[nsbhagwat]

Originally Posted by sheldon.dz

Well there is protection for sure against water, as my car survived the floods in Pune. Our society basement was completely submerged and 35 cars were destroyed. I was one of the lucky ones to reach down in time to take it out, the water level had reached the bottom of the door.

That was close Sheldon.
Do you live at Treasure Park or Lake Town?

[Motard_Blr]

What does Hyundai say about towing the Kona? In general it is not good practice to tow automatic transmission cars because of potential transmission damage. In case the Kona runs out of charge, is it possible to tow it to the nearest power point?

[sheldon.dz]

Originally Posted by nsbhagwat

That was close Sheldon.
Do you live at Treasure Park or Lake Town?

The latitude, it was part rain and part construction flaws over a nala that caused the flooding twice in 1 month.

[Sebring]

Interesting question. Never ever tow an electric car under any circumstances since the car's motor is mechanically connected to the wheels at all times. A Tesla showroom assist told me this. Towing can result in serious damage to the car.

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

What does Hyundai say about towing the Kona? In general it is not good practice to tow automatic transmission cars because of potential transmission damage. In case the Kona runs out of charge, is it possible to tow it to the nearest power point?

[coolkurt]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Towing can result in serious damage to the car.

This could be a big problem. Imagine someone has parked their car improperly and the traffic police tows it away? Maybe there should be a directive by the government that green plate cars should not be towed under any circumstances? But will it be adhered to?

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by pkirwadi

Just came back from an incredible trip, covering around 365 Kms in one single charge !! Checkout the attached pics.

EV consumption: 10.1 km/kWh

That's good to know. I see that you were using no regeneration, is that correct?
If you had used regeneration, your range would have been even better.

Originally Posted by Sebring

Interesting question. Never ever tow an electric car under any circumstances since the car's motor is mechanically connected to the wheels at all times. A Tesla showroom assist told me this. Towing can result in serious damage to the car.

Not sure about Kona, but people have towed E2O and no damage.
In fact, if you tow an E2O with motor on and in neutral, the regen works and people have gained 10-12% charge post towing.

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by pkirwadi

Just came back from an incredible trip, covering around 365 Kms in one single charge !! Started from Basavanagudi, Bangalore around 5 pm, on a Friday evening, reached Mysore around 8:30 pm, drove to Chamundi hills the next morning and drove liberally around Mysore city for about 70 odd Kms, mainly by my folks who were so eager to drive Kona. Started back to Bangalore around 5 AM today, reached home with still 25 Kms worth of range and battery state was at 5%. Climate/AC was ON throughout the trip, did not exceed 80 Km/h. Checkout the attached pics.

EV consumption: 10.1 km/kWh

Wow! Great drive! Better not to get stuck with a charge needle in the red in a Kona! Early adopters, please keep them coming even your small daily drives an experiences will go a long way in keep the rest informed regards how to live with an EV. Remember doing this with my first car an M800, I ran out of gas and a benevolent auto driver drove me and the car to the nearest bunk that was around 200 ft away by placing his right foot on my car rear bumper. I don't think that can be done to the Kona!

[pkirwadi]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

That's good to know. I see that you were using no regeneration, is that correct?
If you had used regeneration, your range would have been even better.

I decided against choosing one of the 3 levels on offer, However, I used the '1 paddle driving' feature as and when i felt necessary. Another surprising thing i noticed, is that the brake pedal too offered regeneration. I double checked in the energy consumption dashboard, the instant consumption value turned negative when the brakes (the foot pedal) was used, energy flow meter also confirmed this, so did the charge indicator as well as the amount of distance shown (in eco mode) when a typical regeneration occurs, was displayed as well

I was surprised, may be its a common feature with all EVs, but the owners manual fail to mention this anywhere. I think the regen pedals and the 1 pedal driving feature is more of a convenience, as opposed to the real deal, where an EV should regenerate whenever it is decelerating ?

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

What does Hyundai say about towing the Kona? In general it is not good practice to tow automatic transmission cars because of potential transmission damage. In case the Kona runs out of charge, is it possible to tow it to the nearest power point?

Why would you tow when flat bed trucks are fairly ubiquitous now at almost all tier 1 and 2 cities? On the other hand, once electrics become more the norm, I expect some start up to launch mobile generator trucks to act as emergency mobile charging stations to come to your rescue ala the Exide batmobile service.

[docsr]

Originally Posted by pkirwadi

Just came back from an incredible trip, covering around 365 Kms in one single charge !! Started from Basavanagudi, Bangalore around 5 pm, on a Friday evening, reached Mysore around 8:30 pm, drove to Chamundi hills the next morning and drove liberally around Mysore city for about 70 odd Kms, mainly by my folks who were so eager to drive Kona. Started back to Bangalore around 5 AM today, reached home with still 25 Kms worth of range and battery state was at 5%. Climate/AC was ON throughout the trip, did not exceed 80 Km/h. Checkout the attached pics.

EV consumption: 10.1 km/kWh

That's excellent - so the ARAI declared range of approximately 400km is not a myth! Just curious - what was the back-up plan if you were running low on the battery:maybe a bad traffic jam as you entered Bangalore or heavy rain?

[docsr]

I was showing my engineer brother the insides of the "engine bay" of the Kona. Noticed lot of slush splash marks inside-especially near the firewall and far side of the "engine bay". We had recently driven in the rain on some slushy roads. There is a large gap near the wheel well and the road is easily visible through this.I guess the splash was from this area. Is this usual? This gap is large enough to let in large rodents and even cats into the motor compartment!

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Interesting question. Never ever tow an electric car under any circumstances since the car's motor is mechanically connected to the wheels at all times. A Tesla showroom assist told me this. Towing can result in serious damage to the car.

What damage? It may be a statement to just limit corporate liability?

As far as one can see in a Tesla, based on available information, the drive motor(s) is (are) driving the wheels through a simple gearbox with a fixed ratio and no clutches or brakes. The only thing that I can think of that might get damaged would be the parking brake or lock mechanism. I'm not sure how that's implemented in a Tesla but if it's like in cars with auto transmission, then yes, towing could damage it.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Why would you tow when flat bed trucks are fairly ubiquitous now at almost all tier 1 and 2 cities? On the other hand, once electrics become more the norm, I expect some start up to launch mobile generator trucks to act as emergency mobile charging stations to come to your rescue ala the Exide batmobile service.

If the car runs out battery charge on the highway and the nearest power source is only a couple of km away, would you not try to get there instead of waiting for hours for a flatbed truck which would take the car only to an authorised service station?

[pkirwadi]

Originally Posted by docsr

That's excellent - so the ARAI declared range of approximately 400km is not a myth! Just curious - what was the back-up plan if you were running low on the battery:maybe a bad traffic jam as you entered Bangalore or heavy rain?

Well it didn`t really matter to me much, coz the range when I reached Mysore was about 11.4 km/kWh. I would have called Hyundai emergency number for some charge support

[Sebring]

When you google that - you get Company policy, please check. Even the Nissan Leaf can't be towed.

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

What damage? It may be a statement to just limit corporate liability?

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

What damage? It may be a statement to just limit corporate liability?
If the car runs out battery charge on the highway and the nearest power source is only a couple of km away, would you not try to get there instead of waiting for hours for a flatbed truck which would take the car only to an authorised service station?

Originally Posted by Sebring

When you google that - you get Company policy, please check. Even the Nissan Leaf can't be towed.

Personally even with my ICE car, I'd prefer a flat-bed over a tow. Simply for the structural safety & better handling of car that I get with the flat-bed. Anyone who loves his/her car, would wait those 1-2 hours for the pick-up to arrive rather than get a less than perfect tow.

As for the EVs - I believe when turned from an external source (rolling wheels under tow) - the motor would work as a generator creating charge & current. With other systems malfunctioning (considering the car needs a tow!) this may not be properly managed causing other electrical problems perhaps? To avoid this I think a tow - especially with motored wheels - should be avoided I guess? In case there was an electrical fault that caused the failure, generating more current & pushing it into the power-train & electrical systems may cause further damage I think.

Just my guess, I'm not aware if this theory is true.