Mazda MX30 Cold battery and heating issues!

[Bob Long]

Also, Bob, thanks for your further comments about the vehicle’s strengths. Everything I’ve read about the Mx30 has seemed so great I planned to buy Mazda stock this morning before reading your post... Partly because I really respect the company’s values, culture and “David and Goliath” position as the only major niche carmaker to keep its independence. Now I’ll hold off on the stock until the MX30 is perfected. Super concerned that battery sourcing will be a nightmare for Mazda...

 

[Bob Long]

Hi Drake, I have spent more than an hour trying to reply to your message, and when nearly completed it just disappeared and logged me out, so annoying! In a nutshell....this car may not be so bad once the teething problems such as heating the battery are sorted. The car can be driven in freezing conditions for ages with the A/C off and it won’t even steam up the windows. The cabin heating system is superb! We drove 100km at -12c (10F) telling us we would get home with 5km of range left (3 miles), and that’s exactly what happened. Talk about cutting it fine! The range prediction is spot on. Please feel free to ask any question about the car, it will be much better rather than me writing at length and then losing it again. Regards, Bob

 

[Bob Long]

Interesting - my 2019 US Kona has the app that allows remote climate control. I wonder why it was not available until later in the European market. I don't usually bother with it, because we have an attached garage which keeps it a bit warmer than outside.

Our Kona is the original 2018 model, but bought new in 2019. Has your car got the buttons at the bottom of the larger touch screen? Ours are to the left and right. I enquired about the app at our Hyundai dealer but it cannot be done on the earlier model. Same goes for a hitch to pull a trailer, you can attach one on the newer 2020 model, but not our one. The Kona EV is now made in 2 countries, Korea and the Czech Republic. If only we had an attached garage to our house, it would be bliss and remote heating wouldn’t be necessary.

 

[Bob Long]

Hi Drake, I have spent more than an hour trying to reply to your message, and when nearly completed it just disappeared and logged me out, so annoying! In a nutshell....this car may not be so bad once the teething problems such as heating the battery are sorted. The car can be driven in freezing conditions for ages with the A/C off and it won’t even steam up the windows. The cabin heating system is superb! We drove 100km at -12c (10F) telling us we would get home with 5km of range left (3 miles), and that’s exactly what happened. Talk about cutting it fine! The range prediction is spot on. Please feel free to ask any question about the car, it will be much better rather than me writing at length and then losing it again. Regards, Bob

Also Drake, remember we are driving in extreme conditions here in Norway and things can only get better. Cold and heat are the worst conditions for any EV battery. Whereabouts are you based? I went to our Mazda dealer about the battery not being heated. Apparently it comes on around the -20c mark (-4F), which in my mind is crazy. I had a 2014 Tesla Model S with the smaller 60Kwh battery, which when cold showed a blue area in the battery symbol showing that it could not charge any further. Once I heated up the car, the blue area disappeared and the car charged again as normal.

 

[Bob Long]

Uh, that's disappointing! You'd think that auto manufacturers at least steal a couple good features from others. Not Mazda it seems.

Having had the MX30 for just over a week, the car has been driven in extremely cold conditions from -5c to -22c. Once the battery heater is sorted it will be a great car, even with the low range. This will only get better when warmer weather arrives.