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Flying into Co to pick up my EV6 in Longmont CO and driving home to Seattle over the weekend - questions.

4K views 31 replies 18 participants last post by  Brownie 
#1 ·
So I am flying into Longmont Co on tomorrow night and going to the dealer at 9am Saturday AM to pick up my Steel Matte Grey FE EV6. I have arranged financing though DCU (thanks to a post on the forum) and got the 1.749% (after .5% direct deposit and .25 discount for EV) rate for 65 months. DCU so far has been painless and super easy to deal with. They are overnighting the dealer the check.

The car is at MSRP but I had to pay 2895 for "tinting (front windows to match the back), level one charger, and ppf bra". And to edit on this... The salesman offered me a Chargepoint Home Flex for $300 in place of the level one charger so I will take that instead.

I have not driven an EV any distance in this type of trip (roughly 1500 miles) so I could use some input on things to do beforehand/prepare.

This is what I have already done:
1. Downloaded all the relevant apps on my iPhone. Electrified Ameria, Kia Access, ABRP, Blink, EVo, ChargeHubEv, Plugshare. I will register the car with Kia Access and it sounds like I will be able to setup the Electrified America account with the 1000kwh charging credit once I am in front of the vehicle.
2. Taking a couple of iphone lightning cables to connect for carplay
3. Created/reviewed routes in ABRP and it looks like I should be able to leverage Electrified America all the way back
4. Getting some TracWrap from XPEL delivered today so I can wrap any areas of the car I feel are necessary. With the bra installed there might not be too much to do, but just in case.
5. I am having the salesperson take a close look at the car for any defects in paint from the shipping wrap I have seen reported here

Anything else anyone can think of?
 
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#5 ·
Sheesh, what a dealer--when I went to see my FE it was at 100% prior to my putting a few test-drive miles on it; dealer had to hold it for a couple of days more to have it detailed but when I went back afterwards to pick it up it was charged back to 100% again. Dealer even told me I can swing by anytime to charge my vehicle at no cost if I happen to be in the area and there are chargers not already in use.
 
#4 ·
Register Kia access, I think the dealer should help, and get the code for Electrify America.

I checked the route, there are a lot of electrify america chargers on the way to Seattle, not the route via Wyoming.

I recently did about 600miles trip with electrify america, that was awesome.

Just make sure, the range is going down faster than it shows, so charge it before battery goes empty.
Also, 350kw charger is the fastest but 150kw is also good. About 5~10minutes difference.

Have a good safe trip! You will come to know all about EV6 on this trip.
 
#19 ·
Safe travels for you and yours.

Stay "Well Behind" any and all gravel trucks, big rigs, and 4 x 4 trucks.
To help minimize any battle scars from your Freeway travel.

Also, if you have to get a room overnight.
Try to locate a hotel that has EV parking and or charging.
Great idea. It's short notice but if you can track down a TeslaTap or similar Tesla to J1772 adapter. Some hotels only have Tesla destination chargers.
 
#9 ·
Grab a microfiber towel and use it to wipe off the displays as they attract finger prints. Don't want to be using a gas station napkin on them!

Weather looks hit and miss but some $10 generic floor mats may not be a bad idea if the car doesn't come with anything.

Get your Good To Go! account setup as or bring your transponder.
 
#10 ·
Check the charger status for all of the charging stations on your route ahead of time. All of the chargers might not be available at any given station and that can mean you might have to wait longer than expected for a working one to open.

Setup your EA membership account before you get on the road. I was driving back from picking up my car and at one of the stations I needed to stop to charge up (no other options around) none of the card readers worked (three of the six chargers were not functioning as well). So I had to quickly learn how to setup an account on EA and get all that stuff figured out before I could even charge and get back on the road. It was a frustrating and eye-opening experience for my first long road trip in an EV. :D

Good luck, enjoy the ride and try not to stay in Sport mode the whole way. It is addictive! 😁
 
#12 ·
So I am flying into Longmont Co on tomorrow night and going to the dealer at 9am Saturday AM to pick up my Steel Matte Grey FE EV6. I have arranged financing though DCU (thanks to a post on the forum) and got the 1.749% (after .5% direct deposit and .25 discount for EV) rate for 65 months. DCU so far has been painless and super easy to deal with. They are overnighting the dealer the check.

The car is at MSRP but I had to pay 2895 for "tinting (front windows to match the back), level one charger, and ppf bra". And to edit on this... The salesman offered me a Chargepoint Home Flex for $300 in place of the level one charger so I will take that instead.

I have not driven an EV any distance in this type of trip (roughly 1500 miles) so I could use some input on things to do beforehand/prepare.

This is what I have already done:
1. Downloaded all the relevant apps on my iPhone. Electrified Ameria, Kia Access, ABRP, Blink, EVo, ChargeHubEv, Plugshare. I will register the car with Kia Access and it sounds like I will be able to setup the Electrified America account with the 1000kwh charging credit once I am in front of the vehicle.
2. Taking a couple of iphone lightning cables to connect for carplay
3. Created/reviewed routes in ABRP and it looks like I should be able to leverage Electrified America all the way back
4. Getting some TracWrap from XPEL delivered today so I can wrap any areas of the car I feel are necessary. With the bra installed there might not be too much to do, but just in case.
5. I am having the salesperson take a close look at the car for any defects in paint from the shipping wrap I have seen reported here

Anything else anyone can think of?
Remember to download some good podcasts and audiobooks!
 
#14 ·
So I am flying into Longmont Co on tomorrow night and going to the dealer at 9am Saturday AM to pick up my Steel Matte Grey FE EV6. I have arranged financing though DCU (thanks to a post on the forum) and got the 1.749% (after .5% direct deposit and .25 discount for EV) rate for 65 months. DCU so far has been painless and super easy to deal with. They are overnighting the dealer the check.

The car is at MSRP but I had to pay 2895 for "tinting (front windows to match the back), level one charger, and ppf bra". And to edit on this... The salesman offered me a Chargepoint Home Flex for $300 in place of the level one charger so I will take that instead.

I have not driven an EV any distance in this type of trip (roughly 1500 miles) so I could use some input on things to do beforehand/prepare.

This is what I have already done:
1. Downloaded all the relevant apps on my iPhone. Electrified Ameria, Kia Access, ABRP, Blink, EVo, ChargeHubEv, Plugshare. I will register the car with Kia Access and it sounds like I will be able to setup the Electrified America account with the 1000kwh charging credit once I am in front of the vehicle.
2. Taking a couple of iphone lightning cables to connect for carplay
3. Created/reviewed routes in ABRP and it looks like I should be able to leverage Electrified America all the way back
4. Getting some TracWrap from XPEL delivered today so I can wrap any areas of the car I feel are necessary. With the bra installed there might not be too much to do, but just in case.
5. I am having the salesperson take a close look at the car for any defects in paint from the shipping wrap I have seen reported here

Anything else anyone can think of?
I will be getting my EV6 from Fowler Kia Longmont in a couple of weeks.
I have travelled cross-country in a BOLT using mostly Plugshare. You can connect your phone to the Infotainment and have the maps and directions on the screen. I have used Apple and Android.
After you plug in to charge do not leave your car right away. Make sure that charging is happening at a good rate. You may have to change chargers. Keep track of the charging if you leave with KIA Access app. Sometimes chargers just quit after 5 to 20 minutes.
Make sure you have good credit cards associated with each charging company card and also carry cards because some chargers need them.
Traveling on electrons is a beautiful experience. I am looking forward to several long distance trips in my EV6 in the near future.
Is there anything I can do to assist you in Colorado? Do you need a ride to the dealer?

Best wishes and good luck
 
#18 ·
thanks for the offer! I am going to take an Uber from Denver to Longmont and then a short Uber in the am to the dealership. I know there is a bus line from the airport to Longmont but I won’t get into Denver till midnight local time so it’s best just to bite the bullet and spring for an Uber.
 
#20 ·
I'm from Phoenix and did exactly the same thing this past weekend, purchasing a Wind RWD in Glacier White Pearl. My 11 year old daughter and I flew into Denver on Friday afternoon, arrived at Fowler Kia at around 4 pm. We were out the door around 5:30 after test driving the car and visiting finance for all the requisite paperwork. Dumitru Pop was my salesman. Great guy by the way. We dealt with Roy in finance, another stellar guy.

I'm surprised at the dealer add-ons that you mention. Fowler Kia is pretty upfront that there aren't any dealer add-ons. You can add accessories if you want, but nothing is pre-installed.

As for the ride home, I used the PlugShare app to plot my route home. I selected the Electrify America charging stations along the way to take advantage of the 350kw charging capability. We spaced out the stops at a maximum of 200 miles. Traveling at a steady 75 mph, that's about the maximum amount of range that I was willing to chance. Overall, it was a great trip. The EV6 is a wonderful car.

Best wishes for your journey back to Seattle.
 
#21 ·
I'm from Phoenix and did exactly the same thing this past weekend, purchasing a Wind RWD in Glacier White Pearl. My 11 year old daughter and I flew into Denver on Friday afternoon, arrived at Fowler Kia at around 4 pm. We were out the door around 5:30 after test driving the car and visiting finance for all the requisite paperwork. Dumitru Pop was my salesman. Great guy by the way. We dealt with Roy in finance, another stellar guy.

I'm surprised at the dealer add-ons that you mention. Fowler Kia is pretty upfront that there aren't any dealer add-ons. You can add accessories if you want, but nothing is pre-installed.

As for the ride home, I used the PlugShare app to plot my route home. I selected the Electrify America charging stations along the way to take advantage of the 350kw charging capability. We spaced out the stops at a maximum of 200 miles. Traveling at a steady 75 mph, that's about the maximum amount of range that I was willing to chance. Overall, it was a great trip. The EV6 is a wonderful car.

Best wishes for your journey back to Seattle.
Thanks, I am buying from peak Kia, not Fowler. I am happy though, right now it’s hard to find a awd fe/gt line anywhere close to msrp.
 
#25 ·
My first time with the Electrify America app was a bit confusing but the EA customer service rep was extremely helpful. She walked me through in a matter of minutes. She also pointed out that I had to have the same credit card in both the EA app and Apple Wallet for the “touch phone” feature to work. My Kia 1000Kw credit was applied.
 
#27 ·
Ummm I don't believe that that's an absolute requirement (same credit card used to fund your EA account also needs to be in your Apple Wallet)--I have my CC linked to my EA account to fund my EA virtual card; I then added my EA virtual card to my Apple Wallet but I can promise you the CC I used for my EA account is definitely not in my Apple Wallet. Once you designate a CC to fund your EA virtual card, the EA app then prompts if you want to add your EA virtual card to your Apple Wallet; once you do that, then whenever you activate Apple Pay on your iPhone and place your phone on the EA NFC reader it should detect the EA virtual card in your Apple Wallet and let you start charging.

Not saying the EA rep is wrong, but you shouldn't need to (also) have to add the CC used to fund your EA account to Apple Wallet as a requirement for an EA charging station to recognize your EA account.
 
#26 ·
You can safely wash your car when you get home with a microfiber mitt or pad and use Chemical Guys Meticulous Matte Auto Wash. You can remove any bugs, stains, contaminants, etc. with Gyeon Prep, Gyeon Iron and Gyeon Tar. you can remove iron on the wheels with Gyeon Iron for wheels/brakedust.
You can coat the paint, trim, wheels and glass with Gyeon Ceramic products. Or you can go to a detail shop or just do nothing. Enjoy the car.

Lastly, sealskincovers.com makes a weatherproof car cover for the EV6.
 
#29 ·
Just finished a 1900 mile road trip in the EV6. A few pointers that seem obvious in hindsight:

Charging speed decreases pretty rapidly above 80%. Set the car's DC charging limit to 80% and just plan on frequent charging. We regularly saw 220-240 kW for a minute or two, and then most of the charge settles out at 150-160 kW. The difference in wait time between the 125 kW chargers and 350 kW chargers is big enough that you should always pick the 350 kW stations if you can help it.

Headwinds matter. We got only 2.6 mi/kW-hr westbound through western CO and eastern UT, but 3.1-3.2 heading east through AZ/NM and north through CO. Energy consumption over each leg is proportional to airspeed squared, not groundspeed squared.

Plan on hitting every one of the high-speed chargers along the route except in urban areas. Full highway speed range isn't great. At 80% charge and 3.0 mi/kW-hr (our overall interstate average), the car's range is only ~185 miles. At 2.6 mi/kW-hr, you're down to 160 miles. Charging stations are spaced every 100-140 miles. So you can't quite drive a two-station leg without both slowing down and charging to 100% (which also slows you down). Configure ABRP with the 80% max charge limit and it'll just about reach the same conclusion.

ABRP is very pessimistic about regen efficiency on downhill legs, and your first legs on I-70 westbound through CO will have several thousand feet of descent. Don't get cocky when you outperform ABRP's predictions early in the trip. Speaking of which, ABRP's default value for battery degredation is 5%. Since the car is brand new, ABRP will be a little bit pessimistic for every leg on the trip unless you adjust it.
 
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