4,458 km · Pune → Pokhara, Nepal · Tata Nexon.ev 45

One Nexon, One Willing Friend, Zero ICE Excuses, and a PGPortal Strategy

⚠️**‼️Long Post Ale**rt⚠️‼️

Vehicle: Tata Nexon.ev Fearless45

Route: Pune → Mehkar → Nagpur → Rewa → Basti → Sonauli → Pokhara → Ghandruk → Jomsom → Muktinath

Month: March 2026

1.The Backstory: Leaves Lapsing, Plans Collapsing

March 2026 and my HR portal was showing a significant slab of earned leave was set to lapse by the 31st. Having successfully completed a Pune–Varanasi run in February, I was in no mood to simply let go those leaves and call it a year. The Nexon.ev 45 had already proven itself on the highway, and my confidence in the machine was running high. That gave me pause was twofold: the charging infrastructure on an unfamiliar corridor, and my own skill behind the wheel on terrain this serious. The Sahyadri had been a good school, and those gradients had taught me something. But the Himalayas don't grade on a curve. Whatever the Western Ghats had given me, I knew I'd be drawing on every bit of it.

The original plan was the Annapurna Base Camp trek. The group chat, naturally, followed the arc of every ambitious group chat ever formed by people in their thirties: initial enthusiasm, scheduling conflicts, radio silence, and then death. A week slipped by. I watched the leave balance tick downward like a bad investment.

One last call to one friend. He said yes. We charged to 100% SoC, checked tyre pressures, packed essentials, and rolled out the very next morning. Zero fanfare. Maximum intent.

2. Pre-Trip Strategy: Filing Complaints Before Filing Miles

In Feb trip I realised UP MP state has poor ev infrastructure and hence I spent time auditing the charging corridor on the Pune–Varanasi–Gorakhpur–Sonauli axis once I completed my Varanasi trip. Several BPCL and HPCL fast chargers across MP/UP were showing offline on the networks. Rather than optimistically hoping they'd be up by the time I arrived - a strategy that has burned EV travellers before - I took a more bureaucratic route.

I filed formal complaints on PGPortal against each non-functional unit, specifically in February last week and 1st week of March, well before the trip. It was a calculated nudge: government-operated chargers tend to respond to paper trails. And in a somewhat gratifying turn of events, one charger at a time, the corridor started coming alive. I'm not claiming credit for a full resurgence - but if you file, sometimes they fix.

3. The Vehicle: Quick Stats

Parameter |Detail

Vehicle |Tata Nexon.ev Fearless 45

Battery |45 kWh usable

Total Distance |4,458 km (round trip)

Average Consumption |125 Wh/km

Total Charging Cost |₹8,735.23

Saving vs. Petrol (15 kmpl) |~₹22,465

Saving vs. Diesel (18 kmpl) |~₹13,565

Border Permit (Bhansar) (6days) |NPR 5,400 (~₹3,375)

4. India Leg: Pune to the Sonauli Border

Mehkar → Nagpur → Rewa → Basti → Sonauli

The trip began with a pick-up in Mehkar, after which we pointed the nose toward Nagpur. The first genuine bummer appeared early: fuel station staff at one stop refused night charging, citing that the station was "closed" - which, as any EV owner who has been on the road knows, is code for "the attendant doesn't want to deal with it." Complaint registered on the spot; moved on to a functioning 30kW unit nearby.

From that point, we activated what I call Non-Stop Mode: drive till 25-30% or next chargers whichever is further, charge for 45-60 minutes, swap the wheel, repeat. Sleep happened inside the car - not glamorously, but effectively. Charging sessions at Rewa and thereafter kept us moving through the night without a single meaningful delay. (Would attach charging stat photo seprately)

⚠️** Road Manners Report - Prayagraj Regio**n: The stretch approaching and around Prayagraj deserves its own chapter in any manual on how not to drive. Zero lane discipline. Cars parked in the fast lane for ice cream. Wrong-way vehicles in the overtaking lane. If this stretch doesn't test your composure, nothing will. Keep your following distances generous and your expectations lower.

Just before Basti ~40kms , a toppled truck had blocked a bridge entirely. A 100km unplanned detour followed - one of those situations where you're grateful for a car with range buffer and a co-pilot who doesn't panic. We reached Basti eventually, napped in the car while car was getting charged, and by 5 AM were rolling up to the Sonauli border crossing.

Border formalities were smoother than expected. The Bhansar permit -the customs document required to take an Indian-registered vehicle into Nepal costed us NPR 5,400 (approximately ₹3,375) for 6 days. The process was methodical rather than chaotic. Adhar, vehicle registration, insurance - have it all ready and the crossing is straightforward. Agent charges INR 100-500 depend how rich you look or negotiate. Got the sim of Ncell and currency of Nepal from here.

5. Nepal: From Sonauli to Pokhara's rough Slopes

The First Nepal Charge: A Different Pricing Model

Our first charge on Nepali soil happened at Tansen, and it introduced us to a charging economics model I hadn't encountered before: 10 NPR per 1% of battery. No kWh metering, no session fees -just percentage points. We topped up 60% for NPR 600 (roughly ₹375 INR). Whether this works in your favour depends on your battery size; with a 45 kWh pack, it's a reasonable deal.

Pokhara: Plans vs. Downpour

Day-2 Pokhara was on the itinerary - Gupteshwar Cave, Davis Falls, the Peace Pagoda etc. We did partial sightseeing before a sudden and determined downpour cancelled the rest. Rather than sitting it out in a café, we pivoted toward Ghandruk in the evening.

The 7 km That Deserves Its Own Entry

Just before last patch we decided to have chicken maggi and it was delicious. The final 7 km approach to Ghandruk village was, by any honest measure, a trial by mud. Pitch dark. Steep incline. "Surface" used loosely - it was primarily a slurry of Himalayan soil that had decided to become semi liquid. We scraped the underbody a couple of times. But here's where the Nexon's electric drivetrain quietly earned a standing ovation:

An ICE car on that slope, in those conditions, would have been a theatre of clutch abuse, stall restarts, and tyre spin. The Nexon simply delivered torque from zero RPM, smoothly and without drama. You modulate it the way you'd modulate any precise tool. It crawled up with a surgical calm that was almost eerie given the conditions.

We checked into the Ghandruk Resort & Spa at ₹3,000/night. Temperatures dropped to 7°C overnight. My friend - from warmer latitudes, clearly struggled. I treated the village walk as a warm-up lap.

6. Mustang Ascent: Moonlight, Wind, and −2°C at Jomsom

Against Advice, Toward Jomsom

Woke up to a crisp Himalayan morning, though the "hot water" at the resort was more of a polite suggestion than a functional reality. After fueling up on a standard breakfast and soaking in the views from the balcony, we got down to the business of the day.

While packing the Nexon, we ran into a few fellow travelers from back home. When they saw the EV, the advice was immediate and predictable: "You need a 4x4 for the push to Mustang and Muktinath". They had already struggled with their ICE machines just getting to Ghandruk, and their skepticism was palpable. We thanked them sincerely, noted the concern, and went about our way.

After the previous night’s mud-plugging session, my confidence in the machine was high. In these terrains, I’ve always believed it’s often "not the car, but the driver" that makes the difference. This wasn't blind recklessness; it was a calculated, route-specific judgment. These stretches, while demanding, are perfectly achievable in a well-driven 2WD with generous ground clearance, provided the weather gods don't throw a massive tantrum.

I kept the strategy simple with my co-pilot: the moment we felt the risk outweighed the reward or the terrain turned suicidal, we’d execute a 180 and head back. He was on board. We spent the rest of the morning wandering through Ghandruk village, squeezing in a quick photoshoot and enjoying the brilliant weather, before pointing the Nexon’s nose toward the kingdom of Mustang at noon. On the return leg, we picked up two local college students, leading to a classic "broken Hindi and sign language" conversation. They shared insights into their daily mountain lives and college routines but didn't miss the chance to question our life choices. With a bit of mountain humor, they suggested the views would have been better enjoyed with girlfriends, jokingly wondering why it was just the two of us. We dropped athem around 2-3pm and left for Jomsom.

We got stopped at one the checkpoint, not able to recall the checkpoint them, they asked for permit which we did not had so they ask to get it and costed us around 1500INR but too around 1 hr due to network issue.

There are moments on long drives that justify the entire endeavour. Near Marpha, somewhere in the cold and the dark, the moonlight was extraordinary -not supplementary, but primary. It lit the Himalayan peaks with enough intensity that long-exposure photography was possible without artificial light. Winds were running at 60 km/h. The temperature was aggressive. I pulled over, side-parked, and shot for twenty minutes.

No ICE running at idle to stay warm. Just the wind, the mountains, and silence.

Jomsom: ICE-d Out and Frozen In

We arrived at Jomsom at night to find the charger blocked by a parked ICE car - a situation the EV community has memorably termed "ICE-ing." Not ideal when you're at altitude with a cold battery. We checked into the hotel, set an alarm for 6 AM, and went to sleep. I woke up before the alarm and checked temp it was −2°C outside.

By 6 AM morning, with 0°C outside and a freshly thawed perspective, the charger wasn't free. Owner asked us to go at different charger which he owns and we headed in that direction hardly 600meters. We plugged in, it was more of precautionary charge rather than the necessary one, topped up just 10%, and started for the final leg to Muktinath the de facto northernmost point of the journey. The climb was a relentless uphill push that truly tested the Nexon's mettle while rewarding us with breathtaking Himalayan vistas at every turn. The sheer scale of the landscape made the ascent feel like a drive through another world, with the electric torque making light work of the steep, winding mountain tracks. Food was very very expensive in Muktinath, had a glance and menu card and it was NPR 200 for 2 eggs, justified due to altitude and cost to bring it to that place.

7. Charging Log

Total energy cost across full 4,458 km round trip: ₹8,735.23. Refer image.

8. The Return & Regenerative Descent

The drive down from Muktinath to Jomsom and subsequent descents through the valley provided a vivid demonstration of regenerative braking as a practical tool, not a marketing footnote. Each significant descent visibly added SoC. Coming off a Himalayan ascent in an EV is, in a very literal sense, getting paid back for the climb. On steep enough grades, you can arrive at the bottom with more charge than you expected sometimes meaningfully more although not equal to what you consume at uphill climb.

9. Return Journey to Pokhara

The return leg was a battle against the elements and phantom warnings. Heavy rain forced us to scrap another sightseeing plan, though we salvaged the mood with some incredible local momos at Tatopani.

Soon after, a low-pressure warning popped up. After an anxious 6km stretch with no shop in sight, a manual check showed the levels were fine, so I reset the TPMS and pushed on. However, the error resurfaced in Pokhara, confirming a genuine puncture that cost us NPR 160 to fix.

Despite the sky "crying" as we left and the tempting call of the Pokhara nightlife, my co-pilot was keen on a night run. Just 45 minutes into the ghats, the opposite tyre threw a fresh warning. After a frustrating encounter with a local shop that charged NPR 100 just to top up the air while refusing to check for a puncture, we handed over INR 50 and decided to power through the Sonauli border.

10. Cost Comparison

Fuel Type |Estimated Cost |Saving vs. EV

EV (Nexon 45) |₹8,735 |—

Diesel @ 18 kmpl |~₹22,300 |₹13,565 saved

Petrol @ 15 kmpl |~₹31,200 |₹22,465 saved 11. Return Leg from Sonauli to Jabalpur

Once across the border, the roads smoothed out, and we pushed to cover 750–800 km in a single stretch. Exhaustion eventually hit, so we pulled into a dhaba where my co-pilottoo tired even to eat managed to secure a room for the night. We were out cold within 20 minutes and resumed the journey the next morning, reaching his home in Mehkar by 9 PM. Rest journey was bland so not gonna taken an effort for it.

12. Final Verdict

The 45kWh battery is the correct call for Himalayan touring in a Nexon but felt bigger the better. The extra capacity provides the buffer you need when a 100km detour lands unexpectedly, or when a cold night at altitude shrinks your real-world range by 15–20%. I did not saw any changes in range.

The PGPortal strategy works. If you're planning a long-distance EV run through corridors with government-operated chargers, file your complaints weeks in advance. It won't guarantee uptime, but it shifts the odds.

The silence of an EV in the silent valleys of Mustang at moonrise is not something I can adequately describe. What I can say is that no internal combustion engine however well-tuned can replicate it.

Total energy bill: ₹8,735.23 for 4,458 km which comes ₹1.96/Km

That number speaks for itself.

Note: Photo 12-17 captured at Night, nearby Marpha.

Feel free to ask any question, query or have any suggestion/advice.