Kia EV Forum banner

First Road Trip with EV6 this Weekend

3K views 28 replies 12 participants last post by  spaceage 
#1 ·
It won't be much of a road trip. We live in Salt Lake City and my in-laws are in the Burley, Idaho area. It's roughly 190 miles each way, so we're not exactly maxing out the range, though it will be cold, and parts of the road are reasonably mountainous. Really what I'm doing is checking out the charging network between here and there to decide how feasible it is to routinely use the EV6 for trips up there, instead of my wife's Infiniti. And whether we can realistically use it to drive four of us to the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest in Idaho Falls in the summer.

There are ElectrifyAmerica chargers about 80 miles north of SLC, which isn't half way, but I think I'll stop and top off the range just in case. Particularly if the EA chargers in Burley have a problem. We will probably also take a trip up to Twin Falls, about 45 miles north, to hit up the Costco (you can't buy wine in Utah Costcos, you see). I was a bit surprised to see no readily available chargers, or at least none that are obvious in any of the regular apps, in Twin Falls, which is a substantially larger metro area than Burley. So I guess the pro-move is to charge in Burley, drive to Twin Falls, and then recharge in Burley before we head back to Salt Lake.

I know this is all old-hat to people who have been at it for a while, but with less than a month's worth of ownership, it's still a little bit of an unknown for us. Also, aside from range, I've never sat more than about 20 minutes at a time in the car so far, so I guess I'm also testing the long-range comfort.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I was a bit surprised to see no readily available chargers, or at least none that are obvious in any of the regular apps, in Twin Falls, which is a substantially larger metro area than Burley. So I guess the pro-move is to charge in Burley, drive to Twin Falls, and then recharge in Burley before we head back to Salt Lake.
Sounds like a reasonable plan, but I did a quick search and found two DCFCs not too far from Costco in Twin Falls.
Twin Falls Volkswagen | PlugShare free 24kW
Starbucks Bridgeview | PlugShare $ 62kW

Enjoy your trip! You'll find the EV6 is a great vehicle for long road trips.
 
#3 ·
Sounds like a reasonable plan, but I did a quick search and found two DCFCs not too far from Costco in Twin Falls.
Twin Falls Volkswagen | PlugShare free 24kW
Starbucks Bridgeview | PlugShare $ 62kW

Enjoy your trip! You'll find the EV6 is a great vehicle for long road trips.
Cool. I wonder if the Volkswagen dealer lets anyone who wants to use their chargers. [ETA] never mind. Looks like it's free, as long as the one plug they have is open.

I'll have to check out the Starbucks. Thanks!
 
#4 ·
It won't be much of a road trip. We live in Salt Lake City and my in-laws are in the Burley, Idaho area. It's roughly 190 miles each way, so we're not exactly maxing out the range, though it will be cold, and parts of the road are reasonably mountainous. Really what I'm doing is checking out the charging network between here and there to decide how feasible it is to routinely use the EV6 for trips up there, instead of my wife's Infiniti. And whether we can realistically use it to drive four of us to the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest in Idaho Falls in the summer.

There are ElectrifyAmerica chargers about 80 miles north of SLC, which isn't half way, but I think I'll stop and top off the range just in case. Particularly if the EA chargers in Burley have a problem. We will probably also take a trip up to Twin Falls, about 45 miles north, to hit up the Costco (you can't buy wine in Utah Costcos, you see). I was a bit surprised to see no readily available chargers, or at least none that are obvious in any of the regular apps, in Twin Falls, which is a substantially larger metro area than Burley. So I guess the pro-move is to charge in Burley, drive to Twin Falls, and then recharge in Burley before we head back to Salt Lake.

I know this is all old-hat to people who have been at it for a while, but with less than a month's worth of ownership, it's still a little bit of an unknown for us. Also, aside from range, I've never sat more than about 20 minutes at a time in the car so far, so I guess I'm also testing the long-range comfort.
Thank you for your post. Enjoy your trip and let us know how you get on!
Happy and safe driving
 
#6 ·
Yeah, I wouldn't put a ton of faith in them either. I've noticed, even at the Kia dealer where I purchased my EV6, who told me I can use their Level 3 charger for free "any time," that they are rarely ever not either occupied by a dealer car or simply blocked.
 
#8 ·
It won't be much of a road trip. We live in Salt Lake City and my in-laws are in the Burley, Idaho area. It's roughly 190 miles each way, so we're not exactly maxing out the range, though it will be cold, and parts of the road are reasonably mountainous. Really what I'm doing is checking out the charging network between here and there to decide how feasible it is to routinely use the EV6 for trips up there, instead of my wife's Infiniti. And whether we can realistically use it to drive four of us to the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest in Idaho Falls in the summer.

There are ElectrifyAmerica chargers about 80 miles north of SLC, which isn't half way, but I think I'll stop and top off the range just in case. Particularly if the EA chargers in Burley have a problem. We will probably also take a trip up to Twin Falls, about 45 miles north, to hit up the Costco (you can't buy wine in Utah Costcos, you see). I was a bit surprised to see no readily available chargers, or at least none that are obvious in any of the regular apps, in Twin Falls, which is a substantially larger metro area than Burley. So I guess the pro-move is to charge in Burley, drive to Twin Falls, and then recharge in Burley before we head back to Salt Lake.

I know this is all old-hat to people who have been at it for a while, but with less than a month's worth of ownership, it's still a little bit of an unknown for us. Also, aside from range, I've never sat more than about 20 minutes at a time in the car so far, so I guess I'm also testing the long-range comfort.
Since you have battery preconditioning on your '23 and you said that it's cold there, please do let us know what the preconditioning experience is like for you. If you leave with a full battery and do a small charge at Perry, you'll be able to arrive at the EA chargers near Burley with a nice, low SOC and warm battery, ideal conditions for a fast charge there. Best of luck and have a safe drive. The EV6 is a very nice road tripping car.
 
#9 ·
Preconditioning is definitely one of the things I'm planning on testing. I haven't figured out how to enter a charging station as a destination in the nav yet, so I'm going to figure that out before I leave. Worst case, I'll manually turn on the preconditioning about 30 minutes out.
 
#13 ·
Good plan to top off. My first drive from Dallas to Austin which is 200 miles I left my driveway with 301 range and made it to a charging station at 190 (EA in Round Rock) miles with 10% or like 24 miles. It was March of last year and not particularly cold. There was a south wind which ate my battery up like crazy. Was also doing 75 which is the speed limit. You didn't mention if you have a EVSE to top off in Burley?
 
#14 ·
We had some pretty nasty winds earlier this week. My car said it was averaging about 1.1m/kwh with a headwind, and then somewhere closer to 10m/kwh with a tailwind. I told my wife this car is like learning a new language after speaking nothing but English for 50 years. There is an EA station in Heyburn, which is part of the greater Burley area. My only concern there is if it's not working, but they have 4 Level 3 chargers, so hopefully it doesn't end up a problem. I can also Level 1 charge overnight at my sister-in-law's place.
 
#15 ·
What SOC would you be predicted to have when you reach Burley? You have to have over 20% to be able to activate battery preconditioning...which I think is the dumbest thing ever. I understand that they don't want the preconditioning consuming so much battery that you don't make it to the charger, but the car/nav should be able to figure that out. I would have prefered the cutoff to be at or below 10%. Needing 20% shortens the usable range that much more.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Perry to Burley is about 130 miles, going over a summit. So about 30% uphill and another 30% downhill. I'd like to believe I'll be between 30-40% if I stop to top off in Perry, but that's just kind of a guess. I can't envision the conditions that would put me under 20%, but who knows?
 
#18 ·
My sister also has an EV6 and drove it from Fort Worth to San Antonio (290 miles) and basically had it on the level 1 charger whenever she wasn’t driving. Turned out there was a pretty Nice EA station in North San Antonio. We have since added a dryer plug adapter, extension cord and EVSE (NEMA 14-30) at my mom’s for our EV’s. I still have not made the trip in my EV. Have taken my ICE truck though. 😬
 
#19 ·
I did this drive two weeks ago. I stopped at the walmart in Brigham for a few minutes to run inside for some road trip snacks while topping up on the EA charger there. From there I shot up to the Stinker store and charged up. I do not recommend the diner at the stinker store.

I was cruising around 80 and the temps over the summit were about 22*.
 
#20 ·
I did this drive two weeks ago. I stopped at the walmart in Brigham for a few minutes to run inside for some road trip snacks while topping up on the EA charger there. From there I shot up to the Stinker store and charged up. I do not recommend the diner at the stinker store.

I was cruising around 80 and the temps over the summit were about 22*.
How busy were the chargers in Brigham and Burley?
 
#27 ·
I just had a chat with EA about the Green River location being completely down (since Mar16) and according to someone waiting there reporting on PlugShare that they told them it was scheduled for repair March 21. Here is the transcript. Sorry about the crude formatting but you can still get the idea:

------

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:13:42 PM): Hey Jim! My name is Maria, what can I help you with today?

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:16:02 PM): Hi Maria, We are planning a trip that passes through southern Utah. The ONLY station in that part of the state is located in Green River Utah. According to PlugShare that location has had NO working stations since March 16th and someone reported that a repair isn't scheduled unto March 21! That seems like a very long time for such a critical location to be unavailable. You are going to strand a lot of drivers

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:16:22 PM): Thank you for chatting with Electrify America, I am happy to look into our Green River location for you today.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:18:19 PM): Out team does have an open work order to get this station back online. This being said our team does realize how important every charger is to the EV community. Our goal is to provide a seamless charging experience each and every time. We hope to have this station back online as soon as possible so our customers can travel in confidence.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:19:22 PM): That sounds nice but doesn't help when the nearest charger is a hundred miles away and people are sitting there stuck. Is there no way the repair can be expedited?
Jim (3/18/2023, 1:19:54 PM): We are very worried that we won't be able to use it when we need to

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:19:54 PM): I understand how inconvenient this may be. Additionally I will share the need for other charging stations in this area that will be able to cover the needs of the EV community.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:20:44 PM): That is understandable. We hope to have this station back online very soon.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:21:15 PM): Can you elaborate on your idea of what "very soon" is?

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:22:03 PM): There is not a time frame that I have at this time as to when this station will be back online. This being said, you can sign up to be notified in the app be selecting the bell icon on this station / chargers.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:22:24 PM): Is there anything else I can assist you with today Jim?

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:23:04 PM): OK I'll do that. But I am still worried you aren't actually taking it seriously

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:23:21 PM): I can assure you I am as is our team. Our team does have an active work order for this station.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:23:29 PM): This isn't like most of your other locations where there are ANY other options

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:23:32 PM): Our team takes keeping all stations online very seriously.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:23:50 PM): That does not seem to be the case if the repair isn't scheduled until 3/21

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:24:26 PM): Thank you for sharing your feedback. I will pass this along to our team so they can evaluate your concerns.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:24:27 PM): Can you please escalate this matter to your superiors?

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:25:19 PM): Yes, I can pass along your feedback to our team. I will pass along how important this station is.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:25:32 PM): I will also share that you need this station up sooner than what is listed on PlugShare.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:25:41 PM): OK Thank you. That is all for today
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:25:54 PM): It's my pleasure. Thank you for chatting with Electrify America. Have a great day.
 
#28 ·
I just had a chat with EA about the Green River location being completely down (since Mar16) and according to someone waiting there reporting on PlugShare that they told them it was scheduled for repair March 21. Here is the transcript. Sorry about the crude formatting but you can still get the idea:

------

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:13:42 PM): Hey Jim! My name is Maria, what can I help you with today?

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:16:02 PM): Hi Maria, We are planning a trip that passes through southern Utah. The ONLY station in that part of the state is located in Green River Utah. According to PlugShare that location has had NO working stations since March 16th and someone reported that a repair isn't scheduled unto March 21! That seems like a very long time for such a critical location to be unavailable. You are going to strand a lot of drivers

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:16:22 PM): Thank you for chatting with Electrify America, I am happy to look into our Green River location for you today.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:18:19 PM): Out team does have an open work order to get this station back online. This being said our team does realize how important every charger is to the EV community. Our goal is to provide a seamless charging experience each and every time. We hope to have this station back online as soon as possible so our customers can travel in confidence.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:19:22 PM): That sounds nice but doesn't help when the nearest charger is a hundred miles away and people are sitting there stuck. Is there no way the repair can be expedited?
Jim (3/18/2023, 1:19:54 PM): We are very worried that we won't be able to use it when we need to

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:19:54 PM): I understand how inconvenient this may be. Additionally I will share the need for other charging stations in this area that will be able to cover the needs of the EV community.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:20:44 PM): That is understandable. We hope to have this station back online very soon.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:21:15 PM): Can you elaborate on your idea of what "very soon" is?

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:22:03 PM): There is not a time frame that I have at this time as to when this station will be back online. This being said, you can sign up to be notified in the app be selecting the bell icon on this station / chargers.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:22:24 PM): Is there anything else I can assist you with today Jim?

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:23:04 PM): OK I'll do that. But I am still worried you aren't actually taking it seriously

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:23:21 PM): I can assure you I am as is our team. Our team does have an active work order for this station.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:23:29 PM): This isn't like most of your other locations where there are ANY other options

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:23:32 PM): Our team takes keeping all stations online very seriously.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:23:50 PM): That does not seem to be the case if the repair isn't scheduled until 3/21

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:24:26 PM): Thank you for sharing your feedback. I will pass this along to our team so they can evaluate your concerns.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:24:27 PM): Can you please escalate this matter to your superiors?

Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:25:19 PM): Yes, I can pass along your feedback to our team. I will pass along how important this station is.
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:25:32 PM): I will also share that you need this station up sooner than what is listed on PlugShare.

Jim (3/18/2023, 1:25:41 PM): OK Thank you. That is all for today
Live Chat - Maria (3/18/2023, 1:25:54 PM): It's my pleasure. Thank you for chatting with Electrify America. Have a great day.
Well done jsharpe. Although it shouldn't be our job to ask EA to expedite charger repair and maintenance, that's what the situation is at the moment. ChargePoint units at Loves is a great idea - give EA some competition.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Well, we're back. And here's my general travelog, mostly going by memory:

Pulled out of the south end of Salt Lake County at 97% charge. Temps were in the 30s-40s the whole trip. Kept general pace of traffic at 75-80 mph. Kept it in Eco mode the whole time. Averaged about 3.2 m/kwh to Brigham City. Stopped at the Walmart at about 72%. I couldn't get my EA app to accept payment from my iPhone wallet at the charger, and got frustrated trying, so I just used a credit card to top to 90%. For some reason the pre-conditioning default turned itself off, so it was very slow. I think it maxed out at around 48 kw. There was a Chevy Bolt at the other 350kw charger. Didn't see anyone else.

The next leg is very hilly, and the speed limit is faster, so my range dropped reasonably significantly. Averaged about 2.7 m/kwh, keeping roughly 80mph pace. Arrived in Burley with about 33% charge. I academically probably would have made it without stopping in in Brigham, but it would have been tight. Sister-in-law's place pretty remote. I probably could have made it there and then back to the charger in the morning as well, but I decided to not roll the dice. I charged at EA, this time having pre-conditioned. I'm here to testify that pre-conditioning is the move, though it does seem to drop the efficiency by about .2-.3 m/kwh for about 20-25 minutes. This time the charger maxed out around 190kw. 33% to 80% took about 15 minutes. Again, I couldn't make the fast-pay from my wallet work, and I used a credit card. Drove to my S-I-L's place and arrived with about 68%. Glad I didn't risk it without topping off. Saw a Mach-E and another EV6 at the charger. The other EV6 couldn't get his charger to stay online for more than a few minutes at a time. He moved over to the one I was using after I left.

I was able to Level 1 charge at her place, so it reached about 85% before we took it to Twin Falls the next day. We spent a couple of hours up there and headed back with around 50%. Decided to not try the ChargePoint chargers in Twin Falls. Preconditioned again, and hit the EAs with about 18%. Never saw better than 3m/kwh the whole time. I didn't try the fast-pay from my wallet this time, and instead went through the EA app by selecting station and charger, and it worked. Not sure why I didn't think to do that in the first place. My bad. Pre-conditioned again this time. Topped off to 80% in about 30 minutes and then headed back to S-I-L's place, and plugged in at Level 1.

This morning we had a couple of errands to run, and I hit the EA chargers before we left town. I was at 74% and planned to charge to 100% before we hit the road. Things got away from me and I forgot to pre-condition again. So charging was VERY slow. I should have taken the 150 kw charger, but since no one else was there, I didn't think too hard about it. Maxed out around 33kw, but probably averaged closer to 25. When I arrived I was the only one there, but while I sat there a Model 3 pulled up and took two spaces to charge so the cable would reach his charge port (weird, because there are Tesla chargers a couple of miles down the road.) A Mercedes EQS pulled up and took the other spot (where I saw the EV6 the other day who couldn't keep it online). He got out and eyeballed the Tesla guy pretty hard, because he was blocking the other 350 kw charger. I gave up at 95% and we got on the road. Probably good, because the EQS guy went into the gas station didn't get a chance to see how slowly I was charging at the "hyper speed" charger. I hope he moved over when I left. (Also we watched a Model Y block a fuel pump for about 40 minutes while she walked her dog around. Even though there was plenty of parking elsewhere.)

By the time we actually got on the freeway, we were at about 90%. The stop in Brigham was not academic this time. I saw around 2.6 m/kwh. Pre-conditioned and rolled into Walmart with about 35%. Charged to 80% in about 17 minutes. Maxed around 190 kw, but averaged closer to 120. Got about 3 m/kwh the rest of the way. Arrived in SLC at about 45%.

Disclaimers: I'm going off the best of my recollection, I didn't keep written or accurate notes. If my numbers don't completely line up, I'm probably just not remembering them exactly. I know I could have slowed my speed down to increase range. I decided to accept the lower economy to not be in the way of traffic. I got passed by an Ioniq 5 at one point who must have been going 90. We didn't use the climate control extensively, it was set to 68-70 degrees most of the drive, and it never got warmer outside than about 45 degrees. Ventilated seats are very nice on long drives. I used cruise control for the majority of highway travel. I'm not sure I like the lane-keeping feature. I felt like I was wrestling with the car a lot. I definitely don't like letting it change lanes for me. I do like adaptive cruise. We had two adults and one adult-size child in the car. On the way home, we had about 30 bottles of wine which might account for the slight decrease in range on the way home. I'll be curious to see how my efficiency is changed when it's warm. We will be doing it again in June.

[Edit] Should note I also had the regen on auto the entire time.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top