all, was it a smooth journey?
1. Had to do so many estimation / calculation on trips, distance etc.
2. Usual trip of KL – JB / JB – KL on ICE of 3 hrs became ~10hrs instead.
Where was the fault?
1. Perhaps wrong car choice for long distance.
2. Range availability was not compatible, having to do charging so many times (eating up a lot of on-the-road travel time).
3. Battery cooling system was not compatible, having to reduce power occasionally especially after a DC charging.
4. JomCharge support also mentioned about the same thing of item 3.
Will I convert to EV after a this?
1. Yes, with longer range car, within my budget. ?
2. Or perhaps as a secondary car for city driving. ICE for now for long distance trip.
What could have been improved?
– Fire Extinguisher at charging station.
– And tong sampah too.
Doing another JB trip next month. Anyone wants to kasi test longer range EV? That’s all folks from me as a no-more-virgin-EV car-user…I can now speak with experience.
