Mahindra XEV 9e Takes on the Vande Bharat from Mumbai to Goa

In the parking lot downstairs sat Mahindra XEV 9e, charging at 93 per cent. Across the table sat our managing editor, Cyrus. And on the table sat a half-empty plastic water bottle that had probably been there since the last financial year. Cyrus flicked the bottle into the air. “If it lands upright,” he said, “we race.” Mumbai to Goa. Car versus train. At three in the morning, this felt like completely sound logic.

The Mumbai to Goa Challenge Begins

We would both leave the office at 3am. Cyrus would take the Vande Bharat from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Madgaon. AC comfort. Tea service. And a timetable that doesn’t care about traffic jams, potholes or existential dread. I would leave in Mahindra XEV 9e and drive the entire distance. No speeding. No breaking traffic laws. No editing later to cheat. Cyrus wasn’t getting away easily either. No cab-hailing apps. No pre-booked taxis. To the CST station from the office and even once he reached Madgaon, he had to step outside the station and negotiate with whatever black-and-yellow Goa happened to offer. Meanwhile, I had toll plazas, roadworks, truck drag races and the Western ghats to deal with. The finish line wasn’t Madgaon station. That would have been too simple.  It was a villa 20 minutes away. First one in wins. On paper, the train had the advantage. It departs at 5:25am and arrives at 1:10pm. That is a comforting amount of time. During the day, it was a neat rectangle. A Mahindra XEV 9e departing Mumbai at 3am does not have that level of luxury. It includes uncertainty. It has infrastructure that is still being built in spirit, if not in reality. Diversions emerge unexpectedly and trucks!  The Mahindra XEV 9e is an Electric Origin SUV. Ours had 93 per cent charge and a claimed range that suggested Mumbai to Goa could be done in one clean, uninterrupted run. That was assuming everything went perfectly. This is India. Things rarely do. At three in the morning, it felt heroic. 

Driving the Mahindra XEV 9e Across Maharashtra

We got over that hurdle and joined the Western Express highway just as the city was rubbing its eyes. This is where the XEV 9e begins to make sense. You press the little shoe icon on the steering wheel and single-pedal mode engages. Lift off the accelerator and the regen kicks in hard, harvesting energy while gently slowing the car. In crawling traffic and at signals, it is a gift. The other button, the lightning bolt, is boost mode. Hold it down and you get instant torque with a sharper throttle. Two diametrically opposite philosophies on either side of the wheel. Sensible and silly.  

I would use both in equal measure.

Mumbai at that hour is a strange place. Metro work half done, barricades shoved to one side, the occasional rickshaw driver attempting a wrong-way manoeuvre with supreme confidence. The XEV’s steering with a variable ratio meant that darting around detours did not feel like wrestling an SUV. The turning circle of just 10 metres came in handy when a diversion spat us into a dead end and a quick U-turn was the only way out.

Cruising Through the Expressway

By the time we hit the Mumbai Pune expressway, the sky was still dark and the road was finally open. Adaptive Cruise Control was set just under the limit. This is part of the Level 2 plus ADAS suite, 12 sensors and five radars orchestrated by Mahindra’s MAIA architecture. What matters at four in the morning is that it keeps a safe distance, brakes if needed and can even assist with lane changes. In the long run, when you are mile-munching, it reduces fatigue.

The AR head-up display projected navigation arrows that grew larger as turns approached, speed limits and even the song playing through the 1400-watt 16-speaker Harman Kardon system. With Dolby Atmos and the Venuescapes, you can simulate the acoustics of Mumbai’s Royal Opera House or Wembley Stadium. For a while, the XEV felt less like transport and more like a rolling studio apartment. And then Lonavala happened.

Twenty minutes of nothing. Trucks three abreast on an incline, a bus attempting to overtake a tanker, a tanker attempting to overtake common sense. No accident nor any visible obstruction, just the uniquely Indian art of blocking all lanes. Single pedals regen was working overtime, clawing back charge while we crawled.

The range indicated on the digital driver’s display dropped, but not alarmingly. We had started with an indicated 471 kilometres, and even after the climb towards Khandala, the real-world numbers tracked closely with the display. 

First toll plaza and the FASTag lanes were predictably clogged by someone whose tag had not been recharged since the last IPL season. The irony of the word fast was lost on everyone. Electric vehicles, however, currently benefit from toll exemptions on certain stretches and breeze through. Small victories matter in a race that would eventually be decided by minutes.

By now, Cyrus was comfortably seated in the Vande Bharat, sipping on tea and texting smug updates. He was on time. 

We were emerging from the Lonavala mess bruised but not beaten. Pune would be our first proper test.

Charging Stops and Range Confidence

We rolled into a charging station in Pune. The XEV 9e can accept up to 180kW and we found a compatible 180kW charger. Plug in, grab coffee, watch the numbers climb. Twenty to eighty per cent in around 20 minutes. The last 20 per cent slowed down as always, but in half an hour we were back on the road with 99 per cent and renewed optimism.

Daylight brought traffic. Buses, tractors and two-wheelers materialising from side roads without warning. The ADAS was constantly working in the background. The Driver Occupant Monitoring System, with its in-cabin camera above the mirror, flashed a gentle reminder at one point when my blink rate suggested fatigue. It is mildly unsettling to have your car tell you to stay sharp, but on a 12-hour run, it is also reassuring.

Through the Ghats in the Mahindra XEV 9e

Somewhere near Kolhapur, the highway turned into a construction site masquerading as a road.  Diversions every few kilometres, contra-flow sections where traffic was herded into a single lane and asked to behave. It did not. Trucks began another impromptu drag race, three abreast again, as if choreographed.

Boost Mode on Mountain Roads

Boost mode became my ally. Hold the lightning bolt, feel the instant shove and dart into the smallest of gaps before common sense closes it. The RWD layout gave the car a balance that belied its size. Turn in, feel the rear rotate, power out. 

For a big battery car, it felt improbably agile. The original plan was to enter Goa via Nippani. Google Maps, however, suggested a faster route through Anuskura ghat, saving 10 minutes. 

Narrow, steep, picturesque and unforgiving. This is where you appreciate the low-mounted battery lowering the centre of gravity. An SUV that does not lurch in tight hairpins is an underrated pleasure. But climbing drained the buffer we had so carefully built. The range and the distance to the destination began to converge uncomfortably. 

Regenerative Braking on the Descent

Incline sections are what EV sceptics love to bring up. Yes, consumption spikes. Kilometres tick down faster than you would like. But what goes up must come down. On the descent, the regen clawed back a shocking amount of range. From 220km at the crest to 255km plus by the time we were at the bottom. Gravity can sometimes be the best charging station.

We dropped into Sindhudurg for a quick final top-up. Another 120-kilowatt unit and this time it delivered properly. Fifteen minutes was all it took to build a comfortable buffer before the final push.

The Final Stretch to Goa

Cyrus called from somewhere between Madgaon and the villa. He had caught a black and yellow taxi within seconds of exiting the station. No app, just old-school hand-raised and deal done. His ETA was now alarmingly close to mine. The last mile would decide it. 

Entering Goa should feel triumphant. Instead, it felt like an exam hall. 138km of indicated range for 138km of actual distance at one point. Perfect symmetry and perfect stress. Regen level three on every downhill. Feather the throttle on flats. No cruise control. It was man, machine and math.

Goa’s roads were quieter but not empty. Tourists meandering, scooters without mirrors and the occasional cow in the middle of the road. Less than 20km to go and we hit another jam. A single-lane road, narrowed by roadworks, a bus wedged at an angle that suggested civic sense was optional. Minutes ticked away. The AR HUD displayed the next turn.

When the road finally opened up, it was less than a kilometre to the villa. I was half-expecting to see a black-and-yellow taxi already parked outside. Instead, the driveway was empty. The XEV 9e rolled in just under 12 hours after leaving Mumbai. Three charging stops, countless traffic snarls, contra flows, truck drag races and toll plaza theatrics later, we had done it. Twenty minutes passed before Cyrus arrived, mildly flustered, mildly amused and undeniably second.

What the Journey Revealed About Electric SUVs

What did this prove? Cars are better than public transport. Despite being electric! Even the fact that electric SUVs can make the Mumbai-to-Goa run without drama. That Indian Road infrastructure remains our biggest adversary. 

Perhaps all the above. 

Tags

Electric SUVs India, Mahindra XEV 9e, Mahindra Electric Origin SUVs, Real World EV Range India, Highway EV Performance, ADAS Electric SUV, Vande Bharat Express, Mumbai Goa Drive, EV vs Train Challenge