[FredO]

Hi All,

I've read various articles on the Web and posts here recommending usually keeping the traction battery state of charge between 20 and 80% and charging to 100% only immediately before a trip. On the other hand, a friend with a Volt PHEV says "don't overthink it. Just charge to 100%."

Other than estimating the time to reach 80% I've not found a way to stop the charge at that level. The Infotainment system offers limits on the charging rate and it offers scheduling charging at certain times of the day but I do not se a "stop at X%" option.

I'm not currently using UVO. Does the free version offer such an option? I expect to soon get a JuiceBox level 2 charger when I get rooftop solar. Does that have this option? Or any other solutions?

 

[Techy]

Fully charge the PHEV . Battery management will look after the charging for you. The 80% applies to BEV.

 

[atc98092]

What Techy said. And as you've noticed, there's no way to limit the level of charge on the PHEV anyway. The PHEV will drain the battery to about 16% before forcing the car into Hybrid mode. And the Kia engineers have buffers designed into the charging software to account for the way PHEVs are used and the way that differs from a BEV. Your friend with the Volt is correct.

 

[perk1329]

The 80% applies to BEV.

the recommendation that caught my attention is that a BEV should only be discharged to 20% and recharged to 80% if using a DC fast charger. with a 250 mile range the 20% recharge point, 50 mi remaining, isn’t much different from an ice on a trip; 2(?) gals of gas left. if you 100% level 2 charge to start off you can go 200 mi before recharging but your subsequent legs will only be 150 mi fast charging to 80%. but i expect stopping every couple of hours for 45 minutes to recharge (2022 Kia Niro EV | Crossover SUV - Pricing & Features | Kia) would keep many from getting a BEV. and so tesla’s 200 mi in 15 mins (Charging Your Tesla) will keep them at the top with long distance drivers.

 

[atc98092]

the recommendation that caught my attention is that a BEV should only be discharged to 20% and recharged to 80%

Apples and oranges between a PHEV and BEV. The charging programming is different, you can't DCFC the Niro PHEV (the Mitsubishi Outlander is the only US PHEV that has fast charging, using CHAdeMO), different charge/discharge profiles. The PHEV can only draw 45 kW from the battery (the new 2023 Niro PHEV will have a 64 kW motor), while the BEV can draw 150 kW at full throttle. Don't worry about charging a PHEV to 100%.

 

[Balanclark]

Hi All,

I've read various articles on the Web and posts here recommending usually keeping the traction battery state of charge between 20 and 80% and charging to 100% only immediately before a trip. On the other hand, a friend with a Volt PHEV says "don't overthink it. Just charge to 100%."

Other than estimating the time to reach 80% I've not found a way to stop the charge at that level. The Infotainment system offers limits on the charging rate and it offers scheduling charging at certain times of the day but I do not se a "stop at X%" option.

I'm not currently using UVO. Does the free version offer such an option? I expect to soon get a JuiceBox level 2 charger when I get rooftop solar. Does that have this option? Or any other solutions?

The UVO free options do include setting charging limits. You can set different limits for AC (level 1 and 2) and DC fast charging. I suspect the you can also set them from one of the menus in the car

 

[jmurphEV]

The UVO free options do include setting charging limits. You can set different limits for AC (level 1 and 2) and DC fast charging. I suspect the you can also set them from one of the menus in the car

These options are limited to the EV models only. PHEVs like the OP's don't support fast charging or charging limits. It's confusing having HEV, PHEV and BEV models of the same car. Makes it very easy to confuse which is which and there are major differences between them.

 

[paulwhy.2]

I have a 2023 Niro PHEV, and I live on a hill. I really to need to limit the overnight charging to have room for regenerative braking the next morning, or I am wasting energy. I can't find anything in the manual on how to do this. Is this at all possible?

 

[FredO]

I have a 2023 Niro PHEV, and I live on a hill. I really to need to limit the overnight charging to have room for regenerative braking the next morning, or I am wasting energy. I can't find anything in the manual on how to do this. Is this at all possible?

I bought a Juicebox 32 (about $700 less $30 for a sale and less $250 credit from my electric utility) last Apr. Also I had a 240V, 40A outlet installed in my garage during a rooftop solar installation. While the Juicebox (or other charging systems) do not communicate with the car to determine its State Of Charge, the Juicebox app includes a control with which I can specify the initial SOC and my desired final SOC. For example 32% to 85%. The charge usually stops within a point or two of my target.

Of course, this doesn't help if you do not have a way to get a 240V outlet nd if you can't afford a Juicebox. The other alternative is to estimate the time req'd and watch the clock. One negative on my Niro is the SOC display disappears after a few seconds unless I leave a door open.

The image for the app below shows range but I usually have it show percent SOC.

 

[paulwhy.2]

Thanks FredO, I will look for such a charger after I put a 240v outlet in my garage, probably next week.

 

[ska bob]

They expect the phev to always get a 100% charge so there isn't an option to change charge settings. Batteries in a full EV are set up different than a phev. I always charged ours to 100%, many times twice a day, once at work then again when I got home. I wouldn't worry about wasting energy going down a hill. Turning the charger off at 95% to keep a Regen buffer would save about 0.5kwh, or about 4 cents in power. Spending $800 to get a new charger installed so you can shut it off with an app would never get your money back.

 

[dblackfl]

They expect the phev to always get a 100% charge so there isn't an option to change charge settings.

Agreed on your first point, and is this (the AC charger level) in Kia Connect not what you're asking for? Can't set it in the car dashboard menus though.

EDIT: It's there in Kia Connect - settable in 10% increments and appears to take the command, yet when refreshed goes back to 100% - just tried it. My car is currently charged to 100%. When I try to set it, I can hear the car's fan turn on for a few seconds. That corresponds to the charger being reset, same as when unplugged and plugged back in. Perhaps it works on a 2023 and/or only when the SOC is <= the requested limit.

 

[dblackfl]

For anyone following this, here's a quick update: for a PHEV, when you try to set the AC charge level via Kia Connect, it comes back with "Invalid Status Response" and changes nothing.

I opened an issue with the open source Kia/Hyundai UVO API integration for Home Assistant and the developer seems willing to experiment. When the PHEV is queried for vehicle info, it does send a JSON object indicating there's a settable charge limit - but just for AC, as expected. (The EV sends both AC and DC limits.) My current assumption and hope is it does work for the PHEV when a properly formatted request is made, and Kia Connect basically has a bug. For anyone interested in following, here's the open issue: Odd behavior with set charge limit on PHEV · Issue #580 · Hyundai-Kia-Connect/kia_uvo

Considering the vehicle info response does contain many more pieces of info than we see in the Kia Connect app or the owners.kia.com display, assuming the API is capable of more than the app supports is reasonable. For instance, when the PHEV is actively charging or the car is "on" the API reports a useful % charge figure for the 12V battery as well. Nowhere I've yet seen that in Kia Connect.