Charging with vehicle on

[Das KONA]

Aside from taking longer, are there any issues with charging while the car is on?

It was cold and wet yesterday and the only way I could cajole my wife into stopping for a free charge while I walked the dog was to leave the car running with the heat on.

I then had trouble with the charging cord both when starting and stopping. Trouble getting it in and then trouble getting it out - and I've used this charger before with no issues. I think that was unrelated to having the car on, and I was just fumbling because of the cold and wet.

But are there some steps I'm missing?

 

[NRH]

No problem at all. Sitting in a cold car while you charge is uncivilized!

Not sure about your connection disconnection problems. Those DCFC cables can be awfully big and unwieldily though.

 

[apu]

No problem at all. Sitting in a cold car while you charge is uncivilized!

Not sure about your connection disconnection problems. Those DCFC cables can be awfully big and unwieldily though.

That's assuming you are at a DC charger. Sometimes when I'm desperate for a charge at a Level 2 or even a Level 1 charge point I will sit miserably in the cold because most of the available charge would otherwise get diverted to heating the cabin and/or the battery if you got winter mode on.

 

[Ivan Salazar]

In the final analysis, you need L2 at home and maintain your charge at the maximum that you desire, which means at least daily charging and/or multiple charges in a day depending on your driving requirements.

 

[NRH]

In the final analysis, you need L2 at home and maintain your charge at the maximum that you desire, which means at least daily charging and/or multiple charges in a day depending on your driving requirements.

Not sure what this is referring to.
There are no circumstances where we need to charge multiple times a day on L2 to maintain charge. Our Kona is a daily commuter (20 miles roundtrip), plus various running around, and we plug it in about once a week, overnight.

 

[Jim Brown]

Not sure what this is referring to.
There are no circumstances where we need to charge multiple times a day on L2 to maintain charge. Our Kona is a daily commuter (20 miles roundtrip), plus various running around, and we plug it in about once a week, overnight.

Same here...

 

[OzKona]

Recently I forgot to turn the car off before plugging into a 350kW DCFC. I got 63kW. I stopped the charge, unplugged, turned the car off, re-plugged and restarted and got 73kW.

 

[KiwiME]

I couldn't get an ABB 50kW charger to work the other day until I turned off the Kona. Once the session had started there was no issue turning the car back on. It usually mentions that the "EV must be off" on the charger's screen when an error occurs, but I thought it was just a generic statement.
I suppose I though the Kona was smart enough to let charging disable Run mode.

In the final analysis, you need L2 at home ...

In my "final analysis" I decided I don't need more than Mode 2, what's called L1 in N.A.

 

[Das KONA]

I couldn't get an ABB 50kW charger to work the other day until I turned off the Kona. Once the session had started there was no issue turning the car back on. It usually mentions that the "EV must be off" on the charger's screen when an error occurs, but I thought it was just a generic statement.
I suppose I though the Kona was smart enough to let charging disable Run mode.

Aha! So maybe there was something to my issue. I was at a 50kw charger I've used before with no issues. I know I've had the car on when there before, but can't remember if it was on when I started the charge like it was this time.

It's one at the Nanaimo airport if any of the other locals want to try it out sometime. (And, sshhhh!, don't be letting others know it's still free!)

 

[electriceddy]

Aha! So maybe there was something to my issue. I was at a 50kw charger I've used before with no issues. I know I've had the car on when there before, but can't remember if it was on when I started the charge like it was this time.

It's one at the Nanaimo airport if any of the other locals want to try it out sometime. (And, sshhhh!, don't be letting others know it's still free!)

Other than slow rate of charge as of late, the only issue I have had (at all 4 of those chargers) is not being able to stop the charger using the on screen button. It usually takes 4 to five pushes to make it stop.
I charge there with the car on most of the time, (at least in winter) with no other issues than that.
I am sure the free charging is well known (at least locally) as there is usually at least three EVs charging there and sometimes have had to wait in line, so no need to keep quiet

 

[Chris H.]

Aside from taking longer, are there any issues with charging while the car is on?

It was cold and wet yesterday and the only way I could cajole my wife into stopping for a free charge while I walked the dog was to leave the car running with the heat on.

I then had trouble with the charging cord both when starting and stopping. Trouble getting it in and then trouble getting it out - and I've used this charger before with no issues. I think that was unrelated to having the car on, and I was just fumbling because of the cold and wet.

But are there some steps I'm missing?

I had trouble turning off the power after plugging in and then turned the car back on to crack my windows on a hot summer day. I called BlueLink but got no help--was told to call my dealer. They weren't open yet. I couldn't unplug as the car was on and I couldn't turn off the car. What do you do when your computer acts up? yes, reboot--I had to hit the power button a couple of times and finally it turned off. Next time I was at the dealer I asked and was told don't do that as it was like trying to fuel up with an ICE vehicle with the car running.

 

[Wildeyed]

I had trouble turning off the power after plugging in and then turned the car back on to crack my windows on a hot summer day. I called BlueLink but got no help--was told to call my dealer. They weren't open yet. I couldn't unplug as the car was on and I couldn't turn off the car. What do you do when your computer acts up? yes, reboot--I had to hit the power button a couple of times and finally it turned off. Next time I was at the dealer I asked and was told don't do that as it was like trying to fuel up with an ICE vehicle with the car running.

That ICE analogy might be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Find yourself a new dealer.

 

[NRH]

Don't bother finding a new dealer - none of them are going to give you decent EV answers. Even the most well-intentioned ones are taking what they know about ICE cars, and trying to turn it into a vaguely analogous answer for EVs.