It depends on what are the worst conditions you want to allow for.

Best bet it to use ABRP for the specific journey and conditions you want to allow for, using a reference consumption of 4.0 mi/kWh.

With a strong head wind, heavy rain and ambient temperature at or below 0°C then the answer is no.

 

If you ignore whether the roads are clear or not then it’s not possible to say what the motorway range is at 67-68mph, because at busier times you inevitably end up doing far less than 67-68 for much of the journey… and then you’re answering a different question entirely and introducing a variable (traffic) which makes a mockery out of any attempt to compare the capabilities of one EV against another.

As an example, "I did 260 miles in my Kona with ACC set at 70 and I got 4mi/kWh….oh but, yeah, it took me 5 hours because of traffic, and roadworks, and I spent quite a lot of time behind slower vehicles because I didn’t really realise the ACC had slowed me down" is just a pretty meaningless anecdote really - it just tells me more about traffic levels, average motorway speeds and the downsides of ACC than it does about the actual capabilities of the car.

I’ve posted the short answer several times already..

So when someone asks if they can expect to travel 200-220 motorway miles at 68mph all year round in rain, with headwind etc, and without stopping - the actual answer to that question is no. But...they are very likely to be able to do it if in fact they are actually going to be averaging a speed significantly below 68mph.

I guess my point is, well over 200 motorway miles are for sure easily possible in deep winter if the average speed on the motorway is, for whichever reason, significantly below 70 (gps speed). Just don’t be surprised if, for example, you then find yourself driving on a quiet motorway late on a winter’s Monday evening, wanting to get home ASAP, doing 72 on the dash and find that your well over 200 miles is actually then more like 170-180.

Yes, it will do over 200 miles in any weather…. if the 200 miles are not all at 68mph.

 

Not motorway driving, but this was the GOM last July.

 

After over 80k Kona miles mostly motorway mine is

250deep winter
270 spring autum
280-300 summer

I drive at 65

add 5mph remove 20 miles range

my regular commute is up and down the M1 from nr Mansfield to Central London and back. 265 miles in Total. Sticking to 65 I can do it no issue all year

I used todo it in a 60ah i3 Rex and that was a snot icicle trip with no heating and multiple stops. The Kona is luxury in comparison. Heat on at 20c. (Don’t realise how much a heat pump saves till you have one).

 

I drive at 65

Is that Indicated or True (after speedo error correction)?

 

Thanks Stageshoot. To be honest you were the main guy I was waiting for a response from! As I know you do a huge annual mileage and have driven/owned various EVs and so have the experience.
Reassuring to know that the Kona will comfortably do over 200 miles on the motorway driven casually. To be honest, what with traffic, speed cameras, roadworks and speed restrictions, even if you want to drive at 80+ your real world average is probably 50mph or less nowadays on a motorway journey.
And the M4/M25/M11 route has all of those speed calming measures in abundance and has done for years.

 

yeah it’s difficult to get a high average in the UK we have the endless 60mph section on the M1 near Northampton to contend with and the central London section brings average speeds way down

but honestly trying to get less than 220 out of Kona even in deepest winter takes a huge amount of effort. And anyone who has dealt with an i3 knows how to get the best out of an EV

the more important choice is down to if you need the extra size of the Niro or the Quirky looks of the Soul or the Toys in the Kona. They are all the same underneath but all fit different user profiles

 

I agree the congestion thing renders average speeds a lot lower than you’d think.

That’s why I’m sceptical when people say they’re getting x miles per kWh at ‘motorway speeds’ because even at the height of lockdown when I was going to work on near deserted roads, I was only getting a max of 64 mph as an average over a 175 mile A1 and M-Way trip.

When I did the same trip last week with a lot more traffic post the easing of restrictions, I was back down to 54 mph average, even though I was trying to do 70mph where I could.

I used to plan on 50mph average when I was calculating my work schedules pre Covid, which is EV friendly, and it’s not far off.

I have to laugh when people show their long trips at supposedly motorway speeds that show an average of 42 mph, clearly a lot of 60 mph running to get that.

If anybody knows what a Kona is capable off though, it’s @stageshoot!

 

yep. Even our 135 mile run into London. Take into account the 6 miles on local roads to the M1 then 30 odd miles of 60 specs and then 15 miles of crawl into central London can result in an average in the 40s despite only21 out of 135 being on the slower roads

UK average speeds are appallingly slow normally

We do have a regular 270 run from home to Glasgow which is easy to do with no stop in the Kona at 65 on the motorway sections but again I would say the true average for the whole trip is in the low 50s

the thing with the Kona is if you are fairly relaxed driver saying 4 miles perkWh is about the worst you will see on a decent trip. 64x4 giving 250 with a bit of reserve.

 

I like to work on the basis of driving at 100% of the normal speed limits when planning what range to expect...and then any reduction in speed due to traffic/roadworks etc is a 'bonus', at least in terms of the increase in overall efficiency. This means you can plan to arrive at chargers and destinations with low SoCs (if necessary), and should hardly ever arrive with less SoC than expected - but that if you do get a clear run you then don’t find yourself having used energy more quickly than planned for, or having to voluntarily slow down significantly.

Driving back from the midlands to London down the A1/A14/M11 last night was very quiet (just a couple of short roadwork zones to slow us down)...69mph (gps speed) on the cruise resulted in an average of about 3.6mi/kWh before hitting the lower speed limits of London.... would give a 90% range of 207 miles ... (and that’s in the dry, no wind, about 9°C).

 

I drive between Porthcawl and Southampton (it's almost all motorway) on an almost daily basis. I've done 7k+ in mine since January the 13th.

I usually cruise 65-68 mph. I haven't been charging to 100%. Worst theoretical 100% range I've seen is 230 I think. 70mph and below freezing and you're looking at maybe 3.5 m/kWh or worse.

Today at 62-65mph and 17c it was 4.7 or maybe even 4.8 by the time I arrived. The maths don't quite stack up but I left with 80% and arrived with 31% after driving 160 miles, I drove 30 miles cross country for a change so that helped the average.

The main thing to say is that the GOM is good. Only once have I had any concern with disappearing miles.

 

In my experience you'll be fine. I tracked a years worth of commuting ~25k miles which you can read about here the average was a comfy 240 at 70mph.
The worst I've seen was 190ish driving into a 0c strong head wind at (ahem) 70

 

I wonder what the average speed of that journey was typically though...? According to Google maps, right now, the average speed would be just 60mph, despite no obvious traffic holdups.

In general, there are two ways of looking at range on motorways / 70mph limit dual carriageways:

1) How far could a given car go when using somewhere between 90% and 70% of the battery’s capacity (I suspect hardly anyone is ever going to regularly use more than 90%), when driven at a constant x mph, in different weather conditions.

2) How far will it go in those same conditions when actually driving on a specific route including specific stretches of motorway / DC, on different days of the week, at different times of day, with different traffic levels, more or fewer elephant races, middle lane numpties, 50/60 average speed zones etc etc etc

I guess my point is, well over 200 motorway miles are for sure easily possible in deep winter if the average speed on the motorway is, for whichever reason, significantly below 70 (gps speed). Just don’t be surprised if, for example, you then find yourself driving on a quiet motorway late on a winter’s Monday evening, wanting to get home ASAP, doing 72 on the dash and find that your well over 200 miles is actually then more like 170-180.

 

Sometimes when I read posts about the range I think we drive some different car
I do long distance trips (eg. 900miles - sometime in one go, now typicaly with overnight stay). Often I plan first charging stop after 190-201 miles (depending which ferry I end up on). It is impossible to reach it unless I slow down to about 60-65mph (average) in winter (about 5C)! So I end up with short top-up half-way, just before Dover.
My consumption pretty much matches Bjorn Nyland (winter / summer; 90/120kmph) - worth watching on YT.

Anyway, here it is:

• 2.7/kwh @120kmph/74mph (winter -1C) range=173miles
• 3.7/kwh @90kmph/56mph (winter 4C) range=236miles
• 3.0/kwh @120kmph/74mph (summer 17C) range=192miles
• 4.6/kwh @90kmph/56mph (summer 16C) range=294miles

Last two (summer results) I tested again last year on 10 mile run on ring road (back and forth to eliminate any difference caused by wind / elevation). Here are the pics:

1. 120km/h (74mph) GPS speed (SCC set to 77mph)

2. 90km/h (56mph) GPS speed (SCC set to 58)

Bjorn managed to get 4.9m/kwh in summer but his average was about 84km/h (if I remember correctly).

 

Sometimes when I read posts about the range I think we drive some different car

I think it’s mainly just that discrepancy between people who drive on roads and at times when they are able to choose the motorway speed they travel at, and people who drive on roads and at times where their speed is dictated by traffic etc.

All of my driving is for pleasure, and I try to avoid where possible busy times or sections with very long, mind numbing speed restrictions (I’d rather just go off the motorway)...so that means my motorway average speed is normally high - probably not too far below 70 (gps).

 

Roofbox takes 0.2 off both 120 and 90kmph tests.

 

Anyway work done now I like one job days.

rest of day on beach while the tribe hunt for sea glass to make jewellery and I fester in the sunlight

still 55% left for the 140 miles home so nice easy day with no stops

Will sit in the car in Utility Mose while they dig

happy to expend 1/4 Kw an hour for music and a comfy seat

 

64 - 5% ≈ 61

210 / 61 ≈ 3.4

There’s no way my Kona will return 3.4 mi/kWh at a constant 68mph on a crappy winter’s day (heavy rain, head winds, very cold). I guess it probably would if I slowed down behind lorries occasionally though.

 

Maybe there’s something wrong with my Kona....

I’ve just driven 75 miles in fine weather (10°C, sunny, no wind).

The cabin was already up to temp when I reset the consumption readout, with the heating drawing minimal power.

Cruise set at 71mph (=68mph according to my phone), with that speed maintained exactly except for a couple of lift offs to glide up behind something before having a gap to overtake, and a couple of bumps up to 73mph to gently get past stuff a little quicker.

Average consumption.....3.6mi/kWh

So that gives a 90% range of 207 miles.

There’s zero chance of my car giving over 200 miles in bad weather, if 68mph is maintained.

 

The worst I've seen is 2.9 miles per, but like I said that was 70mph into a 20mph wind at 0c

 

Exactly - which, when you take off a realistic 10% buffer which most people would want at the best of times (let alone in weather like that), that gives you 167 miles.

 

Average speeds can be quite misleading really. I did a trip the other week, identical route both ways, 114 miles each way. I took it easy on the way down, trying to keep around 60/65. Bit of rain too outbound. Used 58% of the battery (this was an Ioniq 38 btw) so well over 5mil per kWh.
Coming back as it was late I pushed on and was doing 75/80mph indicated where I could. No wind and very dry.
Return trip used 82% of the battery.
But average speed outbound was 50mph, return was only 57mph. Those bouts of 70mph+ really do eat into the battery it would seem.
There was only about 20 minutes difference between the 2 journeys, so a charge stop would have easily wiped out any benefit of travelling faster, had the journey been slightly longer.

 

Over 42K miles in the past 24 months, I've never had experienced less than 200 miles range - except driving into a headwind with a ladder on the roof! Winter average is 245, now it's rising to 270 or so. Lifetime Miles/KwH is 4.1 with 4.4 on most recent trips with ACC set to 68mph on motorways. Worst I've EVER managed was 60 mile MWay trip at 80 where I recorded 3.4. Speed is the real killer of range IMO

 

cnet.com report Hyundai Korea have announced yesterday that they will stop selling the Kona model there (including face lift models?). Not sure if there has been total loss of confidence and resultant poorer sales of that model (40% drop in sales) due to fires which has caused this? Huge recall/battery swap effort ongoing there and in the USA..
Not sure if they have announced anything in UK/Europe regards recalls?
Hyundai Korea are saying they will now just concentrate on their new Ioniq brand of EVs.

 

And a slightly different slant on this story from another news source - The Verge - Hyundai stops making the Kona EV for South Korea after battery recall

includes this text:
"There are certainly no plans to discontinue the Kona EV in the U.S. market. It is an extremely important product for Hyundai in the U.S. In fact, we recently heavily invested in a mid-cycle enhancement to Kona EV that makes our small CUV even more appealing,” a spokesperson for Hyundai North America said in a statement to The Verge. “We’re also expanding availability into even more states as EV vehicle adoption becomes more widespread. Hyundai has proactively addressed two potential Kona EV safety issues with voluntary recalls.”

 

That sounds about what I'd expect from my car in the same conditions..

 

@Bill N , nothing wrong with your car. This is exactly what to expect.
Drive @74mph (77 on speedo) and you will get 3.0-3.1m/kwh, no more.

 

Ok. Thanks for the input all. Tesla Model 3 LR looking best bet but just a bit long of a car and saloon rear end. Model Y a touch longer, higher and more expensive and probably a few months away if that.

 

Drove from Winslow (Bucks) to Stafford and back for work yesterday. 106 miles there and 109 miles back, mainly along Motorway and A road. ACC set at 68mph (true 65) on the Motorway, Aircon off, tyres at 41psi. Temperature was about 7C - 10C on the way there and 14-12C coming back.

Finished with 49 miles on the GOM

So - 4.3miles / kwH overall for the 215 mile trip.
Yes - this is a true 200+ mile motorway machine.....

 

Worth noting that the difference between 3.6mi/kWh when travelling with cc at true 68mph, and 4.3mi/kWh when travelling with cc set at true 65mph, is too large to be purely due to that 3mph difference, and is much more likely to be due to the fact that the average speed for that journey was <55mph, whereas the average speed during the 75 miles section I drove at 68mph was….68mph.

Yes, it will do over 200 miles in any weather…. if the 200 miles are not all at 68mph.

 

The distance and time - 2hrs to cover 109 miles
I agree this may be real-life driving condition on that route, or real-life conditions on some motorways for many of us. But it is not objective test to say that car drives 4.3mi/kwh @65mph.

 

Exactly - OP wanted to know if, having "set ACC to 67-68mph", whether it would be possible to do an "easy 200-220 motorway miles….without stopping in summer and winter/rain etc".

Like I said straight away, the answer to that depends on how bad the winter conditions are… but in some situations it will be not be possible (unless the speed is reduced - through choice or otherwise).

 

I have the Kia Soul (same set up but different battery) - I have NEVER seen less than 220m from mine. I cruise on motorway at 70 (speedo so probably 68mph true) and in summer get 240-260 on motorway and 280-300 around town. In winter perhaps 220 motorway and 240 round town.

I cannot see youd have any issue doing 200m all year round in one hit in a 64kw Kona.

 

Anecdotal reports aside, it’s a matter of fact that no one will be able to easily cover 200 motorway miles at a fairly constant 67-68mph if the conditions mean that the average consumption is < ~3.3 - 3.5mi/kWh…(bearing in mind that the car does ~3.6mi/kWh at 68mph in fine spring weather)

The Kona is an efficient EV, but it can’t work miracles.

I think it’s very likely that what actually has happened when a car appears to do better than this is the speed was lower for significant parts of journeys and/or the conditions weren’t really so bad (and so not really relevant when considering how a car performs in a reasonable worst case scenario).