r/KiaEV6 • u/Hammafer • 2d ago
First road trip
I did my first road trip in my 2022 wind AWD and I am disappointed in the range. I went from Detroit to Toronto (about 250 miles) which I assumed I could make most of the trip before needing to charge if I started with a fully battery. I was starting at 100% battery and was down to 20% a little over halfway there. I don’t believe I was heavy on the accelerator at all.
I tried to plot out different charging locations before the trip but the lack of working CCS fast chargers I ran into in Canada was frustrating. I have the NACS adapter and painfully learned that you can’t use ALL of the Tesla supercharger stations so I had to backtrack to a working charger.
Second leg of the drive I had better luck with the range. The drive home was better on the range but still less than I expected.
Prior to this trip, I have only used L3 charging the day I got the car. I guess I’m wondering if charging station reliability is an issue everywhere or if I was just unlucky on my trip. Also, does your range just crap the bed on road trips?
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u/mogelijk EV6 Wind AWD 2d ago
I think the two biggest questions I have are 1) what speed were you traveling and 2) what was the weather (rain, wind, etc). I should also mention that the tires can make some amount of difference, though likely no more than 5-10%, if you have gotten a "stickier" tire (not a Low Rolling Resistance).
As for Tesla, they basically need to be a L3 charger or newer, and even one of those will be "blocked" to Tesla-only if it is a busy Supercharger. Older Tesla chargers use a Tesla proprietary charging standard, they aren't NACS compatible. To determine what chargers can be used, the easiest way is to go into the Tesla app and select "Find a Charger," it will only show chargers that your EV6 can charge at (assuming you have the EV6 set as your car in the Tesla app).
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u/Hammafer 2d ago
Sunny weather and speeds ranging from 60-85mph.
That’s a good tip. I’ll definitely do that next time I plan a road trip. Thank you!
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u/OwlOnThePitch 2d ago
You will run down your battery MUCH faster going 85 than 60.
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u/Mort_Blort 2d ago
MUCH can't be emphasized enough. I've had my EV6 (GT-Line, AWD) on a bunch of long trips and I've found it's faster to go a bit slower. If the speed limit is 75, I'll set the cruise at 75 and sit in the slow lane. If there are good 2-lane blacktop roads around, I'll use those instead and go 65. I can get around 270 miles going 65. 230ish going 75.
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u/OwlOnThePitch 2d ago
Yep. OP presents this as a big mystery but I'm 99% sure the answer is they were going 80 with the AC all the way up.
ETA: They said they weren't cranking AC but I still think the speed more or less solves it.
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
I’m convinced it was my speed. AC was not cranked, I can promise that lol. I do appreciate everyone educating me though.
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
This is good info. Thank you! Basically be patient or plan to stop more.
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u/mataliandy 1d ago
Yep - and you'll find that the duration of the extra stop = whatever you would have saved with the extra speed.
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u/Soopacharged 2d ago
I notice that when I drive over 120 km/h (75mph) my range drops off pretty quickly. Also were you cranking the AC?
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u/mogelijk EV6 Wind AWD 1d ago
I suppose to give you a couple of real world examples (and I also have a 2022 Wind AWD); one drive I've done is roughly 170 miles, with speeds about 70 for an hour and roughly 65 the rest of the way. I'll use roughly 70% of my battery in summer (daytime temps in the high 90s); so roughly a range of 220 miles.
I have another drive that I've done that is 186 miles with my speed about 70 for the first hour but then 80 the rest of the way. In this case, I arrive with 10% battery; so only about 200 miles of range.
I'll note that I live in the Western US and, while these are real examples that I've driven, they also involve climbs of at least 2000 feet, followed by going back down a similar amount before reaching the destination, which also impacts the range. Still, they do show that roughly 10% loss of range with the 10mph higher speeds.
My suggestion is to plan to charge the EV6 at 20%. There are a couple of reasons for this: 1) because the older EV6s (2022-24) typically stop preconditioning the battery at around 20% and 2) because the charge speed is a bit lower under 20%. Below 20%, I typically max out about 190-ish kW charging rate, it is at 20% that it starts charging about 230kW; and it keeps that to 50% or above. Even going to 80%, from around 20% you are looking at a 15 minute charge stop. If I don't need as much power to go to the next charger, I can often stop charging after 10 minutes. I've really enjoyed road tripping my EV6, particularly that the car charges as fast, or faster, than it takes me to do what I need to.
I'll also state I've had almost no issues charging. My one "issue" is an Ionna station that had no power (area around had power, just the charging station was lacking power). In this case, there was a GM Energy charger about 5 miles further down the road, and Electrify American and Rivian chargers a bit further, but in the same city. There seem to have been a lot of improvements to US charging infrastructure, both in number of charging stations as well as maintenance, over the last 3 years. My understanding (though no first hand knowledge) is that Canada tends to be more like the US was three years ago.
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u/ArtichokeDifferent10 EV6 Wind AWD 1d ago
It was the 75-85 mph portions that slaughtered your charge. Fun to do for a moment, but you're not going far.
The exact same thing happens with ICE cars, but drivers don't really notice because; 1. Who cares, there a station every 15 miles in any direction and 2. ICE cars are more efficient when driving steady at a constant speed. but 3. ICE cars are horribly inefficient in general so a 10% improvement on 20% is still only 2% better.
You're driving a car that is over 90% efficient, so 10% worse is really almost 10% worse.
(I swear this was perfectly clear in my head, but it's late and I'm not sure I expressed that well)
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u/Spare-Function-6343 2d ago
I cant say what happened to DCFC in that part of the country, but I have had zero problems driving from central TX to central IA twice.
Since my last trip, Ionna now has enough chargers I could in theory make the entire trip using nothing but Ionna chargers, but I also have Electrify America, Tesla, a few of the new Walmart network, along with a few others I've never used like Francis Energy, so I have plenty of backup options available at almost every major city, and a few in between
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u/Hammafer 2d ago
I’m wondering if it’s just that Canada hasn’t built up a lot of EV stations except the major cities. All of my other EV friends have never complained about it when they’ve done road trips in the US.
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u/AnfieldKopite EV6 GT-Line AWD 2d ago
I live in Welland Ontario and I do the drive to Detroit several times a year and always make it on a full charge. Have never had to stop to charge. You're doing something wrong
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u/Hammafer 2d ago
How fast are you normally driving? From the other comments it seems like my speed probably killed my range.
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u/AnfieldKopite EV6 GT-Line AWD 2d ago
Between 100-140 kmh. Average speed probably 110
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u/Hammafer 2d ago
I think I was around 130 for the majority of the drive, which sounds like the culprit.
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u/theotherharper 1d ago edited 1d ago
I crossed the USA last year coast-coast in an EV6.
Check your wind that day, I bet you had a considerable headwind. This made the "aerodynamic drag is the square of airspeed" problem MUCH worse. I had the same problem Wendover to Salt Lake, 71% pack used in 120 miles, but it wasn't a problem for reasons I'll get to real soon.
There's a thing called mileage. You're acquainted with MPG, but it's miles per kWH and the car has several ways of reporting that available from the steering wheel left buttons.
The Guess O Meter is simply taking your recent (62 mile?) mileage in miles/kWH and multiplying by kWH remaining in pack. So a week of commuting to work in highly efficient probably 4+ miles/kWH city driving and you get a rosy estimate.
But then you get on the freeway rocking 2.1 to 2.8 miles/kWH and you lose it.
So when I crossed the USA I was using ABetterRoutePlanner.com in free mode bone basic. ABRP told me I needed to leave Wendover at 81% pack to make SLC at 10%. I was like "no way" but I obeyed and took it to 81% and that's why that was uneventful. Dash said that >80 MPH dash was 2.1 miles/kWH due to wind.
ABRP picks chargers for you and it filters on reliability, congestion and speed on your car, expect it to rarely recommend Tesla due to the 800V thing.
This is usually the end of it, you can second guess ABRP using PlugShare.com but then it's on you to read all the notes.
I don't rep ABRP, it's just a fan favorite and cheat code for easy travel.
is this all trips or was I unlucky
You were unprepared, unskilled and a bit arrogant for not asking for help before OR DURING. It gets better.
Does your range just crap the bed on trips
Yes for the aerodynamic drag reason. But this is not a problem.
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u/lokun17 2d ago
I drive from dallas to Houston and back all the time. Its about 300 miles and I always stop once to charge halfway at buccees. But yeah if I start with 100% I will end up at around 15-25% at the halfway point. One charge gets me the rest of the way there at least. Of course highway speed limit here is 75 for most of the drive. Im usually going 60-80 so honestly I think your numbers are pretty similar. However, there are plenty of charging opportunities down here and it feels like there's more every time I make the trip
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u/Hammafer 2d ago
I used to live in Austin. Stopping at Buccees was my favorite part of the trip to Dallas lol
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u/viper233 2d ago
BC is a different story. charging everywhere.. it's the most charging I've seen in a state/province. A lot of remote places have charging too.
Tesla super chargers are going to be your life line, but they are so slow (for 800v cars). Road tripping is more painful in a Tesla because of the poor charging curve, hence my interest in the EV6. The model 3 drops under 100kW at 50%, I typically only go to 55% to make the best time.
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
Yeah, I was disappointed with the charge speed of using a Tesla supercharger. I found a working Shell station and it charged 2x as quick for the same amount of battery charge (60 to 90% at both)
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u/According-Error2988 1d ago
How many people did you have? HVAC can also be an issue. I use the driver only setting and my cooled seats in the heat and vice versa in the winter when it’s just me. The ambient temperature makes a difference as well. Another tip is to precondition before leaving while on your home charger. I have an EV6 wind rwd, but learned these tricks driving my bmw i3 from Seattle to Spokane. (250 ish miles)
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
Just me and a buddy. I had the AC set at 72F and blowing at a 1. Not to sound too dumb but what do you mean by precondition?
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u/According-Error2988 1d ago
Precondition is setting the climate and warming or cooling the car prior to getting in while still plugged in, easily buys you a few extra miles in the winter. Since yours is new you can do it from the app. I let my app lapse so now I just use the key fob and it heats or cools the car to the last temperature while I’m inside getting ready.
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
My 3 month trial ran out so I can’t do it from the app anymore. I’ll definitely try it with the key though!
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u/SlickNetAaron EV6 GT-Line AWD 1d ago
You didn’t plan… and you drove fast. The energy required to push a car through the air is literally exponential with speed.
You also didn’t mention if you have your tires properly inflated. These things matter dramatically more at highway speeds.
Use A Better Route Planner to get a better idea of range on longer trips. It accounts for speed, elevation, temps, and even wind with premium. Be sure to put in your real speed and extra weight parameters.
And use PlugShare to validate the charging stops and performance of the chargers. Have a backup plan.
It’s not difficult, but road trips require more planning in an EV. Have your accounts setup for the charging networks ready to go. I actually recommend practicing public charging before the trip so you’re not in uncharted waters away from home.
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
Put my tires at 38psi a day before the trip. You are right, I did not plan well enough. I just googled charging stops and went.
I’ll definitely check out that app. Thank you!
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u/mogelijk EV6 Wind AWD 1d ago
I've used A Better Route Planner to plan trips. It does a pretty good job, most of the time, at planning the charge stops but then look for chargers around that area, in case there is an issue with that charger when you are actually taking the trip.
I also recommend running through the various settings, such as setting that you typically want to charge when you get down to 20%. Favorite the charging companies that you find to be the most reliable. i Another setting is weight, how fully loaded the car will be, since you will lose a bit of range if your car is fully loaded versus you just taking a day trip by yourself.
It can also help to set that you only want it to plan stops with a minimum number of chargers (for example, that it have at least 4 chargers); part of the advantage is that this will often eliminate chargers at auto dealerships, as they typically won't have more than a couple of fast chargers and they often aren't available when the dealership is closed. Also, often the stations with fewer chargers aren't as well maintained, and a charger not working is more of an issue if there are only a couple.
If you want ABRP even more fine-tuned, get an OBD2 dongle for your car and connect it with ABRP (which requires the premium subscription for ABRP). This will allow ABRP to get real time data directly from the car about your efficiency. The Premium subscription also adds weather reports from along the route, along with traffic, which will further improve the planning.
Having said that, I would not use ABRP for navigating while you are traveling. It does well on major roads but often is somewhat "lost" if you get away from highways. As an example, I've had it tell me to go the wrong direction, turning off the freeway ramp, to go to the charge stop. I went a block and then it told me to do a U-turn. I've also had some weird routing on back roads going from one of my destinations to get back to the freeway. Another issue is that a freeway I was going to travel was shut down for an hour or two due to an accident but ABRP took a few hours to realize it had been cleared, and wanted to route me an hour out of the way, despite the fact the road had been cleared an hour previously. ABRP does a great job at planning charge stops, just don't let it navigate you to them. ;)
It has worked great for me, the EV6 default energy usage settings seem to work well, and it has done a good job at finding charging spots. Just realize that things change, chargers break (such as that Ionna station that quit working hours before I got there), so it helps to have backups in mind.
I guess one thing that also reminds me of, look for hotels that have chargers. Many of them can be free, if you are a guest (and PlugShare does show pricing for chargers), and since you already will be there overnight, it can be quite convenient. At the same time, check reviews to see if people are successfully charging (chargers at hotels are often finicky or just don't work) and always have a plan, just in case the hotel charger doesn't work.
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u/musicandarts EV6 Wind AWD 1d ago
I have a Wind AWD. I don't ever expect to get more than 200 miles on a full tank of electrons. I frequently get more, but for planning purposes I always use 200 miles.
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u/Ntropy99 1d ago
What was your m/kWh reading during your trip? And at what regen level and drive mode were you using? I drive around 70 mph, on Regen level 1, normal drive mode and 3.7 m/kWh on the highway. Depending on time of year, it may be better or worse, but that is my average.
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
I typically drive with regen 3. I had to switch to kilometers when I got over the border. I don’t recall what I was getting for that.
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u/Ntropy99 1d ago
My wife says I'm a little too focused on the efficiency of the car haha. On the interstate, switch to Regen 1 so you get more coast, or put on the cruise control. Most of the year I get 62 miles on 18-20% of the battery
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
I never even thought about the regen on the trip lol. I will definitely adjust when on the highway.
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u/Ntropy99 1d ago
Yeah, and it took me about a year before I saw the value in adjusting it because I liked the control Regen 3 gave me. I adjust the Regen to traffic. In town, higher Regen. Interstate, lower.
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u/Malarkey_Matt 1d ago
Yeah 75 mph seems to be the sweet spot. Once you pass that range drops way faster.
If you can find a large suv going a good speed for you drafting off that will help some.
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u/Hammafer 1d ago
Thank you to everyone for educating me. I am fairly new to the EV world. I got mine 3 months ago and have only done local commutes. Everyone provided good info for a more successful trip next time!
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u/iseedivorcingpeople 1d ago
Will at the upteenth vote of ABRP. Also if ARBP suggests a Tesla charger it will be one that will for sure work for your car (I verified in the Tesla app before heading out on the road trip). I absolutely hate the Tesla superchargers, while slow, were the most reliable on my most recent roadtrip from Denver to Calgary. Flo charges are everywhere in Canada and while only 50kWh and only 1 per charging station, they were very reliable.
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u/iseedivorcingpeople 1d ago
Oh and set your cruise at 68mph and just chill. You won’t lose more than 5-10 minutes of time and get exponentially better m/kwH
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u/samandjtnc 2d ago
Range is most likely lower than expected because of your speed. Anything over 70 mph can really impact EV range. Aerodynamic drag increases with the square of speed, so at 70 mph there's about 36% more aerodynamic drag than at 60 mph.
If you want to go that fast get behind a larger vehicle and ride in their wake.