Kona EV-Long Trip Planned

Robrian7

Robrian7

New Member
Hello, fellow Kona EV owners. I am planning my first long trip with my 2019 Kona EV Ultimate vehicle. The battery has been replaced, so I am able to charge to 100% capacity. I will be traveling from Connecticut to western Kentucky. Anyway, I am hoping to get some advice regarding the best "App", "way", etc. to take a trip (roughly 1,200 miles). I am updating my Navigation map shortly and was hoping to find FAST EV charging stations (i.e., Electrify America, etc.) along the way, but there may be better Apps to use. I do have an iPhone (with the latest iOS) and have downloaded the "A Better Route Planner" (ABRP) App to my phone, in case that's useful. I also have the "Electrify America" App as well as "PlugShare" and "ChargePoint". I am quite nervous about taking this trip for obvious reasons (i.e., range anxiety). Any advice would be greatly appreciated along with tips, etc. P.S. I will be traveling alone, so I will not have the advantage of a co-pilot. Simplicity is best. The fewer distractions & the simpler it is to find FAST charging stations, the better. Thanks to any and all!
 
Don't stress, all will be well! Of the apps you mention, I am most familiar with PlugShare, and it's never let me down. Just plan ahead, decide in advance where/when it's most convenient to charge, and have a Plan B in case your preferred station is broken or busy. As you plan stops, be sure to factor in things that will impact your range, like how fast you're likely to drive and how much you'll be using the HVAC. Enjoy your trip!
 
Robrian7 said:
Hello, fellow Kona EV owners. I am planning my first long trip with my 2019 Kona EV Ultimate vehicle. The battery has been replaced, so I am able to charge to 100% capacity. I will be traveling from Connecticut to western Kentucky. Anyway, I am hoping to get some advice regarding the best "App", "way", etc. to take a trip (roughly 1,200 miles). I am updating my Navigation map shortly and was hoping to find FAST EV charging stations (i.e., Electrify America, etc.) along the way, but there may be better Apps to use. I do have an iPhone (with the latest iOS) and have downloaded the "A Better Route Planner" (ABRP) App to my phone, in case that's useful. I also have the "Electrify America" App as well as "PlugShare" and "ChargePoint". I am quite nervous about taking this trip for obvious reasons (i.e., range anxiety). Any advice would be greatly appreciated along with tips, etc. P.S. I will be traveling alone, so I will not have the advantage of a co-pilot. Simplicity is best. The fewer distractions & the simpler it is to find FAST charging stations, the better. Thanks to any and all!
Click to expand...
My long trip report:
https://insideevsforum.com/communit...sing-electrify-america-dc-fast-chargers.8791/
 
Hi Robrian7. Yep, the first long trip can be somewhat daunting, but keep in mind that it's entirely doable. ABRP will probably be your best friend. If you have a computer, download the ABRP version for it and use that for your pre-planning and initial experimentation with familiarizing yourself with the app. Any route you establish on the computer will be available on the IOS app as you travel. Just input your origin and destination and play with the various settings. Probably the most important one is what you assign as your Kona's likely reference consumption (M/kW) that you anticipate to be realistic for highway speed and day long travel. Once you are underway you'll get a much better sense of what the value is and you can tweak the remaining legs between recharging sessions accordingly. With your route set, cross check the recommended charging stops with Plugshare, before and during travel, to ascertain whether ABRP's stops are actually functioning okay. ABRP will take into account travel conditions such as the effect of weather on road conditions and weight you carry. You didn't mention when you plan to leave but ideally you would have time to do a trial trip. Hopefully you will hit EA chargers the whole way!
 
As mentioned it's best to use ABRP for pre planning. Then use plugshare to confirm functionality of the chargers. ABRP prefers fast chargers like EA. Use the EA app to check those chargers, they have the best up to date data on their own chargers. Plug in, swipe in the app, charge. Easy!

Oh, it seems like you're going to charge several times at EA. Sign up for their $4 plan. You will save money after about 1-2 charge stops. Then unsubscribe after your road trip.

Enjoy your drive, you will be surprised how relaxing your drive will be. The ultimate is awesome, the SCC (smart cruise control) does pretty much all the hwy driving for you.

I love road trips in my ultimate.
 
Be prepared to spend time fooling around with buggy stalls that don't charge, have problems reading accounts and such. Also try to have backup charge options within driving range of each stop if possible and just being conservative with range estimates and overcharging past what ABRP suggests in general. That came in handy on my 800 mile NJ to IL drive with a scary stretch with nothing between PA and OH. And enjoy sport mode, the tighter handling and passing response is a joy at high speed (which has a big impact on range BTW.)

Also enjoy running into all sorts of different EVs. I ran into a Porsche in Indiana that had a charge port on both sides of the car. Would have been super handy when the stall didn't play nice with our front-left setup. Plus the Porsche charge cover is motorized, as opposed to our having to manually open our bug-splattered cover. Enjoy that too!

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
 
Road tripping ability was the reason for me to switch to Tesla (among other reasons).. Just completed a 3109 mile road trip in the Model Y and it was not much different than with ICE.. No issues with charging stations like with the Kona.. It works every time with Tesla.. No app needed.. Just plug in and that's it..

https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/3109-mile-ev-road-trip-video.11568/

I did several 500 mile road trips with the Kona without issue but I'm not sure if I'd go on a 1000+ mile road trip in it...
 
BlueKonaEV said:
Road tripping ability was the reason for me to switch to Tesla (among other reasons).. Just completed a 3109 mile road trip in the Model Y and it was not much different than with ICE.. No issues with charging stations like with the Kona.. It works every time with Tesla.. No app needed.. Just plug in and that's it..

https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/3109-mile-ev-road-trip-video.11568/

I did several 500 mile road trips with the Kona without issue but I'm not sure if I'd go on a 1000+ mile road trip in it...
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We did two round trips to Florida from New York, no problems. Electrify America charges work great. Next time we will try other charges maybe get a few free ones in.
 
Joev said:
We did two round trips to Florida from New York, no problems. Electrify America charges work great. Next time we will try other charges maybe get a few free ones in.
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I did 1100 miles in a day with the Model Y. Doubt that I could do that in a Kona.. I believe it would have been 3 extra hours with the Kona.. The Kona can't do 200 mile trip legs at 80mph.. The Tesla can.
 
electriceddy said:
In my younger days, perhaps. But good to see Tesla can handle it, even if I couldn't. For me it would require FSD v12 c/w with an alarm clock:D
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I actually lost 2 hours due to bad traffic.. So, the trip lasted from 6 am to 2 am next day.. We would have arrived at midnight without the bad traffic..
 
FloridaSun said:
I actually lost 2 hours due to bad traffic.. So, the trip lasted from 6 am to 2 am next day.. We would have arrived at midnight without the bad traffic..
Click to expand...

Ugh!! Used to do that - drive all night interstate with the kids asleep in the back.. Not any more - they're 44 and 46 ;) Max 8 hours for me now. Hoping that our state premier gets us out of lockdown soon so we can do a leisurely interstater again. We're into our 4th week, 1 to go but no guarantees, she says. Kona has done only 2000km in 8 weeks, all of that in the first 4.:(
 
Question: a couple of years ago in the Niro forums there were complaints about EA stalls not working well with Niro's, primarily by throttling down the charging rate to some low level, both being slower (and more expensive since at that time they charged by the minute, not the kWh. ) Was this a thing for the Kona back then? (Seems EAs software recognizes Konas now at least).

Aside: It is funny how we humans change when we get older. When I was in my 20s I was all bout driving through the night making as many miles as I could. Now, even apart from fatigue, I just like to take my time (though a few years ago I started a 12.5 hour drive at 7PM, just to see if I could still do it :) ). I like to take a break. Stretch legs, look around, read and eat. EVs came along just in time to encourage me.
 
EA changed pricing. Amy car lower than 90kW max charging speed falls into the lowest bracket which includes Kona and Niro.

If you charge by the minute or is extremely cheap with the new pricing structure, actually cheaper than by the kWh.

One in a while you might encounter a very slow charge rate. If you can verify that your battery pack temp is it last 25°C you should be able to get the max charge rate (assuming Niro and Kona have the same charging curve).

If not, switch stalls. That's the best method to make sure it's not the charger limiting your rate.
 
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