Limiting the charge to 80% - Level 2 Charger?

[ooopie]

I just got a 2017 and I want to find a good routine to keep the charge between 80 and 20 percent to preserve the battery health.

I understand that Kia didn't make this easy for us with a simple setting, and some people use the charge scheduling feature and do the math each time they park. This seems quite cumbersome to me.

Has anybody found a better/alternative workaround to limiting the charge?

I'm considering installing a Level 2 charger at home - are there any chargers that have a limiting feature?

Thanks

 

[IanL]

Yes, it's a bind. I try to operate between 30% and 80%, and just set the car's timer for 5hr20min at 16A charging, or 2hr50min at 32A. That adds about 50% charge. For 60% I'd estimate an additional 1hr/0.5hr.

I do not think an external charger can cut off charging at 80%, because there is no way for the car to signal its charge level via the connecting cable. However, there may be some wireless protocol available on North American models which we did not get in Europe.

 

[JeroenE]

The charging point doesn't receive the battery percentage when charging over AC. So it can't limit your car (or any other) to a specific percentage.

You could build some logic where you can input your battery percentage and then it can calculate (with a margin of error of course) how much kWh is needed to get your battery up to 80%. If you know that value you could make something that monitors how much kWh has been charged and cut off the charging when that number is reached.

But I doubt that'll be less cumbersome. You'll have to remember to input the percentage when you want to charge and so on.

In my 2014 you don't need to do the math when scheduled charging. You set the start time and the percentage on 80%. Of course, enough time to get charged to 80% is needed otherwise your car will still be charging when you want to leave.

 

[ksoul2084]

My 2016 has a setting you can enable when using the scheduled charge times to limit it to 80% (or 100%, nothing in between). Wouldn't that work for you?

I just keep 2 charge schedules on mine, one starts at 7:30pm everyday and the other is midnight (in case I get home late) and they both charge to 80%.

On the odd occasion where I know I'm taking a longer trip the next day I'll over the timed charge override button next to the charge door open button on the lower left side of the steering wheel to let it charge to 100%.

 

[ooopie]

My 2016 has a setting you can enable when using the scheduled charge times to limit it to 80% (or 100%, nothing in between). Wouldn't that work for you?

Unfortunately in the 2017, the 80% option was removed.

The car seems great otherwise, but this simple and important feature missing is quite frustrating.

 

[ksoul2084]

That's unfortunate.

 

[notfred]

I think it was to do with how the range was rated - because it had both 80% and 100% charge, the range counted as the average of the two rather than just the 100% charge. The whole thing is quite stupid.

 

[ksoul2084]

I think it was to do with how the range was rated - because it had both 80% and 100% charge, the range counted as the average of the two rather than just the 100% charge. The whole thing is quite stupid.

Makes zero sense. How is Tesla (and other EV manufacturers) able to keep their adjustable charge limit feature without affecting their range ratings?

Seems more like there was a some additional effort required that KIA couldn't be bothered with.

 

[IanL]

I gather it was a ruling by the US EPA, which they have subsequently recognised as "inappropriate", and have abandoned, so the limitation no longer applies. However, the damage has been done, and KIA are unlikely to provide a software mod to reinstate the 80% option. Unless you know someone?

 

[MassDeduction]

Makes zero sense. How is Tesla (and other EV manufacturers) able to keep their adjustable charge limit feature without affecting their range ratings?

Seems more like there was a some additional effort required that KIA couldn't be bothered with.

The charge limiting option is back in the 2020 and newer Kia Soul EV. To avoid being range-limited by the EPA you have to make limiting your maximum charge completely optional, and be careful how you talk about it in the manual. Any recommendation of using the charge limiting feature could trigger the EPA to downgrade your rated range, apparently. But Kia apparently got all their ducks in a row for the second-gen Soul EV. On these newer Soul EVs you can choose in the menus whether you want to charge to 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%. 90%, or 100%. Nothing in-between those (so you can't charge to, say, 55% or 65%, without using the same timing tricks people use to charge to something other than 80% in a 2019 or earlier Soul EV), but that's a super minor complaint.

It's nice to go for a drive, and set it to charge up to 50% when you get home. Or, if you'd prefer to give the car time to let the cells settle-down first so that the BMS can get a more accurate reading of each of them, tell it to wait 90-100 minutes before commencing the charge to 50%). Sometime after it hits 50% and stops charging, you can set it to start charging again at the last convenient moment before you want to actually next use the car. If you have a decent home charger that can charge at the full 7.2 kW the Soul EV can accept over AC charging, and you don't know when you'll be using the car next, you can just leave it plugged in but set to only charge to 50%, and simply raise the max charge level to 60% or higher when you next decide to use the car and let it top itself up while you get yourself ready to go.

I don't see why these features couldn't be rolled out to older Soul EVs through a software update, but I don't think that's a big part of what Kia does unfortunately. I expect with the newer E-GMP cars and their over-the-air updates, however, we will see more of that.

 

[IanL]

I don't see why these features couldn't be rolled out to older Soul EVs through a software update, but I don't think that's a big part of what Kia does unfortunately. I expect with the newer E-GMP cars and their over-the-air updates, however, we will see more of that.

If only... I wondered if something could be done by file swapping within the two versions (27 and 30 kWh) of the latest navigation update, but it's not something I would chance with my own car, even if I knew how to set about it.

 

[ephodges]

Yes, it's a bind. I try to operate between 30% and 80%, and just set the car's timer for 5hr20min at 16A charging, or 2hr50min at 32A. That adds about 50% charge. For 60% I'd estimate an additional 1hr/0.5hr.

I do not think an external charger can cut off charging at 80%, because there is no way for the car to signal its charge level via the connecting cable. However, there may be some wireless protocol available on North American models which we did not get in Europe.

Just so I understand... If I drive my 2017 Soul EV to lets say 30% I can set my 16amp charger to come on at 11:00 PM and shut off at 4:20 AM and I should have 80% charge?

 

[IanL]

Just so I understand... If I drive my 2017 Soul EV to lets say 30% I can set my 16amp charger to come on at 11:00 PM and shut off at 4:20 AM and I should have 80% charge?

Yes, exactly so. I use the car's charging control to do the timing, but it should work just as well with a timer on the external unit.

I should add that my timings are for a 240V supply. If you are using a 120V supply, you should require approximately double the time.

 

[Kecke]

I do as follows on my wifes 2018 30 kwh ; I run a test charge and get say 52% battery and 6h 20m charging time.
Calculate 380min/48% = 7.2 min for 1%. Need 28% to get to 80% ; 28*7.2= 222 min. But that is too much as the charging slows down at the top ; so I multiplicate by 0.9 = 199.5 min ~ 200 min , I set the starting and ending times 3h 20m apart.
After doing this a few times it gets quite easy.