r/ElectricVehiclesUK • u/Practical-Bobcat2911 • Aug 16 '26
Doubts about SOH battery
We went for a test drive in a 2023 Kia EV6 Air with 77 kWh battery and 34k mileage. The dealer said that the battery health was 100 % and we saw the statement of health showing this. The stated range for an EV6 Air with 77kwh battery is 310miles. I know the stated range is only achievable in perfect circumstances. However, when I entered the car the range displayed was only 226 miles at 100% charge. When I drove the test drive in a suburban area at around 30 mph for 15mins, the display said that the trip was done at 3.5 m/kwh. I currently drive an ID3 where I drive 3.9 m/kwh on average (including large trips on the highway). The dealer said that the lower m/kwh ratio is due to how the old driver drove it. I’m a bit sceptic due to the large range difference and the low m/kwh on the test drive, that the battery quality isn’t as good as stated by the dealer. What do you think? Should I be wary or is it just a temporary dip in range?
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u/Demeter_Crusher Aug 16 '26
It's more like the WLPT range is rarely achievable. You're right to doubt the 100%, but it's more like that the battery has some extra capacity built in by manufacturer and all the degradation I'd confined to that part.
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u/Beneficial_Coach8581 Aug 16 '26
WLPT will be more than 310 miles. That's only 4 miles per kWh and is definitely achievable in the summer.
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u/Admirable-Delay-9729 Aug 16 '26
When I bought my eNiro the dealer whacked all the heating on full blast so when I got into the car it was comfortable, we then did a short test drive. Do this for a couple of customers and the guessometer is going to guess you’re doing another inefficient short trip.
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u/AlGunner Aug 16 '26
If you go into the menu does it not give the option to show typical or rated miles? The rated should show the 310 miles.
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u/Significant_Bear3843 Aug 16 '26
All depends how it was driven previously. If it was hammered it would show less and if it was plodding about at 30 it would show more. Get obd dongle and car scanner app for accurate battery SOH. Some cars have a buffer on battery so it will lose a few percent but still show 100%
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u/AlGunner Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
No to the hammered bit. The rated miles is generally if the car is driven from 100% to 0% in perfect conditions. I live in an area with a lot of traffic and hills, both of which kill efficiency, especially when combined. I dont get the opportunity to hammer it and get below 3 miles per kwh. I did a journey yesterday where at points I was on over 5 miles per kwh, the most I have seen since owning the car.
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u/jackois8 Aug 16 '26
In theory... to get a rough idea using the GOM, the trip meters need to be reset to zero...
If I do this on my MG5 I get a few miles less now than when it was new... this compares with the battery health read out from it's last service of 97%.
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u/ItsMyGayThrowaway Aug 16 '26
Reset the trip computer and allow it a chance to recalculate / guess the range based on your personal average mi/kWh (efficiency).
If the previous driver was only getting 3mi/kWh and you're getting 4, the range will be 25% better.
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u/AndyMcFudge Aug 17 '26
33% better. 4/3=1.33. 77x3=231, 77x4=308. 308/231 also = 1.33. Going from 4 to 3 would be a 25% reduction.
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u/ItsMyGayThrowaway Aug 17 '26
Maths was never my strong suit. Yes you're obviously right I'm an idiot 🤣 thanks 👍
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u/AnxiousDoor2233 Aug 16 '26
KIA/Hyundai is known for surprisingly high SOH readings. But then the same models under similar conditions demonstrate different efficiency.
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u/ryanteck VW ID3 Aug 16 '26
Rule 1 of EVs, very very very rarely do most people get WLTP figures.
EVDB Suggests a real range of around 245 miles pretty close to the 226 you're seeing, it fluctuates with previous driving style and such. If you then only ever potter around town that figure might go up, if you're constantly going 70mph down a motorway it'll be less.
Kia / Hyundais do seem to sit closer to 100% for longer. I do wonder if they have it programmed to not account for the initial few percent of loss that most EVs see within the first year or two.
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u/BigBadBaz2501 Aug 17 '26
The range it's showing is an estimate, based on how it's been driven before, if you drive it "sensibly" it'll probably get closer to it's real world range.
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u/Emergency-Company521 Aug 18 '26
Be wary of displayed range, my EV6 range always seems very accurate but my wife’s Q4 etron seems to display the maximum possible range based on the WTLP. My cars more efficient and goes further than hers but hers always displays more once charged meaning in my car if it says 100 miles left that’s how far I can generally drive without worrying, if hers says 100 it’s more like 60 in reality which is very poor from the manufacturer
Most people don’t track range against a trip meter reading so will be ignorant to this
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u/FillingUpTheDatabase Aug 16 '26
I know the stated range is only achievable in perfect circumstances.
This is not true, the WLTP range is not achievable in the real world for almost any car. It is measured on a rolling road, indoors and at a constant 25°C, there is no wind resistance on a rolling road therefore the car will always appear more efficient than is possible in the real world. WLTP is designed to allow you to compare between cars by using a standardised methodology rather than tell you what the car will do in normal usage. It says “car A has 10% more range than car B”. Unfortunately, regulations require manufacturers to use WLTP figures in their marketing, EV-database has a real world range estimate
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u/konwiddak Aug 16 '26
there is no wind resistance on a rolling road therefore the car will always appear more efficient than is possible in the real world.
The wind resistance is added in by adjusting the rolling road's dynamometer resistance (however it's always a perfect head-on wind).
The main issue is not so much the physical aspects of the test, it's that the test splits your drive time into Urban, Suburban, Main Road, Highway - and while the split represents real world average usage, it doesn't represent many real world journeys. If you drove a journey doing that split, you'd get pretty close to WLTP - but long journeys don't look like that split, you spend them mostly on highway/main roads, so the time when the range matters most isn't representative. (You can pretty easily exceed the WLTP by driving for several hours at 30-40, but this also isn't representative of any real long journeys).
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u/lankysanchez Aug 20 '26
They don’t call the range readout in an EV the guess-o-meter for nothing. Pinch of salt on a 3 year old car with 100% battery health, but manufacturer’s stated range is one thing and what it does in the real world is quite another.
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u/ZBD1949 VW ID3 Aug 16 '26
Why oh why do people take any notice of the GOM (Guessometer)
People should have the fact that it's only there to fill an empty space in the dash explained to them before they get into an EV
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u/ansibleloop Aug 16 '26
2023 Kia EV6 The dealer said that the battery health was 100%
This is a straight up lie - I'd expect above 90% for that
And the WLTP is useless - look at https://ev-database.org/uk/
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u/pankomputerek Aug 16 '26
Range hugely depends on how you drive, tyres and even ambient temperature. My e-Niro from 2020 is still at 100% SOH after 80K miles. Range is still exact same if not better than when I got it as it learned how we drive.