[Mudgey]

Hey guys,

For those owners out there what is the typical economy you have achieved out of your cars during different scenario's, i.e. summer vs winter driving, motorway vs town etc?

On our test drive we achieved 4.0m/kW with a mixture of motorway and town driving with heating on etc, could we expect more or worse than this? What is your best single tank range vs worst etc?

 

[Devon Dumpling]

My best in the summer was 349 miles from a full charge. My worst to date is 3.2miles/kWh - but this is down to winter weather and also my regen paddles are not working properly and you can feel the regen on even whilst driving normally (it is a bit like driving with the handbrake on). Kia have ordered some replacement parts to fix it.

 

[StEVG]

Best 5.1 miles per kWh and worst 2.9.
As posted elsewhere I have just fitted all season tyres and in the current wet and colder season have been getting 3.6 driving 150 miles at 70mph on the motorway.

 

[MetalHead]

About 4 is pretty typical for mixed use.
I've managed my best and worst on my short 6 mile work commute. Work is higher so on the way there so it's colder and uphill.
I've managed to get as low as 2.1.
The best is the return journey when warm where I've managed 7 😂
It all evens out.
349 miles from @Devon Dumpling is rather impressive but I've had 280 on the motorway in the summer (albeit with a fair few 50mph zones).

 

[[email protected]]

I had the e-Niro on test for a week and just drove it like I do my own car. I averaged between 3.2 and 3.8. I'm not a particularly efficient driver either so I was pretty pleased with that.

 

[luvlysmiler]

On our test drive we achieved 4.0m/kW with a mixture of motorway and town driving with heating on etc,

over the last 10k miles thats about what we see too on average.

 

[nanoAteeq]

I get and average of 3.2 mi/kWh, for mixed driving, but I very rarely get above 4 for a return journey (A/C usually on)
Also my eNiro's 100% SOC indicated range (dash) seems to have dropped from ~270mi (20C) to ~240mi (5C) in the recent cold weather.

 

[Gif]

What’s the feeling regarding the auto regen versus level 3? I’ve averaged 4mpkWh with auto regen on. Am I likely to see more with level 3?

 

[dougconran]

What’s the feeling regarding the auto regen versus level 3? I’ve averaged 4mpkWh with auto regen on. Am I likely to see more with level 3?

I'm somewhat sceptical about having any fixed level of regen on. It seems to me that if I'm driving with any level other than zero, if I thenb switch down to zero it feels as though the car is less inhibited. So my feeling is that having regen on and doing anything other than slowing down is making the car work harder for the speed than it needs to. However, I've done no testing to see if that is true. Auto regen (with a default of 0) is another matter, though, and I have that on all the time.

 

[Gif]

Can I clarify that Doug? I thought auto was auto. Can you set different levels of auto then?

 

[dougconran]

Can I clarify that Doug? I thought auto was auto. Can you set different levels of auto then?

@Gif - Sorry, my bad grammar. As you say, auto is auto and you have no control over that (other than switching it off). Whether auto regen is on or off, you can still set a fixed level of regen which can get overridden by auto as (it deems) necessary. It was that fixed level of regen that I was referring to. I tend to keep that at 0 except when I want the car to slow down at, for instance, a crossroads. But the auto regen I leave on all the time so that the car will slow down (sometimes quite violently!) as it thinks necessary when it detects an obstacle in its path.

 

[Gosub]

@Gif - Sorry, my bad grammar. As you say, auto is auto and you have no control over that (other than switching it off). Whether auto regen is on or off, you can still set a fixed level of regen which can get overridden by auto as (it deems) necessary. It was that fixed level of regen that I was referring to. I tend to keep that at 0 except when I want the car to slow down at, for instance, a crossroads. But the auto regen I leave on all the time so that the car will slow down (sometimes quite violently!) as it thinks necessary when it detects an obstacle in its path.

The 0 setting isn't truly zero though. It still regenerates some power at 0 setting. This can be seen when you set the drive mode to eco. The little counter pops up showing how much distance has been regenerated. My last car, an Ioniq, had true zero regen and would freewheel for very long distances. The Niro doesn't do this.

It's a pity you can't set the regen to zero in the drive mode settings. I sometimes forget to turn regen off.

 

[Patlon]

Well, I thought that the car only detected obstacles when in Cruise Control? If I knock CC off, the car careers towards the car in front!

 

[Gif]

Well, I thought that the car only detected obstacles when in Cruise Control? If I knock CC off, the car careers towards the car in front!

It will, regeneration doesn't have eyes to look forward, it just slows down like any car under engine braking will if you take your foot off the loud pedal. It's the degree of braking which is controlled by the paddles. If there is a stationary object, it might brake in time or the emergency brake assist may help, otherwise you're face planting I'm afraid.

 

[David M]

I'm somewhat sceptical about having any fixed level of regen on. It seems to me that if I'm driving with any level other than zero, if I thenb switch down to zero it feels as though the car is less inhibited. So my feeling is that having regen on and doing anything other than slowing down is making the car work harder for the speed than it needs to. However, I've done no testing to see if that is true. Auto regen (with a default of 0) is another matter, though, and I have that on all the time.

I have a feeling the Auto regen also introduces some kind of resistance even when not 'officially' applying regen. It's just that a few times I have accidentally turned off Auto regen without noticing and I have thought wow the car is running very smoothly today. After a number of times discovering this I left Auto Regen off. Seems much easier and smoother now. I manually add regen when coming to junctions and such.

I do miss the auto braking when approaching other vehicles though.

 

[dougconran]

I have a feeling the Auto regen also introduces some kind of resistance even when not 'officially' applying regen.

It does I did a test yesterday and switched the central console to display regen. You can clearly see that it is regening ev en with regen set to 0.

 

[Positron]

It will, regeneration doesn't have eyes to look forward, it just slows down like any car under engine braking will if you take your foot off the loud pedal. It's the degree of braking which is controlled by the paddles. If there is a stationary object, it might brake in time or the emergency brake assist may help, otherwise you're face planting I'm afraid.

It has a camera and radar to look forwards, and in auto regen it uses these to determine how much regen to apply. I find that if I’m driving gently, the auto regen is almost enough to not need to use the brake pedal unless I need to come to a complete halt.

Separately, does anyone else find that their efficiency readout in miles/kWh bears no resemblance to the actual efficiency if you calculate from mikes travelled divided by % of battery used (assuming 64kwh battery)? My miles/kWh is sometimes 20% too low - Eg yesterday I drove 67 miles on 25% of battery used yet got a reading of 3.3mi/kWh when the other figures suggest 4.1. All motorway, negligible aggregate regen.

 

[Gif]

So after completing 1200 miles. My average consumption is showing as 3.7 mpKWh. Don’t think that’s too bad with winter heating on, lots of lighting and mainly soaking wet roads. Plus I’m in a relatively up and down kind of place.

Never been sure how EVs can accurately compute efficiency.Technically they should factor in charging efficiency losses. Would that explain your difference? 10% would not be unusual from what I’ve read on other threads.

 

[evramblings]

My understanding is that aggressive regen, contrary to what Kia's manual suggests, does not improve efficiency whatsoever. In fact, if anything, I believe it may even reduce efficiency slightly under certain circumstances. This is for two reasons:
1. Because applying the brake pedal will also apply regen.
2. Because deceleration does not return 100% of your vehicle's kinetic energy into the battery. As a result, if you are frequently switching between regen and acceleration, you are spending more energy than you'd spend simply coasting (level 0 regen).

Even if you have "level 0" regen turned on, your car will still return energy to the battery when you press on the brake pedal. The only time your brake pedal actually applies your brakes is when you slam on the brakes, or to take you from 5 mph to 0 mph.

 

[Gif]

My understanding is that aggressive regen, contrary to what Kia's manual suggests, does not improve efficiency whatsoever. In fact, if anything, I believe it may even reduce efficiency slightly under certain circumstances.

Agree entirely and level 1 auto seems to be the happy medium for me now. It is capable of all bar stopping the car when approaching traffic in urban areas given the lower speeds involved, it will happily ramp up regeneration when descending a steep incline (the one scenario where regen is clearly preferable) but it doesn't 'grab' harshly at the car when taking your foot off the loud pedal. Seems to be a nice smooth drive the majority of the time.