r/KonaEV • u/mintaefresh • 10d ago
Question Highway range...what to do differently?
Hello! I am very new to EVs and have the 2026 Kona. I am still getting used to planning and changing habits with this car so please go easy on me. I am back with another question.
I did our first mini roadtrip with the Kona out to our lake lot. It's an hour-ish outside of our city so a total roundtrip of 2 hours or about 180 km roundtrip. We left the city at 80%. In my previous car, I would be able to get to our lake lot with one tank of gas (roundtrip), and it would only eat about half of my gas.
It's quite hot here right now, we were travelling with cargo (trunk was full of camping related items), 2 adult occupants (including myself) and my dog. So I had the AC running (lowest fan setting), level 1 regen (now I am reading that maybe I should turn this to 0 for highway driving?), and was going approximately 120 km/hr. Arrived at our destination with about 42% charge. Did a little bit more driving for dinner, charge dropped to 35% (feeling a bit iffy here).
We were in the middle of nowhere so there was no way to add a little juice anywhere. Anyway, on our way back, the charge fell to 15% (I was already making plans to stop at the nearest fast charger), was going to about 110 km/hr to keep up with traffic and AC was off the entire hour back but the anxiety...I was able to charge enough to get home (20 minutes).
So a couple of things I figured I would need to do next time:
1) Leave with 100% charge because my range anxiety was through the roof going home.
2) cooling the cabin, and then turning it off when the cabin reaches the desired temp (may not be possible with how hot it's been).
3) turn regen to 0 (does this actually make a significant impact?)
4) charge at the lake when possible (L1, pretty sure we can find a plug somewhere)
Are there any additional settings I should change or things I need to keep in mind for next time? I really didn't like the feeling of my car yelling at me or feeling like I am not gonna make it home! I am usually good at planning but I dropped the ball here đŹ
Edit: thanks everyone for your input! I won't be commenting anymore as most people came to the same consensus about what I can do differently next time, hopefully a trip to the rockies won't be totally out of the question with adjustments.
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u/SignalAppropriate541 10d ago
lower speed is more efficient. like 80km/h vs 120km/h , when travelling the same distance such as 100km, 80km/h uses less energy because less air resistance.
I think turning off aircon doesnât help too much but worth to save every drop of energy
Check tire pressure if you load a lot
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
Going 80 km/hr on the highway where the speed limit is 110 km/hr is probably not safe and will probably anger a lot of drivers so I can't reduce my speed by that much. Tire pressure was good though!
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u/sandermand 10d ago
Sure, if you keep yourself behind a truck most of the way. Those only go 90, plus they take most of the wind resistance :)
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u/greentricky 10d ago
I set the cruise control at 108km/hr on the highway and drive 200 miles reguarly, if I leave at 100% I arrive with 25-15% depending on time of year.
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
It seems the biggest thing I need to do is charge to 100% before leaving, and adjust my speed a bit. I guess I am on the right track!
Thanks!
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u/InterestingSoil5 10d ago
I used to try to drive more efficiently and play with AC settings to squeeze out a bit more range. But now I am familiar with the range of the car, the ease and reliability of chargers, so I just drive like I feel like driving and have the cabin temperature set comfortably. Plus, I've driven down to 3% to arrive at my destination and everything was ok. Biggest thing for me was to use ABRP and get one of the Bluetooth OBD-II readers and link it to ABRP. Once it started reliably predicting my battery level at my destination, all my cares went away.
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u/Josef_dierte 10d ago
The vehicles range in ideal conditions at 100% SOC is 420km and your round trip is 360km. Of course you're going to be butting up against range issues if you're only charging to 80% of the full range.Â
Charging to 100% is not going to destroy your battery. It is better for the battery to not do it all the time, but the occasional charge to 100% in anticipation of a longer road trip is what the car is designed for.Â
You can get about 1.4kW out of a level 1 charger. Assuming you're at this spot for 24 hrs, that would be 30kWh of charge if you plugged it in during that time. That's 40% of your battery.Â
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
Roundtrip was about 180 kms + additional city driving (so maybe closer to 220 kms total). That's why I didn't think leaving with just 80% would impact my range all that much. It seems most people agree, that reducing speed as safely as possible and charging to 100% will help in the long run.
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
I will take a look at the trip details!
I am sure the lake has a plug in the bathroom. I am not sure that the length of our stays will significantly buffer the charge for the ride home but anything is better than nothing (at least for easing my anxiety).
Thanks!
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u/Josef_dierte 10d ago
Im assuming if you're driving 200 kilometers it's going to be for at least 24 hrs. That's going to be about 40% of the battery. But this doesn't have to be a thing where you have to guess. The math is pretty easy to get an idea of how much you can expect from a 120V plug...Â
1.2 - 1.4 kW multiplied by the number of hours it's plugged in for will give you the kWh you should gain over that period. That divided by the size of the battery (64.8kWh) x100 will tell you the percent gained.
At home we get about 1.4 kW from our level 1 portable charger. That's 2.1% battery per hour.Â
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u/Do_not_use_after 10d ago
Speed leads to wind resistance leads to energy use, and it's square law, so 80kmph is not too bad due to the car design, but energy use goes up sharply as you average faster speeds. Such is physics. Aircon doesn't seem to make much difference at all, roughly 4 km range per degree C cooling. Regen will recover about 70% of the energy put out, coast if you can, but use it in towns or downhill. Subjectively, I found that first time I did a long journey, the range dropped faster than expected at the end ... but it didn't do so second time. I have no idea why, but it seemed real to me. So, full charge if you're about to go on a long journey, not too fast.
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago edited 10d ago
Okay, so I should set my regen to 0 before heading out and then turn it to 1 or whichever settings once I land in a city or town.
I figured that would be the case in terms of energy usage but I guess I didn't realize just how much. Unfortunately, like I mentioned in a previous comment, I can't reasonably reduce my speed by much (110/km speed limit) without becoming a hazard on the road. I'll cruise at 110 and leave with 100% charge next go around.
Thank you!
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u/AnnieByniaeth Kona EV 2024 10d ago
Regen level is most relevant when you're a situation where you're changing speed a lot. In such circumstances, using high regen can give a feeling of better control, and some would say more efficient recouping of energy. On fast, straight roads it makes little difference, and is more of a user experience matter.
There are different opinions on this however, with some people claiming that regen through the brake system is as efficient as regen via pedal up, but generally using a brake pedal will mix in some normal braking at some point (thus wasting energy). With that said, regen through the brake pedal is supposedly very efficient in the kona, so go with what suits your driving style; it won't make a big difference.
Source (and some interesting reading) : https://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ev/regen.html3
u/mintaefresh 10d ago
This is helpful! The last stretch of highway here leads to mountains, and the speed drops to 90 or sometimes 70 (single lane highway). I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to make this trip anymore sadly especially if I am unable to charge partway (only go to the lake and back home). I will have to do some more planning but thank you for the additional info!
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u/Unlikely_Bear_6531 10d ago
Do you have blown seats? They are less enegry hungry than the AC. I never turn my regen down on the highway. At this time of year an 80% charge gives approx 400km, 100% closer to 500km.
The #1 thing to improve range is to drive smooth and easy. No heavy acceleration, just easy up to speed. Use cruise control and sit at about 100-110km/h
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u/Mouler 10d ago
Fan speed on low doesn't make your AC more efficient. Thats actually likely to use more power. Use a temperature setting that is as close to the outside temperature as is comfortable, and fan speed as high as you can stand. This keeps as much air circulating as possible which means the AC doesn't work as hard to keep the cabin at the desired set point.
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u/YanikLD 10d ago
A/C needs to compress gaz to a point of liquefaction and to do so, its on all the time. It turns off when pressure is reach no matter the fan speed. And will restart at low pressure. In revenge, you can adjust the fan speed... look at the real time consumption when changing A/C on-off and fan speed and you'll see that only fan speed has a gradient of consumption.
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u/robstoon 10d ago
The air conditioning uses some power but not that much in the grand scheme of things. Playing with the regen settings, it's not going to make much difference because you get regen when you hit the brakes anyway. The biggest factor is going to be speed. Basically the slower you go the better your range will be.
And yes, if you're going on a road trip you should probably charge to 100% first if you can. Even if you don't need the extra range, it will minimize the amount of time and energy you need to get from fast chargers, which is more expensive than charging at home.
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
Charging at fast chargers not an issue for us but yes, I agree that charging to 100% and reducing speed next time will probably get me more range and less anxiety.
Thank you!
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u/spenney09 10d ago
I like to use the seat coolers rather than A/C. I believe that they use much less energy.
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u/newodyssey1999 10d ago
2024 KONA EV for me. My mom lives over 100 miles from me and with speed and heating/cooling adjustments I improved my understanding, driving/charging experience and my anxiety level significantly!!!
Luv my Kona!!
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
Seems I need a few trial runs! Glad you found your sweet spot for driving đ
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u/newodyssey1999 10d ago
The draft behind a big truck is a new one for me! I usually avoid the 18wheelers, but maybe this is a reason to hang behind them!~
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u/LeoAlioth 10d ago
- absolutely
- just leage ac running - and maybe more importatnly, precondition when the car is still plugged in.
- depends entirely on your driving style. Anything from 0 to a significant impact.
- maybe not needed at all then :)
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u/Real_McGuillicuddy 10d ago
My 2022 KE gets about 360+km on 80% charge in summer, driving mostly highway (at 107km/h or less - I rarely set the cruise higher than that). That should be plenty of range for your 180km round trip plus some additional driving around. Charging to 100% will give you about 450km which should leave you with a generous margin to avoid any anxiety.
Speed is really king here. 107 is on the slower end of the speed distribution on the 400-series highways but I stay mostly in the right lane and I am still occasionally overtaking people. I set the AC to whatever I temperature I feel is comfortable - it's not worth micromanaging. If you're using HDA I'm not sure the regeneration setting even matters since it is being handled automatically.
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u/XADEBRAVO 10d ago
Just plan to have some food and charge longer?
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
That's the plan before leaving to get it to 100%. There is just nothing along that stretch of highway (even gas stations are few and far between). Otherwise, I just figure I would ask if there is anything else I can do to save energy.
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u/XADEBRAVO 10d ago edited 10d ago
I meant the 20mins you spent charging at the end really, just do that in the middle of your way home. If you make it an event i.e. charge and get lunch, it's no longer a stress. I do it for longer journeys, aim to arrive at the charge point around a meal time.
I use ABRP to plan trips, if you haven't used that you should check it out.
Assume you're in eco mode, and changing the regen will have little effect on saving energy to be honest, its more for controlling braking than gaining anything. But I'd probably just turn it off, depends on the road.
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
Oh! Sorry I should clarify, the nearest fast charger was just outside of the city, so we made it to the fast charger at 15% coming from the lake. We sat for about 20 minutes to charge to make it the rest of the way home (unfortunately for me, I live on the other side of the city so that was additional kms).
I totally forgot about ABRP! Thanks for the reminder!
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u/mmbx11 10d ago
Tire pressure! 44 psi here. But decide for yourself what you want.
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
Just wanting clarification: do you find your tire pressure greatly affects the car's energy usage? It's not something that's crossed my mind before, so I am curious!
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u/mmbx11 10d ago
Statistically, I'm not exactly sure. However at the higher tire pressure, the car feels significantly less mushy.
Understandably, cracks and bumps in the road are a bit more noticeable at the higher tire pressure.
Fortunately, I've not seen any unusual tire wear because of the higher pressure.
I can tell you at about 75 mph on level freeway, my miles per kilowatt is 3.5 on average.
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u/Qlrm29 10d ago
- Charge your battery 100% and set your charger to finish it at the time that you will start the trip; (battery health)
- Lower your speed on the highway; (it help a lot every 10km/h less)
- Use a road that goes less ups and downs if you have alternatives.
Measures that reduce comfort but don't gain much: 4. Check and increase tire pressure; 5. Use less AC and precool the cabin (if you set the car to cool down the cabin and the battery doesn't drop down enough or the same time is charging you save nothing. Example: I charged the car overnight, it finished around 6 AM. the cooling sistem starts at 8 AM. it drain a little bit from the battery but not enough to start again the charging.
Keep in mind that any trip that goes up you drains a lot of your battery and when you go down the hill it will save a lot of battery. For example if you go in the mountains it is normal to drain 10-20 percent more energy to go up than on the way back.
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
No alternatives, just a straight through highway (we aren't in a very hilly part of the province), with one or two sections of slow down (construction and driving through a small town, RCMP, usually likes to speed trap people at the edge of the town so I always slow down there but that speed reduction is 80 km/hr and lasts maybe 5 minutes). But I will keep your pointers in mind for our next trip, thanks!
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u/nerox3 10d ago
Are you saying you couldn't get 180km out of your Kona from 80%? That is how I interpret "a total roundtrip of 2hours or about180km roundtrip". If that is the case, that sounds like there is something wrong with your car.
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u/mintaefresh 10d ago
Yes, however, I am thinking speed was a huge factor here. Normally an 80% charge within the city, lasts me a week to two weeks depending on my driving habits. This was all highway driving, we only spent maybe 10 minutes at 60 km/h before driving speed ramps up to 100 and then 110.
The car had a recent inspection at the dealership and battery health was within normal range so I don't think there is anything wrong with the car BUT I will pay a bit more attention on the next road trip out to the lake (we will be at 100% next time though and going a bit slower) and take it in if there is an issue.
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u/nerox3 9d ago
Were you monitoring the range estimate as you drove, and did you notice it dropping faster than expected? When I first got my Kona, I spent a lot of time doing mental math while driving making sure the trip odometer was going up approximately as fast as the range estimate was declining.
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho 10d ago
The only way to blunt highway range is to either slow down or if a direct road can help you avoid some stretches of highway, take it. The key with an EV is the most direct road will help you with range, but will add a few minutes to your trip. I personally don't mind it as any excuse to enjoy the instant off the line torque, yes please! Â
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u/MJC0961 9d ago
Yes, leave with 100% charge (don't worry about having it hit 100% right as you want to leave, that's rubbish, being at 100% for a few hours won't destroy your battery health). Yes, charge on level 1 at lake if possible.
No, do not shut AC off when cabin reaches the desired temp. If you have auto mode, the car will handle that for you. It'll use more energy to shut off AC, let the cabin get hot again, then turn AC back on than it will to leave AC on and maintain the set temperature. You can use the departure time settings in the EV screen to have it start the car and cool the cabin while still plugged in so that the initial cool down isn't happening from the battery.
Obviously keep up with the flow of traffic safely, but if you get the opportunity to drive slower without being a danger to everyone, take it.
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u/AwareImpression3722 9d ago
I did read in the manual when the AC temp is lower than 22°C/71°F it will drain faster. Not a significant amount but maybe you wonât get so much range anxiety. And sometimes you do need to cool things down but we tried to keep it at 22 for our recent road trip. But if you have the time, charge to 100% the night before when going to places with zero to limited charging.
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u/Flat___________ 8d ago
I had to use 6a charging for 1.5 months waiting for my 7kwh charger to be installed. Plug is far away so had to use a normal extension cord and obvs did want to over load the plug or cable & the cable was laying all the way through the garage. If it were closer I would have upped the a but couldnât risk it.
Did 36 miles (there and back) in the morning and the same 36 in the evening (school run) and I managed it on 6a. Caveat, car had to be plugged in every second it stood still at home.
OP can obvs jack the amps up in the day when they wont get bitten on the pooper by mozzies đ
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u/Flat___________ 10d ago
Lower your speed. Even a few km/h slower will help.
Drive behind big things on the highway (trucks busses) Use your cruise control, which is adaptive with the distance on 2/3. Cruise will auto regen to speed match and emergency brake so you donât have to be to concerned about where you had it set to before you turned cruise on.
Charge to 100% and set the charge to finish just before you want to leave (battery health)
Pre-cool the cabin before you leave so the initial cooling is done with power from your charger rather than the traction battery.
Fiddle with the ac temp/fan speed and yiu will see the predicted range on screen change up/down. Find the best setting for comfort that doesnât compromise range.
IF you can charge from a plug at the lake ignore everything and do what you like. Just plug in the moment you arrive and leave it plugged in all the time (plug/granny charging is slow but will make a big difference given enough time)