Reflections after first road trip in my Kona (906 miles)

[TheLight75]

This week I took my Kona on a 906 mile road trip to northwestern PA for a 2-day conference in a rural area that was 83 miles from the nearest DCFC and 30 miles from the closest L2 charger (horse & buggy crossing signs are frequent in this area). Initially, I was excited but also a bit nervous as this would be a real test of the Kona's ability to meet my needs and my ability to plan appropriately.

The Ride

The Kona was very comfortable on the entire trip. I never felt sore or fatigued as I have in previous vehicles after long trips. The creature comforts (A/C, heat, sunroof, & ventilated seats) worked well and kept me very comfortable. The stop & go ACC & Active LKA made my trip a LOT less stressful as they did their job and helped me be consistent in my speeds and reduced some steering wheel fatigue. ACC was especially helpful during the last 55 miles of my trip which was on a rural highway that constantly changed speeds as I passed through each town. It was nice to simply use the +/- switch to adjust the cruise speed up & down to avoid any over zealous local authorities

Trip Planning

Hands down, ABRP & PlugShare were my best friends when it came to planning this trip & making adjustments and changes during. By the end of the trip, I had made a small number of settings changes to the ABRP defaults for the Kona which I felt worked better:

• Changed "Reference Consumption" to 3.8 instead of 3.68 mi/kWh
• Set "Max Speed" to 75 mph
• Set "Charger Min Arrival" to 20% & "Max Charge" to 85%
• Set "Goal Arrival Charge" on the way home to 15%

The default of 10% charge when arriving to a charger or destination is just too low to compensate for real-world deviations from the estimated burn rate. On the way back, I used a 10% target for one 130 mile leg of my trip and let's just say, it was a close call where I arrived at the charger with 9% SoC and less than 20 miles on the GoM.

Charging

This was the most interesting part of my trip. I was surprised to see that each model of charger has its own peculiarities and limitations either due to design or site limitations. That, combined with the Kona's stepped charging profile (which I didn't realize at the time), gave me some initial confusion at the first charging stop.

Like many, when I bought the Kona as my first EV, all I knew was it could DC charge at up to 77 kW. I didn't understand that so many variables played into determining the actual charge level. Once I found the Kona charging profile for 50 kW vs 175 kW on the FASTned site, suddenly things made sense and I used that to guesstimate the amount of DC kW I should get at each stop.

I used 2 EVgo chargers which were labeled as 50 kW and given my SoC at the time, should have delivered 45-47 kW but only fed at 35 kW as they were only 99 amps so my charging times were a bit longer than I had expected. My average cost @ EVgo was $0.58/kWh or $0.32/min.

I used 1 Electrify America 175 kW charger which delivered the fastest charge of the trip at 70 kW and brought me from 9% to 60% in 30 minutes. My average cost @ EA was $0.58/kWh or $0.65/min. EA needs to improve their software as the phone app said that I had 2940 mins until hitting 80% charge (I believe the unit should have been seconds) but the kiosk screen showed the right estimate. Beware about EA's charging tiers - while my Kona never went over 72 kW (according to the receipt), they still charged me the tier 2 rate (76 kW - 125 kW) I suspect because they had queried the Kona's "max rate" of 77 kW through the CCS. I'll be following up with them to complain as the rate charged should be based on actual max charge rate, not theoretical.

I also used 2 free 50 kW DCFC provided by a Nissan dealership and a NY welcome rest area. These were both very high quality chargers which provided 125 amps of power to fill my Kona up quickly @ 48 kW. I guesstimated that these saved me about $30 in charging costs.

The AirBnB where I stayed was kind enough to let me plug in my granny cable while I was there which afforded me 22 hours of charging. I brought an inexpensive current monitor that I plugged the granny cable into allowing me to measure precisely how many kWh of their electricity I had consumed so I could reimburse them for my usage at the end of the trip.

Summary

Overall, my charging stops coincided well with needed breaks to stretch my feet, use the rest room, and get a cup of coffee or something to eat so the charging time tended to fly by quickly.

For the future, I think I will find a 32A 14-50 EVSE which I can bring with me and a couple adapters to give me the largest options for destination charging. My lodging had an electric range and an electric dryer which I could have unplugged either and used thereby eliminating 1 stop on the way back.

I would happily do another road trip with the Kona and am excited to see that charging infrastructure is expanding and maturing. While the shift from ICE to EV does require a change in mindset and more planning & monitoring, I don't feel that it is an insurmountable amount. As technologies mature and expand, I definitely see that it will only get easier and become acceptable even to the average impatient driver.

 

[R P]

For the future, I think I will find a 32A 14-50 EVSE which I can bring with me and a couple adapters to give me the largest options for destination charging. My lodging had an electric range and an electric dryer which I could have unplugged either and used thereby eliminating 1 stop on the way back.

Great write-up and thanks for that. One of the reasons I bought the Morec EVSE with a 26' cable, is that it is portable (as are many others) and I can take it with me on trips.

 

[KiwiME]

Interesting that you summarized certain DC charging costs at $0.58/kWh which I'm assuming combined the per-unit and per-minute rates.
Most DC public chargers here in NZ are 50kW "$0.25/unit + $0.25/min" which can roll up to roughly $0.58 to $1.00 / kWh due of course to the charging profile and SoC of the connected EV. Comparing that to a home rate here which might be $0.14/kWh at best (without PV), the large cost difference between home and on-road charging makes operating costs difficult to quantify among the population of EV owners. Owners who exclusively charge at home think they are driving almost for free while the very few that use public chargers a lot are actually paying as much as they would fueling an ICE car.
Imagine if petrol/gasoline costs increased by a factor of 6 just because you chose to drive outside your home range.

 

[TheLight75]

Interesting that you summarized certain DC charging costs at $0.58/kWh which I'm assuming combined the per-unit and per-minute rates.

Hi KiwiME,

I summarized the DC charging costs both per kWh & per minute because when I thought about it, it was more important to me to know what my cost per kWh was (similar to caring more about what my cost per gallon used to be in my ICE vehicles). At face value, the cheaper per minute rate @ EVgo ($0.32/min) sounded like a better deal than the per min rate @ EA ($0.65/min; factoring in their $1 flat fee + taxes). But, EVgo charged slower requiring more time and surprisingly, cost the exact same per kWh. By dividing the total cost by kWh, I feel that it returns the "true rate" of a charge by flattening out all the odd fees that are used to price out a charging session.

You make very good points! My L2 cost @ home is $0.24/kWh placing my DC charging @ 2.4x more expensive (yikes!). But since I'm doing 90% of my charging at home unless I take a trip somewhere, I don't mind since my overhead cost to charge at home was relatively cheap ($700 for the L2 charger + new circuit run). The owners of DC charging infrastructure have far more significant overhead which they need to recoup to cover their R&D since this is still an industry in its infancy. I think eventually the DC charging rates will come down most likely by government regulation to ensure (1) a kWh charged is actually a kWh and (2) that prices are not excessively gouging customers. I think it's inevitable that similar to gas pumps, each public charger will be required to be tested annually & certified by the local weights & measures departments.

 

[KiwiME]

... I think eventually the DC charging rates will come down most likely by government regulation to ensure (1) a kWh charged is actually a kWh and (2) that prices are not excessively gouging customers...

On that note it's never been clear to me if a DC vendor charges for the AC used, or the DC supplied. It seems 50kW EVSEs are 94 or 95% efficient but it's odd to me that this billing distinction is not made clear "at the pump". To some extent you might expect the vendor to be responsible for their power conversion efficiencies and charge on the DC supplied.
Regarding (2) I can't see how that could be quantified. Who is to judge fair prices but the 'open' market? Sort of like gas prices along Big Sur, what can you do.
The upshot of this is that operating cost estimates used for statistical and legislative purposes must be based on public chargers alone. Those who can obtain and exploit a low 'home' rate will simply have that advantage over those who don't.
In NZ, after 2021 we will be charged a significant $0.072 per km for road tax, pretty much doubling my running costs. The current deferment is considered a subsidy, the only one EV drivers get here.

 

[eastpole]

The upshot of this is that operating cost estimates used for statistical and legislative purposes must be based on public chargers alone. Those who can obtain and exploit a low 'home' rate will simply have that advantage over those who don't.

Wow, you think so?

I would have said the opposite; the price of food (for statistical and legislative purposes) is the price at the grocery store, not the price at a restaurant (or on the farm.) My Kona will get 95% of its energy from the home charger, so in my mind, it wouldn't make sense to even concern myself (or my government) with the public charger cost. Perhaps Ontario is a unique circumstance since we have 1) very low overnight time-of-use pricing and 2) very little uptake of EVs amongst people with no parking or only on-street parking. I sure would not want people to get the message that yearly running costs of an EV are similar to an ICEV, because for the current generation of buyers, that would be quite untrue, and would discourage EV uptake which (given our remoteness to refineries, city pollution, constraints on new fossil fuel production, etc) are a huge net benefit for everyone.

Is it just me/us?

 

[TheLight75]

On that note it's never been clear to me if a DC vendor charges for the AC used, or the DC supplied. It seems 50kW EVSEs are 94 or 95% efficient but it's odd to me that this billing distinction is not made clear "at the pump". To some extent you might expect the vendor to be responsible for their power conversion efficiencies and charge on the DC supplied.
Regarding (2) I can't see how that could be quantified. Who is to judge fair prices but the 'open' market? Sort of like gas prices along Big Sur, what can you do.
The upshot of this is that operating cost estimates used for statistical and legislative purposes must be based on public chargers alone. Those who can obtain and exploit a low 'home' rate will simply have that advantage over those who don't.
In NZ, after 2021 we will be charged a significant $0.072 per km for road tax, pretty much doubling my running costs. The current deferment is considered a subsidy, the only one EV drivers get here.

Based only my observations at the charging stations, the amount of kWh is that which the station provides, not that which my Kona receives. For example, at the EA stop I made, while it reported a max charge rate of 73.68 kW, my Kona stated the top rate as 69 kW. I assumed the difference was part of the typical loss in converting the AC to DC.

I agree that the "open market" should dictate the overall price, but regulation should be in place to ensure there isn't opportunistic gouging. For example, I find it unconscionable that Electrify America sets the price per kWh tier based on the vehicle's THEORETICAL max kW rate rather than the actual max kW rate for the charging session.The difference in cost is more than 1.52x times more based on the Kona's theoretical vs the actual max rate of the session. That adds up fast! I feel that regulation can set basic parameters which prevent such opportunistic gouging like basing price on the actual rate. That said, in Massachusetts, all utility rates must be reviewed & approved by a state panel to ensure they are not ripping off consumers. Why not include public EV chargers as well?

Ouch! That is a hefty road tax! How do they intend to verify mileage and levy the tax? Would it be during the vehicle's annual safety inspection (if those are required in NZ)?

 

[KiwiME]

Based only my observations at the charging stations, the amount of kWh is that which the station provides, not that which my Kona receives. For example, at the EA stop I made, while it reported a max charge rate of 73.68 kW, my Kona stated the top rate as 69 kW. I assumed the difference was part of the typical loss in converting the AC to DC.
I agree that the "open market" should dictate the overall price, but regulation should be in place to ensure there isn't opportunistic gouging. For example, I find it unconscionable that Electrify America sets the price per kWh tier based on the vehicle's THEORETICAL max kW rate rather than the actual max kW rate for the charging session.The difference in cost is more than 1.52x times more based on the Kona's theoretical vs the actual max rate of the session. That adds up fast! I feel that regulation can set basic parameters which prevent such opportunistic gouging like basing price on the actual rate. That said, in Massachusetts, all utility rates must be reviewed & approved by a state panel to ensure they are not ripping off consumers. Why not include public EV chargers as well?
Ouch! That is a hefty road tax! How do they intend to verify mileage and levy the tax? Would it be during the vehicle's annual safety inspection (if those are required in NZ)?

0.94 x 73.68 = 69.3, makes perfect sense. That's good info, thanks.

I'm confident that we (in NZ) will never regulate charging prices because anyone can set one up, it's not a monopoly and we are a relatively open-market country. The prices I mentioned are where that market is today and a few are even free without any inferred obligation, as a shop might have. Eventually it must all level out but in parallel there is a push from the government to promote EV usage, which I suspect will slow down if practical running costs become too high. The motivation of the vast majority of EV owners here is cost alone, regrettably a distant second is carbon footprint. Early adopters of EVs having low range cars typically have an ICE car for trips and so charge at home and stay within their home range, and as such they drive those EVs at very low cost. As we now have 400+ km EVs people will soon rely on an EV as their only car and public charger costs factor larger in running costs. Also, in my case I can't charge at home due to living in a flat, something that should not, in principle, prevent EV uptake.

It's a tough comparison because we don't normally refine our own petrol at home at a much lower cost. I can only suggest thinking that if gas stations charged you six times higher because you are out of your home area, as a comparison, you would certainly factor that into your running costs. Imagine the uproar though ... one that is oddly missing with EVs because the majority of owners are not in that situation yet.

Road taxes, as I mentioned, are already done that way here for anything but petrol and LPG. You buy 1000 kilometres for $68 (currently) and place the tag on your dash with the starting and ending odometer reading. Being caught past your block of kms is an offence, tax evasion in fact.
It works quite well in practice and there are multiple classes for heavy goods vehicles depending on gross weight and axle layout with prices increasing roughly as weight to the third power to cover road wear. Cars fall into the lowest class which includes zero costs pertaining to road wear, only other roading costs. One subtle advantage with this system is that you don't see truck tire carcasses littering the roadside. It's actually cheaper to have more axles on your large truck.

 

[eastpole]

heavy goods vehicles depending on gross weight and axle layout with prices increasing roughly as weight to the third power to cover road wear.

I'd like to say a very sincere thank you to someone in NZ's civil service for doing the math and physics on this and getting it into the regulation. Too often real costs get 'smoothed out' (euphemism!) thanks to what we in Canada call 'industry consultation.'

On the other hand the per km tax cost for the EV seems quite steep! Any pushback on that from drivers, or does it reflect a real cost? How does it compare with fuel tax paid to drive a similar distance with gasoline?