212km daily commute possible in a Kona/Niro?

DesperateDan

Can someone do this maths for me, not sure how to calculate it. I live 106km from the office in Dublin according to Google (mostly motorway and National roads on M50). Google reckons this is an 80 minute drive.

Currently stuck getting the train from Edgeworthstown roughly 4 days a week so it is a long commute. With the 10 minute darts introduced this week they seem to have really bolloxed up the timetable, adding up to 30 mins each way onto my journey so far. If they increase my annual ticket again this year it is definitely enough to push me over the edge

With a Kona or Niro, is it possible to do this commute and avoid the charging network all together? There would be no charging at work so I would have to charge exclusively at home at night. 212km of driving at motorway speeds most of the way would deplete the battery by roughly how much? And what percentage would it be restored by if it's charging at home?

It's just a pipe dream right now!

bonoman66

Good timing on your question.

Bjorn's most recent video about the Niro EV does a range test at motorway speed..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXHpPgycx1Q

Probably able to get circa 320 KMs from a single charge at 120 KMPH etc..

Imagine Kona would do better (as its smaller / lighter)..

Here's some info on charging times...

Maybe if you can charge at home overnight for somewhere between 8 - 10 hours approx you'd be ok..

Niro looks to be excellent if you can stretch that bit more (presuming it'll cost slightly more than Kona)..

Kona nice too but I personally think its too small & should have been larger (slightly). Just depends what you need though...

https://ev-database.uk/car/1125/Kia-Niro-EV-Long-Range

DesperateDan wrote: »

Can someone do this maths for me, not sure how to calculate it. I live 106km from the office in Dublin according to Google (mostly motorway and National roads on M50). Google reckons this is an 80 minute drive.

Currently stuck getting the train from Edgeworthstown roughly 4 days a week so it is a long commute. With the 10 minute darts introduced this week they seem to have really bolloxed up the timetable, adding up to 30 mins each way onto my journey so far. If they increase my annual ticket again this year it is definitely enough to push me over the edge

With a Kona or Niro, is it possible to do this commute and avoid the charging network all together? There would be no charging at work so I would have to charge exclusively at home at night. 212km of driving at motorway speeds most of the way would deplete the battery by roughly how much? And what percentage would it be restored by if it's charging at home?

It's just a pipe dream right now!

KCross

DesperateDan wrote: »

Can someone do this maths for me, not sure how to calculate it. I live 106km from the office in Dublin according to Google (mostly motorway and National roads on M50). Google reckons this is an 80 minute drive.

Currently stuck getting the train from Edgeworthstown roughly 4 days a week so it is a long commute. With the 10 minute darts introduced this week they seem to have really bolloxed up the timetable, adding up to 30 mins each way onto my journey so far. If they increase my annual ticket again this year it is definitely enough to push me over the edge

With a Kona or Niro, is it possible to do this commute and avoid the charging network all together? There would be no charging at work so I would have to charge exclusively at home at night. 212km of driving at motorway speeds most of the way would deplete the battery by roughly how much? And what percentage would it be restored by if it's charging at home?

It's just a pipe dream right now!

That commute would be no problem in a Niro or Kona. They will probably do that commute twice for you without charging as you wont be at 120km/h for the entire commute so they should be able to do 400km+ without charging. You would however charge every night to be sure.

Assuming you average about 14kWh/100km and allowing 10% for charging losses you would be looking at 15.4kWh/100km so that would be ~33kWh of electricity that you would need to get into the car each night at home. Kona and Niro have 64kWh usable so you have plenty spare capacity and it will charge to 100% each night.

That will cost you, assuming night rate electricity of 8c/kWh, €2.61 per day so about €650/yr just for your commute 5 days a week 48wks a year.

You would charge at 7kW so it will take just under 5hrs to charge it, so well within the 9hrs of the night rate electricity.

Hope that helps.

ted1

DesperateDan wrote: »

Can someone do this maths for me, not sure how to calculate it. I live 106km from the office in Dublin according to Google (mostly motorway and National roads on M50). Google reckons this is an 80 minute drive.

Currently stuck getting the train from Edgeworthstown roughly 4 days a week so it is a long commute. With the 10 minute darts introduced this week they seem to have really bolloxed up the timetable, adding up to 30 mins each way onto my journey so far. If they increase my annual ticket again this year it is definitely enough to push me over the edge

With a Kona or Niro, is it possible to do this commute and avoid the charging network all together? There would be no charging at work so I would have to charge exclusively at home at night. 212km of driving at motorway speeds most of the way would deplete the battery by roughly how much? And what percentage would it be restored by if it's charging at home?

It's just a pipe dream right now!

Bit of a kne jerk reaction. I’m sure there’s just settling in issues with the DART. Give it a month

DesperateDan

ted1 wrote: »

Bit of a kne jerk reaction. I’m sure there’s just settling in issues with the DART. Give it a month

Don't worry Ted an EV has been on the cards for about 2 years now I've been biding my time and waiting for the tech and the money Its just the extra 40 mins that's been added to my trip the last couple of days has given me extra time to think about it

I was actually not really considering commuting until recently. Sure its great chilling out on the train, getting some work done. But when it's now taking me 5.5 hours a day vs 3 hours door to door, and costing a lot more that benefit is quickly mooted.

DesperateDan

KCross wrote: »

That commute would be no problem in a Niro or Kona. They will probably do that commute twice for you without charging as you wont be at 120km/h for the entire commute so they should be able to do 400km+ without charging. You would however charge every night to be sure.

Assuming you average about 14kWh/100km and allowing 10% for charging losses you would be looking at 15.4kWh/100km so that would be ~33kWh of electricity that you would need to get into the car each night at home. Kona and Niro have 64kWh usable so you have plenty spare capacity and it will charge to 100% each night.

That will cost you, assuming night rate electricity of 8c/kWh, €2.61 per day so about €650/yr just for your commute 5 days a week 48wks a year.

You would charge at 7kW so it will take just under 5hrs to charge it, so well within the 9hrs of the night rate electricity.

Hope that helps.

Wow KCross this is basically a perfect answer to all my questions thankyou. Roll on 64kwh EVs

Markcheese

Would you charge to 100% every night...?
Or just go to 80% or so, to preserve battery life (or is that not really a thing anymore?)

KCross

Markcheese wrote: »

Would you charge to 100% every night...?
Or just go to 80% or so, to preserve battery life (or is that not really a thing anymore?)

100% on the dash isn't really 100%. The manufacturer "hides" some of the capacity to ensure you dont actually over charge it.

So, its not really a thing anymore.

unkel

DesperateDan wrote: »

Roll on 64kwh EVs

They're here

If you are serious, you have to get yourself on a pre-waiting list now and make sure your dealer knows you are ready to do the deal and pay the deposit the day they are released for ordering. In other EU countries where they went for sale in the last few months like Norway and the Netherlands, they were sold out almost immediately and if you lost out, you'd have to wait for at least a year for the next batch.

bonoman66

Markcheese wrote: »

Would you charge to 100% every night...?
Or just go to 80% or so, to preserve battery life (or is that not really a thing anymore?)

I'm new to all this (EV's and the care & prolonging their batteries) so I'm trying to read up & learn quickly as I go etc..

I may well be open to correction here, so apologies if I have this wrong, but I think I'd probably not go to 100% all the time with a charge.

I think the manufacturers appear to have some protection/redundancy mechanism for he batteries by not facilitating a customer having access to the full capacity of the batteries (eg Kona/Niro have 64.0 kWh Batteries but it may be actually a 67.0 kWh Battery). So when you do charge to 100% - you may not actually be charging to the real 100% capacity of the battery & I presume that is to help protect it or also allow for some instant regen capability if driving immediately on a full charge & regen occurs etc..

I've only read a little myself & I'm far form an expert so I think I'd just 'play safe' & aim for the 80%'ish mark myself typically - but again I wouldn't worry if I needed to go to 100% to get some specific range capacity or comfort factor for a longer trip.

Until I know more, I probably wouldn't charge to 100% by default every time.

Just my '2 cents' - hopefully others here will know more & add to this &/or correct where I'm wrong etc..

Hope that helps...

unkel

Really you don't need to worry about the battery at all. There's 8 years warranty on it and the BMS will protect it. The only thing that I would consider is not to leave the car at 100% SOC for weeks on end without driving it

bonoman66

unkel wrote: »

Really you don't need to worry about the battery at all. There's 8 years warranty on it and the BMS will protect it. The only thing that I would consider is not to leave the car at 100% SOC for weeks on end without driving it

Thanks for that info - appreciate it.

Great to know.

Being a new watcher / interested party to the world of EV's - I was being over cautious

This is a really good forum - thanks for all the contributors. I'm learning a lot every day.

DesperateDan

unkel wrote: »

They're here

If you are serious, you have to get yourself on a pre-waiting list now and make sure your dealer knows you are ready to do the deal and pay the deposit the day they are released for ordering. In other EU countries where they went for sale in the last few months like Norway and the Netherlands, they were sold out almost immediately and if you lost out, you'd have to wait for at least a year for the next batch.

Has anyone we know of heard anything official from Kia yet? Still under the impression the dealers themselves don't even know it exists, although I haven't talked to any yet myself.

bonoman66

DesperateDan wrote: »

Has anyone we know of heard anything official from Kia yet? Still under the impression the dealers themselves don't even know it exists, although I haven't talked to any yet myself.

Talked with 2 dealers about 3 weeks ago- neither were aware of the EV & both straight away told me I was talking about the PHEV when I specifically tried to explain there was a battery only version on the way.

Both then said they'd know more after some Kia Dealer Forum/Meeting in October I think (can't remember exactly - could have been around 15th October or later they said).

One dealer even said what was he going to do if EV's took off - he didn't seem to have any vision for the future & hadn't any notion about the EV only variant initially.

Thought it was extremely poor myself.

KCross

DesperateDan wrote: »

Has anyone we know of heard anything official from Kia yet? Still under the impression the dealers themselves don't even know it exists, although I haven't talked to any yet myself.

Several dealers said pricing would be known in Oct, demo cars in Nov and customer deliveries in 191.

Based on the Kona being €38k be prepared for the Niro to be that or a bit with it.

denismc

Has anyone tried placing a deposit for a car that hasn't been released yet?

Markcheese

denismc wrote: »

Has anyone tried placing a deposit for a car that hasn't been released yet?

I suppose first you'd have to find a dealer who had a bit of interest in electric cars, and understood what you were on about.. A lad who says yeah yeah yeah... Hybrid electric all the same is hardly gonna hound hyubdai Ireland to get one of the first...

bonoman66

Markcheese wrote: »

I suppose first you'd have to find a dealer who had a bit of interest in electric cars, and understood what you were on about.. A lad who says yeah yeah yeah... Hybrid electric all the same is hardly gonna hound hyubdai Ireland to get one of the first...

That's exactly right.

I get a sense certainly the 2 dealers I spoke with are way behind the curve & have their eye off the ball so to speak with whats coming down the road (sooner or later). They'll end up playing catch up if they survive.... Its like they are in denial & have their heads stuck in the sand (or plainly are lazy & just don't care because they feel its too far away to even think about electric seriously...)

KCross

It can also depend on which salesman you get. Usually dealers have one salesman interested/trained on the EV products. If you get the ICE man he has no incentive to send you to the EV man.

bonoman66

KCross wrote: »

It can also depend on which salesman you get. Usually dealers have one salesman interested/trained on the EV products. If you get the ICE man he has no incentive to send you to the EV man.

Fair point