This performance was obtained with 3 copies of the electric Kona by turning on the tri-oval of the German circuit Dekra Lausitzring.
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Internal calculations
At the genesis of the event organized by the South Korean manufacturer, theoretical calculations made by in-house technicians from the after-sales training center.
Their results? With summer urban use at peak hours, including stopping at traffic lights and passing through areas limited to 30 km / h, the Kona would be able to swallow after full recharge between 984 and 1,066 kilometers.
Values much higher than the 484 km estimated by the WLTP combined cycle on the version equipped with a 64 kWh battery of energy capacity.
3 crews
Hyundai wanted to verify the accuracy of the calculations in the field, by mobilizing 3 crews: a team of test pilots from the specialized magazine Auto Bild, another bringing together technicians from the after-sales training center, and a final one made up of members Hyundai press office and brand product management.
While the Kona 3s were in their original configuration, with the standard Nexen Nfera SU1 low friction 215/55 R 17 tires, the testers did not use air conditioning despite temperatures rising to just 29 ° C, nor the infotainment system. And this, to use almost entirely the electricity on board to operate the engine.
In contrast, all drivers, with a few rare exceptions, used cruise control.
More than 1,000 km for the 3 Kona
Nice group shot for the crews after 3 days and 36 driver changes, since the distances covered by turning on the 3.2 km circuit after recharging are very close: 1.026, 1.024.1 and 1.018.7 km.
Average consumption thus ranges from 6.24 to 6.28 kWh per 100 km. These values validated by Dekra are to be compared with those calculated for the WLTP combined cycle: between 14.3 and 14.7 kWh / 100 km. On the other hand, the average speed falls within a low range of 29-31 km / h over the 35 hours of operation, comparable to daytime urban use.
« This experience proves the suitability of the electric Kona for everyday use and shows that range anxiety is a thing of the past with our electric vehicles. Hyundai concludes.
From 3 to 0%
When turtle mode is triggered (3% of available energy), it is still possible to travel about twenty kilometers.
« At zero percent, the car continues for a few hundred meters, then coasters without electricity, and stops at the end with a slight jerk because the electric parking brake is activated for safety reasons », Details Hyundai.
As a reminder, the Kona is delivered to Europe from the Nošovice plant (Czech Republic) which builds it.
Author’s opinion
This experiment carried out by Hyundai is reminiscent of the tests of electric cars, until the breakdown while turning on the ring road, carried out by our colleagues from Caradisiac. They had thus revealed the full potential of these vehicles in urban traffic, already amazed at the results obtained by the Kia and Hyundai models.
If the figures are salivating, they should not make us forget that they were obtained under very ideal conditions which will never correspond to the usual uses of motorists. Who would, for example, want to do without air conditioning in traffic jams with a temperature of 29 ° C?
At around 30 km / h at a steady speed, on a beautiful sunny summer day, without wind, without having to stop regularly in front of traffic lights, on a route without major height differences, the total distance traveled after full recharge could not than to be much higher than that officially communicated. The Kona is then no longer penalized by its form of heavy SUV.
Doubling the autonomy in such conditions, one could certainly also do it with an electric Kangoo of 2002 equipped with NiCD battery.
One of the lessons to be learned from this event in Germany is the achievement of very similar values by the 3 crews. This tends to prove a beautiful homogeneity of performance to be expected from this electric SUV.
What would be really interesting from now on would be to carry out this scenario under the same conditions with electric vehicles of different brands.
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