My new Kona Electric and my first impressions

Discussion in 'Hyundai Kona Electric' started by Domenick, Jan 19, 2019.

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  1. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    After a few weeks, I still really like the Kona electric. I especially like how it takes curves, much like a sports car, great suspension, but a little hard. I found it interesting to try different regen levels while driving on highway. As you switch between levels, it seems to affect the feel of the steering wheel as well. That's when I discovered that I like the feel of the wheel with no regen. And, with smart regen on, it still uses regen in specific situations. I get the feeling it gets better range with no regen too, but I still have to test it more. I think that switching between power and regen often when you set the regen level above 0, causes inefficiencies. At regen level 0, when you take your foot off accelerator, it just cruises and slows down slowly, using no electricity, but when you have regen on, it slows faster of course, and recovers electrons, but then you often have to press accelerator (using electricity) again, to keep up speed, causing the motor to switch between states often, and lower the efficiency. So I am using no regen on highways and using brake pedal to slow down at lights, and level 2 in town. Pressing the brake pedal uses regen unless you press hard, so you have specific regen, not auto, and it even seems to even show better regen using brakes. The friction brakes don't come on very often.
     
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  3. I forgot to mention that my LKA did not work today. Yesterday it was cool to feel it pulling the wheel. Today, nothing. The only differences was that it was raining today and I had the intelligent cruise on today and not yesterday. The dealer must have turned it on because I didn't and I never turned it off so I'm not sure what happened.

    Auto wipers are a trifle spastic. I'm reserving judgement.
     
  4. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    Yeah, LKA can be confused with wet roads, rain or snow and glaring sun, but I find it works quite well normally. Yesterday I drove against a bright sun on a wet road, and it found the lines even though I had trouble seeing them. I don't think it has anything to do with the cruise control. I agree on the wipers, not my favourite feature.
     
  5. SkookumPete

    SkookumPete Well-Known Member

    Keep in mind that pressing the accelerator does not necessarily apply power. If you're slowing and touch the pedal lightly, the regen is decreased. The two pedals, up to a point, are just alternative ways of modulating the system's place on the scale from max regen to full power.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2019
  6. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    Interesting. I'm leaving on a trip to southern California for a month, and no I am not taking the Kona EV. I would if I was travelling alone, but my lady doesn't want to take a chance on the fast charging infrastructure. When I get back I am going to try testing range with different regen levels on the highway.
     
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  8. SkookumPete

    SkookumPete Well-Known Member

    How sad that you have to leave Kona so soon!

    It would take a physicist or at least an engineer to explain the efficiency of different configurations and driving styles and whether they amount to much. At this stage in my education, around town I leave regen set on auto (it can then easily be toggled to manual with a right paddle pull) at a base level of 2. If we're slowing too much, I touch the speed pedal, and when it's time to stop, I stick to what my right foot knows, and seldom get a sense that the friction brakes are getting involved. What strikes me is how often the regen/power bar indicates a neutral state.
     
  9. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    I know. I will miss my Electra (i have that name reserved now, so nobody can use it but me!!!!).
     
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  10. Chris Ogwuegbu

    Chris Ogwuegbu New Member

    I will love to have that if you dont mind please
     
  11. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    No, sorry, but that name is now registered trademark. Mind you, I do have a price!
     
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  13. CJC

    CJC Well-Known Member

    Oh Tom you can share with Chris. What are the odds you two would ever bump into one another? lol
     
  14. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    Well maybe he can use electra2 or something. And hey, we are a small community so maybe we might bump into one another. I don't know how I will survive a month without Electra.
     
  15. CJC

    CJC Well-Known Member

    Excellent compromise! LOL You will have to live vicariously through Wildeyed while he learns the ropes.
     
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  16. Oilberta

    Oilberta Member

    One more data point -- order/deposit 9 Aug; arrived Calgary dealer 5th Feb; built 20 Dec'; VIN02220*.
     
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  17. Okay. So there's no apparent pattern relating VINs the pre-order dates and certainly not delivery dates. It was/is a randomized mess.
     
  18. CJC

    CJC Well-Known Member

    Wildeyed today when you are out and about try your best to avoid Collision Avoidance.
    Here is an interesting experience from a UK FB group re: Collision Avoidance. The conversation following this comment was interesting. Most saying they welcome the car deciding on an emergency stop due to distraction and slower reaction time from them. Another poster described a road rage incident in which the guy he gave a one finger salute to over cutting in, abruptly stopped in front of him at 50 mph. The collision avoidance saved his car. Here is the original post:
    "Has anyone else had to brake firmly whilst the collision avoidance is on and had it slam the anchors on. Absolutely terrifying.
    Was coming up behind a Range Rover at the weekend at a roundabout and the slow brained idiot in front, instead of looking before arriving at the roundabout and seeing there wasn’t anything coming and carrying on , he treated it like a junction and stopped. I had left plenty of space so whilst I had to brake more firmly than normal, it wasn’t a situation where I would normally do an emergency stop. The collision avoidance alarm came on then BOOM!!! Full hard stop. I nearly **** myself. Felt like the car was going to pop out of its suspension. Think I’ll turn it off if it does it again."
     
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  19. I guess the car is more of a scaredy-cat than that driver! But, look, in the end it did its job and stopped. More emphatically than that driver wanted but nonetheless, collision avoided. That's the real lesson.

    l held my breath as I was trying out the stop and go feature yesterday but very quickly grew confident in its ability. There were a couple of times when it got confused. When the car you're following turns off or changes lanes the car can race ahead unexpectedly. I'll have to keep an eye on that.

    I still haven't solved my charging issue. No matter what I do the car charges immediately upon being plugged in. Not sure what to do. I really am not looking forward to having to schlep out every evening to plug it in to manually "schedule" off-peak charging!
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2019
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  20. Alrighty, I'm hoping this will help ya! I went out and looked through my settings and took a few pics and hopefully it's a simple fix.

    IMG_20190225_142017.jpeg

    This is what I have setup with mine so it will start charging no sooner than 7pm. I think the step you might be missing is the next one.

    IMG_20190225_142024.jpeg

    When you go to the location based charging tab, you have to set an address as home, and then under the Restrict setting turn Use on. What this will do is force the car to respect your Time of Use settings at your home, and not care anywhere else such as a DC fast charger or a mall parking lot charger in the middle of the day.

    IMG_20190225_142056.jpeg

    That's the only thing I can think of that wouldn't be working for you, that Restrict setting is turned off, or you haven't entered an address in the location setting.

    Check it out and let me know what you find out!
     
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  21. First of all, wow and thanks. Your assistance here is really above and beyond the call of duty. But, alas, I've done everything you've indicated. I can't really check again until next time I drain some power off and plug back in.

    I did notice a couple of buttons while I was analyzing things. There's a button lower left, below the steering wheel to auto lock and unlock the power cord. Does this affect any charging behaviour? I remember reading about it and deciding I wanted it on but I can't find the reference now so I can't check.

    I also noticed the LKA button. There is every chance I turned it off yesterday (it doesn't light up so it's hard to tell) and that's almost certainly why it didn't work, not because of the rain.
     
  22. You're welcome! I think all the Autolock button does is to allow the charge handle to unlock when it is finished charging. That way if you're parked at a public charger, people can't unplug you until it's done (or steal your cord if your plugged into a wall outlet).
     
  23. Pushmi-Pullyu

    Pushmi-Pullyu Well-Known Member

    I'm guessing it's just a matter of finding the right software settings. But if you give up on that, at worst you can add a physical timer to the EVSE. That is, an offboard hardware timer instead of an onboard software one.

    Discussion here: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/installing-a-timer-for-charging.14798/

     
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