Battery heating question - Cold Weather

Kia Soul EV Forum

Help Support Kia Soul EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tinsley207

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2020
Messages
11
Hello All,
It's been a while since I've posted but I have a question about best cold weather practices. I have a 2016 Kia Soul EV has that lived most of it's life in my garage but now needs to spend more time outside in my driveway. I live in Maine and the temps can get pretty cold here. This morning it was 2 degrees F when I got up. Here's my question. On a cold night like this, does it make sense to charge the vehicle with a level 1 charger over a longer period or with a level 2 charger closer to the morning hours? I was thinking the level 1 would sort of "trickle" charge the car and activate the battery heater. Is that right? Or does it make more sense to just use the level 2 charger which theoretically add's more voltage and therefore more "heat" to the battery just through charging. I guess what I'm driving at is, is it ok for the battery to get very cold overnight before it charges with level2? I can also confirm that my SOH is 90.5% according to EV SPY and I just hit 80k miles in the car. Thanks in advance for your input.
 
I do not have a battery heater in my car so I cannot give you a good answer on charging techniques in cold weather. But a couple of things to consider.
Trickle charging is much less efficient than level 2. see Onboard charger : less efficience at low power ?
Trickle charging may not provide enough power to run the battery heater.
Trickle charging does not provide enough power to run the climate heater to warm the car before you get in it.
Over the long-term trickle charging may increase longevity ( But depending on driving style, climate, etc as well.)

My reality is to level2 charge so that the car is warm in the morning. Caveat no battery heater and not a cold climate.
-----------Daily High and Low Temperature for Jeju,South Korea. (pre-Global-Warming)
1736366025803.png
 
Last edited:
Az esetek 95%-ában az otthoni (1. számú) push-ot használom. Hideg időben lekapcsolom a reggeli futást, mert addig nem vesz igénybe sok energiát, amíg fut. Ez az akkumulátort is felmelegíti! Kevesebb energiára van szükség a továbbhaladáshoz az úton, és az akkumulátor hatékonysága is jobb. én használom.
 
There are details on how much power HVAC draws while charging here. :- Pre heating the Cabin

1736721361570.jpeg

Scheduled heating of the cabin at 0°C.

Conclusion = Need a 3,1 kW EVSE setting if you don't want loose the battery charged over night at 100% when you pre-heat the cabin.

3,1 kW = 1,1kW EVSE + 2kW Average consumption on RED line.
1736721405998.jpeg
 
Hello All,
It's been a while since I've posted but I have a question about best cold weather practices. I have a 2016 Kia Soul EV has that lived most of it's life in my garage but now needs to spend more time outside in my driveway. I live in Maine and the temps can get pretty cold here. This morning it was 2 degrees F when I got up. Here's my question. On a cold night like this, does it make sense to charge the vehicle with a level 1 charger over a longer period or with a level 2 charger closer to the morning hours? I was thinking the level 1 would sort of "trickle" charge the car and activate the battery heater. Is that right? Or does it make more sense to just use the level 2 charger which theoretically add's more voltage and therefore more "heat" to the battery just through charging. I guess what I'm driving at is, is it ok for the battery to get very cold overnight before it charges with level2? I can also confirm that my SOH is 90.5% according to EV SPY and I just hit 80k miles in the car. Thanks in advance for your input.
I just moved to Saskatoon with mine, and it being -20C out here, you pretty much need level 2 outside to maintain anything - you'll also slow charge, but you will charge. I can try to get you some data on charging from the logs in Car Scanner....car is full at the moment, but i'll log one and post here so we can take a look and see what to do. I've seen Bolts and even Soul EVs here from time to time (even with the $150 EV Road tax they have here T_T), not to mention the usual Teslas/etc.

The car does some heating on its own (when i've left it at a dog park, etc). I haven't tried plugging into a block heater outlet at malls and the like, but will find out - my Grizzl-e mini is still too big to be lugging around, but i'll be getting my OEM EVSE back so I'll be able to get some data soon....
 
Back
Top