Hyundai upgrades Kona EV, but charging infrastructure still frustrates

The full-electric Hyundai Kona was widely acclaimed, when launched in 2018, as one of the first affordable EVs with sufficient range (up to 480 km, or 300 miles) to enable everyday use comparable to a internal combustion engine (ICE) car. 

I recently drove the second-generation Kona, which was launched in 2023. Longer and more spacious than its predecessor, it has a stronger appeal to families. The larger of two battery options, with 65.4 kilowatt-hours, gives it a top WLTP range of 510 kms (319 miles).

That figure falls to 440 km with larger 19-inch wheels, which is how our test car was configured. The real-world range is not far from the advertised figure.

The experience of charging the car, both at home and on the road, unfortunately remains cumbersome enough to deter many drivers from switching to electric. That is both a specific Italian problem and a general one.

Availability of chargers has improved in Italy: 963 high-speed highway chargers were available as of June 30, up 46 percent from June 2023. The overall number of public chargers was just below 57,000, a 26 percent increase. Still, just 41 percent of highway service areas are equipped with chargers.

I performed multiple top-ups at highway chargers, mostly owned by FreeToX. The Kona can be charged at up to 101 kilowatts; top charging speed was between 90 and 70 kW, most likely depending on the starting charge level and battery temperature.

I have three charging apps from some of the main Italian charging operators, as well as several RFID cards from two international players (Chargemap and Freshmile).

Charging card issues

One of the most annoying glitches was the refusal of some operators’ chargers to accept the Freshmile card, despite recognizing it and “starting” the charge, which was cut short several times after two seconds; that happened at fast chargers from the independent operator POWY and from the oil group ENI’s BeCharge points.

Unlike some other cards, Freshmile charges both per kilowatt-hour and per time of usage. That can make very fast charges significantly cheaper in Italy, where high-speed charges can cost close to €1 per kWh. I tried to get answers on why I had problems with both Freshmile and BeCharge, but so far I have not been received a response.

That Freshmile does not work with all high-speed chargers is a pity, given the high price of road charging in Italy. Just a couple of examples: Ionity charges between €0.59 and €0.79 per kWh at its European chargers, with Italy at the highest level; Tesla Superchargers currently cost between €0.42 and €0.53/kWh in Italy, depending on location and peak/off peak charge times; prices in France, among the lowest in Europe, range from €0.15 to €0.42 (in both countries owners of non-Tesla EVs need to pay a monthly subscription fee to benefit from these rates).

Another issue for Italian EV drivers is physical availability of chargers, even when they are not out of service. A photo I took during my test shows a two-spot station in a small mountain town where the spot on the right is so small that even a Renault Twizy, at 2338 mm long, would have had a hard time parking. 

It’s also quite common for charging spots in small towns and villages to be used in summer as location of country fair stalls, or even for food market stalls on a weekly basis. (Don’t charge your car on Friday between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m.)

'Plug and charge'

If a journalist with experience in charging EVs and plug-in hybrids still finds the process cumbersome and prone to bad surprises, it’s easy to understand why a typical driver might not even consider switching to an EV. Even as the EU’s planned 2035 date to effectively end ICE sales approaches, this remains a major stumbling block even for a very efficient car such as the second-generation Kona EV.

So-called plug and charge technology would be the perfect solution: Chargers would detect a car’s license plate, which would only need to be coupled with a credit card to start charging. The technology already exists, and it is available both in some EVs and for some chargers (both sides have to be compatible). It should be made a requirement for new chargers.

A single multivendor RFID, or even better the use of credit cards as is the case at fuel stations, would be useful second-best alternatives. For EU industry and governments, fixing these issues is an even more urgent task than increasing the number of chargers if they want the switch to electric driving to take off at the desired pace.