Arun posted this on 13th october on twitter. He being busy, am updating it here on forum.
Another long weekend trip today with my #Konaelectric. Plan to go to my farm house near Mangalore (~300 kms) in a few weeks. Before doing so rechecked the highway efficiency again(earlier road-trip resulted in a comfortable range of only 285 km when driving quite sportily).
Started the day in the morning at 100% SOC and 350 kms of range in ECO mode, with AC at 24°C and ventilated seats on.
Today's purpose was dual, to check range by cruising at 90 kmph speed with no sudden acceleration spurts as much as possible and find a 15A socket at a willing restaurant to top up. Reached outskirts of B'lore with following stats: Distance- 31.2km, Consumption: 9.4 km/kWh.
After 89.3 kms and consumption at a phenomenal10.5 km/kWh , I had enquired at 3-4 restaurants, some not willing to let an EV charge, some willing but not having a 15 A socket(only 5 A socket) I was losing hope.
I decided to turn back and return to Bangalore. But on the return trip , I stopped and enquired at a restaurant, Swathi Delicacy. Its quite a large space with a kids play area, and lots of open spaces and beautiful garden. Saw many 15 A sockets, but only 2-3 with the cable reach.
On asking the front desk, they asked the owner who was present there, who happily obliged. He accompanied me to my car and wanted to know more about the #Konaelectric. When showing him almost 7-8 other interested visitors to the restaurant also joined in to look at the car.
Then we plugged in the car and started charging with the trickle charger from a 15 A socket. Range before plugging in was 248(with AC) , after having travelled 117 km from start. Was stoked as earthing etc was all a-ok , and green pulsating light started to blink.
After the quick bite the restaurant owner requested for a drive , it was the least I could have done for his willingness to allow me to charge anytime I travel on that highway( he instructed his manager to allow me to charge and shared his no with me if I have any problem).
A quick drive with all the different modes, regen , and other features another EV convert is what I could gather.He has racked up 80,000 kms in his Innova in 2 years of travel to and from Bangalore, so he was amazed to learn the super low cost of operations on the #Konaelectric.
Added 7-8 km of range (~ 2% charge) charging at 2.6 kW with the portable charger in 15-20 mins . Reached back home having covered 210 km with 163 km of range left on the GOM. Average consumption was 9.3 km/kWh. Now looking forward to my 700+ km trip in a few weeks time.
And then Arun had enough of overdosing me with stats. Now we wait for his 700+ km trip.