Kia Niro EV

Just making another note of the range on a long trip in the recent cold spell, as this is close to the worst it gets in this part of the world. On Saturday I had to set off around 8.30am, after a night of temperatures dropping to -3 or -4C. When I got into the car it was still -1, and at 97% SOC it was showing a range of 216 miles (345km). I switched the car on about 15 minutes before heading off to warm up the cabin while it was plugged in, so as to avoid taking any power from the battery for cabin heating. However, I'd forgotten that the previous day, once I was 5 minutes from home I'd pressed the "Heat" button to switch off cabin heating entirely as I was already toasty warm and thought I should preserve as much juice as possible for the following day's drive. I never switched the damn thing back on, which meant the cabin was still freezing cold when it was time to head off and I even had to pour cold water over the glass to de-ice it. 🙄 It also meant the 216 miles of predicted range at 97% was optimistic, as it dropped to 209 as soon as I switched on the heat and whacked up the fan speed. Oh well. Turning the fan speed back down once the cabin was warm did at least nudge the predicted range back up by a couple of miles, so I'll call it 211 miles at 97%.

Took it very easy at about 45mph/72kmh for about the first 10 miles for fear of hitting a slippery patch, but once I was a bit further along the dual carriageway it was well gritted. So I cruised at about 70mph/112kmh the rest of the way to Belfast, dropped off the other half, then carried on at the same speed to my next two stops in Newry. That involved calling into one place on the north side of town, then crawling through the middle of town to the other - it took longer than planned, so I had to cruise the rest of the way to Drogheda at the full 120kmh to avoid being too late for the next rendezvous. I was able to plug in for a 7kW charge while I was there, which gave me 24 miles of range, then head back to Belfast and charge where I was staying at a friend's place.

In total I covered 208 miles/333km that day, and when I plugged in to recharge in Belfast there was a predicted 26 miles/42km left. That almost exactly matches the range shown at the start of the day - 211 miles with cabin heat (and seats, and wheel!) on, drove 208, added 24 and was left with 26. 1 mile out! Probably would have been worse if it had been all motorway speeds, but at a guess I did about 10 miles of cautious highway driving and another 7 or 8 of urban driving, so I'm still happy enough. So that means a theoretical full-to-empty motorway range of about 215 miles / 344km in freezing temperatures.

That's fair enough, you do you. I'm just providing real-world feedback for those who don't/can't take the same approach.

The Niro passed its MOT the other day with no advisories - in & out in 10 minutes.😎 Apart from washing it, the only thing I had to do beforehand was replace the front tyres, which had to be done anyway, and have the rear brake discs cleaned up - I'd started to hear a bit of grinding at low-speed braking just a few days before the test date. Pads were fine, but there was surface rust on the discs - obviously been using the paddles too much and not using the brake pedal enough!

It's due its second service in my ownership in a few weeks' time, which will be the pricey one involving a coolant change. Before I bought the car last spring, I was quoted £400 sterling by my nearest Kia dealer for this one, so hopefully it's still that - my friend who bought a Kona last year has just been quoted £500 by a Hyundai dealer in Belfast for the same service, so she's going to check the dealer closer to me for a comparison quote. I've still a year of warranty left on my car, so even if I didn't care about looking after it (which I do, very much!) it's still worth it even just to keep that going.

Cheers, didn't realise that light braking was 100% regen - I assumed it was a combination of both regen and physical brakes. The day after getting the discs cleaned I had a few long drives to do, so I made sure to approach the end of motorway off-slips etc at a higher speed than usual, necessitating harder braking each time. This is very counter-intuitive for me - I've always been a pretty defensive driver, so usually approach junctions & stops as though my brakes were about to fail. But it obviously did the job of keeping the discs clean enough for the inspection.

I personally only ever use the paddle for stopping, but the missus will never use it, so the discs are perfectly shiny 🤩

I have to say I feel that with EV, the servicing will be moreso reactive than proactive.

Out of warranty, I'm struggling to see the need for an annual visit to anyone

Our out of warranty eNiro just coming up on a service but has a few strange niggles like rear heated seats, rear demister and wiper not working.

Does anyone have a reccomendation around the Dublin area for someone to have a look at these bits who has some experience of these? Remember someone mentioning a Kona/Niro specialist..

Yeah fuses were the first thing that came to mind but unfortunately seem fine.

The new Niro Hybrid will be sold in Europe? Know they will have the K4 Hybrid at the end of the year.

Most of our weekly driving is trips under 50km, typical drive about 300km a week with West to east coast trip every 2 or 3 months. Home charger not an issue, reliability is a priority.