From the Bhramaputra at Guwahati to the Ganga at Haridwar
JJ’s ride
An exciting, memorable, and proud journey for me, as a rider and as an Engineer, with memories etched on my heart for life.
JJ a.k.a. Janmejay joined Orxa Energies as an Intern, just before the 1st event of India Bike Week, 2019. He pretty much had an internship-by-fire. Since then, he’s worked on important subsystems on the Mantis, as well as some of Orxa’s important defence projects.
For the Electric Bharatmala, JJ rode a little over 4500km+, and covered three of the longest stretches, including the longest ride of the Electric Bharatmala, 470+km from Forbesganj to Gorakhpur. Here are his experiences from the ride…
The whole stretch of Bharatmala that I rode, from Guwahati in the north-east to Dehradun in Uttarakhand, from Jammu in North to Pune in Maharashtra, was an exciting, memorable, and proud journey for me, as a rider and as an Engineer who has worked on the bike.
The Electric Bharatmala was an exciting, memorable and proud journey for me, as a Rider and as an Engineer
One of the most beautiful days of the ride was from Nainital to Dehradun. We started descending from Nainital, at 2000m above sea level, through lush green ghats so beautiful that it takes some effort to focus on the road ahead. Since the bike is so quiet, the sounds of the jungle are clearly audible.
Since the bike is so quiet, the sounds of the jungle are clearly audible.
Later, the road took us through the Chidiyapur forest range and opened up as we reached Haridwar to the beautiful view of clean blue waters of Ganga with the majestic statue of Shiva on its banks. Though we were just riding along the banks, it was a very spritual experience.
The most challenging days of ride were from Jammu to Sangrur in Punjab and the next day from Sangrur to Kuchaman in Rajasthan.
Saved by the Full Riding Gear - Always wear full gear folks!
During the ride to Sangrur one of the Mantis riders met with an accident. I was in the support car which was about 15km away. Some locals came to his rescue and took him to a clinic for initial check up. We reached him & quickly took him to a bigger hospital where he could get the medical attention needed. The doctors examined him and X-rays were taken. Though there were some deep injuries to the hand, luckily there was no fracture and he was discharged after dressing the wound. He was saved by the full riding gear he was wearing.
With him still in pain, but in a better place than before, we shifted our attention towards the bike which now had a broken left handle-bar riser. After discussion with the team in Bangalore, we decided to un-mount the broken riser and get it welded. After wandering in the hot sun with our driver Bibek, we found a welder. And he did a good job too, as those risers held on till Ahmedabad, where they were replaced with a new part sent by the team from Bangalore.
The handlebar of the bike was also bent which we got straightened out by a truck mechanic who refused to charge us any money for it. With all the parts in good shape we went back to the bike, assembled the handle- bar and started the ride again to reach Sangrur- and, staying safe, we made sure reach the same night — without impacting the schedule.
The Hottest Section!
Our Challenges were not over yet.
The next day’s ride was 430Km, one of the longer rides, but in the blinding sun through Churu in Rajasthan. Churu is well-known for its heat. Already tired from the previous days incidents, we started the ride early in the morning because we had a large distance to cover. By 10 in the morning, the temperature was already at 37–38 deg C. Riding an EV worked to our advantage, as the bike does not give out heat on to your legs, unlike an IC engine. But, even with this, the surrounding air was so hot that it was burning the skin, despite the full riding gear I was wearing.
Traditional Rain water harvesting as a match-maker!
When we stopped near Churu for a break, we spoke to some locals and found out that every house in that region has a tank to store rain water for drinking purposes for the whole year. And people do not marry their daughters into a house that does not have a big tank.
And people do not marry their daughters into a house that does not have a big tank.
As the sun started going down, the temperatures dropped and the weather became pleasant, but even with that, this ride became the toughest ride I have ever done.
The Best Part of a roadtrip — Food!
The best food I had was Dal-Batti-Churma, Lassi, Kulfi in a place called Dhabalogy, about 25 km before Udaipur. I have been to Rajasthan before, and had Dal Batti Churma on several occasions, but this has to be the best. The place has a very fun Hindi Cinema based interior with paintings and old posters available for sale.
The best breakfast I had, was on our ride from Jamnagar to Bhavnagar, where we met Ghanshyam bhai, who took us to a nice hotel that makes fresh Fafda ,Gathiya and jalebi.
The best Rasgulla, or meetha as the locals call it, I had was in Cooch-Bihar.
College Events.
I visited 3 colleges during the ride.
First Was UPES in Dehradun. It is one of the most beautiful college campus I have seen. The students were very excited to see an performance electric bike. The transport design department was focusing on educating students on EVs, specifically 2 wheeler for this year, since the EV industry is booming in India. Students had questions regarding the battery technology, performance in extreme cold or hot temperatures, bike performance on inclines(gradability), challenges faced during the design of the bike... It was nice to know that the college was focusing on industry relevant topics for the course.
The second college I visited was Gyanmanjari group of colleges in Bhavnagar. The Bharatmala team received the best welcome at this college.
The students came in their bikes and electric scooters, to escort us to the college. Students here had questions about why we are not using swappable batteries, what are the drawbacks, and benefits of using a swappable battery. They also had a lot of questions about how to startup, what one should tackle, and the problems faced as a Startup.
Third college I visited was MIT ADT in Pune. The college had organized Electric Vehicle Ecosystem Expo during our visit. In the Expo, the current students and previous students of MIT ADT showcased different student developed technologies for electric vehicles. One of the groups had retrofit an IC engine bike to make it an EV with a top speed of 75kmph. Some students presented their Electric kick scooters, which we had a lot of fun riding around the campus.
I had the opportunity to ride the bike thousands of kilometers far from home for thousands of kilometers from the cool foggy mornings in the Northeast to the exasperating heat in Rajasthan. All of the 4500km I rode during the ride, all the team-mates and people I met, all the places I went to are etched on my heart and brain for life.
All of the 4500km I rode during the ride, all the team-mates and people I met, all the places I went to are etched on my heart and brain for life.
Orxa Energies’ mission is to rapidly electrify all transport. We build performance Electric Vehicles & the associated Energy Ecosystem. We believe that battery swap will rapidly electrify shared mobility. Our first vehicle is the Mantis — a fully-electric performance motorcycle, designed to fit seamlessly into your lifestyle.
We also build powerful Battery Packs that manage the specific challenges of performance vehicles — longevity, thermals, weight, and volume. Our battery packs are already in pilots with our customers.
