[Tyler]

There is another extremely long thread on preconditioning, but it's so long that it's impractical for answering simple questions now. The intention of this thread is to remain tightly focused on basic questions and edit this post with answers and links to other threads where relevant. I will credit those who answer questions in my edits! Please also tell me if you notice any factual errors, as I'm more familiar with Ioniq 5s.

1. What is battery preconditioning and why is it important?

In order to protect the battery, the EV6's battery management system (BMS) limits DC charging power when the battery is colder or hotter than the optimal temperature for charging (75-95°F). In winter in colder climates, this can mean that charging is far slower than 18 minutes from 10-80%.

To fix that, Kia started shipping 2022 EV6s built sometime in June or later with a "Battery Conditioning Mode", which replaces "Winter Mode" (see next point). Battery preconditioning causes the battery heating system to activate when a charging station is entered into the built-in navigation so that the car arrives at the charger with a warm battery capable of much faster charging than without preconditioning. In moderate temperatures (40-50°F) users have reported 220kW+ charging speeds, which likely is not achievable with "Winter Mode". (Personally, I've seen a max of about 130kW at these temperatures without preconditioning.)

2. What is "Winter Mode"?

Kia initially shipped 2021 (in Europe) and 2022 EV6s with "Winter Mode", which aims to accomplish the same thing as battery preconditioning but isn't as effective. Winter Mode causes the battery heating system to warm the battery only after plugging into a DC charger. This means that a lot of charging time is effectively wasted waiting for the battery to heat up. (Winter Mode also enables battery heating when driving to prevent damage to the battery, but the temperature for activation of this functionality is very low.) Note that Winter Mode functionality does still exist in cars with preconditioning (thanks to @Hodor for this).

3. Does my car have battery preconditioning? Can I get preconditioning?

If you are in North America and your car was built before June 2022, you do not have preconditioning right now. If your car was built in July 2022 or later, you do. Build date is listed on the sticker on the driver's side door. If you're still unsure, note that in EV->EV settings, you'll have a page called either Winter Mode or Battery Conditioning Mode, as @Anaglypta shows below in a post.

An update has been rolling out for EV6s in Europe to enable preconditioning, and is likely available at most dealerships. No update is currently available for North America. North American Ioniq 5 owners are currently actively campaigning Hyundai Motor of America to release the update which enables preconditioning to all Ioniq 5s, as Hyundai has done in Europe.

After initially saying earlier 2022s in North America would not get preconditioning, Hyundai is now suggesting in individual replies to people who write in that the update will be made available to dealerships soon. Apparently, some development is required as North American Ioniq 5s have meaningful hardware differences with respect to Europe. This is likely also true for EV6s.

It is unclear whether this update will be available for free or at some cost, as some European owners had to pay the equivalent of about $150 whereas in other places it has been free. Some EV6 owners have begun writing and calling Kia in North America, and the only response to date is that the update is not available.

If you want preconditioning for your car, please write in to Kia to express that you want this feature. Kia almost certainly does not read these forums but does respond to emails. @MikeV found names of people at Kia corporate who he's asked about the status of the update, and perhaps he'll be willing to share their emails if the answer comes back as 'no update.'

4. How important is preconditioning?

Preconditioning only matters for level 3 charging (e.g. at Electrify America, Electrify Canada, or Petro-Canada stations). So, for road trips or people who have no home charging, this matters a lot. 10-80% charging can easily take well over an hour in cold climates without preconditioning. It may be possible to use preconditioning to improve the car's winter range by warming the battery before leaving your home charger, but this is speculation. It is currently possible to precondition the battery at home while plugged in if you only have Winter Mode using scheduled climate (thanks to @Hodor for this).

5. Will 2022 RWD EV6s or Niros get battery preconditioning?

I don't know the answer to this question. If you don't have 'Winter Mode' in the EV settings page, you will likely never get preconditioning. It sounds like all EV6s were shipped with a battery heating system, unlike RWD Ioniq 5s in the US or Ioniq 5s without the Eco pack in the UK were. I don't believe Niros have a battery heating system.

6. What about other regions?

I don't personally have any other information about other regions right now. I don't believe Korean E-GMP cars have preconditioning but I could be wrong, as that's based on a report from a single forum user who can read Korean.

7. How does preconditioning work?

I don't personally know since I'm one of the lucky North American Ioniq 5 owners still lobbying to get it. However, here are some YouTube links:

(Happy to add more.)
The biggest issue so far seems to be that some charging stations (particularly Electrify America) aren't recognized by the built-in navigation as charging stations, so preconditioning doesn't initiate unless you trick it by entering in a recognized station and driving where you actually want to go.

 

[Hodor]

Cons for Battery Precondition
The enery needed to warm the battery has to come from somewhere, and that result in a hit to the range the car can travel when battery precondition is active.
Depending on your need, an old trick is to select a point close to a charger to prevent the battery precondition to trigger.

Winter mode
The winter mode funtionallity is likely still part of the software, after the precondition update. Many of us have seen how a very cold mobile phone loose its charge insanely fast.. winter mode is about preventing that in your car

Battery Precondition at home
This works today as scheduled climate. When plugged into your home charger, this also runs the battery heater. This does not require the update to work.

See old forum post showing the heater is active when using scheduled climate at: OBD charts when using remote climate | Kia EV6 Forum (kiaevforums.com)

 

[protovack]

thanks for the detailed explanation. i personally don't really need it that much, but you want to have it when you DO need it. and it should be an on-demand option. hit a button on the EV screen that is prelabeled "start pre-conditioning".

 

[rmand2601]

For clarification, please....It was my understanding that both Battery Preconditioning and Winter Mode only kick in when outside temps are below -5C/23F. Or, do they kick in when the battery temp itself is below 21C/70F? (If I have these right). So is either mode only useful when it's really cold out? What about the role of the heat pump - now found on the WIND AWD and GT models? Is the heat pump useful while driving, while Winter Mode is really about optimizing charge time?

 

[Tyler]

For clarification, please....It was my understanding that both Battery Preconditioning and Winter Mode only kick in when outside temps are below -5C/23F. Or, do they kick in when the battery temp itself is below 21C/70F? (If I have these right). So is either mode only useful when it's really cold out? What about the role of the heat pump - now found on the WIND AWD and GT models? Is the heat pump useful while driving, while Winter Mode is really about optimizing charge time?

I believe Winter Mode has two temperature thresholds (probably both battery temperature, but I could be wrong): one below which the battery is heated while driving, and one for during DC charging. Both are too low. I've charged in ~10C weather with the Winter Mode setting ticked and I don't believe it activated. Others have tested these setpoints more carefully. I had a newborn last winter.

From what I've read, preconditioning heats the battery to 21C, and presumably activates anywhere below that when a charging station is selected in navigation. I've seen people report it working at 10C outside.

I don't think anyone knows for sure, but many people believe the PTC heater is the battery heater used for all this. The heat pump does make cabin climate far more efficient in mild cold. I've read that most car heat pumps don't work particularly well at -20C and below.

 

[Light Side]

So here’s the dumb thing about my 2022 EV6 RWD Light. It’s super clear the resistive heater was pulling 5 kW to heat the battery today at a fast charger but it will only turn on when you’re DCFC. It’s obvious from Car scanner. So I’m more convinced than ever that with a software change we will be able to get preconditioning to work on 2022 models. Just my optimistic 2 cents.

 

[Anaglypta]

So here’s the dumb thing about my 2022 EV6 RWD Light. It’s super clear the resistive heater was pulling 5 kW to heat the battery today at a fast charger but it will only turn on when you’re DCFC. It’s obvious from Car scanner. So I’m more convinced than ever that with a software change we will be able to get preconditioning to work on 2022 models. Just my optimistic 2 cents.

1) All 2022 model year EV6's that have the PTC battery heater should be upgradeable to the new Battery Preconditioning software.

2) The quickest way to check if you have a PTC battery heater is to check the head unit software for the "Winter Mode" option. If you have this then you should have a battery PTC heater.

3) This was announced in Europe a couple of weeks ago, although it is still not available in the UK at the time of writing this (Kia UK very tight lipped about it), It should be available soon.

4) You may need to pester the importer for your territory to make sure they follow suit!

5) Some territories dealerships may charge for their time to install the upgrade.

John.

 

[irwinr]

If you are in North America and your car was built before June 2022, you do not have preconditioning right now. If your car was built in July 2022 or later, you do. An update has been rolling out for EV6s in Europe to enable preconditioning, and is likely available at most dealerships.

Is there a way to look in the Infotainment System and check for a version number or something to know if a particular car has this update / feature applied or not?

 

[Anaglypta]

Is there a way to look in the Infotainment System and check for a version number or something to know if a particular car has this update / feature applied or not?

First check your VIN. Position 10 gives you the model year. N=MY22 P=MY23. All MY23 have preconditioning from the factory.

For MY22 check the head unit - If you have "Battery Conditioning Mode" then the update has been applied correctly. If it says "Winter Mode" then the preconditioning update has not been applied.

For preconditioning mode you need the May 2022 Navigation/software or newer, and a dealer installed BMS/VCU update.

Here's the link again (as posted in my comment imediately above yours), where the first image shows Winter Mode and the second image shows that it has morphed to Battery Conditioning Mode.

John.

EDIT:- In case the link doesn't work for you.

 

[jrfeimst2]

Any updates when the USA will get the software update?

 

[jmccusker64]

Any updates when the USA will get the software update?

I've emailed Greg Silvestri ([email protected]) VP of Service and Aftersales Operations. Perhaps more people can write friendly & short emails to him.

Good luck,

Jim

 

[jtespi]

...so preconditioning doesn't initiate unless you trick it by entering in a recognized station and driving where you actually want to go.

Is there any information on how to "trick" the navigation system so that it'll precondition even when the DCFC you are visiting isn't in the nav? It would also be nice to hear from 2023 model year EV6 owners who have preconditioning from day 1. I have yet to read any of their experiences.

 

[Tyler]

Is there any information on how to "trick" the navigation system so that it'll precondition even when the DCFC you are visiting isn't in the nav? It would also be nice to hear from 2023 model year EV6 owners who have preconditioning from day 1. I have yet to read any of their experiences.

From what I've read, it works perfectly well to select a station from the "charging stations" menu and drive somewhere else. You probably want to turn down the guidance volume.

 

[jtespi]

From what I've read, it works perfectly well to select a station from the "charging stations" menu and drive somewhere else. You probably want to turn down the guidance volume.

I wish someone could make a video and show us for sure though. I'm guessing the work around only works when there's a fast charger in the nav that isn't too far away (say within 200 km). I don't think the system starts preheating that early, so if you aren't going to arrive within around 2 hours then the car won't do anything.

The work around would only work in certain cases where the new (not yet in the map) DCFC isn't too far away or in an opposite direction of one that's in the nav database.

 

[Aurum]

Thanks for the big update with very clear information. I purchased my EV6 in June/ July 2022 so I only have Winter Mode. I was really hurting this weekend on a trip in NC/ Tennessee mountains and using DC fast chargers. I have sent a short email to Mr. Silvestri in hopes those of us with the earliest builds can get some traction.

 

[DaveinNewEngland]

Do you have to use the car's onboard navigation to activate battery preconditioning? I always use google maps to navigate, including to chargers that I find using plugshare. This weekend was my first time going long distance in the cold, and it sure did take a lot longer to charge. I'd love to be able to activate battery preconditioning while navigating using android auto and google maps. Is that possible?

 

[Aurum]

Do you have to use the car's onboard navigation to activate battery preconditioning? I always use google maps to navigate, including to chargers that I find using plugshare. This weekend was my first time going long distance in the cold, and it sure did take a lot longer to charge. I'd love to be able to activate battery preconditioning while navigating using android auto and google maps. Is that possible?

You must use the car’s built in navigation to activate preconditioning. Also, as a side note, if you try to use the car’s built in navigation but already have navigation going with android auto or apple carplay, the phone will automatically cancel navigation from the app. So, either you will have to unplug your phone from the car to continue navigating independently or just live with the car’s built in navigation.

 

[DaveinNewEngland]

Thanks for the info. Aggravating, but worth it to have much shorter charging times. Now I just have to wait for the update for my MY2022 to have preconditioning available.

 

[jtespi]

Also, as a side note, if you try to use the car’s built in navigation but already have navigation going with android auto or apple carplay, the phone will automatically cancel navigation from the app.

So the phone will cancel the navigation? What if you do the opposite and start with the built-in nav then switch to Android Auto/Apple CarPlay? Will the car halt the built-in nav?

If someone with actual preconditioning in the US could give a definitive answer, I'd really appreciate it. Surely there has to be some way to trick the system to start battery preconditioning while still enjoying Google Maps from Android Auto or CarPlay.

 

[Tyler]

So the phone will cancel the navigation? What if you do the opposite and start with the built-in nav then switch to Android Auto/Apple CarPlay? Will the car halt the built-in nav?

If someone with actual preconditioning in the US could give a definitive answer, I'd really appreciate it. Surely there has to be some way to trick the system to start battery preconditioning while still enjoying Google Maps from Android Auto or CarPlay.

I've seen people with preconditioning confirm that yes, this cancels preconditioning (and the built-in nav, which we can confirm).

In general, I think the way to handle this is to mount the phone and not connect to Android Auto and run Google maps independently so that if Google and the built-in nav disagree, you can see it.