Kia Gives the Gift of Knowledge to Electric Vehicle Owners This Holiday Season

In the meantime, Kia UK, an arm of the multinational automobile manufacturer based in South Korea, joined forces with Motiv8, an independent automotive training organization, to research on how folks can maximize their electric vehicle's range.

There is no smoking gun to the problem, and most are common sense tips on how drivers can increase the range of their EV by as much as 33%, resulting in substantial money savings.

While 70% of the 1,200 UK drivers that participated in Kia’s EV efficiency study acknowledged owning an electric vehicle is helping them cope with the increases in cost-of-living expenses, over half wished they knew more about adapting their driving styles to curb the expenditure of owning and operating an EV.

David Taylor, Director at Motiv8 International, which conducted the training on behalf of Kia, said: “Kia has some of the most advanced EVs available on the market today, so were the perfect partner to test our efficiency methods. The results speak for themselves; by changing simple inputs, drivers can easily optimize their vehicle’s efficiency and go further on a charge, save on recharging costs, and reduce their energy use."
“This is Kia’s gift to EV drivers this festive season – easy techniques that anyone can apply to save money, as well as reduce demand on the national grid. With the average driver traveling 311 miles (500 km) to visit friends and family, now is the perfect time to follow Kia’s tips and start saving,” concluded Taylor.

The all-new all-electric Kia Niro was used for the EV efficiency skills session. With its 285-mile (458 km) range, two-wheel drive electrified powertrain, low drag coefficient, and smart regenerative braking system, it was the ideal subject car to collect data.

Independent drivers were given a specific route to navigate that included winding country roads, city driving, and stretches of highway in a subject car with a 100% charge and instructed to drive in their usual style for the first go-around under an instructor's observation. After the initial route was completed, data from the Niro's intuitive instrument cluster was recorded for later comparison as a baseline, so to speak.

Experts from Motiv8 then studied each driver's habits and styles and recommended changes each driver could make to improve the Niro's efficiency before sending them out a second time on the very same route.

The changes in driving behavior from the initial test to the second run resulted in a 33% greater electric range across all participants.

Taylor explains: “With the average home charge costing around £3 ($3.67 / 3.45 euro) p/kWh and public rapid charging at around £7 ($8.56 / 8.04 euro) p/kWh, it is easy to see where savings can be made. If you take the average improvement in the Kia study and extrapolate that over the UK average of 9,435 (15,184 km) electric miles a year, an EV driver could save between £220 ($269 / 252.73 euro) and £500 ($611.25 / 574.25 euro) per annum.”
So, that begs the question, what exactly was the advice given to the participants to exercise on their second run to create such an increase in efficiency?

Well, folks, it is not much different to squeeze more out of your EV range than it is to increase the mileage on a gas-powered car.

It boiled down to just five basic practices that are nothing but logical and easy to follow. For starters, goes easy on the throttle as up to 50% of a vehicle's power is consumed during acceleration.

Keep your EV in fighting weight by not hauling unnecessary items and plan a route that avoids traffic congestion and keeps you moving.

In the event that you do find yourself in heavy traffic, anticipate the situation to keep your EV rolling at a constant rate avoiding the stop-and-go of traffic jams.

Lastly, the research revealed that by limiting your speed from 60 mph to 50 mph will improve efficiency by up to 15%.