How and why to precondition your Kia EV6 battery when using rapid charge points

[@robfee2065]

Most informative thanks

[@EVCarShare]

I'm glad it's useful. :)

[@TheRealArjay]

Thank you for your clear explanation of battery preconditioning and when to use or not use it. There's one thing however that needs additional consideration: Some charging points in continental Europe operate on a combined kWh and charging time cost calculation. In such cases, it might be more cost efficient to use preconditioning even if you aren't in a hurry, because if the car is charging with max. power, it will simply consume less charging time, effectively lowering the overall, aggregated charging costs.

[@EVCarShare]

Yes, that's very true and well worth considering. I've only ever charged in Continental Europe during the summer myself but I can see that in other times of year preconditioning would certainly save money on time based charge points.

[@grantrandall1674]

I gave this video a mention in Kia EV drivers group in F_B last week. It looks like your subs have been growing since! 😊

[@EVCarShare]

Thanks. Always great to have some support! :)

[@ivicatic]

Hi, thanks for the video. However, unlike in UK, south Spain is really hot, and the coldest we will get will be 15 Celsius. What I wonder, during the summer, when outside is 40 Celsius, should I do preconditioning, maybe because battery is on "hot" side? Thanks!!

[@EVCarShare]

I don't live in Spain, so I can't give you any first hand experience. But here in UK summer at least, I find that the battery remains cooler underneath the car than the cabin etc. And it tends to remain relatively cool being under the car, with airflow through the front vents and the coolant etc. Also I understand that the A/C will cool the battery actively. So, considering all of this my best advice would be to try your best at all times to park the car out of the sun, to keep the battery cool as much as possible when not driving. So that it starts each drive as cool as possible. It takes a long time for the battery temperature to rise and fall due to ambient temperatures. When charging there's nothing you can do to prevent it heating up. The car will do it's bit as best as it can with the coolant automatically. If you avoid using the A/C in the cabin then that might help - for instance, leave the car charging and go somewhere else. A café or something. Also try not to rapid charge for too long, consider charging to a lower SOC, then get going again. More short stops instead of fewer long ones.

[@markgeezey1809]

It always confuses me somewhat why Kia did this preheating this particular way. But looking at the screen when you set add tour point. It still also showed the suggested charging points on the map. So my question is will it pre- heat to all three charging points shown on the map or just the tour point you added manually even though the map still showed the three charging points after you had set the tour point. Why didn’t the system delete these suggestions from the map after you unticked the box? Just a little confusing as I would want to set this charging stop myself and ignore / delete the recommended with the car thinking it will still go to those charge points and pre-heat automatically. Hope my question makes sense? Never used the pre-heating on mine as typically just use AC or occasional DC but usually stop for a break to eat etc. thanks for the explanation and yes it would be great to have a manual override as they have in the EV9 and also BMW i4. Etc.

[@EVCarShare]

As I understand it, the car will preheat at all charge stops in the route. I'm guessing that if a charge stop is your final destination, then it wouldn't preheat for that one but all others should whether added by the car or as a tourpoint. If you want to just use tourpoints and not have any Kia added charge stops then you're best to uncheck the box on the route overview screen for "include charging stations". Then it won't add anything itself, but make sure you add sufficient stops yourself! :)

[@timstanley5920]

Hi, I've underatand that the battery will not warm up if the SOC is less than 20%. What would happen if the nav shows an arrival SOC as 10% at the next planned stop? I'm taking the car on an 800m road trip and I'm not sure if I should plan to arrive with less than 20%. Thanks

[@EVCarShare]

Yes, that's correct. Because the battery heater takes energy, it won't precondition when there's not much left, so that you don't accidentally run out. If you're confident of reaching your planned stop then I'd recommend adding a slightly earlier stop on route too (one it thinks you can reach with just over 20% remaining). You don't need to actually stop at the earlier stop, but it'll do the battery heating in advance of it and it'll still be warm when your actual stop arrives. Cancel the actual stop as you pass by.

[@timstanley5920]

@EVCarShare That's a good idea, I'll do that , thanks.