I live in Regina,Saskatchewan, Canada where we are experiencing very frigid weather. I charge my kona at 80%, which has been giving me a range of over 200km. I commute every day to work, approximately 80km. When I got to destination, my range indicated just below 90km. I have the radio on, temp set at 23, driver only, heat, fan on medium and sometimes switch to front defrost to front defrost and vent down. Is this normal? I also set the paddle to 3, use eco mode on the highway and set cruise as well. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Range in winter
- Thread starter Juliekona
- Start date
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KiwiME
Well-Known Member
Even from my sundrenched viewpoint I'd suggest charging up higher than 80%.
Really only the heater use is going to materially affect your range out of these items.
GeorgeS
Active Member
It is tough in very cold weather. Charging over 80% is a good idea at least in winter. The car can handle it and it will help your range anxiety. I'm charging every level 2 charging session to 90%. I want to have the battery check run at 80%. Sounds like you could use the extra energy.
Maple
Member
80% charge I can get 320km here in Ontario. Last week lowest temperatures around -23-27C. A few tips to get longer range
1. Only use steering wheel heater or seat heater if temperature is not too low and drive time is not long
2. Increase tire pressure. I use 40-45psi
3. If temperature is not lower than -15C use heat pump as much as possible that’s only tune on AC and turn off heater. Even de-frost you can only use heat pump. Heat pump out put air is not hot but warm. A few minutes later you will feel more comfortable.
4. If only you in the car use driver side climate only.
5. Use air internal circulation as much as possible
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1. Only use steering wheel heater or seat heater if temperature is not too low and drive time is not long
2. Increase tire pressure. I use 40-45psi
3. If temperature is not lower than -15C use heat pump as much as possible that’s only tune on AC and turn off heater. Even de-frost you can only use heat pump. Heat pump out put air is not hot but warm. A few minutes later you will feel more comfortable.
4. If only you in the car use driver side climate only.
5. Use air internal circulation as much as possible
Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Genevamech
Active Member
Winter range really takes a hit for multiple reasons, the biggest being energy used for heating. Just yesterday I did a 60-mile round trip with moderate heater use and used up nearly 50% of the pack (though in the US we only have resistance heat, no heat pumps)
No harm at all in charging to 90% if you need that little bit of extra range.
Personally I feel I can get better range with my own foot versus cruise control. Depending on the topology of the route, turning off regen to make use of coasting on even slight downgrades may also help. I don't know if the good old "burn and coast" hypermiling strategy is as effective with EVs, but it will probably have good effect.
If you can leave the car plugged in every night, set the climate precondition function so the car is nice and warm by the time you're ready to leave. Especially nice if you park outside and may need to defrost the windows before leaving! If your car is equipped with a battery heater, having it plugged in might also help keep the pack at temp that's more efficient right from the start.
Use recirc so you're not taking in as much cold outside air. This can lead to window fogging problems, since IIRC recirc is disabled when it's set to blow air on the windows, but if you want to eek out a few extra kilometers you can save energy by fiddling with this setting as much as tolerable. Every watt-hour not spent heating frigid outside air is a watt-hour available for driving. (When are they gonna add energy recovery ventilation for cars?
)
No harm at all in charging to 90% if you need that little bit of extra range.
Personally I feel I can get better range with my own foot versus cruise control. Depending on the topology of the route, turning off regen to make use of coasting on even slight downgrades may also help. I don't know if the good old "burn and coast" hypermiling strategy is as effective with EVs, but it will probably have good effect.
If you can leave the car plugged in every night, set the climate precondition function so the car is nice and warm by the time you're ready to leave. Especially nice if you park outside and may need to defrost the windows before leaving! If your car is equipped with a battery heater, having it plugged in might also help keep the pack at temp that's more efficient right from the start.
Use recirc so you're not taking in as much cold outside air. This can lead to window fogging problems, since IIRC recirc is disabled when it's set to blow air on the windows, but if you want to eek out a few extra kilometers you can save energy by fiddling with this setting as much as tolerable. Every watt-hour not spent heating frigid outside air is a watt-hour available for driving. (When are they gonna add energy recovery ventilation for cars?
)
apu
Well-Known Member
Yup pretty normal. When its as cold as it is in the prairies of Canada right now there is not much you can do about the consumption, which at times heating power exceeds traction power. You can try driving slower. Just be careful with too much regen on slippery iced highways. I will often turn regen off completely for the sake of better control, bloody regen almost put me into the trans Canada highway ditch on a recent trip to Brandon. Incidentally I am charging 90-100% recently as I also need the daily range and I am lucky if 100% will give me 250km when its -30C. I am also kind of frustrated with limited DC charging options that seem pretty dodgy during the extreme cold, I got a 530km round trip coming up and if it remains this cold I am going to break down and take my wife's CRV. Last time I made the trip one of the two DC chargers I needed to visit was down and it ended up making the trip 5 hours longer as scrambled to deal with level 2 chargers to complete the trip.
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Kamloops_KoNa
Member
Sell it?
Welcome to Canadian winters vs electric batteries. Today my Kona in -18C had less than 50% of its range and wouldn't let me go faster than 78km/hr on the freeway in my city today. Driving with the 4 way flashers on in the slow lane was ridiculous. And yes, I had the winter settings all on (battery warming, etc).
Anyone wanna buy my 2019 Kona with 15k kms on it?
Wildeyed
Well-Known Member
Um, that's not from the cold. That's a malfunctioning car. I've been through 2 winters now and have never seen (or even heard) of that sort of behavior including at temperatures of -20/-30C. And I've never seen range drop by more than about 30%.Sell it?
Welcome to Canadian winters vs electric batteries. Today my Kona in -18C had less than 50% of its range and wouldn't let me go faster than 78km/hr on the freeway in my city today. Driving with the 4 way flashers on in the slow lane was ridiculous. And yes, I had the winter settings all on (battery warming, etc).
Anyone wanna buy my 2019 Kona with 15k kms on it?
Kamloops_KoNa
Member
Thanks wildeye, I'll stop by the dealership tomorrow then to have it addressed. I thought it was odd, but also thought I'd check here & see if it was happening with others
Kamloops_KoNa
Member
This am (-20C), it had a 47% charge with 85km showing on the GOM. It also didn't charge as programmed to do last night. It started out ok, but within 5 mins of a gradual climb on the highway, it AGAIN slowed to 74 km/hr & the turtle "reduced power" icon came on.
I took it to the Hyundai dealer where they can fix it or it can burn to the ground; at this point I'm OK either way.
Wildeyed
Well-Known Member
Ya, that's totally wonky. You've got more problems than the cold, my friend. I understand the frustration.
Kamloops_KoNa
Member
Well, for 3 weeks my vehicle has been in the shop and the local dealer contacted me this am said that they've talked to Hyundai Canada and the latest software "upgrade" should fix the issue.
Yet the dealer and Hyundai Canada couldn't find out what the issue is to begin with.
I'm selling it as long as I don't have to repay the fed & prov rebates back.
I'll wait for the ID units to prove themselves before I pour money into another EV.
Thankfully I never sold my 05 Subaru; it runs great & is paid for
Yet the dealer and Hyundai Canada couldn't find out what the issue is to begin with.
I'm selling it as long as I don't have to repay the fed & prov rebates back.
I'll wait for the ID units to prove themselves before I pour money into another EV.
Thankfully I never sold my 05 Subaru; it runs great & is paid for
apu
Well-Known Member
I have been experiencing this as well. When the battery pack is colder than -10C and you SOC is lower than 50% you can see a wide variations in delivered voltage/resistance when accelerating or maintaining highway speeds from the individual modules and subsequently the BMS will trip turtle model. If you have winter mode on it will turn on your battery heater but it can take 20+ minutes before the battery temp allows the voltages to equalize. Sometimes if you will turn off cabin heating it may reduce you electrical load enough to kick you out of the turtle. I didn't seem to experience this last winter I wonder if this is a new BMS software "feature". I agree its quite annoying to start off a highway trip with 40% of more SOC and immediately hit turtle mode.
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Kamloops_KoNa
Member
I had the upgrade done after the issue and always leave my vehicle in "winter mode". I'm glad I'm not alone with this, but if Hyundai isn't dealing with this, I'll sell it before more issues arise. It concerns me that Hyundai stopped selling the Kona EV in their home country.... It says a lot IMO.
apu
Well-Known Member
Yeah, frankly I am sick of seeing the dealer. I have had 14 non routine maintenance related visits to the dealer and the car has cumulatively spent more than 6 weeks in their hands this past year. I am tired of bringing up problems only for them to to ask me to document and prove my concerns with videos because they have never encountered a problem like this before. Tired of being the unpaid beta tester. I suppose this would be somewhat tolerable if I did not already have a full time job that does not involve diagnosing problems on their behalf.
Currently, Other than the extreme cold battery voltage sag, my bluelink only starts climate control intermittently and my new traction motor screams like a banshee for the first few minutes in any cold startup greater than -10C. Meh, it could be worse
Kamloops_KoNa
Member
My kona is on kijiji if anyone wants to buy it.
Sadly I'm no Optimist & still love my ol '05 subi impreza.
Here's to hoping maybe (maybe) the ionic 5 is somewhat better. I'll prob look to the ID platform from VW first tho.
Or just continue to drive my Subaru
Sadly I'm no Optimist & still love my ol '05 subi impreza.
Here's to hoping maybe (maybe) the ionic 5 is somewhat better. I'll prob look to the ID platform from VW first tho.
Or just continue to drive my Subaru
R P
Well-Known Member
If it is just about the battery issues, I think you are making a big mistake. When your battery is replaced, it will be like setting the odometer back to zero.
I just completed a 1600km round trip, and happier than ever with it now. The only gliche on the trip was my own doing. Car performed great otherwise.
https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/bc-hydro-stations.5252/page-8#post-125790
BTW, my other car is a Subaru Crosstrek. It is a great car, too, in all respects except that it is not an EV. But it is a good complement to my EV, for going off-road to my cabin, which my Kona can't do.