After breaking a record of autonomy in (very) controlled conditions a few months ago, the Hyundai Kauai Electric he returned to surprise and this time he achieved a record, but driving in the “real world”.
The Kauai Electric used corresponded to the most powerful version with the highest capacity battery — 204 hp and a 64 kWh battery — and if the autonomy value approved in urban cycle (WLTP) points to 660 km, the truth is that in the hands of the our colleagues at El País this proved to be a somewhat conservative number.
The stage chosen for this “fire test” was the M30, a ring road around Madrid that extends for 32.5 km, with speed limits, depending on the zone, of 90 km/h, 70 km/h up to 50 km/h, and there are still traffic lights. 300,000 cars circulate there daily and, for 15 hours and 17 minutes, one of them was the record-breaking Kauai Electric.
Approves
With a team made up of three drivers in charge of trying the record, Kauai Electric took to the road with the battery fully charged and the on-board computer promising a total autonomy of 452 km (influenced by the type of driving practiced in the previous days and by the consumptions until then registered).
In the first driving shift, between 6:00 am and 10:00 am, the South Korean crossover faced conditions close to ideal: little traffic and mild temperatures. During this period, 205 km were covered and the average consumption was fixed at an impressive 8.2 kWh/100 km (well below the official 14.7 kWh/100 km). The average speed was 51.2 km/h.
In the second driving shift, between 10:00 and 14:29, the average speed increased to 55.7 km/h, the total kilometers covered exceeded the autonomy originally provided for by the on-board computer (455 km) and consumption was reduced to 8 .5 kWh/100 km.
For the third round, the “exceeding” official maximum autonomy was scheduled. Over almost five hours, Kauai Electric covered another 249.4 km at an average speed of 49.2 km/h and thus reached a total of 704.4 km covered. In the last round, it was still possible to cover a further 85.6 km until the end of the race.
The route taken…
In total, over 15 hours and 17 minutes, the Hyundai Kauai Electric covered 790 km, performed 24 “laps” on the M30 and registered a surprising average consumption of 8.2 kWh/100 km.