Range in Extreme Cold

[Kristine Isaac]

I want to buy an EV9. I have never owned an EV before so I am looking for advice. Along the route from my vacation home in Northern Minnesota to my permanent address the distance to the nearest compatible charging station is 174 miles. Over the life of the battery, in all temperatures and driving conditions, is it reasonable to expect that the EV9 will be able to travel this distance comfortably and safely? We are a family of six and the vehicle will be fully loaded.

 

[insightman]

I want to buy an EV9. I have never owned an EV before so I am looking for advice. Along the route from my vacation home in Northern Minnesota to my permanent address the distance to the nearest compatible charging station is 174 miles. Over the life of the battery, in all temperatures and driving conditions, is it reasonable to expect that the EV9 will be able to travel this distance comfortably and safely? We are a family of six and the vehicle will be fully loaded.

Sounds like a question for @Andre Laurence (see this thread).

 

[Andre Laurence]

Sounds like a question for @Andre Laurence (see this thread).

Thanks for thinking of me.

I want to buy an EV9. I have never owned an EV before so I am looking for advice. Along the route from my vacation home in Northern Minnesota to my permanent address the distance to the nearest compatible charging station is 174 miles. Over the life of the battery, in all temperatures and driving conditions, is it reasonable to expect that the EV9 will be able to travel this distance comfortably and safely? We are a family of six and the vehicle will be fully loaded.

Since I am Canadian and in the province of Québec, I have a question about what you mean by “all temperatures”. What is the coldest temperature you get on a regular basis and what is the worst usual cold temperature?

The AWD GT-Line I tested and made the video about was excellent in the summer and gave me about 450km (280ish miles) of highway range, loaded with stuff and 3 people, at about 71mph. Depending on the winter tire model you buy, the temperature outside, the battery preconditioned or not, the amount of snow on the road, wind, etc, etc, etc. I would guess that you should not have issues with 174 miles. This is an educated guess as I have not tested the EV9 in the winter.

When you say “Along the route from my vacation home in Northern Minnesota to my permanent address the distance to the nearest compatible charging station is 174 miles.” are you 100% sure there are no other DC Fast chargers on the route, from any network? Have you verified the route in both PlugShare and A Better Route Planner?

As for battery degradation, I would not worry about that at all. Kia has an excellent battery management system and enough of a buffer at the top of the range for degradation to take place outside of the useable portion of the battery. My Niro EV had 58,000km in 3 years and the battery had 100% state of health when I sold it, and my EV6 has 84,000km in 3 years and the battery still has 100% state of health.

 

[Paul K]

I'm the cautious type. If it's 174 miles to the nearest charger and you need 100% to get to your destination you're going to be there a long time as the last 20% is really slow. And what if someone else is already at the charger or worse yet it's BROKEN which is all too common. With your situation I'd stick with ICE or maybe check out a plug in hybrid. You could also stick with your existing ICE for a few more years to see if the charging infrastructure improves enough to make this less risky. Of course that's just me. Mr. Fraidy cat given my past negative experiences with public charging.

 

[ENirogus]

I would see no problem with the longer range version of the EV9. My Niro has seen a lowest range estimate of 88 percent of EPA in the winter. It does seem odd that you can be that far from a DCFC from a glance at a map

 

[Kristine Isaac]

Hello Andre,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I’m sorry I’m so late in responding. We purchased the car. It is also an AWD GT, as you tested. I will look for your video. I found out that MN has already begun the process of adding charging along my route, so within a year construction could begin on a fast charging station 95 miles from our house! In the meantime, I still haven’t decided if I am brave enough to take the Kia up North or not. Average winter temperatures are between -13C and -6C, but temperatures regularly drop below -20C.

What winter tire do you recommend for best performance in snow and range economy?

I have tried both of the apps. There is one other public DC fast charger that is 128 miles from our house, but PlugShare says that it is below 60kwh speed and there is only 1 plug at that speed. The only other fast charger I can find is at a Kia dealership, and they recently stopped allowing public charging. Everything else is Tesla superchargers. There are multiple options for level 2 charging along the way, especially if I get an NACS adapter, but I’m pretty sure that my family will prefer to take the gas cars over needing to go out of our way to find slow charging options.

Thanks for thinking of me.


Since I am Canadian and in the province of Québec, I have a question about what you mean by “all temperatures”. What is the coldest temperature you get on a regular basis and what is the worst usual cold temperature?

The AWD GT-Line I tested and made the video about was excellent in the summer and gave me about 450km (280ish miles) of highway range, loaded with stuff and 3 people, at about 71mph. Depending on the winter tire model you buy, the temperature outside, the battery preconditioned or not, the amount of snow on the road, wind, etc, etc, etc. I would guess that you should not have issues with 174 miles. This is an educated guess as I have not tested the EV9 in the winter.

When you say “Along the route from my vacation home in Northern Minnesota to my permanent address the distance to the nearest compatible charging station is 174 miles.” are you 100% sure there are no other DC Fast chargers on the route, from any network? Have you verified the route in both PlugShare and A Better Route Planner?

As for battery degradation, I would not worry about that at all. Kia has an excellent battery management system and enough of a buffer at the top of the range for degradation to take place outside of the useable portion of the battery. My Niro EV had 58,000km in 3 years and the battery had 100% state of health when I sold it, and my EV6 has 84,000km in 3 years and the battery still has 100% state of health.

Thanks for thinking of me.


Since I am Canadian and in the province of Québec, I have a question about what you mean by “all temperatures”. What is the coldest temperature you get on a regular basis and what is the worst usual cold temperature?

The AWD GT-Line I tested and made the video about was excellent in the summer and gave me about 450km (280ish miles) of highway range, loaded with stuff and 3 people, at about 71mph. Depending on the winter tire model you buy, the temperature outside, the battery preconditioned or not, the amount of snow on the road, wind, etc, etc, etc. I would guess that you should not have issues with 174 miles. This is an educated guess as I have not tested the EV9 in the winter.

When you say “Along the route from my vacation home in Northern Minnesota to my permanent address the distance to the nearest compatible charging station is 174 miles.” are you 100% sure there are no other DC Fast chargers on the route, from any network? Have you verified the route in both PlugShare and A Better Route Planner?

As for battery degradation, I would not worry about that at all. Kia has an excellent battery management system and enough of a buffer at the top of the range for degradation to take place outside of the useable portion of the battery. My Niro EV had 58,000km in 3 years and the battery had 100% state of health when I sold it, and my EV6 has 84,000km in 3 years and the battery still has 100% state of health.

Thanks for thinking of me.


Since I am Canadian and in the province of Québec, I have a question about what you mean by “all temperatures”. What is the coldest temperature you get on a regular basis and what is the worst usual cold temperature?

The AWD GT-Line I tested and made the video about was excellent in the summer and gave me about 450km (280ish miles) of highway range, loaded with stuff and 3 people, at about 71mph. Depending on the winter tire model you buy, the temperature outside, the battery preconditioned or not, the amount of snow on the road, wind, etc, etc, etc. I would guess that you should not have issues with 174 miles. This is an educated guess as I have not tested the EV9 in the winter.

When you say “Along the route from my vacation home in Northern Minnesota to my permanent address the distance to the nearest compatible charging station is 174 miles.” are you 100% sure there are no other DC Fast chargers on the route, from any network? Have you verified the route in both PlugShare and A Better Route Planner?

As for battery degradation, I would not worry about that at all. Kia has an excellent battery management system and enough of a buffer at the top of the range for degradation to take place outside of the useable portion of the battery. My Niro EV had 58,000km in 3 years and the battery had 100% state of health when I sold it, and my EV6 has 84,000km in 3 years and the battery still has 100% state of health.

 

[Kristine Isaac]

I hear you. Thank you for taking the time to weigh in. We ended up purchasing the EV9, because it us still worth it for us to have the ev for all of the other driving that we do. Since my original post, I have learned that Minnesota has plans in place to expand public fast charging! we will be able to take the EV9 everywhere soon.

I'm the cautious type. If it's 174 miles to the nearest charger and you need 100% to get to your destination you're going to be there a long time as the last 20% is really slow. And what if someone else is already at the charger or worse yet it's BROKEN which is all too common. With your situation I'd stick with ICE or maybe check out a plug in hybrid. You could also stick with your existing ICE for a few more years to see if the charging infrastructure improves enough to make this less risky. Of course that's just me. Mr. Fraidy cat given my past negative experiences with public charging.

 

[Kristine Isaac]

Here is a photo from PlugShare. Filters are set for fast charging (any speed) and CCS plug. I’m am traveling from the blue dot up to the red pin. I have highlighted the portion of my route without level 3 charging.

I would see no problem with the longer range version of the EV9. My Niro has seen a lowest range estimate of 88 percent of EPA in the winter. It does seem odd that you can be that far from a DCFC from a glance at a map

 

[Andre Laurence]

Hello Andre,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I’m sorry I’m so late in responding. We purchased the car. It is also an AWD GT, as you tested. I will look for your video. I found out that MN has already begun the process of adding charging along my route, so within a year construction could begin on a fast charging station 95 miles from our house! In the meantime, I still haven’t decided if I am brave enough to take the Kia up North or not. Average winter temperatures are between -13C and -6C, but temperatures regularly drop below -20C.

What winter tire do you recommend for best performance in snow and range economy?

I have tried both of the apps. There is one other public DC fast charger that is 128 miles from our house, but PlugShare says that it is below 60kwh speed and there is only 1 plug at that speed. The only other fast charger I can find is at a Kia dealership, and they recently stopped allowing public charging. Everything else is Tesla superchargers. There are multiple options for level 2 charging along the way, especially if I get an NACS adapter, but I’m pretty sure that my family will prefer to take the gas cars over needing to go out of our way to find slow charging options.

Tesla will soon open the Supercharger network to Kia, so that should solve your issue with charging when going North. They just opened it for GM and GM has started selling the adapter for their cars. I live in Québec so we have very similar winters, thanks for the info.

Regarding winter tires, there are a few excellent choices, like Nokian Hakkappellitta R3, R5, EV10, as well as Michelin X-Ice, and Continental VikingContact 7. If you would like to learn more about wheels and winter tires, I made this video in December 2022:

 

[insightman]

Regarding winter tires, there are a few excellent choices, like Nokian Hakkappellitta R3, R5, EV10

Because I can't remember how to spell my Hakkappelitta tires, I frequently compliment forum members who can. I looked it up, and no soup for you

Keep up the great videos--you don't have to spell things on them.

 

[Andre Laurence]

Because I can't remember how to spell my Hakkappelitta tires, I frequently compliment forum members who can. I looked it up, and no soup for you

Keep up the great videos--you don't have to spell things on them.

Thank you.