EV Range Test - 4 hours at the wheel. Looking at the discrepancies in range estimation.

[@davidsonkeith8465]

Couple of months after our Soul EV First Edition 2nd service, I bought a cheap OBD II plus the Car Scanner app to monitor the internal stats. The brick shape of our Soul does make it less efficient to your e-Niro (and Kona). Noticed most of the time we've been driving with a cool-cold battery. Which seem to worsen the range and SoH figure. Only time I have seen it rise above 25 Celsius was when having a DC charge after a 110km+ on the A83 from Nantes! That was an IE Charge near Derval. Thank you for doing these videos, much appreciated.

[@decimal1815]

Is your eNiro still in warranty and will you replace it before it expires if it is? I'd be interested to see what issues crop up with these early long range EVs as they are now almost affordable! 👍

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Good question. Kia offer a 7 year warranty on their cars, so I still have 2 years to go. I have no plans to change it right now, nor the finances to do that. I was a bit worried when I took the plunge and spent the money in 2019 as although the Niro had been in production since 2016 as a hybrid, the e-Niro was effectively a new car. Conventional wisdom suggests that it is better to buy a car once it has been in production for a few years so that the early build wrinkles are ironed out. On the other hand I knew that an EV has far fewer things to go wrong than an ICE or hybrid car. Some owners of early e-Niro's in the UK had motor failures within the first year (this from the Kia e-Niro owners group on Facebook). If you are buying a used example those things would have been fixed under warranty. It's a shame your employer is taking a backward step and no longer allowing employees to charge while they are at work...it is a very low cost/high value benefit for an employer to offer. As for the granny cable, another good question. I'm retired so it isn't as if I must be on the road to the workplace in the morning so I never bothered to get a charger. Even so, if you do 12,000 miles a year in your car, which is above the average in the UK, you still spend 97% of your time NOT driving. My car charges at 2.2 kW on the granny cable, adding about 11 km (6.8 miles) an hour. It all depends on your routine but even busy people spend at least 12 hours at home before having to get up an go the following day, enough to add 80 miles (based on e-Niro efficiency) on the granny cable. Thanks for watching.

[@rorywebb8906]

Thanks for the video. We have a 2021 E-Niro 4++ yacht blue 20,000 miles and you experience seems almost exactly the same as ours in terms of range at motorway speed in UK. Another factor consider is, as with all cars, that if the car is fully loaded with people and luggage range comes down quite a lot. The Grid server 150KW rapids are good and charge the car from 20-80% in 50 minutes when doing longer journeys with the speed in the middle of the charge reaching 77KW. Found your channel useful especially your explanations of the battery technology in the car. Hyundai and Kia seem to have outperformed the Leaf which I had before and reduced any concern about range considerably..

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Your welcome! Learning about battery technology is an ongoing project, in the context of owning the car of course as I am not chemist. I enjoy watching Dr. Euan Mcturk's 'Plug Life Television' videos on KZbin. He is an electro-chemist who sometimes turns up on the Fully Charged show. He is a true expert on batteries which I will never be. The yacht blue colour looks great, there was only one colour on offer when I ordered ours on 31st December 2018..🙂. Thanks for watching.

[@jcflippen1552]

Your channel is a great source of general observations. Not yet. An ENiro owner but this is great info. 👍

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Sounds like you are planning to make an e-Niro your next car. There's a lot more choice out there now than there was in 2019 when I bought the car but I think they are still competitive on range and efficiency, though not so good on charging speed. The technology is moving quickly so anything you buy today will soon be 'old'..that's always the way with technology. Thanks for watching!

[@peterwilliams2580]

I have found an almost identical result whilst doing a similar distance in a day in my 2021 4+ in Eco mode on Max regen. Were you on max regen on this trip? I intend (if I can remember) to change mine to 0 for my next 230 mile motorway journey to see if that makes a significant difference.

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

I set the regen to 'auto' and tend to forget about it. In town driving I sometimes use the paddles to bring the car to a stop. We have done trips into mountainous regions like the Auvergne and Ardèche..in those places I use the paddles for controlling downhill speed.

[@gpw369]

Hi. Usual high standard of stats, thanks! One thing that you may also find interesting, which can only really be calculated from a singular long trip (like your one here) is your actual battery degradation. We can see this from your last screen, at 13% battery remaining, let's take a swag at this: (PS I have an e-niro 4). So you did 15.0 kwh/100km, when multiplied by 369.2 driven, gives us a consumption of 55.38 Kwh. Dividing 5538/.87 gives us true up to 63.65 Kwh. If you classify the available kwh at 64KWH then you are getting 99.46% of original. Which actually is impressive, just a 0.54% loss or degradation in 5 years. That said, if you take your number and divide it into the battery raw capacity hidden by the BMS, of what I think is 66.8 Kwh, you get 95.3% of max, or 4.7% degradation. However, not sure how the battery management system manages release back that hidden capacity over the years, AND there will be some very small % overhead in heat loss across battery heat and motor (represented as a small loss in capacity in the battery) in your trip. So 0.5% loss on this original 64kwh which is rather good for the miles you have driven. Next time I do this on mine I will share my results.

[@alanbrad3727]

Thanks for this video. I'm looking at upgrading my Ioniq 38 with your model of Niro. The extra 70 to 90 miles and slightly quicker charging makes it perfect for me.

[@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834]

just done 260km coolish start finished at 20°, mainly flat, 102kph, [ not average-3 towns to drive through] slight tail wind. 15.8kperkw....Kona series 2.

[@anthonybutcher5224]

Interesting as ever, if you can, you should try the trip in high summer, to see what a difference it makes. As you have said range is affected by both driving style and temperature.

[@AndrewTSq]

In summer you have the ac instead using power, and batterys need cooling instead on hot days, so could be a bit rough aswell

[@colinrobinson7869]

We also have a Kia E niro 4+ so heat pump etc and 240-50 miles would be our safe range all year round but have noticed that when changing to 100% the car only shows 97% and we have driven 44500 miles in just over three years + only home charging no DC rapid charging ? any comments or is this normal for a late 2020 reg Kia e niro but N.B. still love my car. 😎

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

That's interesting, when I charge to 100% at home on the granny cable (I don't have a home charger) the battery % says 100. I am sure the heat pump would make a difference in the winter, although when we have done long hauls in the winter the range is still longer than I want to drive in one sitting. Thanks for watching.

[@gpw369]

See my commanet (above), whebey you can get an idea of the actual degradation. I also see 99% when i fully charge my e-niro 4, so this could be indicative of the BMS reporting a small degradation, or BMS is deliberately limiting charge. So best way is to do a long run and divide consumption

[@contra_plano]

Bjorn has said that odoneter is slow, like you did. Did you upgrade software of gps and the car? There is?

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Not sure I understand what you mean by the odometer being 'slow' but as for software, the early editions of the car (Called FE in the UK) have limited upgrading capabilities. In 2020 there was a refresh which included a lot more memory for the infotainment system but my car cannot accept those upgrades.

[@contra_plano]

Ok. Thanks. I might buy a >2021 niro

[@austin2planks]

Its not really a discrepancy though it is? The GOM works on recent average, so if you suddenly decrease efficiency by heating or driving faster, then you aren't going to get the range it says at the start! Better to look at the efficiency you're getting on the day and estimate range from that.

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

I agree absolutely that the current trip efficiency reading is a better indication. The discrepancy I was referring to is that after 56 km of fast driving the battery level was still showing 90% which is nuts! There is clearly room for improvement in the software which could give a more realistic reading by sampling driving speed and conditions more frequently. Other electric cars may suffer the same kind of lag but I think the most important thing is to get to know your car. Thanks for watching.