u/Minimum-Presence-830

After doubling the mileage on my 2024 EV so it's now done just over 3k miles I did a 100% charge at home following a recommendation here. Ambient temperature was about 14 degC.

At the end the car told me the range was 310 miles which is close to the quoted range. Is this realistic? The car must have adapted to my driving style I assume and I am getting anything between 4.3 and 5 miles per kWh.

I only intend to charge to 100% once per month or for longer journeys and will be sticking to 80% most of the time.

Have had my 2024 65Kwh UK Kona EV for one month now and I have some observations about my experience with it.

Since receiving the car I have had a home charger installed in my garage and this has brought the cost of charging down significantly as I have moved to the EDF dual tariff so charge at 6.99/KWH overnight. It would cost me about £40 to half fill my old diesel and get 300 miles of range. It now costs much less than £10.

Regarding the Kona here are the good parts:

1. Nice and comfortable and easy to drive. I have always had manual cars and this automatic is so easy to drive.

2. Lots of space at the front. Easy to park the left leg while driving even for a 6 footer.

3. No squeaks or rattles. Seems to be well screwed together and the fit and finish are good.

4. Overall the driving experience is very positive. Overtaking in a tight spot is a doddle so if you need instant acceleration for a quick overtake you get it. Much easier than the old car.

5. Charging is no issue either public or private. I've got an Ohme charger which was installed properly and works as expected. Dynamic overnight charging works well.

6. Car seems efficient. Averaging between 4 and 4.5 miles/kwh. The reading seems accurate as it drops when the wind is against. I don't often exceed the speed limit on any road.

7. Boot space for me is fine. Frunk is also useful.

8. Air con works surprisingly well. Actually it's better than my old ICE car.

9. ECO mode adds a few miles to the range when needed.

10. Adaptive cruise control is nice.

11. I like the speed limit monitor. In the old car it was necessary to always keep an eye out on the speedo just in case of a detector van in the vicinity.

Less good things about the Kona:

1. I didn't want another black car but I have one and I must admit the paintwork can be prone to picking up the odd imperfection here and there. Will need to keep an eye out on this over the coming months.

2. Infotainment system can be a pain. Trying to play one album after another rather than repeating the same album over and over seems to be impossible.

3. The lane assist feature can nearly be called dangerous and I switch it off before driving anywhere. The way it wrenches the steering wheel is unnerving. You need to retain control so you can avoid obstructions and this feature will cause you to hit obstructions.

4. Lane following assist. This seems to be different to lane keeping assist as it has a different symbol on the dash. It switches on automatically when cruise control is engaged. In my opinion it's not safe. The car seems to be lurch and not respond properly to driver control and I don't feel safe when it's switched on so I turn it off immediately. Don't know if there is a way of permanently disabling this feature when cruise control is switched on.

5. Why do I need to confirm my driver profile each time I switch on? Perhaps there is a way of defaulting this but I haven't found a way of doing this.

6. The eye monitor can be a pain as well as the take a break nanny. Don't think these can be switched off.

7. My car doesn't have heated seats or steering wheel so this may be a problem in the winter. My choice though as these features weren't included in the trim.

8. Would be nice to have had an auto-dimming mirror and surprised a little that after market mirrors need a lot of work to fit. Again this feature was not part of the trim.

9. Hopefully snow mode will be useful in the winter but I suspect I may need to fit to winter tyres when the time comes. Where I live there is no gritting so if there is a lot of snow and ice the only way of using a car safely is to use the right tyre.

There aren't any really bad things about this car. And now that I don't rely on public chargers it's really cheap to run.

I have done some longer journeys and now spend time planning when and where to top up.

Would I return to ICE at this point? No. Do I regret buying the Kona? No. I have a large part of the car and battery warranty left. No MOT until next year and a safety check done by the Hyundai dealer found nothing.

I would recommend the Kona as an EV especially if you can find a low mileage example at a good price like mine was.