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-   -   Hyundai Kona EV : Ownership Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/electric-cars/230585-hyundai-kona-ev-ownership-review-4.html)

Thank you very much for a detailed write up after having used your car extensively. I myself have booked the MG ZS EV and your points help ease some of my apprehensions regarding ownership of an EV.

Regarding the charger installation, MG does a site survey and asks for the last 3 months electricity bill copy before commencing work. I have a 3 phase 5 KW connection and they refused installation saying it is unsafe and that I need to enhance my allocated load. They said they need 6.8 KW over and above peak power used in any one phase. I am surprised Hyundai doesn't do the same, it will prevent blowouts and frankly be safer.

Please note that the MG does not have the capability to adjust charging current like the Kona.

Unfortunately houses in Tamilnadu (and I suspect most other states) are allocated at a maximum 5KW and so anyone installing a EV charger at home will have to apply for an enhancement which is usually a costly affair.

This is probably why Huyundai cuts corners because no potential customer will want to hear they have to go to the electricity department and enhance their allocated load to install a charger. Alternatively we can use the normal 16A plug and charge for close to 18 hours for a full charge. But that would mean giving up the 7.5 KW charger which is included in the price of the car and also having to really plan the charging well in advance if we need a full charge in the morning.

This is honestly a hidden cost when it comes to the MG ZS EV and the Kona. The Nexon is more India friendly and has no issues because it charges fully using a 16A plug point in just about 8 hours.

In India most of the EB's are running on a loss due to gross neglect and lack of proper maintenance. Today right from morning TNEB has been playing 'love me love me not' with even regular power supply. India and EV's is a disaster waiting to happen both for the customer and the Electricity boards. The EB's and their AE's charge huge bribes for even regular work on the transformer's in apartments, just imagine if you approach them say that you've bought a battery car costing 15-25 lakhs their eyes will go green in greed and they will make you bleed cash from all the orifices lol: I don't mind dishing out Rs 100 and more for fossil fuel. India is not ready for EV's yet and not in the next ten years.

I vehemently disagree. Having driven a Kona Electric for more than a year and 50k km, I've never even once regretted switching to an EV. In fact, my family prefers Kona over other internal combustion car because of its refinement. We plan to keep it for 2 lakh km so making up the premium paid is not an issue. In city it is an absolute no brainer anyway, but even on highways between metros where charging infrastructure is picking up rapidly, it's just way cheaper than normal cars and far more enjoyable to drive. I didn't have to face any issues regarding getting a new meter for EV and overall installation of charger. I paid zero rupees in any sort of bribes.


Hyundai indeed does the survey. I was asked for details of load capacity and previous bills. I don't know about Tamil Nadu but my home meter has load capacity of 11kW so installing charger wasn't a big deal. Plus one can apply for special EV meter in Maharashtra (which I did) which has a rate of ₹6/kWh (excluding taxes) I had to pay around ₹11k as a security deposit and some ₹1.5k as installation charges. None of these include bribes, just to be clear. The only gripe is that I had to wait 2 whole months before I got the special meter. I'm charging my car on 7.5kW single phase supply and pay around ₹1/km in charging. Effective rate including taxes comes to around ₹7.5/kWh. Total I paid for installation of charger (laying down cable, labour, etc) was around ₹12k, for laying down wire from meter-box to my parking spot, apart from costs mentioned above for new meter installation. Considering I'll be keeping the car for at least 5 years and upgrading to another EV which can make use of exisiting charger, I don't think this cost is a burden at all. Plus it can be made up within 25k km of driving anyway (remember, ₹1/km). I plug in the car every night to top it up to 80% and charge it upto 100% whenever I'm going on a road trip so that isn't a problem to begin with either.

The problem is not with EVs, the problem is with Indian Republic and it's prevalent corruption at all levels and age old Infrastructure, India won't be ever ready for EVs because the corruption will not stop forever and our grid will not be upgraded forever.

Sorry, I should’ve made it clearer. Actually, Hyundai does a home visit and check the electricity network. I had shared this in the initial post. They explain everything. But, it’s just that the final installation technician went with 1 phase line to reduce my electricity bill. And the blowouts also happened only when there were adverse conditions such as rain. Else, it was fine. Out of abundant caution, I decided to move to a 3 phase line and since then there’ve been no concerns.

In fact, another cost you should be aware of would be the wiring cost from the meter. If your charger box is far off from the meter, you should be prepared to spend at least 30k-40k for the wiring alone. Luckily, my charger was next to the meter and hence not too much additional cost.

So, you actually don’t need any support from the EB for installing a charger at home. Hyundai does it for you. The only reason you’d need to visit the Electricity Board would be if your current connection needs to be upgraded. And in my experience, not everyone there are going to be troublesome. In fact, I get extra attention and support from my area technician because he’s also interested in the EV tech. Additionally, with the solar meter installed, he even goes out of his way to have a conversation and provide inputs on how to improve outputs from the solar setup.
I’ve never had to dish any additional cash to the EB.

I disagree. As stated in my earlier response, I’ve not experienced any issues from the Electricity Board. In fact, some of them will actually support you and volunteer information. They’re just as interested in the tech as us. Grid will take time to upgrade, as we’ve seen with the recent coal crisis. And I think, as EVs gain more adoption we will see progress in this direction.

Delta Type 2 chargers can be adjusted to deliver between 1 kW and 7.4 kW. So you can still enjoy home charging at 4 or 5 kW if you have a single-phase line.

Thanks for this information.

I have actually booked an MG ZS EV in October. Unfortunately the MG's charger doesn't allow any adjustments.

The quoted a delivery time of 4-5 months for the Excite model. I received word last week that manufacturing of the 2021 model has ended and it is likely they will start manufacturing the international 2022 model for the next batch. This also meant that the delivery date has been delayed until April 2022.

So I called the Hyundai salesperson from whom we bought my brother's car to ask about the Kona. He said they aren't accepting bookings for the Kona and they have no manufacturing plans for the Kona at the moment. Looks like I have to wait for the MG.

The 2022 model looks much improved so it might be worth the wait. By then you might have more clarity on the 2022 Kona situation also.

Battery Replacement and Service Update

The battery recall program for Kona, announced in 2021, has finally reached me. My service advisor asked me to bring in the car earlier this week. Luckily, it also coincided with my 2 year service (3rd free service). The whole process took 3 days. Apart from AC filter change and wheel alignment, no other additional service was needed. Once again, total cost of service was zero. That’s a total of zero rupees spent on service of the car in the last 2 years. The service advisors at KUN United are very helpful and special note of appreciation for them. They keep you updated through the process and answer all your queries patiently.

There was another pleasant surprise from Hyundai. The new battery pack has a slightly higher capacity, and the range has increased to 370-380 Kms according to the service advisor. My earlier range was always consistently 330-340 kms, and I’m sure that with the new battery I’ll be able to get 380+ kms. In fact, over the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting more with the eco mode and my average consumption has come down to 10-11 KWH/100 kms as against the 12-13 KWH/100 kms I’ve got in the last couple of years. I’ll test the range in the upcoming weeks, and I’ll see if I can achieve 400 Kms in a single charge.

I have to say that I’m very delighted with the car, and with the new battery pack almost feels like I’ve got a new car. With the Covid third wave almost done, I’m looking forward to increasing the usage of the car and put some serious mileage on it. There’re a few long drives planned in the next few months, and I’ll test the range to its maximum.

Final note, car celebrated its 2nd birthday on 9 February, and with the new battery it feels like the clock has been reset to zero.

My car came with the new battery and I've been getting 380km pretty consistently, although it's down to 350km in the north Indian winter. I drive in Eco mode in the winter and Comfort mode in the summer since I need the extra air-conditioning kick.

Have you actually driven close to 380kms on a single charge or are you going by the value shown by the vehicle? On my MG ZS EV, I have seen range display of as high as 459 but I don’t think I would be actually able to extract that much without taking extreme steps like driving at a slower speed. Note: I have the UK version.

Due to work commitments I’ve not actually been able to go on a long drive. But, the range displayed in the car has only increased to 350 from the 340 it used to show earlier. I’ll need to complete a few more charging cycles probably to get the final number on the system. In any case, I’m able to get the number shown in the system. While Kona advertises itself as having a 444 Kms range, in reality the system only displays 330-340 Kms on a full charge. I do get that range in real life too. I’ll test it over the next few weeks to see if there’s any change to this range. As per service advisor, I should get atleast 20 Kms more than what I used to get earlier. So, that’s why I’m hoping I’ll get atleast 360-370 Kms. I generally drive in Comfort mode with auto climate and have consumption figures of 11-12 KWH/100 Kms.

I have a request to everyone discussing the range in this thread. If it's possible, can you please post if the car is being driven within the city or highway and if on the highway what was the maximum speed touched as well?

After you asked I actually charged my car to 100% and drove it down to 4%. Covered 370 km with 15 km left. Generally Kona range projections are said to be accurate.

Keep in mind that I am a conservative driver and drove in Eco mode with speeds in the 45-55 km/h range and with the airconditioning off.

Thanks for taking the time to test it. That is great range. Was this all in a single trip or a combination of multiple trips? Unless it was city driving, how did you manage to keep speed so low?