Hyundai Kona
With the Venue commandeered by Rahul for our monthly ‘Pride of India’ drive feature, I found myself going green behind the wheel of the Kona electric. With the lockdown in effect, in many ways the Kona has been a God-sent. For one, it meant that I didn’t have to cross the border to make fuel runs since I could just refuel in my basement without ever needing to break social distancing norms. It may seem like a small concession but with paranoia and cases on the rise even a small deviation can alleviate more stress than you know! That said the 300km of range that I was able to salvage from a single charge was enough to get me through more than three weeks of essential travels within the confines of Noida. To put that in perspective, the charge would have cost me about Rs 400 (at roughly Rs 9/unit consuming 43 units in a charge). In the interest of extending the battery life I’ll charge it at 20 per cent, keeping the load low. One of the questions that I keep getting asked is in terms of standing loss. Most people assume that since their ICE vehicles lose charge over time, it could be similar for EVs. Quite contrary to that, electric vehicles use much better electric components designed to maximise efficiency and I’m happy to announce that throughout the month that it has been in my possession the Kona lost 0km. In fact on occasion with regeneration set to max and measured throttle inputs I’ve even managed to gain a few kilometers when I took it out. Even if it was just a km or two, I swear I could feel the Polar Bears thanking me and I won’t lie, it felt good. To contribute to the solution more so than the problem!
I COULD JUST REFUEL IN MY BASEMENT WITHOUT EVER NEEDING TO BREAK SOCIAL DISTANCING NORMS