I am a retiree in my early 70’s and have never driven an EV until now. But I have driven ICE cars in many countries. In Africa a manual Ford Anglia and Renault 12, in North America a manual Honda Civic Station wagon (left hand drive of course, driving on the wrong side of the road you could say!), VW Golf in Ireland and Holden Commodores, Ford Falcons and Toyota Camrys in Australia. So I was looking forward to driving an EV.
I write this review from the perspective of a retired senior, quite different from a younger wage-earning person.
For someone who has been driving an ICE car since 1978, the introduction to driving an EV was quite a revelation. My first car was a Ford Anglia with a manual gearbox, a synchromesh between second and top gears but not between first and second!
I currently drive a Mazda 3 and thus when my son organised a two-week media loan of a Hyundai Kona EV (Premium Extended Range 2024 spec) I was initially worried as the EV driving experience is quite different. Especially as my first trip was on the busy roads of Sydney.
I was given a basic introduction to the car by my son. He showed me the drive mode shifter, how to adjust regen braking using paddles behind the wheel, how to start the car, the benefits of one pedal driving and some understanding of the different external sensors.
I drive a maximum of 10,000 kms a year. My initial driving impression was that of a car that made very little noise, one had to be careful accelerating as the Kona EV had a lot of zip, and you could listen to the radio with the windows open!
As I write this, I’ve driven some 300 kms. The trips have been around my home suburb in Liverpool Sydney, shopping, driving demonstrations for my neighbours, visiting friends and other personal journeys.
I have become quite used to the car now but were I to buy one, it would take a while to learn the features. The Hyundai software and screens are quite advanced compared to an older ICE car.
Now some experiences about “refuelling” the car.
I have solar panels installed on the roof of my house and the argument my son uses to persuade me to buy an EV is that I would have no petrol bills for driving around Metro Sydney or most day trips as my solar array produces significant kWh which I am currently feeding into the grid for very little return. At the same time my solar array is not operating at full potential as feed in is capped at 5kWh.
The car was at 95% battery level when I got it from the dealership and it had fallen to 89% when I reached home, a trip of 46 kms driving through typical Sydney traffic on a weekday. As it was a sunny afternoon on reaching home, I immediately plugged in the car into my home 10-amp outlet and within 3 hrs had charged it to 95%. I started charging the car the following day at 11 am and the battery charged to 99% in 3 hrs, another sunny day. The display showed that the battery would be charged to 100% in another 15 mins.
I did a 110 km shopping round trip mostly on a motorway and the battery charge went from 99% to 78%.
This is my experience in summer, how would it be in a Sydney winter?
I do realise that this is slow charging, and I would have to consider getting a fast charger installed in the garage if I bought an EV. My son informed me that it’s best to keep the Kona EV battery charged between 20-80% unless I’m driving a long distance that same day/next day.
The trips thus far have been within Metro Sydney, and I wanted a long-distance driving experience. So, we decided to drive to Bowral in the Southern Highlands.
The battery was at 88% when we left home and 64% at the end of the drive at Corbett Gardens. A road trip of 84 kms, mostly going uphill on the M5 toll road and Hume Highway used 24% of power.
The battery charge read 49% at the end of the return trip, 15% battery was used during the return trip which a significant difference. For consistency, we used the AC both trips with the windows closed.
An ICE car would not behave similarly in fuel use because the road climbs while driving South of Sydney on the Hume Highway and falls in altitude on the way back whereas an EV like the Kona adds some energy back into the battery using regenerative braking while going downhill.
I used two features of the car that I found very useful during the trip.
Whereas I have cruise control in my Mazda 3, the adaptive cruise control available in the Kona is excellent especially for longer journeys. The other feature was the wireless connection to Android Auto from my Samsung phone, particularly useful if you want to use Waze for navigation and for listening to streamed music or podcasts.
After the trip to Bowral yesterday I had the car on charge for 8 hrs today and the battery is at 69%, a gain of 20%. I guess that’s fine for a retired person who may do long trips infrequently, but this experience clearly indicates the need to consider the installation of a fast charger at home, to put range anxiety to rest especially if you want to go on another long distance trip the following day!
The interior of the Kona EV is well designed, it looks a lot like a modern ICE car with lots of buttons and knobs for controls instead of just one screen like a Tesla.
From the inside, the Kona doesn’t look like a lot of EVs that I have seen. It has good legroom for rear passengers and has a comparable size boot space with a space saver wheel under the boot floor, which is a rare inclusion for an EV and many new ICE cars as well.
I found it easier to get in and out of the car as it is higher than my Mazda 3, but that was not the case for my wife who is shorter than me.
Charging Cost: Home Solar vs Petrol Car
I drove 590 kms over the two weeks I had the Kona EV, all using power from my solar array.
If I were driving my Mazda 3, I would have used about 30 litres of unleaded fuel, at $1.70 per litre, a saving of $50.
Overall, a very revealing experience.
I’ve read that EV cars are coming down in price, but the question remains, should I invest in one?
My Mazda 3 is now 7 years old, and I’ve done just 50,000 kms. Let’s see what 2025 brings.
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