Kona Still One of the Most Efficient EV’s

I'm amazed about it's efficiency. I got 7 miles per kWH on my drive from work. It's only 10 miles but I'm not driving slow. Actually I'm pretty much always the first off the lights. An amazing car!

 

Here's an anecdote as to just how efficient the Kona is. Today was a beautiful day in Maine and New Hampshire, perfect for making a trip I've done twice before, just for the fun of driving through nice countryside. It's a 180 mile loop from home in Yarmouth, at elevation 140 feet, up to the high country at the foot of Mt. Washington, elevation at the pass 2040 feet according to the Kona's onboard altimeter. The first leg was about 70 miles from Yarmouth to N. Conway in NH and the drive is a long, gentle rise to an elevation of around 600 feet. In spite of the continual climb the Kona averaged 5 miles/kWh. Temperature was in the upper 50's and I drove 55 mph.
It's another 28 miles from N. Conway at 600 feet, up over a pass at elevation 2040, and on down to Gorham NH at elevation 800 feet. At the top of the pass the Kona's efficiency had dropped to 4.5 miles/kWh (the view of Mt. Washington was stupendous since the road runs right along its base.) Upon reaching Gorham after a continuous descent, the Kona was back up to 5 miles/kWh. I didn't know if it could recoup the uphill loss but it did, and in a vertical descent 200 feet less than the earlier ascent from N. Conway.
The return home from Gorham was 82 miles through varied terrain but overall a descent from 800 feet to 140. The temperature had risen into the mid-60's and again I averaged 50-55 mph. The Kona left Gorham at 5 miles/kWh and slowly ticked up to 5.1, then 5.2, and returned to Yarmouth having averaged 5.3 miles/kWh. Needless to say, I was gobsmacked. It's early spring here and battery temperature when I left home was around 40 degrees. The two same trips I made were during warmer months and I think that I averaged 4.1 m/kWh on the first and perhaps 4.6 on the second.
I think it's important to add that the first two loops were driven with maximum regeneration used continuously. This is how I've always driven since I got the car 14 months ago. Today I decided to try out setting regen to zero whenever possible per another forum user's description of how he uses the 4 regen options. I found it to be easy to adapt to and was still able to almost always do one pedal driving. It just involves consciously flipping the paddles as needed.

 

The efficiency is truly amazing on the Kona. I have averaged 4.7 mi/kwh in almost 49k miles.. That's an average 300 miles/full charge.. I doubt any of the Tesla Model 3 LR owners get that on average. Especially around town is when the Kona does best and I believe it's due to the regeneration on the Kona. I like the paddles to bring the car to a stop. Initially, I was wishing for true one pedal driving but I came to appreciate the way the paddle works.. I will miss that once I get the Model Y. Kona overall is really a great vehicle but I'm 90% certain that there will be a Model Y in my very near future.. While the 80% charge limit bothers me, this is not the reason why I'm planning on switching to Tesla.. It's mostly due to my kids getting bigger and my 11 year old son is not too happy with his leg room in the Kona. Also, when travelling with the family, the amount of luggage is also pretty limited.. The biggest reason however is the Supercharger Network. Wife has family in South Texas (McAllen area) and there are no Level 3 chargers and to get there with the Kona, it would mean additional 150 miles to even make it there and then I would be stuck without fast charging in McAllen.. Tesla has Superchargers on the shortest route. I've been waiting 2 years for Level 3 chargers to open up on that route and no chargers between Houston and McAllen except for the most expensive charger on the planet in Corpus Cristi ($135 or so for a 80% charge on a 24kw charger). So, the extra space and the Supercharger Network make the Model Y the perfect choice. It's not 100% yet but I did submit a trade in estimate and will go for a test drive of the Model Y in less than 3 hours..