Does the Kona Electric need to be plugged in during extreme cold?

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redgrandam

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I've read that some other car manuals (like the Bolt) say when it's really cold that the car should be plugged in all the time, and that some people in extreme cold have had a warning 'battery too cold' and can't go anywhere. Is there any such minimum temperature like that with the Kona Electric? (model with battery heater and heat pump in Canada) or will it pretty much always be able to drive?
 
I leave it plug to preheat the cabin et recharge the battery when it's not at 80%. I took my car today and the battery was at -11C and everything was fine. Battery heater hasn't kick in because of the SOC. It's not a a ICE. The only downside of a electric car, is the heating took energy and battery that cold is less efficient than at normal temperature.
 
There is no need to keep it plugged in. If you need the range and want to preheat it, then maybe. With the battery management, the battery charges until completely charged than stops. There is no trickle charge. Some claim that preheating the cabin uses the charging cable but I haven't found it helped much. The high voltage battery is not heated if it is plugged in either. Needs to be turned on to initiate this or be actively DC fast charging. There is no advantage that I can see.
 
Thanks for the replies. My only worry was about it just being to cold to start due to too cold battery. Sounds like that is not the case and is just something the Bolt has for some reason. Wasn’t sure if it was a widespread condition between manufacturers.
 
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