[blackwasp]

To make electric car ownership easier, Hyundai has taken up a couple of initiatives. One of them includes providing a 7.2 kW AC adapter to all Kona customers and installing the same in 15 dealerships across 11 cities.

Apart from the above, the Korean carmaker has also introduced a vehicle to vehicle (V2V) charging facility in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai via Allianz Worldwide Partners. Additionally, Portable Chargers are also available (through roadside Assistance on Allianz Trucks) at Delhi and Bengaluru.

The Kona Electric uses a 39.2 kWh battery that powers an electric motor that has an output of 134 BHP and 395 Nm. Hyundai claims that the car can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 9.7 seconds, while the battery is said to offer an ARAI certified range of 452 km on a single charge.

The Hyundai Kona Electric was launched at a price of Rs. 25,30,000 (ex-showroom, India). With reduction in GST, the electric SUV is now available at Rs. 23,71,858.



Link to the Team-BHP News

[SS80]

Nice to see Hyundai taking positive and reassuring steps to its early bird customers.

Also in the near future, I am sure the on-road assistance cars/tow trucks would come with a portable diesel generator to charge e-cars.

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by SS80

Also in the near future, I am sure the on-road assistance cars/tow trucks would come with a portable diesel generator to charge e-cars.

The portable generators will probably not cut it. They just cannot drive the kind of amperage needed by EVs. In the case below, half hour of charging added 4 miles of range.
https://www.greencarreports.com/news...any-time-video

EVs definitely need a charging network for long distance travel, and a charging port at home to charge overnight. Charging at workplace is another option.

[sandeepmohan]

To make this even better, what Hyundai should do is offer customers the option of a solar charging station for their home charging needs. Something like Tesla's power wall solution. A solar panel that can be used to charge the cars battery during day time and a battery pack solution that can storage energy which can in turn be used to charge the cars battery during night or on sun down days. For someone who can spend Kona money, the above solution will probably add a couple more lac's to the cost of the car.

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

To make this even better, what Hyundai should do is offer customers the option of a solar charging station for their home charging needs. Something like Tesla's power wall solution.

That would be a hard sell for a traditional auto manufacturer. Too many things depend on the electricity board/utility company. There is nothing stopping anyone from going solar and staying connected to the grid. Here is a company that seems to have done many residential projects in Bengaluru.
https://www.ecosoch.com/work/

You should be able to charge the Kona at home overnight. You will have 450kms range in the morning. Certainly convenient, but I do not have info on how economical this solution will be. The utility company really needs to have a new plan for EV owners who charge at night. (non peak hours) They have some info here. https://www.ecosoch.com/faq/

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

That would be a hard sell for a traditional auto manufacturer. Too many things depend on the electricity board/utility company.

Why do you think it would be a hard sell and what is the dependency on the power company when you are generating your own power? Yeah sure, you can send power back to the grid and get a pittance for it.

I did not say it is mandatory. Besides; when you want to go green, why not go green all the way.

The purpose of the Power Wall concept is to store energy which in turns will be used to charge the car, power your home Overnight.

[DarthVeda]

While Kona is an excellent EV and Hyundai the first big manufacturer in India to release an excellent product, it looks like a weak effort from Hyundai on the follow up. There has been no fast charger at their dealer network, instead we get a AC wall charger which is capable of 7kw. They informed us that they will enter partnership with Indian Oil for setting up chargers, that has been proven to be a vapourware.
This mobile charging is nothing but a gimmick to ease consumer's concern of charging. I highly doubt that anyone riding around city on a 300km range car will run out of charge, and would need it. It is only out of city limits and at distance that charging infra is needed. You can put 100s of fast chargers in the city it won't lead any reduction in range anxiety for anyone who wants to travel out of city to long distance destinatios. what we would need is at minimum AC Wall charger at Hyundai showroom at each district HQ.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by DarthVeda

You can put 100s of fast chargers in the city it won't lead any reduction in range anxiety for anyone who wants to travel out of city to long distance destinatios. what we would need is at minimum AC Wall charger at Hyundai showroom at each district HQ.

This is precisely my question to Hyundai executive who called me to inquire about my interest for Kona. He had no answer.
He did mention that regular 15Amp power outlets at Hyundai service centres and showroom could be used. But a 7.2KW wall outlet would make more sense.

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Why do you think it would be a hard sell and what is the dependency on the power company when you are generating your own power? Yeah sure, you can send power back to the grid and get a pittance for it.

I did not say it is mandatory. Besides; when you want to go green, why not go green all the way.

The purpose of the Power Wall concept is to store energy which in turns will be used to charge the car, power your home Overnight.

My comments are based on my personal experience. I live in So Cal where we are blessed with a lot of sunlight. We also have utility companies offering several plans for Solar and EVs. I have Tesla home solar that produces in excess in the morning. Without connecting to the grid, I will have to store it in a Powerwall. My Model 3 has a 80kwh battery. That is just too much power that needs to be stored. The economics of Powerwall has never worked out for me, even with all the rebates. The only way I was able to get it to work was to sell the generated units to the utility company in the morning and charge during super off peak hours. The people who install Power wall on SoCal are people who want emergency backup power. Not a replacement for the grid. For my calculations - I sell to the utility company at 40c per unit during peak hours (day time). I buy at 18c after midnight (off peak and super off peak) which is less than half. It takes some 8 hours to charge my Model 3 at 220V NEMA 14-50 that allows upto 50A to be drawn, but the car cuts off at 40A as a safety precaution.

Some rough numbers - a 2Kwh system produces ~14kwh in a day. A 40kwh Hyundai Kona alone may need 3/4 days of power to be stored. 1 Tesla power wall can store 14kwh, and you would need 4 of them at $7K a pop, for the car alone. In India a 2Kw home solar on grid system costs 3L (if you have 200sqft sunlit area). One certainly needs to plan for the electricity usage of the rest of the house. On top of that, things like monsoon season need to be considered. It can never be a true off grid system. It is just too much power that needs to be stored. It has to be some kind of hybrid system.

I did not say it is not possible to implement, I just do not see a path where one can breakeven. Which is why I used the word "hardshell". In my rough calculations the economics of this solution seems to be worse in our Indian scenario. Feel free to correct me if you have some real numbers.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

It can never be a true off grid system. It is just too much power that needs to be stored. It has to be some kind of hybrid system.

I did not say that you get off the grid completely. That is impossible today and there will be something or the other (eg : bad weather) that just won't allow you to do that.

The economics obviously do not work due to high cost to go solar in India and probably even where you are. However; when you have unreliable power, this makes a strong case, if you can afford a solution like this. 3lacs is not a lot, for what you get. The idea is to harness the power of the sun and reduce grid dependency.

I do not believe rebates will ever favor the consumer. Sadly; this is where they play us up.

Thanks for sharing those numbers.

[2000rpm]

I hope cars come with solar panels instead of plain body panels. This will avoid all the power wall and solar installations at home and power the car directly, thus minimizing power losses also. Even if I get an extended range of 20 kms by simply driving the car in the sun during my daily commute, thats great.

Also, In that case, Mumbai builders will sell open parking spaces at a premium.

[coolkurt]

The least Hyundai can do is install fast chargers at their dealerships. What's the point if you're not committed to setting up infrastructure?

MG has taken a good step in this aspect. They may not have a superior product but their commitment to infrastructure setup and a more competitive pricing will give Kona serious competition.

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

3lacs is not a lot, for what you get. The idea is to harness the power of the sun and reduce grid dependency.
.

You cant support a modern home and an EV with a 2kw system that you may get for 3L. That too was a number I pulled out of thin air. You will still need to draw a lot from the grid. At the minimum you need the utility to have a plan that offers lesser prices in a tiered way. Without the will and support of the state, private companies cant pull this off and beat the economics of gasoline. And, that is my whole point.

[sreeharipv]

I follow EVs a lot (probably more than I should). But have never seen Vehicle to Vehicle charging anywhere. This is something I thought Tesla can implement without much trouble at all. This may be a world first.

[aim120]

Once more electric vehicles hit world wide and everyone is plugging in their cars and two wheeler at night, On-grid solar systems will be useless. Imagine if everyone starts charging at 5 to 7kw with the addition of your existing house load, the grid will not be able to supply that much power without more coal, nuclear plants.

Night time will become super peak powers. Our grid won't even able to handle 2 wheeler. So that is why you need energy storage in the future, since solar only works till 4pm in India, may be another 2 hrs more sunlight for people in northern countries without snow fall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwA44fr7apw