Kona EV Hacking

A non‑Tesla owner documents their Kona EV journey—from home charging to ripping panels and even running the battery to “empty”—and the comments section immediately turns into a street fight. Team Tinker rolls in waving open‑source flags, while Team Chill just wants to drive and not void warranties.

The biggest spark? What counts as “real” hacking. One commenter declared that if you’re not strapping on driver‑assist gear, it’s “not really hacking,” linking to comma.ai. That lit up the thread with eye‑rolls and memes about confusing “OpenAI” with comma.ai. Others praised simple quality‑of‑life mods like making Android Auto wireless—cue the “is a Bluetooth checkbox a hack?” jokes.

Then came the charging rage. A quoted line about DC fast‑charging being billed by time instead of energy had readers fuming—“completely unfair,” said one, noting regulators are finally allowing per‑kilowatt‑hour pricing. Commenters swapped war stories about paying more for being in a slower lane, while the diary’s home‑charging setup got nods as the sane path.

In a wholesome twist, an open‑source dev showed off a browser‑based “Niro Spy” app talking to the car over Bluetooth Low Energy, inspiring dreams of DIY dashboards. Meanwhile, a BMW i3 owner popped in just to say, “cool car, not hacking mine,” and instantly became the poster child for Do‑Not‑Touch energy. Verdict: hilarious culture clash meets real policy gripes—and everyone’s a little bit right.