Kona EV with no heat pumps?

M

Mark Gregory

New Member
S o I just drove home a new Kona EV in 30 degree temp. Couldn’t get the heat to work. Thought I didn’t have the right buttons pushed but I Read that some North American Kona EVs do not have heat pumps? Is this true? Has anyone lease had problems with heating there new Kona EVs?
 
It's true. Hyundai gave us a second rate heater, a 5.5 kW resistance heater instead of the more efficient heat pump in Konas everywhere else. Nevertheless it is more than adequate to heat the car. If you press Auto on the temp control and set the temperature into the 70s,it should pour out heat. Make sure you're not driving in Eco mode, that can effect the heater.
 
Paul DeLeon said:
It's true. Hyundai gave us a second rate heater, a 5.5 kW resistance heater instead of the more efficient heat pump in Konas everywhere else. Nevertheless it is more than adequate to heat the car. If you press Auto on the temp control and set the temperature into the 70s,it should pour out heat. Make sure you're not driving in Eco mode, that can effect the heater.
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Paul DeLeon said:
It's true. Hyundai gave us a second rate heater, a 5.5 kW resistance heater instead of the more efficient heat pump in Konas everywhere else. Nevertheless it is more than adequate to heat the car. If you press Auto on the temp control and set the temperature into the 70s,it should pour out heat. Make sure you're not driving in Eco mode, that can effect the heater.
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Thanks Paul,
We did have it in eco mode. Hope your right about it still being adequate. Seems the techs in two dealerships (Maryland) are unaware of this situation.
 
Mark Gregory said:
Thanks Paul,
We did have it in eco mode. Hope your right about it still being adequate. Seems the techs in two dealerships (Maryland) are unaware of this situation.
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There are interesting subtleties with an EV in the winter. Use seat heaters and steering wheel heaters to reduce the need for the PTC heater. And use drivers side only if you have no passenger.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Inside EVs mobile app
 
ericy said:
There are interesting subtleties with an EV in the winter. Use seat heaters and steering wheel heaters to reduce the need for the PTC heater. And use drivers side only if you have no passenger.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Inside EVs mobile app
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Thanks, more good advice. I’m not sure sure why Hyundai doesn’t have this kind of info in it’s owner’s manuals? I felt I had to seriously consider taking the car back before the 3 day car return option expired!
 
Paul DeLeon said:
Make sure you're not driving in Eco mode, that can effect the heater.
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^^^This.

I was baffled for the longest time wondering why the heater didn’t work. It was only when I switched to Normal mode that I realized that Eco mode reduces the heater performance. If you’re the only person it’s a good idea to enable Driver Only mode. That’ll get you warmer sooner. Also, using the recirculating mode will reduce the cooling effect of fresh air entering the cabin. Unfortunately recirculate turns off after 5 minutes, which is pretty annoying. I’ve found that once you’ve warmed the cabin up with the heater, you can stay pretty comfortable with the heated seat on low and by playing whack-a-mole with the recirculate button. Note that heater power consumption does go down as the cabin gets warmer, so that’s something. Still, I wish it had come with the heat pump - #1 pet peeve about this car.
 
I guess another more advanced feature is the ability to have the heat come on before you leave, and while the car is still plugged into the EVSE. This way you start with a warm car and it won't run down the battery.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Inside EVs mobile app
 
nigels said:
I was baffled for the longest time wondering why the heater didn’t work. It was only when I switched to Normal mode that I realized that Eco mode reduces the heater performance.
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I was aware that there was an ECO climate control mode (p. 5-48) but had no idea what made it different. This explains why, as I noted in another thread, the car is slow to warm up unless you really crank up the temperature setting, at least in ECO mode.
 
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I turned on the heater for the first time today on my Kona and I didn't notice any difference. Seemed just as cool as outside.. It was about 57 degrees F (13C) outside which is cold for this time of year here in Central Florida.. The heater wasn't really needed but I just wanted to test it and I was shocked to see the lack of heat from it. Not sure how people in colder states can live with the lack of heat on the Kona.. The range dropped instantly from 250 miles at 78 percent to 195 miles..
 
BlueKonaEV said:
I turned on the heater for the first time today on my Kona and I didn't notice any difference. Seemed just as cool as outside.. It was about 57 degrees F (13C) outside which is cold for this time of year here in Central Florida.. The heater wasn't really needed but I just wanted to test it and I was shocked to see the lack of heat from it. Not sure how people in colder states can live with the lack of heat on the Kona.. The range dropped instantly from 250 miles at 78 percent to 195 miles..
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Again, even with the heat pump I find the car warms up very slowly, but it does get there eventually. Is this in Eco mode?

An over 20% drop in range seems extreme in Florida weather!
 
SkookumPete said:
Again, even with the heat pump I find the car warms up very slowly, but it does get there eventually. Is this in Eco mode?

An over 20% drop in range seems extreme in Florida weather!
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I first tried in ECO mode and then switched to NORMAL mode and I could not feel any heat coming in from the vents.. I set the temperature to 82 degrees and fan to the maximum and even after 3 minutes, I could not feel any warm air coming through the vents..
 
BlueKonaEV said:
I first tried in ECO mode and then switched to NORMAL mode and I could not feel any heat coming in from the vents.. I set the temperature to 82 degrees and fan to the maximum and even after 3 minutes, I could not feel any warm air coming through the vents..
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Curious what the climate consumption reported in kw on the battery usage screen in both modes?
In Ecco mode my heat pump consumption so far varies between 800 W continuous running and around 2.5 kW starting when cold (so far) heat set to auto 22 degrees, with all windows open 1". Keeping in mind it has been pretty warm here recently with "pineapple express" favorable winds/rain from the south west pacific, 10 degrees daytime average ambient.
 
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There are settings in the menus that let you adjust what Eco mode actually effects. You can set the climate control to be unrestricted or normal during Eco mode.
 
I put mine in normal mode, driver side only. Turned on seat heater and steering wheel heater. Then turned up the fan a little, and pressed the auto button.

The energy meter was showing roughly 3.5kw for climate, and there was an odor of electric heat, and I could feel pretty warm air coming out of the vents. Outdoor temp is 33 degrees.

I have a bit more driving today, I can report back later anything else I notice. I am curious how long the heat stays on, and what climate usage drops to once the car reaches the set point.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Inside EVs mobile app
 
I can make a couple of observations. After a several hour drive, the climate power drops to somethin like 1 kW. But the amount of heat that I get seems highly dependent on the fan. If the fan is turned low, the amount of heat is minimal, and the power draw is low. In a way this sort of makes sense - as the heating element gets warmer, the resistance goes up and the amount of heat goes down. So with low airflow, the heating element will get relatively warm, but the heat won't be blown into the cabin.

With a higher fan setting, cooler air gets blown across the heating element, which cools it and reduces the resistance, and increases the current draw.
 
styx66 said:
There are settings in the menus that let you adjust what Eco mode actually effects. You can set the climate control to be unrestricted or normal during Eco mode.
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I agree, you don't have to change drive modes to improve heater performance. If you prefer driving in eco mode, change the eco mode climate control settings to "normal". As far as I can tell, there's no higher setting for any of the three driving modes. I will admit, there seems to be a little fist fight between the cabin temperature control versus resistive element response time, but I don't find it that much of an issue.

I start the heat at the max (82 deg) and keep the fan about 1/4 power (Keeping the fan on a lower setting will allow the heating element to warm up faster). When you feel good heat coming from the vents, crank up the fan to max. After the cabin warms up reset your cabin to 70 or 72 and reduce the fan to about 1/2 power. This procedure takes maybe 3-4 minutes tops, has worked great for me and keeps a constant cabin temp during short or extended drives.

Got me thinking though...............how long does a cold ice vehicle take to warm up the cabin?
 
electriceddy said:
Sounds like PTC is working with the range drop, but it would be interesting to see the reported consumption in the different modes.
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I turned on the heater again and set the temperature to 82 and the fan to max.. The power use steadily climbed from 0.5 kw to about 3 kw but I did not feel the temperature increasing within about 3 minutes.. then I shut it off..
 
BlueKonaEV said:
I turned on the heater again and set the temperature to 82 and the fan to max.. The power use steadily climbed from 0.5 kw to about 3 kw but I did not feel the temperature increasing within about 3 minutes.. then I shut it off..
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Forgot to mention the need to set the heater to "recirculate", especially for our friends to the north!
Did you leave the fan on a low setting till you could feel some decent heat?
 
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