David Thornton
New Member
I think the Kona has 64kwh usable.
I know the general impression has been that city driving is best for range. While it certainly is better than zooming down the highway at 70+ MPH, My recent experience says it's not ideal.
Until January I lived in San Francisco. Other than a handful of longish trips to other parts of the state, at least 90% of my driving was city, no more than 10% highway. I was steadily getting 4.6 mi/kwh and range on a full charge ran about 285-290.
In January I moved to rural area in the hills on the outskirts of Hilo , Hawaii. To do any shopping or errands I must drive about 5 miles down a rural road -- virtually all downhill -- with only 1 stoplight, then
another mile or two through more suburban and urban territory, still mostly downhill. Coming home reverses this sequence.
Since I 've been here my indicated range when full has consistently been 320-330 miles and I'm getting around 5.0 miles/kwh. These long, unbroken downhill and uphill runs seem to be what the car loves in terms of energy efficiency. And bear in mind that I'm using the AC much more than I did in SF. My driving style has not changed -- in both locations the car calls my driving "economical" about 95% of the time.
When heading to a destination, I keep an eye on the Navigation distance compared to the GoM distance to see whether your driving conditions and style are doing to the relationship, keeping in mind what you have remaining in your trip in terms of city or highway driving and elevation changes. After a while, you get pretty good at being able to predict and control your range quite accurately.
100% agree with this! The GOM ended up being very accurate if we were aware of our surroundings and kept an eye on our distance as you said. We got very good at predicting how much we'd have left and the anxiety melted away.This is it. When doing a long trip, keep your navigation on, and note the difference between miles to destination and miles on the GOM. Say you're up 50 miles at the beginning. If that drops to 45 miles, then you're getting lower efficiency than the GOM expected. Slow down a bit and you'll see it stabilize. If the second half of your trip will be on slower roads, you'll see the difference grow again. If the second half of your trip is at higher speeds than you've just been traveling (or uphill, or into a headwind) then you can expect to lose more of your reserve. Getting the hang of this takes all the range anxiety out of driving, even driving down to single-digit battery percentages. Range becomes very predictable this way.
Lately, with rural driving around home, our GOM was regularly saying 340 miles! Then we took off on a long road trip, and that started falling fast, as we cruised at 75 mph on the interstate. On the return trip the GOM said about 260 at the beginning and remained spot on for the whole trip back.
Interesting post on that periodic updating here speculating a GOM rolling average based on replacement of latest distance travelled replacing an older distance travelled recorded.Remember it updates periodically!
I definitely believe after our cross-canada journey that the Kona performs best in hilly environments and if you can keep your speed below 90kph/55mph, no matter the location, you're going to see the best possible mileage.
Wonderful to see these kinds of numbers so early in the season:
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Mix of hwy and city driving, can hardly wait to see when the warm weather really settles in
I'm just starting my first winter with the Kona and it definitely makes a difference, I do a 60km trip up and down the freeway every week, I sit on 110-120mn/hr.Yeep! Ideal conditions for the battery - between 18C and 22C![]()
Wonderful to see these kinds of numbers so early in the season:
![]()
Mix of hwy and city driving, can hardly wait to see when the warm weather really settles in![]()
I'm just starting my first winter with the Kona and it definitely makes a difference, I do a 60km trip up and down the freeway every week, I sit on 110-120mn/hr.
Normally it uses around 15kW/100km at 20c, on Sunday went early temp was 7c it was using approx 18kW/100km, first time I've been up to that usage.
I didn't realise it would be so much higher, assumed anything above 0c wouldn't affect consumption much, still find it a great car.
Don’t show us the GOM range; show us the efficiency since last charge. I’m netting around 4.5mi/kWh since the start of May, as opposed to 3.6-3.7mi/kWh over the winter. Having the sunroof and windows open instead of running the climate control has certainly helped. [emoji16]![]()
Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
I see you achieved below 125 Wh/km for a couple of days from your chart, which is a great average and one that I will hope see within too long.I live in the metric world (Canada) so conversion is painful. In any case there are too many variables. Even in Efficiency numbers between charges. Unless you are driving on a constant route, like mostly back and forth to work, every day the results can vary a great deal. It really depends on how and where did you drive. Lo at my chart for April.
At present average consumption is 149 Wh/km (4.1 mii/ kWh/ kWh) . Best recent 85 Wh/km (7.3 mi/kWh)show us the efficiency since last charge
I just find this easier as the GOM is a pretty accurate representation, and I thought it would suit the thread title with more authenticity.Don’t show us the GOM range
I see you achieved below 125 Wh/km for a couple of days from your chart, which is a great average and one that I will hope see within too long.
At present average consumption is 149 Wh/km (4.1 mii/ kWh/ kWh) . Best recent 85 Wh/km (7.3 mi/kWh)
I just find this easier as the GOM is a pretty accurate representation, and I thought it would suit the thread title with more authenticity.![]()