Crazy question about mileage and battery capacity

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NA5KAR

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Hello All. We bought our 2019 Kona about a month ago. It was brand new with 17 miles on the odometer. Got it in NJ at a dealership. The salesman said that is was just passed over and didn't sell. We got a sweet deal on the car. Anyway, a couple days ago, my wife was ready to go to work, when the warning light came on; 'Check electric vehicle system'. Could not put the car in gear. Fortunately, we have a spare car and she was off to work. I called the dealer and arranged for a tow through Hyundai Roadside Service. Got the car back later that day ... fixed. The service writer said that there were a couple of recalls that were addressed, and that is what fixed the car. I think he was full of crap and just didn't understand what the tech did to fix our car. I tried to understand the printout of what was done, but the only thing that made sense was '409 Concern : Setting Max. Charge to 80%. (21-01-027H)'. I have seen other forum members complain about the dealership setting the car to 80 max battery capacity. I don't fully understand why they do this, but I was not happy.

So, we charged the car last night with our Level 2 Grizzl-E charging station in the garage. This morning, there was 311 miles at 100% charge. How is this possible? Not complaining, but I also don't want to burn my house down. When my wife left work this afternoon (she charged the car there with the Level 1 charger that came with the car), there was 275 miles on the car. I thought that the max range was 258 miles. Any thoughts? Thanks!
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In the year I've had the car, it's gone through 5-6 recalls. It's a bit frustrating as the service employee can never explain the updates. Anyway, the 80% charge setting may be due to the latest recall for which the notice indicated they do not yet have a correction ready for the servicing. In the recall notice, they instruct affected owners to charge the car outside and max out at 80%. FYI, I'm in NJ, as well with a 2019. Perhaps your car is not affected by the latest recall. They probably should have explained this but...
 
@NA5KAR The mileage shown on the gauge is a best guess based on your past drives. When the dealer installs the updates it may have reset the driving history so now it is shows you the best case possible. People here refer to that gauge as a GOM which stands for Guess-O-Meter.

If you your car really needed to have that update, your vehicle may have a battery recall in the future. You best find the website appropriate to your country and check your VIN for recalls.

I suggest not charging to 100% indoors until you get the okay from Hyundai. Road trips and outdoor charging is a different matter. One person in Quebec lost part of his house due to a fire caused by a Kona.
 
NA5KAR said:
Hello All......... This morning, there was 311 miles at 100% charge. How is this possible? Not complaining, but I also don't want to burn my house down. When my wife left work this afternoon (she charged the car there with the Level 1 charger that came with the car), there was 275 miles on the car. I thought that the max range was 258 miles. Any thoughts? Thanks!View attachment 11612
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311 is just the best guess based on your driving style and history. I've hit as high as 330 miles on a full charge esp. in good weather months. If you get on the highway doing 75 mph you'll never get 311 miles. But around town? You just might.
 
Btw did they tell you what the problem was? I wonder if the aux battery died, it looks like it's lit red in your screenshot. I just wonder about a car that's been on the lot that long with so few miles. I'm willing to bet the batteries (both) were completely ignored for months at a time by the dealership.
 
Thanks so much for all of the input. In light of the recalls, battery issues, and possible fires, I need to immerse myself in every aspect of what's happening with this car. Quick history ... I own a 2001 Ford F-250 with a 7.3 diesel and a 2006 Mercedes E320 CDI diesel. I've converted both vehicles to run on waste vegetable oil. We've been driving on veggie since 2011 and have saved over $45,000 on fuel. I'm no stranger to alternative fuel and getting my hands dirty. We bought the Kona EV when the Mercedes (wife's car) started acting up a little. It has 304,000 miles. With the EV, we were hoping for a 'flip the switch and drive' experience. I installed the Grizzl-e charging station in the garage. We live in South Florida, so we have good temps most of the year. I think I'll set the car to accept a max charge of 80% till I know more. Thanks again guys.
 
That's the most drama-free and stress-free way to use the Kona until you're called in for a battery replacement. Some countries have a 90% limit advisory, others none at all, so at least your importer is being proactive. Many of our cars will be around three years old when we get the replacement so at least for me I have no reason to complain.
 
Mattsburgh said:
Btw did they tell you what the problem was? I wonder if the aux battery died, it looks like it's lit red in your screenshot. I just wonder about a car that's been on the lot that long with so few miles. I'm willing to bet the batteries (both) were completely ignored for months at a time by the dealership.
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The service writer really had no clue. I'm going to visit the dealership and try to talk to the tech about the fix and recalls. We flew to NJ to buy the car last month and drove it home to South Florida. The salesman in NJ said that all of the recalls had been done to the car while they had it. Don't know if that's true. The reason we were so quick to pull the trigger on the purchase was the Lifetime Battery Warranty. When we saw that, it was like "hey, how much for this car"?
 
If you scroll through the user settings menu on the dash, if the item "Aux Battery Saver +" is nowhere to be found, then you have the update installed that handles the early detection of main battery problems. There are no other updates of comparable importance.
 
KiwiME said:
If you scroll through the user settings menu on the dash, if the item "Aux Battery Saver +" is nowhere to be found, then you have the update installed that handles the early detection of main battery problems. There are no other updates of comparable importance.
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Thanks KiwiME. I will look for that when my wife gets home from work.
 
Update on our 'issue'. I went to the dealership yesterday and got to talk to the service tech who worked on our car. He remembered it clearly and I brought the service receipt for reference. He explained that the issue we had was due to one of the recalls from Hyundai. I asked him about the 80% max charge line item and my 311 miles on the GOM. He explained that the car comes from the factory set at about 65% capacity. The software update that he did unlocks the system to allow for 80% max charge. Sort of like the break in period for a gas car. So, his actions gave us more miles. He said that I can set the max charging capacity to 80 on the display in the car if I like, but it's not necessary. When we did set it at 80 (for a few days while waiting to talk to the guy) we only got 225 miles for a charge. So, last night, I reset the system to 100% and charged the car. Got 279 miles on the GOM.

Now, I don't know if the tech was right about any of this, so if anyone has an opinion, I'm anxious to hear it. Thanks.
 
You've pretty much got the idea. (Except that I'm not sure about the factory setting of 65% that the tech mentioned - but whatever).

Basically the car is great. At some point in the future we'll almost certainly get completely new batteries, which is great. Until then, there's a tiny chance of the car catching fire, and it's less likely if kept below 80%. You can do what you like, but our approach is drive the car and not worry about it. We set it to 80% max most of the time, and when we need the range for a longer trip we don't hesitate to set it to 100% for a few days.

I can't imagine that your traction battery had any ill effects even if it sat around on the lot for 2 years - the high voltage battery barely loses any charge sitting around, so it probably went from 80% to 77% if it sat completely untouched.

I'm guessing the 12V battery would do ok as well during a long period of sitting unused, because it would be kept charged by the traction battery (unlike in an ICE car where it would slowly lose charge and die).

Enjoy your new car! (Care to tell us what you paid for it before tax rebates?)
 
NRH said:
You've pretty much got the idea. (Except that I'm not sure about the factory setting of 65% that the tech mentioned - but whatever).

Basically the car is great. At some point in the future we'll almost certainly get completely new batteries, which is great. Until then, there's a tiny chance of the car catching fire, and it's less likely if kept below 80%. You can do what you like, but our approach is drive the car and not worry about it. We set it to 80% max most of the time, and when we need the range for a longer trip we don't hesitate to set it to 100% for a few days.

I can't imagine that your traction battery had any ill effects even if it sat around on the lot for 2 years - the high voltage battery barely loses any charge sitting around, so it probably went from 80% to 77% if it sat completely untouched.

I'm guessing the 12V battery would do ok as well during a long period of sitting unused, because it would be kept charged by the traction battery (unlike in an ICE car where it would slowly lose charge and die).

Enjoy your new car! (Care to tell us what you paid for it before tax rebates?)
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Thanks NRH. My wife drives 45 miles to work each day (obviously 90 round trip), so I think we'll keep charging to 100%. We bought the car about a month ago. It was sitting in the showroom with 17 miles on it. The sticker was $42,850. We got it for $32,500. Along with the great price, it was the color of the interior for my wife (light grey), and the lifetime batteries for me. She tells me how much she loves the car every day.
 
279 miles for 100% charge is not unreasonable depending on driving habits and conditions. Remember that power to overcome air resistance rises with the cube of speed - so if your wife's commute is mostly highway driving, the difference between cruising at say 60 vs. 65 mph can be noticeable. Factor in other conditions like rain/snow or just a cold day where the air is denser, or the use of heat/AC, and the range will drop. With good weather and a gentle foot, though, you can get that up over 300 miles!

I strongly suspect that over time you'll get comfortable with how the car behaves and what it's capable of. What I would recommend is exploring the use of public chargers, because that is probably something you want experience with before you need it, so if the experience is less than ideal you're not screwed over. Charging at home is great but knowing ahead of time where you can go for a charge and what to expect when you get there (especially in terms of needing an account/phone app etc) is going to give you additional confidence and peace of mind.
 
Yeah, during the winter our 100% range is about 250, but from April to October it's easily over 300 miles, and we're not crazy hyper milers or anything. Just normal economical driving habits. In Florida, unless you're regularly traveling at 70+, I'd imagine you'll break 300 miles on a regular basis. Your energy efficiency screen next to the speedometer gives you some insight on this. Keep the your trip averages above 4mi/kwh and you're doing great.
 
NRH said:
Yeah, during the winter our 100% range is about 250, but from April to October it's easily over 300 miles, and we're not crazy hyper milers or anything. Just normal economical driving habits. In Florida, unless you're regularly traveling at 70+, I'd imagine you'll break 300 miles on a regular basis. Your energy efficiency screen next to the speedometer gives you some insight on this. Keep the your trip averages above 4mi/kwh and you're doing great.
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50000 miles driven in Florida and 4.7 mi/kwh average.. This means about an average of 300 mile per charge..
 
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