Highway DC charging etiquette in India

Charge only to what you need for the next leg — often 80% is enough unless overnight mode says 100%. DC slows above ~80% on most packs.

Move your car when done if the bay is shared. Note connector type before you queue — CCS2 vs Type 2 matters.

Use Prefer lower-cost on EV Grids to rank Tata, Statiq, ChargeZone, and others by indicative ₹/kWh. Verify the live tariff on the operator app before you plug in.

Reliability badges combine Google status, ratings, and admin notes — treat red as skip if a backup exists.

Long weekends: pick stations with multiple guns and check live availability when shown. Add 15–20% reserve SOC on unfamiliar legs.

Move off the DC bay when you have the energy you planned, even if the app still shows a session. Do not picnic in a CCS2 stall. If someone is waiting and you are already at 85% on a car that crawls to 100%, you are the delay.

Do not occupy both guns of a dual stall with one car ‘just in case’. Do not leave adapters locked on a connector. If you must wait for a friend, wait in a parking bay.

Start the session in the operator app before you blame the gun. Many ‘dead’ chargers are unpaid or RFID-not-tapped. Keep two networks’ apps, not one. EV Grids will not start the charge for you.

Move the car when charging is done, not when you are done eating. Charge to 80% and leave if others are waiting, because the last 20% is the slowest part of the curve and costs someone else a full session. If two cars share a power cabinet, expect both to slow down.

Leave a note on the dashboard with a phone number if you must step away, and do not park a petrol car or a fully charged EV in a charging bay. Most disputes at Indian highway plazas come from occupancy, not from charging speed.

Ask what percentage the car ahead is charging to before you settle in — that single question tells you whether to wait ten minutes or drive to your backup. If two vehicles are already waiting, the backup is almost always faster than the queue.

On long weekends and festivals, prefer multi-gun hubs even at a small detour cost. A single reliable gun with three cars waiting is worse than two moderate guns with none.