India, April 9 -- My 91-year-old mother, great-grandmother to five, has always wanted to do a road trip from Delhi to Mumbai. Both cities have been home to her for almost 50 years, and she's shuttled between them more times than either of us can remember.

But by road? Never. Why would you, when there's a 90-minute flight? But the romance of the road, the joy of still being independent and doing something without a schedule appealed to her. To make it more interesting, we decided to journey in an EV, was a first for me too.

We picked the Volvo EX30. It's compact, comfortable, easy to get in and out of, and claims a real-world range of 480km. With just the two of us "shorties" up front, space wasn't an issue, and years of travelling light...