The following is a discussion with Aussie electric vehicle (EV) owner Richard about their purchase of a Hyundai Kona Premium Extended Range 2024 and experience driving, servicing, charging it as well as their previous Hyundai Kona 2019 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.
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.
Was your electric car bought or leased?
We own a Hyundai Kona EV long range 2019 with 130,000km on the odometer and a new Hyundai Kona EV Premium 2024. Both were purchased new.
Please describe your purchasing / lease process experience … Easy, Mediocre, Frustrating..?
Purchasing was mediocre as the dealers know very little about EVs (not having owned any themselves).
We found they often belittled concerns with obfuscation as they were focused on making the sale.
What has the regular servicing / dealership experience been like?
Satisfactory – they have a lot to learn about EVs.
How do you regularly charge your car for day to day usage?
Plug in 32A socket in the garage, usually set ICCB to 10A or 15A off solar or after 9pm (cheap rate); also have a 7kW EO Mini but rarely use it.
What has your day to day normal charging experience been like?
Just plug in and forget. If the battery is low, I set an alarm on my phone and pop out to plug in for overnight charging
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?
In the 130,000km of driving we have done many long trips (200km – 400km) and just charged at home.
Twice we have driven to Canberra and used fast chargers (10 to 30 min stops half way).
The result is 99.4% charged at home over 4 years even though we live outside Sydney in a regional area.
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?
Central Coast to Canberra and back. We found this trip to be a very comfortable drive. We charged at the half-way point on a 350kW unit and overnight in Canberra at the hotel.
With our range of 500km and the trip distance of 350km we felt the half way charge was not really needed, but stopped because we wanted a bite to eat and a break from the drive.
Half way was suitable to break the drive into 2 stretches of 2+ hours each. On the way back, the stop was only for 9 minutes. In that time we added 70km of travel to the battery.
The trip was all at freeway speeds and included the 800 m climb in elevation. Our numbers for the trip were 12.4kWh/100km on the way to Canberra and 11.6 on the way back. So, we were very happy with the efficiency of the KONA.
I should add that I have been driving EVs since the mid 90’s and have a lot of experience in getting the best out of a battery.
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
The KONA EV 2024 has V2L and we will be using this to power our home in blackouts.
We are very excited by the potential for bidirectional charging which we would use to support our solar system (not really interested in V2G). We hope this is introduced ASAP.
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?
Not needed.
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 had trouble with our KONA EV 2019 12V battery dying and 12V systems not working.
This was eventually traced to the VMS which was replaced under warrantee. No complaints.
What are the 3 strongest aspects of your electric car compared to other similar price electric cars available in Australia?
Long range, very efficient, not too big.
We would have bought a smaller vehicle but one of the family members has back problems and needs a bigger car to easily get in and out of.
What are the 3 weakest aspects of your electric car compared to other similar price electric cars available in Australia?
Can not think of any.
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?
No problem with updates.
Happy for them to be done remotely, but would want to be asked before we do them.
Its no different to an update on your PC.
What questions would ask your car manufacturer HQ if you could?
Why the new KONA Premium cannot be supplied with the proper long range 17″ wheels.
Would you buy or lease this brand of electric car again and recommend it to others?
Absolutely, yes
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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