Thoughts on ‘19 Kona engine performance

The Kona motor has plenty of power and torque but the factory Nexens don't have the traction to put a meaningfull amount of power to the street. In sports mode, I even break loose the tires if I floor the accelerator at 40 mph in sports mode.
I wish that they would sell drag radials in the size for the Kona just to see what kind of 0-60 time the Kona would be capable of with traction. My guess is that without tire spin, the Kona is capable of sub 6 seconds.. Car&Track timed the Kona at 6.4 seconds on factory Nexens, so sub 6 seconds seem possible with traction. The main problem with the Kona is Front Wheel Drive and Nexens..
My wife's BMW i3 BEV has similar power to weight ratio as the Kona and it rarely ever spins when accelerating with the pedal to the metal despite much narrower tires, mostly due to the rear wheel drive and 2 rear motors. The i3 is extremely well balanced. I never imagined that you could get the acceleration that it gets on such narrow tires..

 

For just daily driving, the Nexens are OK, but on wet pavement I have to pay attention as it is easy to spin the tires when I go over the white lines in intersections. I get into a mode where I let up just a bit when I am coming up on those lines on the pavement.

 

I'll take the range over performance any day on the Kona.. I would just be curious to borrow some sticky tires and check my 0 - 60 time with them.. Being a former drag racer of an 8 second 1/4 mile car, I like to test cars performance in ideal conditions..

 

Driving everyday I need power to accelerate into traffic. Other than that, it serves only to get citations. Don't get me wrong, I love the thrill of the acceleration but not the wear and tear on the vehicle and the fact that with the exception of tracks, it is not legal to race. I am thrilled by having someone sitting in the passenger seat (a disbeliever in EVs) gets shocked by the performance of this non-ICE vehicle. Then I blast them that charging at home, I only use about $.01 per mile in energy to drive. This is not to mention no oil changes or tune ups.
I'm now concerned about any further updates from Hyundai that they may de-tune the vehicle to save on warrantee services. They could or may already have turned down charging speed at fast chargers to reduce stress on the high voltage batteries. All this because Hyundai does not share what is in the software updates.

 

Here is what the update is supposed to contain:

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/hyundai-kona-electric-battery-fire-update/#:~:text=Hyundai%20Kona%20Electric%20gets%20update%20following%202%20battery%20fires%2C%20report%20says,-One%20fire%20occurred&text=The%20update%20%22contains%20additional%20diagnostic,battery%27s%20%22performance%20and%20longevity.%22

 

Has anyone tried an EA charger after having gotten the BMS update? I am wondering if they reduced the maximum charge rate to <=75kW so they don't need to deal with EA BS about charging tiers.

 

Don't forget that performance decreases as Batter SoC decreases.. You will get the best 0 - 100 kmh time with close to 100% SoC.
One thing that would help is to go to a drag strip as the track is prepped with VHT which is a sticky compound that really helps traction.
I have not taken my Kona to the track yet.

 

I can see the min and max cell voltages that the BMS reports into OBD2, and it's
never been any wider than 0.02 volts that I've observed.

_H*

 

Not all drag strips prep the track for regular Test&Tune... Some only do that for competitions. My favorite track around my area is Bradenton Motorsports Park.. When I was racing there, the track was always prepped. The worst track in Central Florida was Orlando.. Unless it is a big event, they were so cheap that they would not prep the track. It was dangerous slippery with a fast car. I had 950 HP at that time and I would only gain good traction at the 1/8 mile mark and that was with 28 x 10.5W MT ET Drag tires, one of the grippiest tires in it's class.. I got 1.60's 60' times while I got 1.30's in Bradenton.. Best track I ever raced was Georgia Motorsports Park.. Pulled awesome wheelies there..

This one was with only 600 HP before I upgraded engines. This was a 1.39 60' time..

 

You might find this interesting.

 

I saw that one before.. 14.80's is a very good time.. Not Tesla like but still very respectable..

 

The instant torque always let me jet past other ICE cars when I needed to.....but I refrain from doing that to save electricity and from getting traffic tickets. Instead of the typical throttle sound when you press down the accelerator on an ICE, the Kona EV will give you a jet-engine-like sound, which I think is very cool. I once jet from 0 to 110 mph on a steep uphill incline....I don't recommend doing it again, because I can immediately smell something burning coming out of the A/C.

I think ICE drivers are intimidated by EVs in general. They feel they always need to go faster than you, or feel the need to cut your car off. I once had a jerk cut me off several times on a road...despite me changing to other lanes, and I just jet passed him and let him so far behind that I no longer see him on the rearview mirror.