We Drove 19 KM More Despite the Kia Niro EV’s Indicated 0 KM Range and 0% State of Charge

At the beginning of February, we joined a national CAA initiative to put some fifteen of the most popular electric vehicles currently on the market through their paces. The journey began in Ottawa and ended in Mont-Tremblant.

The project was inspired by an idea from the Norwegian Automobile Federation, which has been organizing a series of intensive tests on electric vehicles for the past five years.

Onboard the Kia Niro EV

We journeyed in the company of a CAA-Quebec team member and an experienced towing driver from the Niagara region of Ontario. At the wheel of a Kia Niro EV, we left downtown Ottawa on Tuesday, February 4, with the aim of getting to Mont-Tremblant by following a set route, which was not the shortest route, by the way. Each team had to respect certain clear instructions: the temperature setting was fixed at 21°C, the steering wheel and heated seats could not be activated, cruise control could not be used, and the speed limits could not be exceeded by more than 5 km/h. Although these instructions were arbitrary, they ensured a certain degree of uniformity across the fleet.

In ideal conditions, the range of a Kia Niro EV is 407 kilometres.

Sometimes on provincial roads and occasionally on motorways, we made our way to Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci for a midday snack after a brief stop in Grenville.

As the kilometres went by, we realized that we wouldn’t be able to make it to Mont-Tremblant with the energy we had left.

But no need to panic!

The little Kia Niro EV that could

As we drove along the winding Route 329, the Kia Niro EV showed a remaining range of 0% and 0 kilometres. We thought the end was closer than it was. From that point on, we were able to drive no less than 19 additional kilometres even though the battery was presumably empty, according to the vehicle’s readings. We forged ahead, but it wasn’t long before we lost the on-board heating system in the passenger compartment. The vehicle’s maximum speed was considerably reduced. The topography of the region we were in was both an obstacle and an asset. While the Niro EV struggled to reach the top of some hills in the final stages, it took advantage of the many downhill stretches to store some energy.

It was just north of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts on Route 117 that the Kia Niro EV gave up. Fortunately, we were able to pull over safely onto the shoulder of the road. We had the impression of momentarily losing power steering in the last few hundred metres. Without heating for several minutes, it was cold inside the vehicle. The temperature hovered around -10°C outside.

A charger to the rescue

As planned by the organizers of this extreme test, we were put in touch with a towing company affiliated with CAA-Quebec. He arrived shortly after the breakdown and quickly got the Kia Niro EV onto his platform. The tow truck dropped the vehicle a few kilometres further on, where there was a series of 50 kW Flo charging points in a parking lot in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts.

After just a few minutes at the charging point, the Kia Niro EV returned to life without a hitch. The indicated range gradually increased. We stayed for around thirty minutes before heading back to Mont-Tremblant to complete our journey.

In a nutshell

What we learned from this trip is that cold temperatures severely affect the range of an electric vehicle. In fact, we could only drive 285 kilometres, well short of the 407 kilometres announced by the manufacturer and Natural Resources Canada.

It’s also important to remember that the Kia Niro EV we tested comes with plenty of warning. The vehicle becomes increasingly insistent once it reaches 25% of its range. The messages and warning lights multiply. It’s downright impossible to ignore the warnings. So there are plenty of opportunities to find a charging point nearby or to park your vehicle safely and call for roadside assistance.

To run out of electricity, you almost have to do it on purpose, just like we did.