[anandpadhye]

Kudos to Hyundai for bringing the first real usable EV. This really is a sincere and serious product unlike the crap dished out by Tata and Mahindra in the form of Tigor EV, eVerito, etc. The upcoming MG eZS is also a fantastic effort (from all the UK reviews and India previews). If I could make a case for another car (I really don't have a need for a 3rd car nor the time to look after a 3rd car), I would definitely go for Kona or eZS.

I fully understand that these are still early days and both these cars are good for local city usage for now (eventually range will increase, charging times will decrease, etc.).

However, I just have one technical question - if I am ~20km away from the nearest town/charging station, somewhere in the ghats of kokan or Uttarakhand and my Kona battery fully discharges (for whatever reason, say I ignored low charge warning or the charge went down non-linearly because battery is now 4 years old or something else), what are my options? If this happens with my current car, I will just wave at a truck, ask for a ride to next petrol pump, explain the situation and get some petrol in the bottle. But what can I do with a Kona or eZS that's fully discharged in the middle of nowhere? Even "dakka start" won't work, right?

Disclaimer: This is a purely technical question, no pride or prejudice for/against EVs or IC engines

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Kudos to Hyundai for bringing the first real usable EV. This really is a sincere and serious product unlike the crap dished out by Tata and Mahindra in the form of Tigor EV, eVerito, etc.

I have no clue about the Tigor but the eVerito isn't pure c**p. I see it in a good number daily running 4 people to and from office multiple times on staff duties. So it does run & runs reliable. So it serves at least 1 purpose properly. Not necessarily a car for everyone, but it has a USP.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

If I am ~20km away from the nearest town/charging station, somewhere in the ghats of kokan or Uttarakhand and my Kona battery fully discharges (for whatever reason, say I ignored low charge warning or the charge went down non-linearly because battery is now 4 years old or something else), what are my options? If this happens with my current car, I will just wave at a truck, ask for a ride to next petrol pump, explain the situation and get some petrol in the bottle. But what can I do with a Kona or eZS that's fully discharged in the middle of nowhere? Even "dakka start" won't work, right?

The only real option is to call RSA or known flat-bed pick up service. Use Google or car maker's RSA helpline to find the nearest charging station. Get the car to that station & charge it. Will be a good costly affair overall & henceforth one won't forget to ensure the car is fully charged & batteries are upto the task of reaching point B when starting from A.

On a lighter note, if one is really nervous, get a small diesel generator in the boot. Get (or make one as a DIY) suitable rating charger. And charge the car yourself for emergency . That would be pretty much like thumbing the nose to the "green" philosophy of an EV though.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

However, I just have one technical question - if I am ~20km away from the nearest town/charging station, somewhere in the ghats of kokan or Uttarakhand and my Kona battery fully discharges (for whatever reason, say I ignored low charge warning or the charge went down non-linearly because battery is now 4 years old or something else), what are my options? If this happens with my current car, I will just wave at a truck, ask for a ride to next petrol pump, explain the situation and get some petrol in the bottle. But what can I do with a Kona or eZS that's fully discharged in the middle of nowhere? Even "dakka start" won't work, right?

You can tow the car to the nearest charging station and if the EV has a permanent magnet motor (model 3, kona, mg ezs) you can *probably* charge your battery too while on tow. In one youtube video a model 3 towed for 1 mile charges the battery with more than 1 mile worth of juice. Of course this will be at the expense of towing vehicle fuel consumption and load up its engine. Loads of EV car videos available on the youtube by early EV adopters mostly tesla users and many of these questions we have are answered there. In another video tesla model S (induction motor so no regen when battery at 0) is purposely run down to 0 battery and it gets towed by another tesla to a supercharger. Same can be done by

Like an ICE car there will be no power steering and possibly no brake servo either, but the EV would be heavier when compared to a similarly sized conventional vehicle and literally heavy to handle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPDxt02V0vo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sswtRgTd7wg

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Sankar

You can tow the car to the nearest charging station and if the EV has a permanent magnet motor (model 3, kona, mg ezs) you can *probably* charge your battery too while on tow. In one Youtube video a model 3 towed for 1 mile charges the battery with more than 1 mile worth of juice.

Wow! So that's a great advantage of a permanent magnet motor! Good to know.

Also, thanks for starting a thread on types of electric motors:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...es-motors.html (Electric vehicles - Types of motors?)

I see Tanveer suggested a book also, let me see if I can buy it.
Good stuff this!

[Klub Class]

Arun Bhat goes on a long drive in his Hyundai Kona. (750 km onward drive with halts for charging)

Follow his updates on Twitter for more info : https://twitter.com/arunbhats/status...669088771?s=09

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by Klub Class

Arun Bhat goes on a long drive in his Hyundai Kona. (750 km onward drive with halts for charging)

Follow his updates on Twitter for more info : https://twitter.com/arunbhats/status...669088771?s=09

This is exactly what Tata should have made for the Nexon EV instead of that Milind Soman in Ladakh soap opera. To the point, informative and tells the the real world capability and limitation on the vehicle.

[shankar.balan]

This is a lovely review.
And indeed this Kona seems an excellent vehicle. I saw one in HSR last Saturday on the ring road and it just took off at a traffic light leaving everyone else at a standstill.
Im just wondering about the relatively sparse availability of charging points especially in non urban areas.

[HOTROD]

Finally at the dealership. Registration and delivery on Monday .

[pkirwadi]

Just concluded our Mahabalipuram trip with a total mileage of around 720 Kms with my Kona EV. Here are the stats, its all self explanatory. The resort we stayed - Radisson Blu, was very accommodative when we requested for a charging point

Onward trip

Started with 338 km / 99% SOC
Climate ON @ 21c
Cruise @ 70 kmph
Level 0 recuperation
Drive mode: Eco
Reached Mahabalipuram: 351.9 Km / 26% SOC
Average EV consumption: 12.4 km/kWh

Return trip

Started with 348 km / 100% SOC
Climate ON @ 21c
Cruise @ 70 kmph
Level 0 recuperation
Drive mode: Eco
Reached Home(Bangalore): 351.7 km / 4% SOC
Average EV consumption: 9.4 km/kWh

The EV consumption was particularly high during my return trip due to higher levels of inclination, as Bangalore is about 920 meters from sea level

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by pkirwadi

Just concluded our Mahabalipuram trip with a total mileage of around 720 Kms with my Kona EV. Here are the stats, its all self explanatory. The resort we stayed - Radisson Blu, was very accommodative when we requested for a charging point

Great stats.
Any reason why you didn't use regeneration? This should have extended your range. How is the comfort? I felt the Kona suspension is on the stiffer side.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Doesn’t having cruise set at 70 get bothersome on long trips? Especially in an electric car with all the silence? Seems to be a sure shot recipe for drowsiness, and of course you’d be overtaken by everyone left right and center. In your experience, how much would the range have differed if you had driven at say 100kmph?

[pkirwadi]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Great stats.
Any reason why you didn't use regeneration? This should have extended your range. How is the comfort? I felt the Kona suspension is on the stiffer side.

There is no point in using regen on open roads such as highways. The best situation for any vehicle is to tame that coasting speed as much as possible. Regen if used for breaking then that absolutely makes sense. I often use the left regen pedal to pull and hold, that allows it to generate a higher force while decelerating, that helps increase the range.

I have noticed the normal break pedal also participates in the regen process along with the 3 available regen modes. Of course the later is for a more relaxed driving style, suited especially to city driving conditions but the former also allows for regen whenever you want to decelerate. With these many options for regen, the best and the most effective way to recuperate kinetic energy during breaking is to use the break pedal itself, and and at times the left - "1 pedal driving" feature.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Doesn’t having cruise set at 70 get bothersome on long trips? Especially in an electric car with all the silence? Seems to be a sure shot recipe for drowsiness, and of course you’d be overtaken by everyone left right and center. In your experience, how much would the range have differed if you had driven at say 100kmph?

I absolutely agree but I haven`t been on a long trip with my Kona EV until yesterday. I was very skeptical as there are no EV charging infra available in my chosen route, or for any national highways for that matter. Having said that, its important to understand the limitations of an EV on a graded basis. How well you actually know its going to perform, unless you take the road less traveled, makes sense when you have maximum options to consider for any untoward situations or scenarios. I feel driving at a higher speed shouldn`t tremendously affect range, you`ll have to let me experience it though, before i can comment, i`m afraid

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by pkirwadi

Onward trip
Started with 338 km / 99% SOC
Reached Mahabalipuram: 351.9 Km / 26% SOC
Average EV consumption: 12.4 km/kWh

Return trip
Started with 348 km / 100% SOC
Reached Home(Bangalore): 351.7 km / 4% SOC
Average EV consumption: 9.4 km/kWh

So, for your total trip of ~700 kms, average consumption is 10.9 km/kWh. Based on highest slab (Rs 7.8 per unit) in Karnataka electricity tariff, its Rs 0.72 per km. For 700 kms, cost is Rs 500 . Most likely you might have paid more toll fee than fuel bill for the trip . Even if you had traveled at Rs 100 kmph, it would have cost less than Rs 1 per km and Rs 700 per the trip. I understand that you wanted to play safe as the charging options are less.

In comparison, Creta diesel fuel bill would be Rs 2,380 assuming 20 kmpl mileage for 700 km trip. Creta petrol fuel would be Rs 3,300 assuming 16 kmpl mileage.

It will be interesting to see the real world efficiency comparisons in future between Kona, MG eZS, nexon, etc... Among the traditional companies, Hydunai/Kia EVs have the best efficiency numbers competing closely with Teslas.

[XRoader_001]

Originally Posted by pkirwadi

There is no point in using regen on open roads such as highways. The best situation for any vehicle is to tame that coasting speed as much as possible. Regen if used for breaking then that absolutely makes sense. I often use the left regen pedal to pull and hold, that allows it to generate a higher force while decelerating, that helps increase the range.

I have noticed the normal break pedal also participates in the regen process along with the 3 available regen modes. Of course the later is for a more relaxed driving style, suited especially to city driving conditions but the former also allows for regen whenever you want to decelerate. With these many options for regen, the best and the most effective way to recuperate kinetic energy during breaking is to use the break pedal itself, and and at times the left - "1 pedal driving" feature.



I absolutely agree but I haven`t been on a long trip with my Kona EV until yesterday. I was very skeptical as there are no EV charging infra available in my chosen route, or for any national highways for that matter. Having said that, its important to understand the limitations of an EV on a graded basis. How well you actually know its going to perform, unless you take the road less traveled, makes sense when you have maximum options to consider for any untoward situations or scenarios. I feel driving at a higher speed shouldn`t tremendously affect range, you`ll have to let me experience it though, before i can comment, i`m afraid

I am pretty much inclined ,for an Ev in coming future and eKona is on top of the list.

Have three queries :

1. Can you update exactly how much units of electricity it consumes to charge via the conventional charging i.e three pin charger which is given along.

2. With the Home Dc charger also how much units of electricity are consumed for about 80-90% of charging

3. Dc Fast charging cost with charging stations 🚉

Actually,I am planning myself a Solar installation for charging whichever Ev i purchase in near future ,but I don’t want a coal operated electricity.

I already have electric bicycles for myself ,so pretty much inclined for an four wheeler Ev.

Would appreciate the information

Regards

[DarthVeda]

Calculating electricity units for charge is pretty easy. the Kona has 39.2Kwh battery so it is 39.2 Units under ideal conditions, since we don't get those, you can take 80% efficiency in charging and we can get around 39.2/0.8 = 49 Units.
for your second query, there is no Home DC charger, it's Home AC Fast charger, which pumps out 7.2KW per hour rather than then 2KW you get from a normal plug, the units consumed will be same.
Fortum has installed few fast chargers in Delhi, it pumps in 50KW and you can get your car to 80% pretty rapidly, the charges are Rs50 + (14.99/min to 18.99/min - based on charger location). So let's say you are charge for 50 minutes which is enough for 80% for Kona, then you will end up with a bill of 50 + (750 - 950) which is way lesser than what you would pay for fossil fuel.