Autoblog: I've owned an electric car for four months and not used a public charger once

that's how it would be for me too. people make too big of a deal about remote charging. yes it does have its application, but not for a lot of people at this time in ev progression

 

Have to agree, in the 9 years I've owned a PiP and then a Prius Prime, I've used a public charger exactly twice, mostly because I could, it was free and was in the right place at the right time. I primarily used it to remotely heat my Prime during the winter while I was at meetings. Free electricity is almost as good as using the gas engine, just not as warm.

 

We owned a Mitsubishi iMiEV for 6 years as a second car, complementing out Prius. It was a terrific solution for our needs. The 100km range of "Bubbles" was no problem. Maintenance cost was 1 break service and viper blades when needed. As our life/needs changed we traded both cars for a 2021 Kona EV in August 2020.
We love our Kona, no range issues etc. However! Hyundai uses a single coolant for all cooling needs. Coolant change is 'recommended' in the service manual @60,000km or 48 months (whichever comes first). The Kona EV uses a huge volume of special EV coolant which is rated as 'low or no conductive'. It is very expensive (new product we are being suckered I guess). Add 1-2 hrs of labour - apparently depending on the dealer. The cost of this service is between $700-900 in Canada. Considering the possibility that Hyundai may refuse their 8ry/160,000km battery warranty if the coolant was not changed as 'recommended', prudent owners really do not have choice - other than selling/trading their car - but to bite this bullet. I feel blind sided but I am planing to keep my car so I will plan on this expense. In my opinion this job must be done by a certified dealer to get it documented properly. Also, do not mix coolants or add water to coolants in EVs. A new HV drive battery can easily cost more than the trade in value of the car.

Background: You may recall that early EV models, from various manufacturers, had battery fires. Kona and Bolt fires are well known and documented but there were others as well. Apparently at least some of these fires were traced to coolant leaks into the battery compartment. Something to do with the chemistry of the coolants used in ICE engines was not compatible with the needs of EVs. I am not a chemist, but this lead to the development of low or no conductive coolants specifically for EVs.

Apparently not all EVs have coolant change requirement, or if so less frequent. So shop around! Some are shipped with "lifetime coolant". So shop around! Check the User Manuals, talk to owners! Some Hyundai dealers have no clue about this.

We very rarely use commercial network chargers. Long trips I plan around L3 DCFC chargers, using them 4-12 times a year. For me L2 'destination chargers' are pretty much useless - unless you are driving a Plug-In hybrid. We hook up to a free one if one is around and I am below 50%. I hate Teslas hugging L2 chargers for hours. Just watch them at shopping malls! They lock out Plug-In hybrid owners because it is cheaper than charging at the SuperCharger, sometimes across the road! Go figure.

 

The 40k mile coolant change for Hyundai is excessive. While Toyota calls for inspections of the battery coolant every 15k, they don't do a change until 120k miles.

Looking into Tesla, the coolant is lifetime, but was once 4 to 5 years between changes.

 

Yes, I looked into Tesla myself. I think Hyundai and GM got burned with the much publicized Kona and Bolt fires. Cost them a lot of money to replace thousands of batteries - including mine. Konas before 2020 use different cooling liquid (green) and have a different maintenance schedule. The coolant in the newer ones is blue. Konas use one huge coolant reservoir. I understand that GM in the Bolt uses three coolant containers. It is possible that only one, dedicated to cool the battery, needs the new pricey coolant. Lot to learn!!

At the end this should all be sorted out but it will likely be too late for me.

 

According to the 2023 Bolt manual, they all use the same coolant as was in my past GM's, a mix of old Dex-Cool and water. Same with Lyriq. The Bolt fires were traced back to manufacturing defects in the battery cells. There was a Volt fire that was helped along by leaking coolant. It was one under going safety testing. It went though side impact and roll over tests, then left sitting against GM procedures for over a week before catching fire. Repeating the fire result involved removing the battery and crash testing it.

 

Does Kia mention if it is low conductive coolant? The short interval with the Ioniq 5 is only with that type for the battery. The motor and inverter coolant has service schedule like other cars.

 

Is any of the coolants blue? The low conductive battery coolant Hyundai uses is.

 

So Kia isn't concerned about leaks in the battery, and is using just one coolant loop for everything.

 

Hyundai was having fire issues with the Kona EV. I think they ended sales in S Korea over it. I figure they are being overly cautious now, if coolant leaks were the cause. I know the bZ4X and Tesla use a low conductive coolant, but they have maintenance schedules like that of long life engine coolant. GM is just using engine coolant in the Bolt and Lyriq.

I've heard the non-conductive coolant in a high end computer can get gummy, so will need to be replaced. You could also just run distilled water the computer, which has better ability to move heat away from want you cooled. Race cars might also just run water for that reason.

 

Thought I might comment on what i saw today at Walmart in our little town.

The local Walmart has 5 electric chargers in a remote spot in their parking lot - they are always empty and never used.

Within the last year on Walmart runs I've been noticing one or at the most 2 cars using the chargers.

Today tops the cake- all 5 chargers being used - an Ioniq 5, two other all electric KIA vehicles - an electric Mustang - A electric Nissan Aryia ( I think) and a Cadillac Lyriq ( I think) waiting for a charger. All but the Nissan had local plates. Last week I saw a Rivian truck charging at one of the chargers.


I think some manufacturers like KIA have an enlightened electric vehicle distribution plan that is nationwide. I believe this is going to pay big dividends for them . The manufacturers who restrict their distributions to only carb states are possibly shooting themselves in their foot.

 

i'd hate to be that caddy

 

I owned an electric car going on one year and used a public charger for the first time a couple weeks ago. Went on a bit of an adventure going to a store with round trip at the limit of the guess-o-meter range. Returning from the store I ran into a serious headwind and watched the range drop quickly, so pulled into a shopping area to charge. A Level 2 was open, but the car charged at reduced power, probably because it was working harder to fight the wind. Took 1h 40m to add about 20 miles of range which cost $2.25. When I got home I figure if I didn't stop to charge I might have made it with a mile to spare, or not, didn't want to find out the hard way.