Kia Niro EV
The lease on my Polestar 2 recently expired, and I purchased a pre-owned 2022 Kia Niro EV outright (22,000 miles). Over the last few years a rather healthy used EV market has developed, which is great for the industry.
The Kia does not have the prestige of the Polestar but there were a number of reasons why I chose it. The primary one one was my experience driving a rented Hyundai Kona EV while the Polestar was down for body repair. The car, while quite small, was surprisingly capable and full of most of the same features as the Polestar. Hyundai has proven itself a capable EV maker, and Kia is a chip off the block.
There are some things I miss about the Polestar, the surround view camera being the biggest, but several things I don’t miss at all, the center nav stack being the largest. The Niro‘s is so much better thought out.
In the Polestar, if you wanted to switch from media to radio, you had to switch screens. That’s a physical button on the Kia. But its behavior in operation is standout. You can change a pre-set radio station on the steering wheel, which was the same as the Polestar. But unless you had memorized the stations while on the nav screen, to see the new station again required changing screens! In the Kia, the new station is displayed for a few seconds on the far side of the screen! Beautiful.
Plus it picks up the media from the phone without a hitch, while this was always a struggle for the Polestar. Further, the overall sound quality is superior in the Kia. The Polestar‘s front center speaker so dominated the output that I simply reverted to keeping the front speakers turned off.
A surprising advantage not given much attention is the Kia‘s efficiency. Its EPA range is 250 miles. However, it has consistently stayed at about 280 miles! That’s on the order of 4.4 miles per kW from its 64 kW battery, easily one of the highest available. We covered EV efficiency’s here.
I’m quite satisfied with the purchase.
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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.
These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.
Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.
The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph’s College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
How long does it take to charge
Here’s where the distance driven every day is important, and in truth, few of us pay any attention to this. Most EVs today will go 250 miles, but you’ll want to save some on either end, so assume 220. If your commute is 30 miles round trip, you can go a week on a single charge and a 220/240 volt outlet or Level 2 home charger is ideal!
Dead 12-volt start battery
So we spotted a post on “X” recently titled “12 Reasons NOT to buy an EV” (electric vehicle), which leave internal combustion engine (ICE) powered cars as the only alternatives. We thought we’d have a look at it point by point.
Level 1: This level requires only a standard 110V/120V plug found in your home or apartment. A grounded adapter, like the one shown to the right, will have been supplied with the car. Charging at Level 1 adds 3 to 4 miles of range per hour of charging.
the car, is shown to the right.
There are three standards: Combined Charging System (CCS), CHAdeMO (CHArge de(for) MOve(ing)), and North American Charging Standard (NACS). We’ll ignore the second one, which was developed in Japan, and you should as well in deciding on a purchase as it is used by only a handful of manufacturers, has only a small charging network, and is being superseded. Due to simplicity, lighter weight cabling and extensive network, the NACS standard, a Tesla creation, is slowly being adopted by nearly all auto manufacturers selling vehicles here in the U.S. However, be absolutely sure the connectors on the car are correct if you choose something other than a Tesla and wish to use its network.
Can zero-emission vehicles hit the California 35% by model year 2026? Toyota NA says no!
As reported by InsideEVs, zero-emission vehicle sales in California is mandated by the state’s Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Cars II to reach 35% of new vehicle sales by model year 2026. Toyota Motor NA’s (North America) chief operating officer says the EV regulations would be “impossible” to meet, despite the fact that the standard can include a mix of plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell models as well as battery electric vehicles.
Not just EVs! In fact, EVs alone in California currently hold a 22% share of the new car market. So far through September. Two years to 35% seems quite doable once hybrids and fuel cell models are included. Not to mention the fact that the EV share is double what it was in 2022.
EV Resistance
Legacy manufacturers remain resistant to the changeover to EVs. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is the lack of service revenue. I personally have not spent a nickel in a dealership service department in going on four years.
Another large bit of resistance comes from sales people, who despise spending time with customers after a sale to explain new technology — even in internal combustion powered vehicles. Salespeople want to move on to the next sale.
Elon Musk was right to avoid the traditional dealership model in favor of direct Tesla sales. Further, Tesla pays little or no commission on sales, leaving well paid personnel to spend all the time in the world helping new EV owners.
Unfortunately resistance is likely to continue and its difficult to see where the tide tide truly turns. One would think the lack of expensive required maintenance and the ability to leave every morning with a full “tank” would be more than enough. Certainly, coupled with current incentives, it seems to us that major inroads have been made.
Cars are changing, and among those changes is the growing number of symbols and indicators that will invariably show up on your dashboard or instrument panel. Every year, new features are added to vehicles, each of which is accompanied by a new symbol or symbols and likely a new acronym.
At DashboardSymbols.com, our aim is to help you understand what is happening to your vehicle at the first sign of trouble – a new warning light illuminated on your instrument panel. Its all here on this website. Our first intention is to bring the latest technologies down to earth and understandable for everyday drivers.
InsideEVs’ X post on the subject can be seen here.
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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.
These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.
Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.
The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph’s College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY