Hybrid Battery Charge Level

Faults and Technical chat for the Kia Niro
Terry
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:19 pm

Post by Terry »

Talking about the hybrid battery and charging. Does anybody know if the car is left unused for say a month, is the hybrid battery ok to do this?

Greenman
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:11 pm
Location: West London

Post by Greenman »

Not sure what the handbook says, but what I would do is: drive the car slowly around neighbourhood roads until there was a reasonable charge e.g. 75% on the display, then charge the 12v battery fully, and if possible leave it on a trickle charge. Can't see there would be any drain on the Lithium battery, and don't know what the residual demands are on the 12v battery - you live and learn...

Edit: Having thought some more, this is a precautionary first experience. If it turns out that there is no significant loss of charge in the Lithium battery, then in future you can leave the car for long periods of time without worrying about it. Remembering gimball saying that lithium batteries are best stored at 30% charge in cool conditions. I wonder how long Niros hang around between manufacture and delivery to the customer?
Mike R
Niro 2 Black [no additional driving aids] Since 1 Sept 2016
Previously: Sportage KX2awd on11 plate
Steve stallion
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 8:48 pm

Post by Steve stallion »

I seem to maintain half to threequarters tank of battery too! Must be calibrated to do that to get the best out of the car
PhilB
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:07 pm

Post by PhilB »

I think that it is all to do with battery life. The battery will last appreciably longer if only using a quarter of its charge range. More than 4 times the life than if it is charged over the full range. Also it leaves a margin for any unusual demand on the system.
On the subject of leaving the car for a period of time, I have left my car for 3 weeks in an airport car park over Christmas, and it had no problem. I would be more worried about the 12 volt battery after my recent experience - see my other post.
Phil
Monde37
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 10:44 am

Post by Monde37 »

I was told that the battery should normally be just above 50% and that appears to be how it is.
NiNiro
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:02 am

Post by NiNiro »

Kia have a substantial warranty on the battery and perhaps the software is set up to keep on the safe side of the battery performance. They will undoubtedly learn much from the Niro and future versions of this drive train will benefit from the miles of testing we will do over the coming years.
djbobbins
Posts: 132
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:57 pm

Post by djbobbins »

I am currently in the Alps on holiday.

It is about 12 miles of near constant downhill from where we are staying to the nearest reasonable sized town; a journey which we have done three times now. Starting at about 40% charged, the battery seems to be fully charged after about 7-8 miles of downhills and switchbacks. I have not noticed any ill effects of this; certainly no smells of being hot. I was a bit worried on the first drive up to the resort that we did get a hot smell, but as this (a) was a one off, and (b) disappeared as soon as we stopped following a Citroen C4, I'm confident it is not an issue with the Niro.

One interesting observation - it appears that when the battery is fully charged, in order to avoid overheating the brakes when going downhill the management system actually starts the petrol engine but holds the car in gear to provide engine braking.

At risk of going very much off-topic, a couple of other things noted on the trip down here:

- fuel economy goes to the dogs at French motorway speed (cruise control set to about 82mph) - I recorded about 45mpg on average, which is similar to what I used to get out of an 1800cc Ford Sierra Sapphire on the same journey 20 years ago
- the adaptive cruise control when set on "normal" response level led to the car kicking down to 4th gear on some uphill slopes on the autoroute, which made for a bit of a noisy trip. I set it to the more gentle response setting and all seems to be bett with the world.
- sports mode for driving up switchback mountain roads was quite good fun!
h2onorth
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:19 pm

Post by h2onorth »

Hi all. Greenman mentioned getting to 100 % charge and a hot smel!. Do not know conditions which caused this 100% but assume it must involve a long spell downhill. I have never even got to 75% or less than 1block below 50% so no experience. I would have expected Greenmans circumstances to have been tested in prototype testing, with some means of stopping charging altogether by switching off regeneration? My other question for him is that at that 100% charge point did the CV mode extend itself, once driving power was next required, to try to reduce the charge as quickly as possible?.
One other minor observation is that when car starts under CV mode from off, (no engine initiation at start) all warning lights go off of course Plus oil warning light, interestingly. This cannot be oil pressure in this situation so presumably it just goes out to prevent driver alarm!
h2onorth
AlanW55
Posts: 253
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2017 4:31 pm

Post by AlanW55 »

Quote: "a 32kW (43.5bhp) electric motor developing 170Nm of torque and powered by a 1.56kWh lithium-ion polymer battery".
I wonder if these figures are true when the battery is only at 60% charge.
UK 2021 Mark 1 HEV 4 in silky silver, standard spec.
previously UK 2017 First Edition HEV in pearlescent white, standard spec.
djbobbins
Posts: 132
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:57 pm

Post by djbobbins »

h2onorth wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2017 10:19 pm Hi all. Greenman mentioned getting to 100 % charge and a hot smel!. Do not know conditions which caused this 100% but assume it must involve a long spell downhill. I have never even got to 75% or less than 1block below 50% so no experience. I would have expected Greenmans circumstances to have been tested in prototype testing, with some means of stopping charging altogether by switching off regeneration? My other question for him is that at that 100% charge point did the CV mode extend itself, once driving power was next required, to try to reduce the charge as quickly as possible?.
One other minor observation is that when car starts under CV mode from off, (no engine initiation at start) all warning lights go off of course Plus oil warning light, interestingly. This cannot be oil pressure in this situation so presumably it just goes out to prevent driver alarm!
h2onorth
I definitely noticed that when the battery was fully charged, the petrol engine did not start as readily - on my journey there was a stint of about 600-800 yards of gentle uphill (perhaps 1 in 20 gradient) which, being on a twisty road, I was not able to keep downhill momentum for. Nonetheless, the car travelled all the way up the hill under acceleration without starting the petrol engine. One assumes this is indeed designed to reduce the charge state of the battery to circa 50% as quickly as possible.
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