Kia Niro EV - new owner in the U.S.

Question for anyone I guess, but particularly TandM re: owning a Niro in an area where Kia doesn't sell EVs. I know these should be low-maintenance vehicles, but do you have a plan or experience for getting service if something goes wrong? Are there brand-agnostic EV service shops? How do you find them?

 

Have you or anyone else had an issue with getting Android Auto to connect. My new Niro EV won't connect and so far Kia hasn't been able to get it to work but they are still trying. Replaced the port and radio and now they are trying the wiring harness.

 

Just picked up my Niro EV on 6/22. The two main vehicles I considered were the Kona Electric and the Niro EV. I test-drove the Kona, and it was nice, but a little small to comfortably fit 4 people. The Niro is just a little bigger inside, and ended up being the right balance of space and efficiency for us. Additionally, the Niro had automatic cruise control as standard on the EX (the trim level I was originally looking for).

I had spent the previous month or so emailing all of the dealers in my area (Los Angeles, CA) that had stock. All of the dealers were marking it up $5k above MSRP. I kept looking and emailing different dealers as new inventory showed up online. Finally found a dealer that was not marking up. Ended up getting the EX Premium for about $2,500 below MSRP, $1,200 below invoice. Loving it so far. Getting around 300 miles of range in Eco, using AC sparingly.

Started driving EV's with a 2013 Leaf, then a 2016 Volt (still have that, and love it, but has now gone to my wife). The deal breaker for me on the Leaf was the non-active battery temp management. When I turned in my leased 2013 Leaf in 2016 the battery was giving me only about 2/3 the original range and had lost 4 capacity bars. After three years in the Volt (with active battery cooling) I have experienced no perceptible battery range loss. I am still getting about 65 miles per charge on the Volt. So, active cooling on the battery was an absolute requirement for me - which the Niro EV has.

Regarding charging to 100% - from what I understand, that was a bad idea on the Leaf because Nissan made 100% of the batter capacity available for use - and charging up to 100% regularly is not necessarily great for Lithium Ion chem batteries. However, Chevy and Kia have taken a different approach. They do not make 100% of capacity available to the user. So, even if you are charging to "100%", it's not actually 100% - they hold some capacity both at the high and low end so your battery is never actually at 100% or 0%. In other words, 64Kwh is the 'usable' capacity of the battery - the the battery is actually a bit larger. The consensus seems to be that it's fine to charge to 100% on these cars, since it both helps with cell balancing and there is that extra buffer at both ends to preserve the battery.

 

Hello, I'm a current owner of Kia Soul EV and my lease is about up. Couple of questions about the Niro that I am hoping someone can answer before I check one out in-person. Thank you so much!

1. Can you leave the car running with climate control on and lock the car? We do this with our Soul by leaving the FOB inside but by taking the physical key with us. We use it when or dog is with us running errands.

2. Is there a setting where you can prevent the charging cord from being locked in? We have a shared charger at work and would like to put a sign that would allow others unplug and charge if I ever have to leave the car there.

 

I don't know the answer to your first question, but on your second question - the 'Auto Mode' of the charging connector lock keeps the charging cable locked until the charge is complete and then unlocks it. This function is described in detail on page 1-17 of the manual, if that helps. However, I've not seen any way to just keep the charging cable unlocked when the doors of the vehicle are locked.

 

Turns out it was a broken wire in the wire harness so they replaced it and everything working like it should now.

 

Those owners who are reporting a noise may find this uk thread useful for the dealer cure, grease and realignment of a part.
https://www.speakev.com/threads/braking-regen-noise.138230/page-4#post-2670296

 

With respect to previous post page 2 of the post user Wodgem has the answer.

 

Wow! Where in Cali are you getting below MSRP? The party line I'm hearing is that they're selling at MSRP because everyone else is marking them up. I'm seeing a lot of stock, however, so I'm wondering if they aren't selling as fast as they thought they would?

 

I just put some money down on one in WA with a purchase price right at MSRP, plus $995 delivery of course. I too had done a nationwide search and found that the East Coast had some pretty good deals on the Kias and Hyundais. I hope to finalize the purchase in August when WA offers the $2,500 tax credit.

I was nervous about availability after 8/1 since the WA tax relief plus the Feds $7,500 made for a cool $10k discount, so I've been watching sales activity for last 3 months or so, but I think maybe people are a bit worried about the economy or something because they weren't "flying out the door" like I've heard in other states. In any case, I want one for a variety of personal reasons, but mostly for the potential of 250,000 miles with < $1K of maintenance. The higher level trim package is attractive since it includes the power seats (really, no power seats on a $40K car?) and sunroof (have to keep an ICE I guess).

There are dealerships in WA and OR that are selling at MSRP, but it seems inflated because the cold weather package - battery heater and heat pump - (required & desired) adds $1K. A savvy shopper who didn't mind buying from a distance could probably pick one up in WA or OR. Oregon has Konas, Washington does not. At least from what I could tell...

 

Yeah, it was pretty surprising to me too. Again, I spent a month just going on the main Kia site to find inventory and emailing dealers. When I emailed this dealer, three had just come in and they agreed to sell me one at MSRP. Two weren't even prepped yet. I confirmed that twice, as EVERY OTHER dealer I contacted was charging $5k above MSRP. I was originally going for the EX, but by the next morning, the dealership emailed me to tell me it had sold the night before. So, all that was left were the two EX Premiums. But, they said they'd work a deal for me if I was still interested. So, with MSRP as a starting point, I was able to negotiate the deal I got. By the day after that, the third one had sold as well. I'm not really sure why they worked the deal they did, but I'm pretty happy. The dealer was Kia of Pomona.

 

Nice work. I'm trying similar tactics here. I don't love car buying in general but this EV buying is even more difficult.

 

Sure, that was my last sentence, but perhaps I buried the lede. It was Kia of Pomona (CA).