Kia EV6 Range Disappointment

Most EVs protect their drivers from running out of juice by showing conservative numbers on the Guess-O-Meter. Also, WLTP numbers are so optimistic--can any EV achieve them in the real world?

 

WLTP is a really bad test cycle. Also, the estimation is based on recent usage, since it is a bunch of test drives that are used to calculate that range it points to them not driving remotely efficiently. In addition winter weather doesn't help either.

 

Motorway speeds, cooler temps and cabin heating all consume power beyond optimal test conditions. Run the test again in Spring and watch your consumption drop to around 4mi/kWh.

More important considerations include "Was it comfortable for your typical use?" and "Does your budget permit the expense?"

 

I haven't found the EPA numbers to generally be optimistic. For example, with the Kia Niro EV, I found that the EPA numbers were actually understating the range of the car.

 

More generally though, rain definitely negatively impacts range. So does low temperature (if outdoor temperature is below ~15-20 C you can expect a hit to range/efficiency). Also, the speed you're driving on the motorway can affect range - driving 75 mph will cut your range down by 10-20% compared to driving 65 mph.

BTW, none of these things I mentioned are EV-specific issues. Any gas-powered car will be impacted by all of the factors I mentioned.
Temperature: lower temp increases air resistance (due to higher air density), which creates drag
Speed: higher speed results in higher drag
Rain: increases air resistance (due to higher air density) and increases rolling resistance

The one thing which is EV-specific is that if you run the heater in the vehicle, you can expect a larger impact to efficiency compared to a gas-powered car

 

That's why all EVs sold where it gets cold should come with a heat-pump--or at the very least have the heat-pump as an option. A heat-pump won't work in the coldest temperatures, but it uses much less power than a resistance heater when it does work.

 

My EV6 arrived in the UK 1st December. 10-14 days delivery to dealer +2 days before delivery to me.I was then informed that some of them had heating problems that would be sorted (at the port!!!). No I am told that the delivery drivers will stop on Friday for XMAS. Delivery January assuming they are looking at more than 1 car per day. Kia now seems able to produce remarkable cars, however the dealers still live in the last century.

 

Wet roads reduce miles per gallon, and in this case it decreases miles/kWh. The water piles up in front of the tire at a higher level as the car pushes into it, and that takes work that is not needed on dry roads. Also think about pulling rubber up off of a wet surface vs dry (or a wet sponge off a counter top). It sticks some. Same thing is happening as the rubber gets pulled up off the pavement as the wheels turn. MPG drops 10-20 % on a wet road. It is no different for an EV.

 

I purchased an ev6 in December. Range on 77kw/h advertised at 528km. I know this is in ideal circumstances but this is the reality. At 99% charge, before driving, temp of -1, range is showing 265km. Following date at 100% charge, 9 degrees, range showing 304km. I brought the car back to the dealer yesterday and they reset the battery. That evening I charged the car to 96% to drive 153km. The range read 494km. On reaching the destination, the car was at 46% battery and showing a range of 244. Temp outside was 11degrees. I drove on eco, very low heating and at 110km/h. The 153 range ended up using 250km and 50% battery. What is interesting here is that even though the range was showing 494, it still would have been around 300 in total even with slightly higher temps, eco driving. I bought this car for a commute of 200km each way. At 400km I thought there would be enough to allow for weather, temperature etc. but now I am worried that it wont even get me one way. Either the car is broken or EV6 range is considerably over exaggerated.

 

Is there a lot of climbing? That can impact range. Are you using adaptive cruise control? I find my Niro does a lot of braking, a lot more often and harder than I do when I am driving manually if there is much traffic at all. This impacts range since in some very crude experiments, I seem to recover about 1/4 to 1/3 of the energy of motion into the battery from regen braking, though a 40% hit seems extreme. When I drive on the highway at 65 mph I get about 4.2 miles per kwh. In traffic at that set speed on cruise control, it drops to 3.6 .

Bottom line is for your drive, it looks like you might face problems if you have no charger at work, especially in wet weather.

Or maybe there is something else wrong with your particular vehicle

 

I have an EV6 and before I had an E Niro.In both cases they exceed the WLTP figures in daily use and Kia/Hyundai are renown for the accuracy of their figures. The car adapts itself to your driving style after a few trips and the efficiency improves There are numerous sites on the net from actual owners, check them out for real world experience.

 

Welcome! It's great to have an actual owner on this forum. I look forward to reading about your experiences with your EV6. What model/color did you buy? Was it your first choice? Did you find a reasonable dealer?

 

I bought the Runway Red GT Line, the red is the standard colour in England and as usual with Kia their colour choice is very poor but the red suits it well. The dealer ,about 20 miles from me was excellent and I was able to track the car from the moment it was put on the boat to its landing in England where it goes to the pre delivery preparation and update site. Anybody should be able to do this once their dealer provides them with the loading details which they can get from Kia. Having had one of the first UK E Niros much of the EV6 is familiar but the grown up version. Technology is excellent, prior to buying electric, and Kia was really the only choice, I had large Mercedes for 30 years and the Kia is up there for quality and finish. Got it in 8 weeks from ordering, waited 10 months for the E Niro and got the price I paid for it minus £400 two years later in part exchange. So £200 a year, not bad. Have added extra internal lights in footwell, thicjker carpets and mats plus a Cd player which is fully integrated with the sound system ( too dam lazy to put all the CD's on a stick). Also rim guards around the wheels to stop kerbing

 

My EV6 was at 280 m on delivery and after a very swift journey to Yorkshire and back (550 m) dropped to 255. Since then the warm weather and more reasonable driving it indicates 165 m at 50% charge.

 

EV6 GT Line S AWD with heat pump.

All about how you drive and what the weather is like!

John.

 

+1 what John said. Case in point: I'm not an aggressive driver. I don't make jackrabbit starts from the red light or brake hard at the next light. I use i-pedal and cruise control mostly. I live in Las Vegas. It gets down to 5°C / 40°F at night in the winter months. I was getting about 280 miles of range for my EV6 GT-Line AWD, which has a heat pump. But when the warmer weather returned in March, I got around 300 miles of range.
In April, my wife and I drove it to Austin. The speed limit is 80 mph in some places on I-10. My range went down to 210 miles. Of course I was using DC charging (at EA) if that makes any difference. I was using the AC too. I was getting only 1.8 miles per kWh at times.
But it has slowly recovered now, and I'm only driving around town again (and charging at home). I usually get around 4.1 miles per kWh. The range showed 313 miles today. In short, if you are getting 4.0 miles per kWh, that would be 77.4 x 4.0 = 309.6 miles of range.

 

The GT model gets much lower mileage/range. Dual motor GT. 252 miles for dual motor GT. Only the non-GT gets 282 to 310 in the wind version, dual motor (AWD) or RWD.

 

50MPH seems to be a sweet spot. As you go over 50mph mi/kwh goes down in an exponential curve. Keep it around 60-65 your range will be much higher, and probably a push timewise since you won't have to hit a couple extra charging stations along the way.