I Drove My 2022 Kia EV6 Wind AWD On A 275-Mile Campus Tour From San Diego To Los Angeles And Again On A Single Cost, Arriving House With Simply 1% Battery And three Miles Of Vary Remaining

Right now, the long-distance street journey has been rewired, fairly actually. It’s now not whether or not the engine will overheat, it’s whether or not electrons will final lengthy sufficient to get you to the driveway with out crawling right into a Walgreens parking zone with 0% and a prayer. And but, someplace between vary anxiousness and the graceful hum of torque at zero RPM, there’s a brand new form of enjoyable: the EV vary experiment. Harmful? Possibly. Thrilling? Completely.

That’s precisely what occurred when Reddit consumer Mud_Duck_IX, behind the wheel of a 2022 Kia EV6 Wind AWD with 45,000 miles on the clock, set out from San Diego to tour UCLA and USC with a carload of youngsters. Leaving with a 100% state of cost and an informal plan, the journey shortly grew to become much less of a easy outing and extra of a rolling take a look at in power administration, terrain consciousness, and religion within the guess-o-meter. The Redditor wrote:

“Street journey yesterday to take a child and their three mates to tour the campuses of UCLA and USC from San Diego. Left the home at 100%, drove 75/80MPH after we may, however there was quite a lot of stop-and-go when within the LA space. Could not discover a charger at UCLA (I do know they’ve them, however we had been tight on time, and looking for them within the parking storage wasn’t within the playing cards). We did discover one at USC for the afternoon tour. It was a shared ChargePoint charger and solely obtained 3.1 KW, so we charged for 3 hours in the course of the tour.

We obtained within the automobile to depart USC, and the guess-o-meter mentioned we had been going to be 5 miles wanting the Google Maps distance again to San Diego, which I took as a private problem. We had been helped out with LA site visitors, and after the primary hour had constructed an 8-mile buffer in the suitable course! That mentioned needed to decelerate to 70MPH and ultimately 65MPH as we began hitting the hills north of Encinitas and thru Del Mar. Buffer obtained right down to 1 mile with 25 miles to go, however we had been at 4 miles on the G-O-M after we obtained off the freeway with 1.5 miles to go and pulled into the driveway with 3 miles left and 1%.

Made for an fascinating drive, and had I not been very accustomed to the drive (particularly the elevation adjustments), we may have been pressured to cease and cost quarter-hour from getting house, which might have sucked. However, all’s properly that ends properly 🙂

Whole Miles: 275.27, ended up getting 9.1kw on the trickle charger.

Edit: 2022 Wind w/tech, 45K miles on it.”

The EV6 acquitted itself admirably, carving by way of the worst of LA’s site visitors and terrain with out as soon as blinking. What it’s, although, is a snapshot of EV life at the moment, the place infrastructure, planning, and intuition collide. With no time to scout chargers at UCLA and solely a trickle of three.1 kW at a shared ChargePoint unit at USC, the automobile sat tethered for 3 hours in the course of the campus tour. That leisurely cost provided simply sufficient juice to tempt a return journey with out a detour. Most would have topped off elsewhere. This driver took it as a problem.

Because the vary flirted with actuality, the return drive grew to become a masterclass in power technique. Early on, LA’s congestion helped prolong the buffer. Later, the terrain labored towards them. The hills close to Encinitas and Del Mar siphoned away that slim margin as absolutely as an open throttle. At 70 mph, and ultimately 65, the EV6 eked out sufficient effectivity to glide into the driveway with simply 1% battery and three miles of predicted vary left. That form of arrival is a quiet triumph. No fanfare, no flaming burnout, simply the quiet click on of a charging cable being plugged in and a look again on the digital sprint that reads “1%.”

This form of expertise is changing into a shared ceremony of passage amongst EV drivers. One other Redditor, steelblade2, chimed in with a story from the Midwest: A visit from Chicago to Ann Arbor, counting on A Higher Routeplanner’s prediction of arriving with 10% battery. Then, a shock dinner pickup added six miles, and immediately the calculated buffer evaporated. With a number of well-timed pace reductions, they made it again with 7 miles and a couple of% remaining. No panic, simply the calm utility of EV logic. Pace kills vary, however persistence buys miles.

Kia EV6: Key Options 

• One of many standout options is its ultra-fast DC charging functionality: it might go from about 10 % to 80 % cost in roughly 20 minutes utilizing an 800-volt ultra-fast charger. 
• The EV6 helps a flexible charging ecosystem: Kia Cost Cross provides entry to over 35,000 DC quick chargers in North America, together with greater than 25,000 Tesla Superchargers (with the suitable adapter). 
• Past charging, it has clever options like a driver-side charging port placement for comfort, multi-motor all-wheel-drive variations with heat-pump expertise for higher cold-weather vary, and even a flat-floor inside due to its EV structure – enhancing consolation and value. 
• On the design and expertise entrance, it impresses: there’s a performance-leaning GT-Line AWD variant providing as much as 446 lb-ft of torque, heated/ventilated seats together with rear outboard seats, a premium 14-speaker Meridian audio system, and a configurable inside that blends sportiness with every day practicality.

These tales spotlight extra than simply intelligent driving. They highlight the still-maturing state of EV infrastructure. In keeping with one other commenter, Alternative_Ad9806, the closest DC quick charger to UCLA would’ve been at Fox Hills Mall close to the 405. However that’s educational if you’re juggling 4 youngsters and two campus excursions. As Mud_Duck_IX replied, “I used to be truthfully hoping to only seize stage 2 charging… if I may have achieved that at each colleges, I’d have had loads of buffer.” As a substitute, they rolled the cube.

The guess-o-meter, or GOM, is the digital compass all EV drivers be taught to interpret with suspicion and hope. Like a blackjack seller who often slips you a win, the GOM is as a lot intestine really feel as math. It accounts for terrain, current driving conduct, and local weather situations, however it might’t predict whether or not the subsequent 20 miles are a downhill coast or an uphill battle. On this case, it danced between despair and deliverance because the buffer shrank to 1 mile with 25 left to go. This isn’t a bug. That is the sport.

But for all the stress, this wasn’t a story of desperation. It was certainly one of competence and understanding. The EV6 was as much as the duty. The motive force knew the route. The terrain was acquainted. And in the long run, the automobile rolled house with out drama, delivering 275.27 miles on a single cost. That’s proof not simply of the automobile’s functionality, however of the brand new ability set trendy EV drivers should develop: consciousness, restraint, and the flexibility to belief each machine and intuition.

That is what EV street tripping seems like in the true world. It’s not the sterile perfection of producer estimates. It’s not the dystopia of operating out of cost within the desert. It’s one thing else totally. A recreation, a chance, and in the end a reward for these keen to interact with the machine and the maths.

Picture Sources: Kia Media Heart

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based mostly in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys protecting the newest information within the automotive trade and conducting evaluations on the newest automobiles. He has been within the automotive trade since 15 years outdated and has been featured in outstanding automotive information websites. You’ll be able to attain him on X and LinkedIn for suggestions and to observe his automotive protection.