Forrest reviews all kinds of cars and publishes his work on YouTube. I like his approach, not wacky but also not super dry, so I was excited to see he had a Kona Electric and put it to the range test. There is a short version of this (for another channel) that hasn't yet come out, but I'll put it up here when it's available. This one is a bit longish but it also has lots of neat points and driving impressions. A lot of you have gotten much better results than the official 258 miles of range, so feel free to brag about beating Forrests' record.
My best was 358.8 miles with 29 miles and 9% remaining charge.. (1 week of commuting, keeping AC off in hot weather and keeping highway speed to 55 mph) I frequently get over 330 miles estimated 100% range..
Ah, I'm seeing it now. That's way more efficient than I'm usually able to get in my Spark EV. Nicely done.
I probably won't do it again.. I was driving in 92 degree weather (on my way home from work) with the windows closed and the AC off for maximum efficiency.. The battery of course is at it's maximum efficiency at that temperature but without the AC, it did get a little steamy in the car.. I did it for one week to see what was possible.. I did not do anything else to achieve that mi/kwh.. Only difference to how I normally drive was to keep highway speeds to 55 mph instead of the 65 mph that I usually drive on my commute.. I only drive faster if I run late... Today, we had mid 60's in the morning and I got 5.6 mi/kwh on my way to work. The way home usually is not as economic and I should get about 5.0 mi/kwh.. The average commute right now averages 5.3 mi/kwh.. The average since buying the car is 4.8 mi/kwh as on my occasional road trip, I get 3.7 - 4.5 mi/kwh. I'm at over 24100 miles so far in just over 8 months..
I tend to get high numbers when it's hottish outside, even despite the extra air conditioning. Need to check my overall efficiency, but I suspect yours is higher (better).
Battery Temperature makes more difference than A/C use on my car.. On one of those rare chilly mornings here (40's or even high 30's), my mi/kwh on my commute to work (without heat or AC) is rarely above 4.7 which is about 1 mi/kwh less than on my commute in summer with the AC off..