Hyundai Inster Winter Road Trip, Part 1: Can a Small EV Handle a Snowy Night Drive With the Whole Family?
Part one of my Hyundai Inster winter test: an evening departure in the snow with two adults, two kids and luggage, country roads first and then the highway to Câmpina. I tracked efficiency, charging speed and the ideal cruising speed.
On January 6 it was snowing, cold and foggy, and I had to drive my family across Romania to Câmpina. I picked the Hyundai Inster for the job, a small electric car designed mainly for the city. We left in the evening, around 7:40 pm, with two adults, two kids, luggage and the heating on. We arrived at 2:10 am, after roughly 180 km of national roads and about 200 km of highway and expressway. Along the way I tracked the energy use, the charging power at every stop and the speed at which the car feels most at home. This is part one. I already covered the drive back in a separate article.
The car: what Hyundai says
According to the "Hyundai Motor Europe" press kit, the Long Range Inster has a 49 kWh battery, up to 370 km of WLTP range on 15-inch wheels and DC fast charging at up to 85.3 kW. On a charger of at least 120 kW, Hyundai quotes 10–80% in around 30 minutes. At home it charges on AC at up to 11 kW. The car can be ordered with a heat pump and a battery heating system that keeps the pack at the right temperature for driving and charging. From what I saw, the usable capacity is around 46 kWh.
Setting off: a warm battery and the first snowy miles
I had 90% charge, but there was still time before we left, so I went to top up a little. I set the charger as the destination in the navigation, and the car started warming the battery on its own so it could accept more power. I also liked the automatic regenerative braking: when I lift off the accelerator, the car slows down gently based on traffic, sometimes all the way to a stop, without me touching the brake pedal.
After the first 17 km on snowy roads, the car showed 18.3 kWh/100 km. After the climb at Trei Iazuri, the average had dropped to 17.5 kWh/100 km, even though fog had rolled in by then.
First stop: slow charging with a cold battery
In Roman we stopped at a gas station, because we had left without eating. I had 70% and 207 km of displayed range, with 128 km to go to the charger in Adjud. While we were there, I plugged the car in. The battery was no longer warm and the power was low, around 28–30 kW: 62% to 70% in 13 minutes. This is also where I got a warning that the front radar was blocked. Snow builds up on it while driving, so it is worth wiping it at every stop to keep adaptive cruise control working.
On to Adjud at a steady 90 km/h
I joined the highway at Bacău. Since I didn't know the car well yet, I held a steady 90 km/h. From Roman to Adjud the average was 16.5 kWh/100 km at an average speed of about 72 km/h. Around 30 km before the charger, the car started heating the battery again.
The surprise in Adjud: 80 kW
This time the battery was warm, and the difference was obvious straight away. The car charged at about 80 kW, then 70 kW, going from 47% to 68% in 10 minutes, just the time it took to pop into the gas station. That is the key lesson of this episode: on the Inster, warming the battery before the charger completely changes the charging experience.
On the highway: 110 km/h is the sweet spot
I set off at 95 km/h, but I had plenty of charge, so I moved up to 110 km/h. For a city car, 110 km/h felt like the best balance. At 130 km/h you can hear the wind in the cabin. It's not annoying, but it's noticeable. At 0°C on wet roads, efficiency at 110 km/h was about 19.5 kWh/100 km.
At Buzău East, at a gas station about 500 m from the highway exit, I arrived with 15% (33 km left). The car climbed back to 73–80 kW and I charged to around 60%. One thing tripped me up: to start charging I had to switch the car off and then turn the heating back on. There may be a setting I didn't know about yet. We reached Câmpina with 10%.
Overnight charging with a Tesla Mobile Connector
At our destination I used a Tesla portable charger with the blue plug for the 32 A single-phase socket we have there. The Inster charged at 6.3 kW. Because I didn't yet know how to limit the charging power in the menus, I stopped charging for the night and started it again at 6:30 in the morning. By 9:00 it had reached 40%, and the charger was only slightly warm.
What it means for drivers
The Hyundai Inster is a very good city car that can also handle a family vacation, as long as you accept a calmer pace. On national roads in winter, I averaged around 16.5 kWh/100 km, which means more than 200 km between stops. On the highway at 110 km/h, I needed a break of about 30 minutes every 150 km or so. For roughly 400 km, two stops are enough, even though I made three. The most important tip is to let the car warm the battery: set the charger in the navigation before you arrive. With a warm battery, the Inster held 70–80 kW to above 60%, close to its official 85.3 kW peak. With a cold battery, it charged almost three times slower.
