The manual is OK and you will find there are often multiple ways of doing things. I find the voice control pretty good for the heating for example. Another useful thin is using the star button on the steering wheel to go back to the main screen (usually two presses). Then tap the media, the map or the EV parts of the display to open those sections.
In my car and I think across Europe by law the lane assist is always on from startup. First thing I ever do is hold it down for 2 secs to disable! It is OK in town but rural roads arenāt its forte.
Let me know any queries
What spec is your car? I think in the UK it is the Air?
Doubt you will miss the Lexus for long. Once you have a bunch of favourite chargers to use for linger journeys it is easy. Tesla are good in the UK. Check their app out for Eire.
Many congrats sjb on your new (to you) EV6. Personally, I reckon the front lights arrangement on the version you have bought looks much better resolved than the model recently launched. Great choice of colour too!
Your comment about the Lexus struck a chord with me - my 2016 RX450h was stolen last year and I still very much miss its ultra calm nature, incredibly comfortable seats and general perceived build quality.
Still, we make decisions and move onwards! Enjoy!!
It will almost certainly be in my shortlist when my current lease expires in June of next year and I switch to electric. Would be very interested to hear your opinion after you have had it for a few months.
Yes itās the Air spec which is called Earth here in Ireland.
When I did my 48 hour test drive I just concentrated on how the car drove as a car, now that I own it the period of computer like tasks involved are, well not quite bewildering, but certainly it feels a bit like setting up a new Windows PC and linking it to my phone. This is possibly an aspect of all new car ownership, but our last new car was a 2013 VW golf which had a minimal computer like interface.
Thereās still a glitch setting up my profile, which I must have a look at later on today and may have questions about.
One thing I thought of which is probably a general EV query is that when the car is slowing down with the regenerative breaking do the brake lights come on or do they just come on at the very last minute When I actually put my foot on the brake pedal?
Iām wondering what to do cars behind me see as Iām slowing down as I took it on a country trip the first day and found the regenerative breaking slowed me down nicely coming into corners and I used my brakes far less than I would have in either the Lexus or the golf.
They come on when the degree of regen braking is high. So if you are coasting or using minimal regen they donāt come on, but on max regen (ie the one-pedal setting) they do come on without you using the brakes. You can actually see this in the dark reflecting off the road if it reassures you.
I like the paddle shifters for regen on the Kias. One tip-you can scroll regen up on the left paddle or down on the right from zero to max (ie one pedal which will bring the car to a complete stop) but if you tend to drive as I do on zero/low regen most of the time you can squeeze the left paddle and hold it to get max regen (for example approaching a roundabout) but release it when you want to move away and it reverts to the previous setting. Youāll get used to it but it is really well resolved, and quite fun when you get used to just trimming speed etc with regen levels. No other EVs do this as well that Iām aware of.
Thanks thatās good to know about the paddle and max regen. Iāve set it to auto at the moment as there are 3 of us trying to get to grips with it. I must finish setting up my profile, there was some issue with it not sending me a code by text which I have not looked at since when this is sorted I then must set my wife up on another profile.
Iāve a few general and specific questions.
No spare tyre! What are people doing wrt this? I see tyre mobility kits mentioned? is this a just pop into Halfords and get one or is there more to it?
With respect to charging I see the following type of information on the apps.
This indicates both DC and AC charging options. Iām presuming DC is quicker so am wondering why the AC is available and does it have any specific advantages?
Also the charging point installation seems to be a few weeks away and weāve just gone below 75% battery - am I best to use a trickle charge at night to get it back to 80% or just use a DC charger when itās further depleted? (Recognising the trickle carriage is cheaper).
And lastly (for the current hour) although this setting implies I should be hearing a beep when I go over the speed limit this is not occurring.
Now it may be a case of be careful what you wish for but I do find the EV goes from 0-30 mph very quickly and I can find myself over the speed limit unbeknownst and it may be useful to be alerted to this. Could be a bug (could be an enhancement!).
As for the speed limiterā¦ā¦all well and good if it accurately picks up speed signs. I find most cars read the wrong sign-on a mini roundabout (20 mph for housing estate) or exiting roadworks. Having the limit imposed by the car imo could be dangerous.
Very few cars now come with a spare. Use the latex and hopeā¦
Re the speed limit warning looks to me like you have it set not to beep but to āhapticā which I think buzzes the steering wheel slightly. Try switching that off see if you get a beep instead. Mine is fully off but I do have the speed camera alert warning beep. It is mostly accurate reading signs etc, it also gets excited if you are in an average speed zone and over the limit. Shows the average on screen too. You might need the camera alert on to get the speed warning perhaps? I think the full speed limit assist might only work on cruise. Not sure, never used it.
Re public AC vs DC, often AC is cheaper. My wifeās car charges quite slowly even on DC so we might use AC for a top up.
I wouldnāt worry too much trickle charging from 75%. If you are confident to use a public charger I would wait and let it drop some more so you can try a public station. My experience is that it gets pretty accurate re range remaining based on your driving style as well as ambient temp so donāt panic at 75%. No harm in a cheap 3 pin trickle charge of course, but it isnt quick! If you need an extension cable to connect it is worth uncoiling it. They can get a bit warm if coiled on a reel.
In the UK anyway the in -car app will now give you information almost as good as Zapmap re chargers nearby or near your destination. If you select a DC public charger via the Nav system it can activate battery conditioning as you approach to warm the system for an optimum charge when ambient temp is low. You will see this on the screen. Perhaps for later!
I didnt like the auto regen as it keeps changing the level, never sure on what basis. Preferred to set my own, and leave it or tweak as required.
Just thinking. The audible/tactile speed limit warning might only trigger when there is also a speed camera indicated? Otherwise I think the symbol for the current speed turns red when you exceed the limit but nothing else happens.
Iām not am EV user (yet), but my understanding is that AC charging is normally just for use at home. Your Kia EV6 has I believe a built in 11 KW charger and so will charge at up to that rate if you have an appropriate wall charger installed, although most home wall chargers max out at 7KW. Otherwise you will get around 2 to 3 KW if you have a cable which can plug into a standard home electrical socket.
I believe your EV6 (with its 800 volt architecture) has the ability to charge at a network charger (DC charging) up to a maximum speed of around 230 KW - depending upon the specification of the specific network charger you use. Currently, most network chargers max out at around 150KW or less.
If you have a cable and location that allows you to plug into a standard home socket overnight, I think I would just use that to top up until your wall charger is installed.
Some friends visited us in their Renault Zoe and that only had AC charging. Painful trying to find a public charger that has AC at anything like a decent speed (I think the max rate was 42kW).
I am heartily sick of the speed limit info in my bmw iX and my wifeās Volvo C40. Both wrong a worryingly large proportion of the time. I am reasonably sure that my Jaguar iPace was much more reliable but 2.5 years after it went I may not be remembering reliably
Thats my problem as well Tim, if it then forces you to adhere to the speed limit wrongly you could be forced to drive on a very fast roadā¦ā¦very slowly, or have to stop and fix the issue.
Completely warped concept these EVs, Germany is burning more coal than ever, they have just started removing a massive wind farm, because? They need the coal below to mine and burn.
Martin
Not quite ready to take one for the team just yet!
In other good news, the car seems to have passed the ā Wife and daughterā test with both being very happy with their first jaunts in the new car.
Even though we had a 48 hour test drive (which I would highly recommend) things still feel a bit different when youāve laid down a wad of folding money for something especially for my wife that the Lexus is no longer on our driveway. My daughter especially enjoyed it saying āsure it just drives itself!ā
My wife now has been set up with the Kia Connect app and has her own profile on the car and my daughter will have to be the guest but has also been connected via the Kia app ā they are both actually quite excited at the thought of being able to warm up or cool down the car as required before they get in.
Now at day 10 of EV ownership. Battery now at 49% and showing a range of 251km (156 miles) left. Iāll probably bring it to a local high speed charging point and push the charge back up to 80% some day next week and hopefully the next charge will be from a newly installed home charger.
An aspect that perhaps doesnāt get emphasised enough such that I didnāt expect it is the ease of city driving. I drove south to north in Dublin City both on the ring road (M50) and through town - both containing a lot of stop/starting and whilst one canāt describe city traffic as pleasurable to drive in, certainly a lot of the negatives were blunted by the ease of driving. I tried the iPedal (one pedal driving) option on the way home through the city and I think it will be an option I will use on similar high traffic journeys. The actually stopping using this is so smooth with not even the slightest hint of inertia.
One little glitch in that the Kia connect app stopped connecting to the car. This was solved by resetting the infotainment system by pressing a button on the panel with a pen. The restart was so quick I thought I had not done it properly but it obviously is a much quicker reset than restarting a windows PC which I was expecting.
I realise that Iām both lucky to be able to afford an EV and have a front garden to have a charge point in but I certainly get a positive feeling knowing Iām not spewing fumes and particles into the air as Iām driving. Not trying to virtue signal just reporting another positive for me from driving an EV.
