Kia Nero EV EX - Anyone here have one yet?

[Mephistopheles Janx]

I'm not fond of Kia. Up until recently I have heard nothing but a series of horror stories about this brand. I vowed long ago to never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever buy a Kia.

THAT SAID

I am in need of a vehicle and I may as well get an electric one because I pay .097 per kwh for electricity and I like the sound of traveling 230 miles for $8. All my research has lead me to...



While I would *NEVER* pay $40k for a Kia... they do have an offer where I can lease this vehicle for 36 months at $270 a month w/15k per year mile allowance. Between the monthly payments, fuel costs, and insurance we are essentially breaking even.

Most everyone I know that has purchased a Kia in the last 3-4 years has been really happy with them. It seems like Hyundai took renewed interest in their "off brand" label and decided to pump out some decent vehicles as of late.

Anyone here have one yet?

/why a lease? Because this is my first ev and this is the first ev Kia has made. Looking before leaping.

[Capt_Von_Trapp]

Originally Posted by Shaid

EVs are making strides but I don't think they are ready for primetime yet. I'll let other people buy them for a few more years before I jump in.

Not sure what you mean by ‘not ready for prime time’ ?


They do what they are designed to do perfectly.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

I hear so many people talking about being afraid that they will run out of charge. It is amazing that so many people think there is not a gauge that tells you how much you have left similar to a gas gauge in a "regular" vehicle.
I have asked so many of them if they run out of gas regularly or if they pay attention to the gas gauge and fill up when necessary.

Eh, I get where the fear comes from. Typically EVs have around half the range of ICE vehicles (though there are exceptions on either end of the range spectrum for both). And while there is a gauge that gives you range, it's always a little iffy since it doesn't know the terrain you'll be traveling in or the weather, so I HAVE had it drop much more quickly than I expected a time or two. Couple that with the fact that there are far fewer chargers than gas stations, and people try to stretch the range a bit since it's generally on the low side, and you end up with (at least somewhat justified) range anxiety.

My personal take on it is that there's very little reason that a two-car household can't have at least one of them be an EV. Very few people are driving 200+ miles on a daily basis, so it's pretty easy for one of them to be an EV just to use around town. If you just do that and charge it every day, range isn't even something you think about. It's road trips that get tricky.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DaFace

My personal take on it is that there's very little reason that a two-car household can't have at least one of them be an EV. Very few people are driving 200+ miles on a daily basis, so it's pretty easy for one of them to be an EV just to use around town. If you just do that and charge it every day, range isn't even something you think about. It's road trips that get tricky.

This is where I'm at. We only have 1 vehicle right now but we're thinking of getting an EV to use for frequent driving and using the gas guzzler for long trips and towing.

[RollChiefsRoll]

Can you still buy a Kia and get one for free?

[Shaid]

Originally Posted by Capt_Von_Trapp

Not sure what you mean by ‘not ready for prime time’ ?


They do what they are designed to do perfectly.

I think future varieties will have greatly reduced charge time, better overall range, etc. Also, they'll operate a bit better in all climates. I'm in a cold weather place and it reduces my range. I think we're just a few years away from much better range and a more viable solution for trips, etc. as well. That's what I'm looking for. I want one from the standpoint of not needing gas, etc. Until it's something that I can use more easily for every situation, daily driver and long trips, etc. without long charging times, I'm not gonna bite.

[DaFace]

How's the first week?

[BWillie]

Might be my next car.

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by DaFace

How's the first week?

Thank you for asking... I was going to post a follow-up and then forgot.

We have put 1,373 miles on the car since we received it. 600 miles of that was a trip to Wichita and 250 miles of that was me driving it back from St. Louis.

Range - I have yet to see 239 miles advertised even when I charge to 100% but I'm guessing that has to do more with the cold than anything else. 223 has been the max so far... even with the "winter package" that includes a heat blower. Also, the range dips substantially when you drive over 70MPH. I don't mean drive aggressively... even just setting the cruise at 70MPH.

The wife puts about 45 miles per day driving back and forth from work. She can go and return twice before we HAVE to charge (we only charge up to 80% as recommended unless traveling).

Charging Stations - There isn't a supercharger (for non-Tesla) in Emporia as of yet and there REALLY needs to be one. Apparently there is one going in at Cassoday but who knows when. Even then, it is 200 miles from my home so that is cutting it close.

Currently we have to route through Topeka if we are going into Wichita so we can hit the supercharger there before heading south.

Cost/Time to Fuel - A trip to Wichita would typically cost a full tank of gas each way plus another tank while she was in town. She charged 5 times at an average cost of $7.38. We spent $37 in fuel when we normally would have spent over $150.

Where this all, somewhat, falls down is the charge times on longer trips like this. Each charge took between 28-46 minutes to get back up to 80% depending how far she let the charge go down. This downtime was somewhat mitigated by being able to relax while eating a meal and kicking on an episode of a show on Netflix but it makes taking this car to visit my brother who lives 1k miles away an unreasonable proposition.

Someone on Reddit put it best. This is a "regional" car. Wichita is as far as I would want to take this car.

As for fueling from home... We haven't driven the car in any consistent manner to get a good idea of what our daily cost to drive is going to be so far but it should be around $1.25 for 50 miles.

The Car Itself - It is *JUST* a bit bigger than a 4 door Ford Focus hatchback but it sits taller making it more comfortable to get in and out of. I'm actually impressed with the fit and finish of the vehicle. I expected it to feel cheap and plastic-y but it actually doesn't. The seats are *JUST* comfortable enough to take a 3.5 hour drive in it without feeling pain but they aren't luxury seats in any sense of the word.

The steering is tighter than anticipated and while I did not expect there to be Tesla levels of power from this car it will get up and go when in sport mode. It doesn't have a frunk as the motors that power the car are stowed in the "engine bay" thus reducing storage space. It looks neat though as it presents as an ICE.

The sound system, despite being Harmon Kardon, isn't as impressive as we had hoped. I will be toying with the stereo setting a bit when I can get some time with the car. I haven't driven it since I got it home from St. Louis.

Overall - I'm thrilled with the car so far. Even with having to use superchargers the cost to travel in this thing is a pittance in comparison to gasoline. This is going to be a fantastic commuter + vehicle for us.

[Lzen]

I have to travel over 70mph.

You said you only charge up to 80%, as recommended. Why do they recommend that?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I have to travel over 70mph.

You said you only charge up to 80%, as recommended. Why do they recommend that?

Li-ion batteries degrade more quickly when they're fully charged, and they degrade more quickly when charging fast. Because of that, charging isn't actually linear - it slows down as it gets closer to 100% to try and not wear down the battery as much. (That's technically true of your cell phone battery as well.)

So if you're on a road trip, you'll get from 0-80% pretty quickly, but it may take just as much time to go from 80-100%, and you'd technically be wearing your battery down a bit more as well. For that reason, some manufacturers recommend only charging it to 80% when you're on the road. Will it destroy the car to go above that? No, and if you've got a long stretch before you can charge again, you may have to. It's a long-term cumulative effect thing, not something that's going to cause major issues if you do it here and there.

All that said, some manufacturers are just making it so that the advertised battery is a little smaller than the actual battery's capacity (so it will never actually charge to 100% even if the car shows being fully charged). I think that's a more elegant solution, personally.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Mephistopheles Janx

Thank you for asking... I was going to post a follow-up and then forgot.

We have put 1,373 miles on the car since we received it. 600 miles of that was a trip to Wichita and 250 miles of that was me driving it back from St. Louis.

Range - I have yet to see 239 miles advertised even when I charge to 100% but I'm guessing that has to do more with the cold than anything else. 223 has been the max so far... even with the "winter package" that includes a heat blower. Also, the range dips substantially when you drive over 70MPH. I don't mean drive aggressively... even just setting the cruise at 70MPH.

The wife puts about 45 miles per day driving back and forth from work. She can go and return twice before we HAVE to charge (we only charge up to 80% as recommended unless traveling).

Charging Stations - There isn't a supercharger (for non-Tesla) in Emporia as of yet and there REALLY needs to be one. Apparently there is one going in at Cassoday but who knows when. Even then, it is 200 miles from my home so that is cutting it close.

Currently we have to route through Topeka if we are going into Wichita so we can hit the supercharger there before heading south.

Cost/Time to Fuel - A trip to Wichita would typically cost a full tank of gas each way plus another tank while she was in town. She charged 5 times at an average cost of $7.38. We spent $37 in fuel when we normally would have spent over $150.

Where this all, somewhat, falls down is the charge times on longer trips like this. Each charge took between 28-46 minutes to get back up to 80% depending how far she let the charge go down. This downtime was somewhat mitigated by being able to relax while eating a meal and kicking on an episode of a show on Netflix but it makes taking this car to visit my brother who lives 1k miles away an unreasonable proposition.

Someone on Reddit put it best. This is a "regional" car. Wichita is as far as I would want to take this car.

As for fueling from home... We haven't driven the car in any consistent manner to get a good idea of what our daily cost to drive is going to be so far but it should be around $1.25 for 50 miles.

The Car Itself - It is *JUST* a bit bigger than a 4 door Ford Focus hatchback but it sits taller making it more comfortable to get in and out of. I'm actually impressed with the fit and finish of the vehicle. I expected it to feel cheap and plastic-y but it actually doesn't. The seats are *JUST* comfortable enough to take a 3.5 hour drive in it without feeling pain but they aren't luxury seats in any sense of the word.

The steering is tighter than anticipated and while I did not expect there to be Tesla levels of power from this car it will get up and go when in sport mode. It doesn't have a frunk as the motors that power the car are stowed in the "engine bay" thus reducing storage space. It looks neat though as it presents as an ICE.

The sound system, despite being Harmon Kardon, isn't as impressive as we had hoped. I will be toying with the stereo setting a bit when I can get some time with the car. I haven't driven it since I got it home from St. Louis.

Overall - I'm thrilled with the car so far. Even with having to use superchargers the cost to travel in this thing is a pittance in comparison to gasoline. This is going to be a fantastic commuter + vehicle for us.

Cool, glad it's working out for you so far! I still haven't really gotten to the point that I want to deal with fast charging on the road, but then again our Leaf only gets about 150 miles per charge, so it would be an even bigger pain than yours is. Plus our road trips are usually 8-10 hours, so it would be a MAJOR impact. I've taken ours to Fort Collins and to a few parks in the foothills, but that's as far as ours has gone. Even so, we just hit 40k miles in 4 years, so it's definitely getting use.

One super unimportant thing to note is that technically you're referring to a "Level 3" charger - not a "supercharger." The latter is the Tesla brand name for their proprietary network, and I was confused how you were charging at those at first.

[loochy]

Any of you check out the new Hyundai Ioniq 5? It's....interesting:






PS: I love Doug DeMuro

[Lzen]

One issue that will keep me from buying an electric vehicle for awhile is that the infrastructure is not there yet. I don't like that you have to really think about planning a trip in order to hit a charging station. Also, 30-45 minutes to charge would suck. Now maybe.....just maybe I will get one someday for driving around locally.

One other concern I have is that with the continuous increase in the number of EVs out there, you have to wonder if the electricity rates will go up substantially over the next several years.

I won't rule out getting an EV sometime in the future. I admit that I am intrigued. But those concerns will always be on my mind.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Lzen

One issue that will keep me from buying an electric vehicle for awhile is that the infrastructure is not there yet. I don't like that you have to really think about planning a trip in order to hit a charging station. Also, 30-45 minutes to charge would suck. Now maybe.....just maybe I will get one someday for driving around locally.

One other concern I have is that with the continuous increase in the number of EVs out there, you have to wonder if the electricity rates will go up substantially over the next several years.

I won't rule out getting an EV sometime in the future. I admit that I am intrigued. But those concerns will always be on my mind.

I hear you on the first issue. That's why our two cars are 1) a local-only car and 2) a plug-in hybrid.

As for the second, it's possible I suppose, but I think it's unlikely. A ton of capacity is being added to the grid every day (and that's not a recent thing). I don't see any strong reason to suggest it won't be able to keep up, especially since most EV charging happens at night when the grid load is pretty low anyway.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by loochy

Any of you check out the new Hyundai Ioniq 5? It's....interesting:






PS: I love Doug DeMuro

That was pretty cool. It's different, that's for sure.