Kia EV6 Nutzerbewertung - EV6 Light 58 kWh RWD

Kia EV6 Vorteile und Nachteile

Vorteile:

Purchased before August 2022 and the car came with $7500 in US tax credits (Thanks GW Bush and Barry Obama).
Purchase price was ~$45k including taxes before rebates
Charges at 175 kW if battery temp is above room temperature
It's quite efficient with overall 3.7 mi/kWh or 270 Wh/mi or 168 Wh/km, apparently the most efficient example of the EV6 versions
Variable regeneration or recuperation modes mean you can tune the behavior to match your preference.
Even though slow for an EV it's faster than many fossil cars starting from a stop
Snow Mode is legitamately great in the snow even for a RWD car
The Light Trim was cancelled so it's a unicorn in the US

Nachteile:

Purchased after August 2022 and comes with no $7500 US tax credit (Thanks Joe Manchin)
No battery preconditioning on June 2022 and earlier EV6 models so charges at 30 kW if it's around freezing temperatures.
can't use Kia navigation and Waze simultaneously. For some reason using one cancels the other
No heated steering wheel on RWD EV6s
Wired Apple Car Play is less desireable.
This Trim was cancelled so it's a unicorn now in the US
top speed only 107 mph

Nutzerbewertung

EV6 Light 58 kWh RWD

An overall great EV for those on a budget. The least expensive trim in the USA at $42,000 in April 2022. Not a slow car in this trim level but certainly not one to win drag races. Is being quicker worth $20-30k more to you? Also here’s another thing to consider for the small battery version of the car. It’s light, as in 3900 lb or 1770 kg. Maybe this is not light compared to a Lotus Super 7, but it’s in line with the weight of internal combustion vehicles in 2022. So that means everything is better in terms of ride, handling, acceleration (from the 125 kW/175 hp motor). In regards to the small battery, it’s usable capacity is 54 kWh and it’s a 600 volt pack (vs 800 volt nominal for the large pack) and in my experience chargers equally well on a properly spec’d 150 kW station as it does on a 350 kW station. After a dozen road trips including 10 stops at EVgo, 30 stops at ElectrifyAmerica, and 20 stops at ChargePoint a good charge is over 100 kW and a great charging session is over 150 kW (averaged over the whole session). Given the infrastructure in the real world right now this means sessions tend to be 10-30 minutes and even though the voltage and capacity are smaller, on a great session it’s less than 20 minutes to go from 10% state of charge to 80% and 20-70% is closer to 10 minutes. This car almost charges too quickly if you’re not paying attention.

Now, throw out everything good I’ve just said about charging if you’re expecting to drive and DC fast charge this below 59 F/15 C. It slows down to 40 kW max charging when the minimum battery temperature is below 59 F/15 C. And of course you may not fully know that it’s the car or the DCFC limiting things unless you’re running an ODB2 dongle with Car Scanner on a smartphone. Now since the battery is small you might be able to keep the temperature of the pack up during a road trip at lower temperatures. The winter mode might help there. But this is something to keep in mind as negating this car’s main superpower, charging speed. Now during a DCFC session if the battery temperature climbs above 68 F/20 C then normal fast charging speeds resume I’ve attached a session from EVgo and you can see a charging session where the battery started out at 52 F/11 C and 40 kW step only lasted for a few minutes.

Now if you would allow me to reminisce. About 35 years ago I owned and drove a 1971 Volvo 145 (wagon/estate body style). Although the Volvo looked like the box it came in, it was a very useful hauler of people and things, and known for its safety (relatively speaking) at the time. This Kia EV6 reminds me of that utility of the old Swedish tank and with innovative far side airbags between the two front seats and a high score in consumer information tests such as EuroNCAP this is one safe electric auto. With the seats folded down things (or a person on mattress) upwards of 6.5 ft (2 m) fits nicely.

If we compare the efficiency (or consumption) then we really see this small battery EV6 is a bit of a super star for the various trims of the car. In 11,000 miles of driving, and according to the Kia Connect app which logs each and every drive including energy used, average speed and miles travelled, the efficiency is 3.7 mi/kWh. And a lot of that was done at 70 mph (112 kph) highway speeds. At slower speeds the efficiency rises nicely. What about winter? Well, only time will reveal the effect on range and charging speed due to a lack of a heat pump or battery preconditioning. But anyone with a right foot can do their own heating of the battery while driving with a bit of yo-yo-ing to pump the power and then let off the accelerator and dig into the regeneration. By the way the Volvo was lucky to get 18 mpg.

Unlike the Volvo the Kia has a wonderful automatic and adaptive HVAC system. It’s adjustable but the system can automatically detect and account for humidity and dry the air. It even has the thoughtfulness to temporarily stop fresh air from coming into the cabin when the windshield washer is activated. All of this is adjusted in menus only a Windows 95 black belt would love but at least it is adjustable.

Speaking of computers, the little digital dictators in our pockets known as smart phones integrate very nicely into the Kia’s right hand touch screen through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. You could pay any amount of inflation-adjusted dollars you choose to flush into depreciating assets for a Tesla, Rivian or Lucid and still never sniff that feature. I happen to find Waze useful for turn by turn directions and traffic reports from fellow wazers. And in the Kia EV6 it’s all beautifully displayed on the built in display. A Better Route Planner, the Electrify America app, PlugShare, and so on all work beautifully and allow for planning trips, searching for chargers right from that same touch screen. Lots of used audio apps available for music, podcast, audiobook enthusiasts of course too. For me, the Kia is a weird looking reincarnation of a Swedish tank for this era. Just add electrons and let the good times roll.

Permalink für diesen Artikel: https://www.myevreview.com/631f86423f3fb

Langfristiger Durchschnittsverbrauch

Langfristiger Durchschnittsverbrauch: 3.7 mi/kWh

Siehe technische Daten - Kia EV6

Kia EV6 Fotos

Diskussion

Nick NL

2022-09-14 14:22:03 UTC

what to buy?

Thanks for the detailed review about your new KIA EV6. It gave me a lot of information and will certainly help me in deciding what to buy.
- Light Side US [Kia EV6]
  
  2022-09-17 11:30:14 UTC
  
  Re: what to buy?
  
  You’re most welcome. As charging infrastructure improves and distances shrink between chargers 150 kW or faster, these smaller battery cars make more sense. They are lighter and handling is less compromised by a huge battery pack weight. Tire wear should be reduced and of course the upfront cost to purchase the car is reduced. Let me know if you have other questions. My main question is how will a lack of a heat pump affect winter range. We regularly enjoy temperatures that hover around the freezing mark from December to February so we shall see.
- Light Side US [Kia EV6]
  
  2022-10-08 08:21:03 UTC
  
  Re: what to buy?
  
  Now, throw out everything good I’ve just said about charging if you’re expecting to drive and DC fast charge this below 20 C. It slows down to 40 kW max charging until the minimum battery temperature climbs above 59 F/15 C. And of course you may not fully know that it’s the car or the DCFC limiting things unless you’re running an ODB2 dongle with Car Scanner on a smartphone. Now since the battery is small you might be able to keep the temperature of the pack up during a road trip at lower temperatures. The winter mode might help there. But this is something to keep in mind as negating this car’s main superpower, charging speed.
Leaf AT

2022-09-17 17:59:49 UTC

Mach-e

Have you driven a Mustang Mach-e? Have you considered it?
- Light Side US [Kia EV6]
  
  2022-09-23 06:58:15 UTC
  
  Re: Mach-e
  
  Yes I should have added Mach-E to the considered list. Recently i was able to drive a base model Mach E with the extended range pack. Overall vibe of that car is not far off of the Kia (reasonable family 4 person car with nice storage). And I must say owners of MMEs who I talk to at EA stations are very happy with their cars and invariably they are much cleaner and shinier than my EV6 which is white and a big magnet all over the front of it. So based on pride of ownership alone I think Ford fans and MME fans in particular must be very satisfied EV owners/drivers.
Light Side US [Kia EV6]

2022-10-08 08:21:59 UTC

Oct 2022 edit for low ambient temperatures

Now, throw out everything good I’ve just said about charging if you’re expecting to drive and DC fast charge this below 15 C. It slows down to 40 kW max charging until the minimum battery temperature climbs above 15C. Then from 15-20 C the charging speed is 70 kW. And finally above 20 C it’s back to its normal fast speeds. And of course you may not fully know that it’s the car or the DCFC limiting things unless you’re running an ODB2 dongle with Car Scanner on a smartphone. Now since the battery is small you might be able to keep the temperature of the pack up during a road trip at lower temperatures. The winter mode might help there. But this is something to keep in mind as negating this car’s main superpower, charging speed.
- Tomas
  
  2022-10-08 12:28:35 UTC
  
  Re: Oct 2022 edit for low ambient temperatures
  
  This is not positive information. Batteries just don't like low temperatures. However, I think this will be a problem for many electric cars. You'll see how the EV6 performs throughout the winter season.
  - Light Side US [Kia EV6]
    
    2022-12-07 08:54:30 UTC
    
    Re(2): Oct 2022 edit for low ambient temperatures
    
    Well on a recent day where the air temp was 5 C (40 F) the battery was about 6-10C and when I stopped at a 150 kW Electrify America station in Mansfield Ohio after traveling an hour at about 140 kph or 80 mph (yeah I was speeding) and the SoC was 29%, speed was 75 kW and increased to 96 kW before I unplugged at 79% and the session took 26 min 49 sec. So slower charging than similar sized batteries from Nissan ARIYA and MG ZS according to Bjørn Nyland’s testing. It could have been the charging hardware and perhaps I need to do another test on a reliable EVgo station closer by but this was not terribly encouraging if I do choose to road trip the car over the Christmas break.
Tomas

2022-10-22 17:05:15 UTC

Kia introduces battery pre-conditioning for older EV6 models

I hope this helps. Let us know your experience.
https://www.electrive.com/2022/10/22/kia-introduces-battery-pre-conditioning-for-older-ev6-models/
- Light Side US [Kia EV6]
  
  2022-12-07 08:47:03 UTC
  
  Re: Kia introduces battery pre-conditioning for older EV6 models
  
  Indeed this was announced by Kia in Germany I believe and perhaps their press release applied to more or less all European 2022 EV6 vehicles? Honestly I’m not sure but I can say so far the US Kia distributor and the US Kia dealers I’ve tried to initiate an update with locally do not acknowledge that they can do this update. It’s been a few weeks since I contacted a dealer but there’s still nothing from Kia USA on the subject so for now we 2022 EV6 owners keep our electrons chilled, just like our ice cubes for the drinks we can weep into regarding the lack of preconditioning now that winter is upon some of us. 😁
David NO

2022-12-07 09:39:02 UTC

photo with Volvo

The photo of the comparison with the Volvo is very good. Both cars have a nice design, but each is different.
- Light Side US [Kia EV6]
  
  2022-12-21 13:33:30 UTC
  
  Re: photo with Volvo
  
  I personally prefer the Volvo styling and the boxy shape in the back is obviously more usable for cargo. I would love to own a Volvo or perhaps Polestar __ EV wagon if and when such an animal appears on the roads. Just to bring my personal automotive journey back to where it began.