The following is a discussion with Aussie electric vehicle (EV) owner Clinton Lovell in QLD about their purchase of a Hyundai Kona 2019 LE (Launch Edition) and experience driving, servicing, charging etc.
EDITOR: I’m publishing a regular series of articles with the views of Australian EV owners about their EV ownership experience.
This will help fill an information gap as the majority of electric car news articles are about new car launches and there’s relatively little published about the longer term Australian ownership experience after you’ve paid for your electric car. Hopefully this shared information helps other Aussies make their own EV purchase decision.
Was your electric car bought or leased?
Bought new.
Please describe your purchasing / lease process experience … Easy, Mediocre, Frustrating..?
Easy. Test drove a Highlander version and the LE was in the yard and $5000 cheaper. Delivered in two days.
What has the regular servicing / dealership experience been like?
Very good at Keema Hyundai Mt Gravatt. One free and 4 X $160 so far.
How do you regularly charge your car for day to day usage?
Plug in to specially installed faster EV charger at home (set to use solar power or grid, whatever’s available)
What has your day to day normal charging experience been like?
Plug in at home and charge to 100% every week whether it needs it or not.
We don’t use local chargers within 200km of home, leaving them for those who cannot charge at their unit or rental property.
How do you charge your car for longer road trips on the weekend or during holidays? Do you prefer any particular brand of public fast charger during road trips eg Evie, Tesla, Chargefox and why?
Longer trips take a little planning but 600-800km per day is easily doable, interspersed with refreshing breaks while re-charging to 80%.
What’s the farthest road trip you’ve done in your EV and what did you learn from this experience that would be useful for others to know?
From Brisbane our first trip was to Cairns using the early QESH chargers. Some of them were broken and they were only every 200km. We topped up at motels when necessary.
There are many more now, every 100km on the Bruce Hwy and more reliable.
To Melbourne a few times using mainly NRMA that were free until recently. We are happy to pay now though.
The Chargefox system works OK for QESH and NRMA. EVIE seems more reliable but also more expensive.
Does your EV have any special features like V2L reverse charging from the car to your portable/home appliances? If yes please share your experience using this special feature
No special features. The Launch Edition was the base model, but does have the 64kWh battery.
If you have roadside assist included with the car purchase/lease and have had to use it, which company provided the service and what was that experience like?
We have roadside assist renewed every Hyundai service but have never used it.
If you have had issues with your car and asked for these to be fixed under warranty, did the car brand do the right thing and fix it without causing you stress?
We did have the dreaded “Wheel of Fortune” noise early in the piece. A quiet rattling that got steadily worse.
Keema and Hyundai were very good.
They road tested and agreed there was a problem, tried a couple of fixes and ended up replacing the motor and reduction gearbox.
We were also up for the traction battery recall and all went without a hitch.
What are the 3 strongest aspects of your electric car compared to other similar price electric cars available in Australia?
Hyundai does the little things nicely.
Like left-paddle braking and four selectable re-gen options.
Touchable buttons instead of all on screen is nicer in my view.
The front charge port makes positioning in chargers easier.
What are the 3 weakest aspects of your electric car compared to other similar price electric cars available in Australia?
Being the base model, we don’t have electric seats, HUD or large info screen.
But we don’t miss those things much.
What is your view on car software updates? Some people prefer it be done by dealers, some don’t want updates, others want them regularly over the air?
We can only get updates done by the dealer and so far so good. Don’t miss what we haven’t got.
What questions would ask your car manufacturer HQ if you could?
Keep the prices low.
The only thing holding back most of my friends from going electric is the purchase price.
Promises of long term savings don’t seem to sway them.
Would you buy or lease this brand of electric car again and recommend it to others?
Definitely. Hyundai do it well.
Will we keep this one when the 5 year warranty runs out? Probably.
The battery warranty still has a way to go.
It doesn’t have the tech of the newer models but it is still a great little car. Perfect for a retired couple.
Do you have any other comments about your electric car brand, experience etc?
I certainly lust after an Ioniq 6 or a 2024 Kona. That BYD Seal looks good too…….
If you’re an Australian electric vehicle owner and would like to participate in this interview series by sharing your experience please contact me directly or add a comment below and let me know.
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