Another trip to my Mangalore( Uppinangady) farmhouse. 1st since the lockdown relaxation. For the first time did the trip with no inbetween charging. Left yesterday early morning at 5 am cruised at 90-110kmph, without AC.
Was a bit on the edge as the distance to destination and range left which started with a gap of 70 km came down to almost 15 km on reaching Sakaleshpura, but always knew the ghats would rescue me. Reached my farm house with 60 kms to spare as regen level 3 did wonders.
Topped upto to 30% as we stretched out legs and then onward with some chores we had.
Overnight charge was opto 90% SOC with my Bright Blu portable level 2 charger. We used the same charger for my brother's MG ZS EV too. Now bumped the Kona charge limit upto 100% and completing that before today's travels.
Had a sort of mini adventure on my return trip. Started as usual with 100% SOC ,but the departure was delayed and Advaith Hyundai Hassan was open only until 6 pm on Sundays. Was driving aggressively up the ghats so I could make it in time at Hassan before they would close.
Reached Hassan with 50% SOC and plugged in at 5.30 pm. But then began the fun (or not fun) . Their charger kept tripping every 5 mins and was able to add only 3% SOC in 25 mins. Also they did not have a 32A Industrial socket , and I had not carried the 3 pin portable charger.
At this stage with AC off I had a buffer of 14 kms above the distance to home as per GOM . I reluctantly left from there as their charger input cable sparked and there was some smoke. Hopefully Advaith Hyundai will fix this for other Kona owners who will need it in the future. Thankfully the weather had cooled off and it was very pleasant in the evening. I kept an eye on the difference between the Google map distance to home and the range displayed on the GOM and maintained it in the 12-15 range throughout. This meant only speeds of 75-90 kmph.
Kona seems to have a good bottom buffer which was clearly noticeable after hitting 6% SOC , this 6% was being displayed for almost 10 kms before it fell to 5% SOC.Switched on AC at Nelamangala to avoid city traffic emissions and made it home with 4% SOC and 18 kms on GOM
Kept for overnight charging and all charged upto 90% SOC today morning for the week ahead.
Signing Off..
Co-Founder TCIN
Building a Community for the Future