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It’s been over a 12 months because the final EV journey to the outskirts of Europe by the journalist staff of WysokieNapięcie.pl (unchangingly, the #1 analytical web site for power and expertise information in Poland). That was after they have been travelling to the southernmost level of continental Europe — Punta Marroqui — in a Volkswagen ID.4. Common readers will bear in mind it was the third journey of their quest to succeed in all 4 corners of Europe, after reaching Nordkapp driving a Nissan LEAF in 2018 after which hitting Cabo da Raca in a Porsche Taycan in 2020. Solely a 12 months later and it looks like we’re dwelling in a unique world. Our winter expedition throughout the Nordics in a BMW iX was brutally interrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. No person provides in, although, neither Ukrainians nor Poles, and our staff is proving, but once more, that we don’t want bloody oil from Putin and might attain … Bosphorus on kilowatts.
Nissan, Porsche, Volkswagen, and now the time has come for an additional main EV participant — Hyundai — and its electrical crossover, the Kona EV. About 4 years in the past, I used to be speaking to one among Hyundai’s executives in Poland, off the report at a convention afterparty, and he claimed with quite a lot of confidence that Hyundai could be the primary automotive producer to totally electrify its whole fleet. The guess remains to be on, and Kona is now simply one among Hyundai’s EVs accessible to drive, take a look at, and purchase. For us, it’s all the time the identical — how rapidly, how comfortably, how effectively, how economically, and one other how outdoors the automotive — how the charging infrastructure is doing alongside the way in which in Southeast Europe.
Day One: Warsaw — Dracula
We like setting off early, so we left Warsaw at 5:30am prepared for the ultimate journey of our final EV quest to the ends of Europe. In contrast to the opposite journeys, we had no detailed itinerary, no path to observe, so we performed an American in Europe and took Google’s recommendation. Good choice, as after the primary 200 km on specific roads, we then drove by winding mountain roads we didn’t know existed in our stunning homeland. Nice scenic route, no query about that, however we’ll take a extra developed one subsequent time.
The profit was we might evaluate the consumption and time effectivity in each of the environments. Driving at most allowed speeds on specific roads and motorways, that’s 120–130 km/h (75–80 miles/h) with consumption averaging 20–21 kWh per 100 km (62 miles). On different roads, together with the picturesque mountain serpentines, we did 12–14 kWh per 100 km. Realizing that the Kona gives a battery with 64 kWh of capability, its max vary diverse between 300 km (186 miles) on motorways and greater than 500 km (310 miles) on different roads. You’ll be able to’t complain, are you able to?
In the midst of nowhere in Kona Electrical. (Picture courtesy of WysokieNapiecie.pl)
The staff’s tough plan was to make it to Dracula’s house, Transylvania, which is about 800 km (500 miles) away from Warsaw. With the battery the Kona EV has, they may really do it with only one charging session within the center. Potential, however why? There isn’t any hurry and who desires to drive nonstop for 7–8 hours?
In the long run, they’d three charging stops. The primary one, nonetheless in Poland, was at one among GreenWay’s 40kW chargers. It was ideally positioned for breakfast, some closing buying they may nonetheless do with Polish zlotys, and a bio pitstop. “We didn’t have to cost on this spot, however we nonetheless spent just a little over half an hour there, so it was merely an affordable factor to do. 21 kWh later, we have been on the transfer once more and having fun with mountain serpentines in Slovakia this time (watch out with Google Maps). Our subsequent cease was in Prešov, a city with a inhabitants of about 80,000, kind of the extent of Polish district cities, with a wide selection of super-fast chargers from GreenWay once more. Prešov provided extra super-fast charging factors than most bigger Polish province capitals, I’m sorry to report. The one our staff selected was a hub of 4 super-fast factors of 150kW and 6 slower factors of 22kW. Selecting hubs in your lengthy journey makes extra sense, as you cut back the danger of queuing. It feels we’re slowly transferring from vary nervousness to queue nervousness within the EV household.”
Rush hour in Romanian countryside (Picture courtesy of WysokieNapiecie.pl)
Time to let you know how a lot it price the staff to drive all these kilometers and the way a lot it might price you, as the reply isn’t as simple as it’s within the case of bloody oil. They used GreenWay chargers and so they might use GreenWay pay plans or just cost with out a plan. The price per kWh would vary from PLN1.37/kWh ($0.27/kWh) utilizing the plan to PLN2.09/kWh ($0.42) with out a plan.
In our staff’s case, they have been utilizing the cardboard that guidelines all of them — Shell Recharge. It provides you entry to hundreds of chargers throughout Europe with a hard and fast DC charging price of PLN2/kWh ($0.40/kWh) whatever the operator. Translating that into price per 100 km, typically utilized by bloody oil drivers, our guys would pay between PLN42 ($8.40) on motorways and PLN24–28 ($4.80 to $5.60) on different roads. This general price, nonetheless, is commonly decrease on long-distance journeys, as you typically cost at no cost in resorts or on free chargers (and, surprisingly, these freebies are rising in numbers). Once more, you may’t complain, are you able to?
“Reaching Hungary, we couldn’t resist lángos with cheese and cream (a strong portion of fats and energy), that means we had one other alternative to cost up just a little. Forward of our Kona was the ultimate stretch of 250 km (155 miles) to succeed in our lodge in Cluj-Napoca in Romania. For sure, we booked a lodge that provided free charging, and discovering one in Romania proved tremendous simple, really — it could have been even simpler than in Poland. As requested, the charger was booked for us. The reserving system may be very sensible and superior — one of many lodge staff drives a Renault Zoe and easily plugs it in to attend for EV visitors. In our case, that meant free charging of 46 kWh to be 100% full within the morning. You’ll be able to’t complain, are you able to?”
Day one figures (Picture courtesy of WysokieNapiecie.pl)
So, they made it to the house of Dracula. Keep tuned for the remainder of their journey southeast within the Hyundai Kona Electrical.
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