Newbie here, wife getting her 2021 Kona (preferred) six months earlier than expected.

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navguy12

navguy12

Well-Known Member
The background: my wife hates my TM3 but loves the EV lifestyle (sorry, I hate that term but I can't think of a better word right now).

A year ago she decided that the only EV she wanted was the Kona EV (same car I would get if the Tesla didn’t exist).

After suitable humming and hawing, she commited to wanting a blue (with white roof) Kona EV Preferred package and put down $1,000 to have the local dealership order one.

At that time, the dealership said the wait would be until some time in early 2021, but a 2021 white (with black roof) Kona EV Preferred package was arriving in four to six weeks.

The people who originally ordered that car cancelled their order and would my wife be interested in it.

She wanted the blue, so she said no to the offer of first refusal on the in comming white.

Fast forward to four days ago.

The dealership left a message saying the car would be a 2021 model and cost $100 more.

Yesterday morning, via this forum, I found out that the blue color was not available on the 2021 Preferred so off we went to see the dealership.

If my wife wanted the blue, she would only get it by paying the up charge ($6,700 plus HST I think) for the top line trim package.

So yesterday, while we were enroute for a two day trip to the inlaws, she committed to buying the white model that is in stock!

Her current car (2012 Yaris hatchback) was privately sold yesterday evening and she is picking up her new Kona EV sometime within the next five business days (we gotta get back home...).

So I've already bought her an EVSE unit and will be running the circuit in the garage tomorrow evening.

My ceramic guy (Opti-Coat Pro Plus) is booked to come over on the Tuesday following Labour Day.

The TuxMats are being ordered for the passenger floors and Weathertech for the rear cargo compartment.

My only two questions (for now) to the community is:
  • What winter tires are recommended, and
  • Has anyone had a chassis spray of Krown/Rust Check done?
Thanks. Cheers. Mike.
 
Congratulation on the new Kona and welcome to the forum. Just double check with your dealer if chassis spray or undercoating is allowed in context to the traction battery. If they say yes, get it in writing. Often it is not recommended by the manufacturer or possibly even considered detrimental to the traction battery function and may affect a possible future warranty claim.
I used Bridgestone Blizzak WS 90 winter tires last season. They performed very well in snow and ice condition, I would happily buy them again. If you get new winter wheels make sure they are 17 inches, many 16 inch wheels will not clear the rear e brake hardware.

Forgot to mention its kinda mandatory to post a picture of your new ride, so get crakalakin :)
 
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Congrats on the Kona in advance.. Can't comment on winter tires and rust prevention as I'm in Florida and we neither have winters nor rust issues..

BTW, great color choice!20200625_234808.webp
 
apu said:
Congratulation on the new Kona and welcome to the forum. Just double check with your dealer if chassis spray or undercoating is allowed in context to the traction battery. If they say yes, get it in writing. Often it is not recommended by the manufacturer or possibly even considered detrimental to the traction battery function and may affect a possible future warranty claim.
I used Bridgestone Blizzak WS 90 winter tires last season. They performed very well in snow and ice condition, I would happily buy them again. If you get new winter wheels make sure they are 17 inches, many 16 inch wheels will not clear the rear e brake hardware.

Forgot to mention its kinda mandatory to post a picture of your new ride, so get crakalakin :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for that good info, especially the reason for 17 inch wheels. Pictures will follow, hopefully within the next week. Once it's in its new home :)
 
Modern cars really don't need rust protection and in fact adding rust protection may void some warranties in some places, heck they don't even need the ceramic coating unless you just like the looks of it.
 
electriceddy said:
The TuxMats have had some good reviews as well
https://insideevsforum.com/communit...-mats-for-hyundai-kona-ev-available-now.4921/
White is my second favorite color, and was my original choice before I changed to blue. Does it have the light interior?
Click to expand...
The interior seemed mid level grey IIRC.

Of course, everything was still wrapped in shipping plastic.

I'll have a few photos once we see the car next, which is supposed to be tomorrow while on our way home from a short road trip.

I've had the TuxMats in my TM3 for 26 months, been very happy.

Sure, the Kubrick 2001 A Space Odyssey vibe may not be to everyones liking, but it works for me and the copilot.

I used Weathertechs for what seemed like almost two decades before that.

The TuxMats are more contoured.

One doesn't have to add extra (ad hoc) material under the driver pedals and over the left foot dead pedal to prevent melting snow from leaking down between the mats and the carpet on the firewall.
 
Got some pictures and a few minutes to post them.

This is the car as of yesterday, still with the shipping shrink wrap in place:
IMG_0449.webp

IMG_0451.webp

IMG_0452.webp

We pick it up next Thursday afternoon.

The dealer is installing PPF for the hood, the top of the rear bumper and the drivers door sill plate.

Today, I installed the 40 amp/32 amp drop for her car.

I'm just waiting for a 14-50R receptacle to arrive.

My wife wants her EVSE line caddy that low to accommodate her height and arthritis issues:

IMG_0458.webp

The run from the CB panel is 18 meters minus what you see hanging out of the empty receptacle box:

IMG_0457.webp

IMG_0460.webp

IMG_0461.webp

I have an inline meter for the EVSE circuit for the TM3 and I am awaiting the delivery of the same unit for the EVSE circuit for the Kona.

I monitor the EVSE energy usage via the inline meter as well as an "Eyedro" system, to enable me to keep exact records of how much energy and cost the circuit consumes per month.

I haven't had time to read the owners manual yet, so forgive me for some basic questions regarding living with a Kona EV:
  • The trip odometer, does it keep track of energy usage? If so, does it capture all energy spend or, like Tesla, only keep track of trip energy spend while the car is "in gear"?
  • I see a very long 12 volt battery thread and I have just started to monitor it from this time onward. Is there a statistically significant amount of premature 12 volt battery issues (one in ten, one in 100) or is it a case of no one posting a thread saying "my 12 volt battery is just fine"? ;)
  • If the 12 volt battery dies, can one still access the interior of the car to pop the hood to service the battery?
General forum question:
  • How do I search for threads I started?
  • How do I search for threads I follow.
Thanks. Cheers.

Edit: typos.
 
Last edited:
navguy12 said:
The background: my wife hates my TM3 but loves the EV lifestyle (sorry, I hate that term but I can't think of a better word right now).

A year ago she decided that the only EV she wanted was the Kona EV (same car I would get if the Tesla didn’t exist).

After suitable humming and hawing, she commited to wanting a blue (with white roof) Kona EV Preferred package and put down $1,000 to have the local dealership order one.

At that time, the dealership said the wait would be until some time in early 2021, but a 2021 white (with black roof) Kona EV Preferred package was arriving in four to six weeks.

The people who originally ordered that car cancelled their order and would my wife be interested in it.

She wanted the blue, so she said no to the offer of first refusal on the in comming white.

Fast forward to four days ago.

The dealership left a message saying the car would be a 2021 model and cost $100 more.

Yesterday morning, via this forum, I found out that the blue color was not available on the 2021 Preferred so off we went to see the dealership.

If my wife wanted the blue, she would only get it by paying the up charge ($6,700 plus HST I think) for the top line trim package.

So yesterday, while we were enroute for a two day trip to the inlaws, she committed to buying the white model that is in stock!

Her current car (2012 Yaris hatchback) was privately sold yesterday evening and she is picking up her new Kona EV sometime within the next five business days (we gotta get back home...).

So I've already bought her an EVSE unit and will be running the circuit in the garage tomorrow evening.

My ceramic guy (Opti-Coat Pro Plus) is booked to come over on the Tuesday following Labour Day.

The TuxMats are being ordered for the passenger floors and Weathertech for the rear cargo compartment.

My only two questions (for now) to the community is:
  • What winter tires are recommended, and
  • Has anyone had a chassis spray of Krown/Rust Check done?
Thanks. Cheers. Mike.
Click to expand...
 
I had not heard of TuxMats. I have been waiting for Hyundai to come out with their own all-weather mats since the spring but ordered a set of TuxMats today. Go Canada!!
 
navguy12 said:
Got some pictures and a few minutes to post them.

This is the car as of yesterday, still with the shipping shrink wrap in place:
View attachment 8969

View attachment 8970

View attachment 8971

We pick it up next Thursday afternoon.

The dealer is installing PPF for the hood, the top of the rear bumper and the drivers door sill plate.

Today, I installed the 40 amp/32 amp drop for her car.

I'm just waiting for a 14-50R receptacle to arrive.

My wife wants her EVSE line caddy that low to accommodate her height and arthritis issues:

View attachment 8972

The run from the CB panel is 18 meters minus what you see hanging out of the empty receptacle box:

View attachment 8973

View attachment 8974

View attachment 8975

I have an inline meter for the EVSE circuit for the TM3 and I am awaiting the delivery of the same unit for the EVSE circuit for the Kona.

I monitor the EVSE energy usage via the inline meter as well as an "Eyedro" system, to enable me to keep exact records of how much energy and cost the circuit consumes per month.

I haven't had time to read the owners manual yet, so forgive me for some basic questions regarding living with a Kona EV:
  • The trip odometer, does it keep track of energy usage? If so, does it capture all energy spend or, like Tesla, only keep track of trip energy spend while the car is "in gear"?
  • I see a very long 12 volt battery thread and I have just started to monitor it from this time onward. Is there a statistically significant amount of premature 12 volt battery issues (one in ten, one in 100) or is it a case of no one posting a thread saying "my 12 volt battery is just fine"? ;)
  • If the 12 volt battery dies, can one still access the interior of the car to pop the hood to service the battery?
General forum question:
  • How do I search for threads I started?
  • How do I search for threads I follow.
Thanks. Cheers.

Edit: typos.
Click to expand...
Energy consumption is part of the dash display and selectable units
If the 12 V battery dies, you can open the drivers door with the key hidden in the FOB and open the front hood with a mechanical handle.
If someone replies to your threads or one you posted , it will show up as an alert on the top right of the screen(selectable in personal preferences)
 
Thanks everyone for the info and posts.

I'm slogging thru the owners manuals page by page.

Back to my 12 volt battery observations: there are two operator options that deal with the 12 volt battery health IMO.

The first option is to allow the high voltage battery to automatically top up the 12 volt battery when the car is shut down...this is the same technique that is hard wired into the TM3. Are folks with 12 volt battery issues not using this option?

The second option seems to allow the traction battery to provide power to ancillary 12 volt items while the car is not "on", but it sounds like one has to employ this option every single time one wants it...am I interpreting that one correctly...or can it also be set to always have the high voltage battery always run the 12 volt accessories even when the car is not "on"?

My 14-50R receptacle showed up:

IMG_0462.webp

Cheers.
 
navguy12 said:
The first option is to allow the high voltage battery to automatically top up the 12 volt battery when the car is shut down...this is the same technique that is hard wired into the TM3. Are folks with 12 volt battery issues not using this option?

The second option seems to allow the traction battery to provide power to ancillary 12 volt items while the car is not "on", but it sounds like one has to employ this option every single time one wants it...am I interpreting that one correctly...or can it also be set to always have the high voltage battery always run the 12 volt accessories even when the car is not "on"?
Click to expand...

The car should top up the 12V battery automatically - there really isn't an option to turn this on/off. For a few people something is going wrong - possibly related to the EVSE. There is a recent BMS software update that in theory correct a couple of issues in this area.

The Kona has a "utility mode" - some people call it "camping mode", which is a bit more descriptive as to what the intended use is. Also useful if you are at a drive-in movie, as the radio remains on and the headlights are all off.
 
ericy said:
The car should top up the 12V battery automatically - there really isn't an option to turn this on/off. For a few people something is going wrong - possibly related to the EVSE. There is a recent BMS software update that in theory correct a couple of issues in this area.
Click to expand...

Understood and thanks. Perhaps there has been a rolling change since the owners manual was printed:

IMG_0463.webp

I take it the two modes (Cycle and Automatic) are not user select-able.

The Automatic Mode description implies that if one is connected to shore power without Aux. Battery Saver+ ON, the 12 volt battery is still feeding auxiliary 12 volt services, thus I wonder why anyone would not want Aux. Battery Saver+ to always be on.

ericy said:
The Kona has a "utility mode" - some people call it "camping mode", which is a bit more descriptive as to what the intended use is. Also useful if you are at a drive-in movie, as the radio remains on and the headlights are all off.
Click to expand...

IMG_0464.webp

Ah, camping mode.

I take it once Utility Mode is deactivated by pressing the power button, the only way Utility mode can be turned back on is by going back into User Settings and selecting Utility Mode again.

IMO, the 12 volt battery should never assume any auxiliary loads at any time. The only thing the 12 volt battery should be used for is keeping the cars various safety and connectivity sensors live when the car is not on as well as operation of the high voltage isolation relay/connector.
 
navguy12 said:
The Automatic Mode description implies that if one is connected to shore power without Aux. Battery Saver+ ON, the 12 volt battery is still feeding auxiliary 12 volt services, thus I wonder why anyone would not want Aux. Battery Saver+ to always be on.
Click to expand...

I believe that with the recent BMS update, they actually removed this menu option from the car. I *think* that's the one that got removed..

Regarding auxiliary loads, read the other thread about power outages. People are talking about attaching a 1200W inverter to the 12V battery to provide AC power to run a fridge and other such things. You would put the thing in 'camping mode' when doing this - some people have used this for days while the power was out. The car will keep the 12V battery topped off by periodically drawing power from the traction battery.
 
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