Quote "So seems like the Tesla’s power is really restricted when in the last 10% just that there is no on screen warming ( well apart from the big red battery on the centre consoles screen)” Are talking about a Tesla (if so why?) or a Kona?

 

No I said the Kona power is restricted below 10% the same as the Tesla

Just that there is no on screen notification of the power restriction like there is in the Tesla

Have changed the emphasis in the original post to make it clearer

 

This sounds exactly like my test to zero on the Soul.

If you push the cells to minimum voltage, you get the first level of turtle. If you do it twice, you only get crawl-to-side-of-road mode. Good job you didn't gun it a second time.

See;
What a MY18 Soul does when the battery goes flat.

 

This sounds exactly like my test to zero on the Soul.

If you push the cells to minimum voltage, you get the first level of turtle. If you do it twice, you only get crawl-to-side-of-road mode. Good job you didn't gun it a second time.

See;
What a MY18 Soul does when the battery goes flat.

I gunned it 6 or 7 times to see if it changed, (Was still at 7% then down to 6%) 15 Miles remaining on the GOM

Remember 7 or 6% on a Kona battery is probably 15% on a Soul Battery so much more left in reserve

I suppose if I had pushed it lower still it would have found turtle but I doubt true turtle mode shows up till nearly at 0%

 

I can concur with that, I was down to 6 miles left once and it felt really lethargic.

 

3% for turtle mode, Tesla Bjorn ran it down on his hypermiling video on youtube.

 

At really low states of charge, it's bad for the battery to deliver high current - you have to drop the current draw to protect the battery.
The Ampera just simply doesn't use the bottom ~15% to ensure that it never happens.

 

The e-Golf has a gradual decline in power from much higher up and has a gauge on the dash to show how much power is available, but in true EV Golf style it doen't show any useful numbers.
I think it is from something like 30-40 miles remaining that it starts reducing the power. It then reduces gradually until it is very lethargic at 5 miles remaining. I haven't been lower than 3 miles, I had intended to keep the car for many years.

 

The e-Golf has a gradual decline in power from much higher up and has a gauge on the dash to show how much power is available, but in true EV Golf style it doen't show any useful numbers.
I think it is from something like 30-40 miles remaining that it starts reducing the power. It then reduces gradually until it is very lethargic at 5 miles remaining. I haven't been lower than 3 miles, I had intended to keep the car for many years.

I think the Kona should have a better display, in Sport mode it has the power gauge, but it is has a fixed red line between 90-100% Power at all times, It would make much more sense if the top percentages dissapeared or were blocked out as the power was reduced so you could see where you stand. At the moment it seems they just took the top 10% and thought Oh yeah lets a put a red line on that like we do on a rev counter!!!

 

if you do run out of power, can the car be towed, or you do have to get a recovery truck/trailer to life the front wheels off the ground and transport it to a charger?

 

Manual tells us a flat-bed or front wheels off the ground is required: no ‘normal’ towing

(yes.....I’ve started reading the manual....)

 

The one & only time I was down to only a few miles range was with 10 miles to home. I was driving even more conservatively than turtle mode would have allowed, late at night on country roads.
The moral of the tale is always keep about 50 miles range in the tank like you would with an ICE.

 

After campaign 960 I no longer se remaining miles on GOM below 3% SOC (or 5%; I can remember exactly). Previously you could see DTE even at 1%.
Now all it shows is "---".

 

Without planning to, took my 64kwh Kona down to 1% the other day.

Was trying to actually make it home, so didn't really feel like testing the power! But.. couple of things;

• around 15% it seemed to kill the aircon (I went to turn it off but it was already off)
• around 5% it goes into turtle mode (displayed on the dash)
• also around 5% it stops showing a predicted range - this is super disconcerting as I was about 4 miles from home and displaying 8 range, but then the prediction vanished.

If the intention of that last point was to make me super careful to preserve power, it worked - but was very anxiety inducing!

 

Why is it referred to as "Turtle" mode?
Surely it is the similarly shaped Tortoise which is known to be slow moving.
Most of the turtles I've encountered have been quite swift!!!

 

True.
But it seems rightly or wrongly that many on-line discussions for various makes of car use the term 'turtle mode'...

 

A theoretical question - if your knew that the next recharge station was out of range, but the car was still operational could you get a friendly tow but with the car in drive and first stage (or even second stage) regen which would provide battery charging and keep a tow rope tight? Can`t immediately see why this wouldn`t work.
Just asking!

 

6-22 of the user manual states that "to avoid serious damage to your vehicle, it is not to be flat towed. Failure to shift to N (Neutral) may cause internal damage to the vehicle."

So I wouldn't risk losing your warranty.