Things I love about my Kona Electric

  • Thread starter Thread starter nigels
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I also have Nokians installed and I got to test them out in the snow this week. I was surprised how much traction they provide and how well the car copes with snow in general. I expected a lot more wheel spin and sliding, but I agree that the smoothness of the power delivery likely contributes to less drama.

The range hit for we heat pump-less owners in the U.S. is pretty bad. I’m also seeing under 200 miles on the GOM with an 80% charge with the heat on. My initial expectation was that the range would continue to plummet after the initial hit due to the use of heat but the GOM has been pretty good at predicting range, and the decline tracks distance travelled pretty well. I’m leaving the car plugged in so I can pre-heat and replenish lost range before I set off.
 
nigels said:
The range hit for we heat pump-less owners in the U.S. is pretty bad. I’m also seeing under 200 miles on the GOM with an 80% charge with the heat on. My initial expectation was that the range would continue to plummet after the initial hit due to the use of heat but the GOM has been pretty good at predicting range, and the decline tracks distance travelled pretty well. I’m leaving the car plugged in so I can pre-heat and replenish lost range before I set off.
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We have an attached garage, which means that the car stays a bit warmer. For example, the outdoor temp this morning was 35 degrees, the temp in the garage was 56. My main range problem is that my wife likes to drive 80mph.

For us the real cold only bothers us when the car needs to sit outdoors overnight (we go out of town for a day).

And if we do DCFC, I do it right after driving, when the battery is warmer.
 
Jgood said:
I was really pleased to discover that my Kona was excellent in snow driving yesterday. I just had 4 Nokian snow tires installed on Thursday and had to drive 160 miles on snow/slush covered roads the next day. It was stable, tracked perfectly, never had traction issues and gave me far more confidence than I anticipated. Plus I think the regen braking is a huge benefit in snow. I didn't know what to expect with that but it turned out that it's much more controlled than pedal braking. I had complete control when cars around me were sliding while braking. It may not be true "one pedal" driving, but it is nonetheless great for snow driving. In addition the smooth non-shifting acceleration keeps the tires from breaking loose when hill climbing or starting from a dead stop. I'm a little less thrilled with the energy-hit from the front window defroster however. Simply turning it on dropped my GOM from 247 miles of range to 192! I can usually live with a cold cabin, but if you can't see you can't drive!
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I don't get much snow here so was wondering how the Kona did in the snow. I thought the regen would help greatly...Good to know
 
Jgood said:
I was really pleased to discover that my Kona was excellent in snow driving yesterday. I just had 4 Nokian snow tires installed on Thursday and had to drive 160 miles on snow/slush covered roads the next day. It was stable, tracked perfectly, never had traction issues and gave me far more confidence than I anticipated. Plus I think the regen braking is a huge benefit in snow. I didn't know what to expect with that but it turned out that it's much more controlled than pedal braking. I had complete control when cars around me were sliding while braking. It may not be true "one pedal" driving, but it is nonetheless great for snow driving. In addition the smooth non-shifting acceleration keeps the tires from breaking loose when hill climbing or starting from a dead stop. I'm a little less thrilled with the energy-hit from the front window defroster however. Simply turning it on dropped my GOM from 247 miles of range to 192! I can usually live with a cold cabin, but if you can't see you can't drive!
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Eek! I've never had heat or defrost affect my range by more than 5 km! Do you have defrost set for "like the surface of the sun"?
;)
 
Outside temp was 27° F, and the defrost temp was set to 75° since it was snowing heavily and accumulating on the edges of the glass and fogging from the edges inward. I wonder if the defrost setting always begins on extra-high so it can clear the window as fast as possible. Perhaps it would have ramped down in a few minutes but I didn't really have much margin available on my total range out and back so I opted to turn off defrost and go with cabin heat alone. That actually seemed to work. Cabin heat alone cut the range estimate by about 24 miles and I was able to turn it off after 10 minutes or so.
 
I have a Canadian model. Perhaps its systems really do handle the cold better. I would be beside myself if using the heat and defrosting reduced my range by 50km+.
 
Jgood said:
I wonder if the defrost setting always begins on extra-high so it can clear the window as fast as possible.
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Looking at p. 3-126 of the US manual, autodefog sets the fan at the highest speed and locks the fan speed and temperature controls (though it doesn't state that the temperature is turned up).

For manual defogging, they tell you to max out the fan and temp, but then state that the fan speed is automatically increased.
 
Wildeyed said:
I would be beside myself if using the heat and defrosting reduced my range by 50km+.
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Kinda there myself! I plan to try some manual adjustments to see if that can be improved. I'm hopeful that it's an auto-"thing" that max's-out the system to defrost as quickly as possible. On the good side (excellent actually) I got 4.1 miles per Kwh during my 160 mile roundtrip in the snow, with lights on, wet/slushy/snow covered roads, wipers on 50% of the time, seat heat full time and intermittent cabin heat. I did not expect that! I started with 268 miles on the GOM and had 98 left when I pulled back into my garage. Temps ranged from 26° to 33° F and I have two sets of hills that are a 900 ft. climb, then down 400 ft and back up 400 ft. My consumption gauge is all over the place! The best I've ever gotten on this trip in August was 4.5 mpKwh. The caveat here is the road speed was down to 35 miles per hour in a lot of places. Traffic was heavy and slow in the snow and these are a mix of 2 and 4 lane roads. I don't think I could have gotten that range at 60 mph.
 
This is what I love.
 

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Francois said:
Weird thing is that there are 7 tesla chargers and just a single non-tesla charger.
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It's becoming clear here (in NZ) now that we are have quite a lot of EVs running around this small country that this was one of Tesla's best decisions. We have one or two FCs for everyone's use in every town (to suit short range Leafs) where Tesla puts in a row of superchargers at just a few places over the country. It's much easier to plan a trip in a long range EV when you can be certain a charger will be available at a specific location rather than having to divert to another town because there's a queue.
Jgood said:
I'm a little less thrilled with the energy-hit from the front window defroster however. Simply turning it on dropped my GOM from 247 miles of range to 192!
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The GoM is assuming it's 'on' for the trip.
 

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So, after just over 5 months and 15500 miles, my favorite things are..

1) amazing range
2) ease of use.. everything is where you expect it
3) Android Auto support (i use waze and google maps all the time)
4) acceleration
5) seats.. the SEL seats are very good. Even for longer trips, they are just fine.

I also like the handling and fairly firm suspension. Handles great for it's short wheelbase.
 
After many months of struggling I can finally get my 8" ladder in the car.
Remove 1- 12mm bolt between the upwards folding back seats and the bench riser comes out on the passenger side. ( I am sure the drivers side will come out just as easily with the same bolt- will let know later).
This enables the passenger front seat back to lower slightly more than with the rear riser folded under it.
This opens up lots of potential room in the back and with the bench seat out it will be even roomier.
Right now I have my 8', 6',and 4' ladders in there along with a lot of tools, wire and parts, no roof rack required to lower the range. :)
Will update later on how much room can actually be had behind the front seats.
 
electriceddy said:
After many months of struggling I can finally get my 8" ladder in the car.
Remove 1- 12mm bolt between the upwards folding back seats and the bench riser comes out on the passenger side. ( I am sure the drivers side will come out just as easily with the same bolt- will let know later).
This enables the passenger front seat back to lower slightly more than with the rear riser folded under it.
This opens up lots of potential room in the back and with the bench seat out it will be even roomier.
Right now I have my 8', 6',and 4' ladders in there along with a lot of tools, wire and parts, no roof rack required to lower the range. :)
Will update later on how much room can actually be had behind the front seats.
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Today I loaded a new hot water tank (standard 39 gallon) with room to spare , (box dimensions 54" x 26" x 24").;)
The passenger seat of course I pushed forward and leaned towards the front, but the drivers seat I left comfortably back as usual.
What is the largest item anyone else has carried in their Kona EV?
 
This past Saturday, I loaded a gun safe into it. About the same dimensions as your water heater, hehe

electriceddy said:
Today I loaded a new hot water tank (standard 39 gallon) with room to spare , (box dimensions 54" x 26" x 24").;)
The passenger seat of course I pushed forward and leaned towards the front, but the drivers seat I left comfortably back as usual.
What is the largest item anyone else has carried in their Kona EV?
Click to expand...
 
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