7 ms·

Kona EV Hacking

134 points by AnnikaL 6mo ago

zorg-is-real 6mo ago
There is a way to make the Android Auto work wirelessly
- entropicdrifter 6mo ago
  Yeah, I have a $60 dongle that does it in my Kona EV
sgt 6mo ago
Recently bought a second hand BMW i3 - what a cool car! Not planning to 'hack' it but nice to read about ideas.
- nubinetwork 6mo ago
  I've seen videos of that car... don't they only have like 40 miles of range, and the range extender only holds like 5 gallons of fuel?
  - mschild 6mo ago
    For the original version released in 2013, range was a bit of a concern. Later models, 120ah full electric version, the range is about 250km. In comparison to newer cars, not a lot, but considering you can buy newish used ones for under 15k, its not a bad deal if it fits your needs.
    - sgt 6mo ago
      Funny how I'm downvoted for even mentioning an i3. I've also heard several comments insinuating that I must be gay for driving such a car. Are we still there in 2026?
      - skrebbel 6mo ago
        don't read too much into a downvote here or there. as i read this the downvotes are already gone again. some people are just idiots. also some people just misclick.
        ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
        I get downvoted to hell and gone for saying such controversial things as "AI doesn't really solve any problem I have", so I just assume people who downvote to disagree instead of commenting to explain why they disagree are too lazy or too stupid or too stoned to get enough of a spark across a synapse and not really worth caring about. If I was in it for the karma I'd be in the billions by now.
      - idiotsecant 6mo ago
        Complaining about downvotes is boring, don't do it
      - HNisCIS 6mo ago
        [flagged]
  - formerly_proven 6mo ago
    [flagged]
  - sgt 6mo ago
    You don't want the range extender - it makes it fiddly and potentially unreliable. As for the range, I'm getting about 110 miles of range. It depends how you drive. This is the 94Ah battery, the later models had more range.
    - chipsa 6mo ago
      Range extender was definitely a requirement when I got mine in ‘19. But that’s because I did not have reliable charging available in the area. It also came in handy for a bad road trip (charging stations more than my range apart, so I couldn’t otherwise get there from here, but hold state of charge kept it up at 75% with frequent gas stops)
      - sgt 6mo ago
        Glad it worked out for you. I am in South Africa so there still aren't many charging stations but we're getting there. Most people charge from their houses though and that's what I do as well. With solar it's practically free to drive around town, school runs etc.
    - mmmlinux 6mo ago
      the thing that makes them unreliable is lack of use. when you leave some gas in there for 6 months because you never travel farther than the grocery store, when you actually use the engine it goes and sucks up a bunch of trash expired gas.
    - postalrat 6mo ago
      I was shopping for a range extender version and bought a battery only i3 when I saw one for the right price. Then I got a i3 rex for parts and it made me really appreciate the bev. So much more room in the engine bay and simpler overall.
  - smallerize 6mo ago
    To be eligible for a specific subsidy, the gas engine had to have less range than the better. So they electronically set the amount of gas you were allowed to use from the gas tank even though it held more. Sure the difference was only a half gallon or so but it's stealing your gasoline, and making it staler. It was either 1.9 or 2.4 gallons depending on the model year, but they physically had the same gas tank.
- anarticle 6mo ago
  In an interesting turn of events there is a pack upgrade for the i3 that gives it more range than it started with! https://mtgbattery.com/ https://mtgbattery.com/ This is the kind of hacking / upgrades I’d love to see. All in cost was about $6k when I last checked probably a little more now. You get a pack teardown, and new CATL cells. Range goes to 400km~.
  - sgt 6mo ago
    That is very cool! I can see myself keeping this car for a long time. It's just so well built and the interior is also something to behold (compared to a lot of cars). Range is not an issue at the moment (we have a Land Cruiser for longer trips) but once the batteries get really old this would be a great option.
  - MaKey 6mo ago
    Their battery upgrade is trash though: https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2350326#p2350326 https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2350326#p...
    - anarticle 6mo ago
      That kit looks wildly different than what they show on their site. Good to know!
physhster 6mo ago
[flagged]
- PetitPrince 6mo ago
  Installing a non-standard button that hijack the light control of the car to light all of the rear one is not hacking ? https://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ev/yb.html https://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ev/yb.html I appreciate the autopilot effort of comma, but if this isn't hacking in the most classic sense of the word I don't know what is.
codeulike 6mo ago
At some point later I got around to playing with DC fast charging ... That market still has a long way to go as far as sorting out its business model, as billing based on time vs energy is completely unfair ... An excuse that's offered less and less often is that pricing by kilowatt-hours delivered is prohibited in some states by utility regulatory rules. I didn't know they were billing for DC charging in the US based on Time instead of kwh. Thats odd. In Europe its just kwh.
- ranguna 6mo ago
  In Europe, sometimes it's just kWh, other times it's kWh and time. After charging is done, it's just time.
- rcxdude 6mo ago
  Arguably it should be both. Sitting and occupying a DC fast charging booth, especially once you're not charging at the full rate, represents an opportunity cost since someone else could be using it.
  - hvb2 6mo ago
    > especially once you're not charging at the full rate I don't think you want that as no car will be able to charge at 250kW for very long for example. And I believe we're starting to see even higher peak charging rates. As always, there's no simple answers
  - cjrp 6mo ago
    I used a Tesla charger (as a non-Tesla driver) recently. I think their pricing model is pretty good: pay per kWh (varies between peak and off-peak), and if the station is busy they can impose a "congestion charge" for anyone occupying a charger and not charging, or charging above 80% when it's not necessary for their journey (presumably only works for Teslas where the satnav knows about your journey and charge locations).
  - Jeremy1026 6mo ago
    Idle rates are different than just straight charged by time.
spicySpy 6mo ago
I really like both the e-Niro and the Kona EV for their "normal" car look and I did some hacking too. Wanted to play with the Web Bluetooth API and Svelte, so created the open source Niro Spy app (should work with your Kona too), works on iOS through BLE browser. It might be a good template for some OBD2 hacking, you can also check Open Vehicle Monitoring System repo and the evDash project. The car is somewhat reliable on the battery side (still have SOH over 101% after 90k km / 50k miles), but the gearbox and motor bearings issue can be tricky to fix. Also the MY2019 vehicles do lack remote climate controls and battery preconditioning (which I'm still trying to fix with the app).
miduil 6mo ago
> [...] due to some dipshit blonde not paying attention [...] Wow, instantly stopped reading after this. I can't comprehend how someone would even remotely have the courage writing such in a public posting.
- tyjen 6mo ago
  [dead]
- geonineties 6mo ago
  Maybe a dipshit blonde wasn't paying attention and caused the problem? Sometimes facts really do follow stereotypes.
  - ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
    It's possible, but my anecdata is that the four people who have run into the back of my car in the past ten years have all been middle-aged men distracted by phones. Two Audis (one of them written off to the point it had to be lifted onto the breakdown truck with a Hiab), one Hyundai of some sort, and one bicycle. The cyclist was the only one I felt in any way sorry for, because he did actually hurt himself pretty badly and obliterated his carbon wheel and forks, but he shouldn't have been dicking around with his phone while riding down a steep hill at what I can tell from his Strava trail was around 35mph. At no time did my car suffer any more than a bit of scuffing and damage to the old tennis ball over the tow hitch to stop the grease getting on my trousers.
    - MiiMe19 6mo ago
      wow, I can't believe you called the middle age men who hit your car middle aged men instead of just people. Stop adding more detail to your stories!!!
      - ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
        I'm a middle-aged twat with far more bicycle than I really need for what I do. No lycra, though. So I can slag off others in my demographic all I want. Yeah, male white middle-aged crabbit auld bastard privilege, if you like.
dsr_ 6mo ago
For people who are not aware: this is the same Hobbit as https://seclists.org/bugtraq/1995/Oct/28 https://seclists.org/bugtraq/1995/Oct/28
ezfe 6mo ago
Blog posts without dates on them are super frustrating. If this was written today I would have a litany of complaints about the details around EV charging. If this was written 5 years ago they might have a little more leeway. Here's one: > trying to force everyone to download janky apps just to play is disingenuous and short-sighted The biggest networks do not require apps to use their chargers (excluding Tesla, who built a huge network with no screens and then decided to open it up without hardware retrofits). Some offer memberships which obviously use an app, but that's not surprising or relevant.
- zie 6mo ago
  In the USA, I've had several charging stations where the CC terminal acts like it works, but it won't actually charge the vehicle. However if you use the App, the charger works. This is in late 2025 and 2026, so it's better, but the non-app route is not fully fleshed out yet. My worst experience was a charger near Yosemite ran by the local power utility. They required you use a website to turn the charger on, and the instructions were incomplete and it took me a half-dozen tries to figure out the right set of magic steps to get the dumb charger to work. Had it not been the only charger in like 100+ miles, I'm sure it would never ever get used due to how insanely broken it was.
  - ezfe 6mo ago
    Yes, that absolutely happens but that's a malfunction and a bad maintenance. They generally do work.
- tzs 6mo ago
  That post first appeared in 2019 and has been updated since then. The last update was sometime between from May 2023 to October 2024. It includes a link to something dated Dec 23, 2023 which further narrows it down.
- thangalin 6mo ago
  On Tue, Oct 3, 2023, 1:18 PM, I wrote: How many apps must people put on their phones, or payment cards people must carry, to pay to charge their vehicles with the convenience of a petrol station? * https://parking.ubc.ca/are-there-electric-vehicle-ev-charging-stations-ubc https://parking.ubc.ca/are-there-electric-vehicle-ev-chargin... "Charging fees can be paid through the Honk Mobile App or using a web browser with internet access." * https://electricvehicles.bchydro.com/bc-hydro-ev-mobile-app https://electricvehicles.bchydro.com/bc-hydro-ev-mobile-app "You can use the BC Hydro EV app to activate stations on other networks across North America." * https://www.flo.com/en-ca/products/software/flo-mobile-app/ https://www.flo.com/en-ca/products/software/flo-mobile-app/ "Download the FLO app for free. Access thousands of chargers on-the-go in our network and start your session with a tap." * https://www.chargepoint.com/en-ca/drivers/mobile https://www.chargepoint.com/en-ca/drivers/mobile "Get the ChargePoint App. The easiest way to find available stations, start charging and get updates when your EV is fully charged." * https://ecocharge.ca/ https://ecocharge.ca/ "Download the AmpUp our mobile app from the Apple or Google Play store to." * https://www.electrify-canada.ca/mobile-app/ https://www.electrify-canada.ca/mobile-app/ "Use the Electrify Canada mobile app to schedule your home charging and find a public charging station. Sign up for an account to enjoy exclusive, members-only public charging features and pricing." * https://swtchenergy.com/ https://swtchenergy.com/ "iPhone & Android app. No download required via SWTCH’s in-browser app. Tap-and-go charging with our complimentary RFID card." I could not charge my Kona at multiple public charging stations around Vancouver: * "Free" FLO Level 2 charger at New Westminster High School (requires sign up). * BC Hydro Level 3 charger near a Real Canadian Superstore (requires sign up). * AddEnergie Level 2 charger at Tsawwassen Mills (requires sign up). * Honk Level 2 charger at a University of British Columbia parkade (requires sign up). * Bonus: Most Tesla stations (no adapters available). From Aging Wheels: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92w5doU68D8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92w5doU68D8 (Oct 15, 2023; bad experience) * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPiwt5hxXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPiwt5hxXQ (Nov 24, 2024; better experience) It's steadily improving, though!

Kona EV Hacking

134 points by AnnikaL 6mo ago

zorg-is-real 6mo ago

There is a way to make the Android Auto work wirelessly

entropicdrifter 6mo ago
Yeah, I have a $60 dongle that does it in my Kona EV

sgt 6mo ago

Recently bought a second hand BMW i3 - what a cool car! Not planning to 'hack' it but nice to read about ideas.

nubinetwork 6mo ago
I've seen videos of that car... don't they only have like 40 miles of range, and the range extender only holds like 5 gallons of fuel?
- mschild 6mo ago
  For the original version released in 2013, range was a bit of a concern. Later models, 120ah full electric version, the range is about 250km. In comparison to newer cars, not a lot, but considering you can buy newish used ones for under 15k, its not a bad deal if it fits your needs.
  - sgt 6mo ago
    Funny how I'm downvoted for even mentioning an i3. I've also heard several comments insinuating that I must be gay for driving such a car. Are we still there in 2026?
    - skrebbel 6mo ago
      don't read too much into a downvote here or there. as i read this the downvotes are already gone again. some people are just idiots. also some people just misclick.
      - ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
        I get downvoted to hell and gone for saying such controversial things as "AI doesn't really solve any problem I have", so I just assume people who downvote to disagree instead of commenting to explain why they disagree are too lazy or too stupid or too stoned to get enough of a spark across a synapse and not really worth caring about. If I was in it for the karma I'd be in the billions by now.
    - idiotsecant 6mo ago
      Complaining about downvotes is boring, don't do it
    - HNisCIS 6mo ago
      [flagged]
- formerly_proven 6mo ago
  [flagged]
- sgt 6mo ago
  You don't want the range extender - it makes it fiddly and potentially unreliable. As for the range, I'm getting about 110 miles of range. It depends how you drive. This is the 94Ah battery, the later models had more range.
  - chipsa 6mo ago
    Range extender was definitely a requirement when I got mine in ‘19. But that’s because I did not have reliable charging available in the area. It also came in handy for a bad road trip (charging stations more than my range apart, so I couldn’t otherwise get there from here, but hold state of charge kept it up at 75% with frequent gas stops)
    - sgt 6mo ago
      Glad it worked out for you. I am in South Africa so there still aren't many charging stations but we're getting there. Most people charge from their houses though and that's what I do as well. With solar it's practically free to drive around town, school runs etc.
  - mmmlinux 6mo ago
    the thing that makes them unreliable is lack of use. when you leave some gas in there for 6 months because you never travel farther than the grocery store, when you actually use the engine it goes and sucks up a bunch of trash expired gas.
  - postalrat 6mo ago
    I was shopping for a range extender version and bought a battery only i3 when I saw one for the right price. Then I got a i3 rex for parts and it made me really appreciate the bev. So much more room in the engine bay and simpler overall.
- smallerize 6mo ago
  To be eligible for a specific subsidy, the gas engine had to have less range than the better. So they electronically set the amount of gas you were allowed to use from the gas tank even though it held more. Sure the difference was only a half gallon or so but it's stealing your gasoline, and making it staler. It was either 1.9 or 2.4 gallons depending on the model year, but they physically had the same gas tank.
anarticle 6mo ago
In an interesting turn of events there is a pack upgrade for the i3 that gives it more range than it started with! https://mtgbattery.com/ https://mtgbattery.com/ This is the kind of hacking / upgrades I’d love to see. All in cost was about $6k when I last checked probably a little more now. You get a pack teardown, and new CATL cells. Range goes to 400km~.
- sgt 6mo ago
  That is very cool! I can see myself keeping this car for a long time. It's just so well built and the interior is also something to behold (compared to a lot of cars). Range is not an issue at the moment (we have a Land Cruiser for longer trips) but once the batteries get really old this would be a great option.
- MaKey 6mo ago
  Their battery upgrade is trash though: https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2350326#p2350326 https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2350326#p...
  - anarticle 6mo ago
    That kit looks wildly different than what they show on their site. Good to know!

physhster 6mo ago

[flagged]

PetitPrince 6mo ago
Installing a non-standard button that hijack the light control of the car to light all of the rear one is not hacking ? https://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ev/yb.html https://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ev/yb.html I appreciate the autopilot effort of comma, but if this isn't hacking in the most classic sense of the word I don't know what is.

codeulike 6mo ago

At some point later I got around to playing with DC fast charging ... That market still has a long way to go as far as sorting out its business model, as billing based on time vs energy is completely unfair ... An excuse that's offered less and less often is that pricing by kilowatt-hours delivered is prohibited in some states by utility regulatory rules. I didn't know they were billing for DC charging in the US based on Time instead of kwh. Thats odd. In Europe its just kwh.

ranguna 6mo ago
In Europe, sometimes it's just kWh, other times it's kWh and time. After charging is done, it's just time.
rcxdude 6mo ago
Arguably it should be both. Sitting and occupying a DC fast charging booth, especially once you're not charging at the full rate, represents an opportunity cost since someone else could be using it.
- hvb2 6mo ago
  > especially once you're not charging at the full rate I don't think you want that as no car will be able to charge at 250kW for very long for example. And I believe we're starting to see even higher peak charging rates. As always, there's no simple answers
- cjrp 6mo ago
  I used a Tesla charger (as a non-Tesla driver) recently. I think their pricing model is pretty good: pay per kWh (varies between peak and off-peak), and if the station is busy they can impose a "congestion charge" for anyone occupying a charger and not charging, or charging above 80% when it's not necessary for their journey (presumably only works for Teslas where the satnav knows about your journey and charge locations).
- Jeremy1026 6mo ago
  Idle rates are different than just straight charged by time.

spicySpy 6mo ago

I really like both the e-Niro and the Kona EV for their "normal" car look and I did some hacking too. Wanted to play with the Web Bluetooth API and Svelte, so created the open source Niro Spy app (should work with your Kona too), works on iOS through BLE browser. It might be a good template for some OBD2 hacking, you can also check Open Vehicle Monitoring System repo and the evDash project. The car is somewhat reliable on the battery side (still have SOH over 101% after 90k km / 50k miles), but the gearbox and motor bearings issue can be tricky to fix. Also the MY2019 vehicles do lack remote climate controls and battery preconditioning (which I'm still trying to fix with the app).

miduil 6mo ago

> [...] due to some dipshit blonde not paying attention [...] Wow, instantly stopped reading after this. I can't comprehend how someone would even remotely have the courage writing such in a public posting.

tyjen 6mo ago
[dead]
geonineties 6mo ago
Maybe a dipshit blonde wasn't paying attention and caused the problem? Sometimes facts really do follow stereotypes.
- ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
  It's possible, but my anecdata is that the four people who have run into the back of my car in the past ten years have all been middle-aged men distracted by phones. Two Audis (one of them written off to the point it had to be lifted onto the breakdown truck with a Hiab), one Hyundai of some sort, and one bicycle. The cyclist was the only one I felt in any way sorry for, because he did actually hurt himself pretty badly and obliterated his carbon wheel and forks, but he shouldn't have been dicking around with his phone while riding down a steep hill at what I can tell from his Strava trail was around 35mph. At no time did my car suffer any more than a bit of scuffing and damage to the old tennis ball over the tow hitch to stop the grease getting on my trousers.
  - MiiMe19 6mo ago
    wow, I can't believe you called the middle age men who hit your car middle aged men instead of just people. Stop adding more detail to your stories!!!
    - ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
      I'm a middle-aged twat with far more bicycle than I really need for what I do. No lycra, though. So I can slag off others in my demographic all I want. Yeah, male white middle-aged crabbit auld bastard privilege, if you like.

dsr_ 6mo ago

For people who are not aware: this is the same Hobbit as https://seclists.org/bugtraq/1995/Oct/28 https://seclists.org/bugtraq/1995/Oct/28

ezfe 6mo ago

Blog posts without dates on them are super frustrating. If this was written today I would have a litany of complaints about the details around EV charging. If this was written 5 years ago they might have a little more leeway. Here's one: > trying to force everyone to download janky apps just to play is disingenuous and short-sighted The biggest networks do not require apps to use their chargers (excluding Tesla, who built a huge network with no screens and then decided to open it up without hardware retrofits). Some offer memberships which obviously use an app, but that's not surprising or relevant.

zie 6mo ago
In the USA, I've had several charging stations where the CC terminal acts like it works, but it won't actually charge the vehicle. However if you use the App, the charger works. This is in late 2025 and 2026, so it's better, but the non-app route is not fully fleshed out yet. My worst experience was a charger near Yosemite ran by the local power utility. They required you use a website to turn the charger on, and the instructions were incomplete and it took me a half-dozen tries to figure out the right set of magic steps to get the dumb charger to work. Had it not been the only charger in like 100+ miles, I'm sure it would never ever get used due to how insanely broken it was.
- ezfe 6mo ago
  Yes, that absolutely happens but that's a malfunction and a bad maintenance. They generally do work.
tzs 6mo ago
That post first appeared in 2019 and has been updated since then. The last update was sometime between from May 2023 to October 2024. It includes a link to something dated Dec 23, 2023 which further narrows it down.
thangalin 6mo ago
On Tue, Oct 3, 2023, 1:18 PM, I wrote: How many apps must people put on their phones, or payment cards people must carry, to pay to charge their vehicles with the convenience of a petrol station? * https://parking.ubc.ca/are-there-electric-vehicle-ev-charging-stations-ubc https://parking.ubc.ca/are-there-electric-vehicle-ev-chargin... "Charging fees can be paid through the Honk Mobile App or using a web browser with internet access." * https://electricvehicles.bchydro.com/bc-hydro-ev-mobile-app https://electricvehicles.bchydro.com/bc-hydro-ev-mobile-app "You can use the BC Hydro EV app to activate stations on other networks across North America." * https://www.flo.com/en-ca/products/software/flo-mobile-app/ https://www.flo.com/en-ca/products/software/flo-mobile-app/ "Download the FLO app for free. Access thousands of chargers on-the-go in our network and start your session with a tap." * https://www.chargepoint.com/en-ca/drivers/mobile https://www.chargepoint.com/en-ca/drivers/mobile "Get the ChargePoint App. The easiest way to find available stations, start charging and get updates when your EV is fully charged." * https://ecocharge.ca/ https://ecocharge.ca/ "Download the AmpUp our mobile app from the Apple or Google Play store to." * https://www.electrify-canada.ca/mobile-app/ https://www.electrify-canada.ca/mobile-app/ "Use the Electrify Canada mobile app to schedule your home charging and find a public charging station. Sign up for an account to enjoy exclusive, members-only public charging features and pricing." * https://swtchenergy.com/ https://swtchenergy.com/ "iPhone & Android app. No download required via SWTCH’s in-browser app. Tap-and-go charging with our complimentary RFID card." I could not charge my Kona at multiple public charging stations around Vancouver: * "Free" FLO Level 2 charger at New Westminster High School (requires sign up). * BC Hydro Level 3 charger near a Real Canadian Superstore (requires sign up). * AddEnergie Level 2 charger at Tsawwassen Mills (requires sign up). * Honk Level 2 charger at a University of British Columbia parkade (requires sign up). * Bonus: Most Tesla stations (no adapters available). From Aging Wheels: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92w5doU68D8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92w5doU68D8 (Oct 15, 2023; bad experience) * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPiwt5hxXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPiwt5hxXQ (Nov 24, 2024; better experience) It's steadily improving, though!