2024 Kia Sportage PHEV new owner

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CharlieR

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Hi Everyone, new poster from North Georgia. Im about to buy a 2024 Sportage phev and have been avidly reading this website to get more information on what i can expect. Been reading about some of you having issues with the 12v battery running out and car shutdown, that has me a bit worried.
I also have some questions on whether most of you use the ev mode until battery runs out or switch of it before it gets to that point.
This will be my first Kia, I am old so have driven many different car makers, starting with the Plymouth Cricket to my current Mazda CX5
Any advice on what to watch out or expect will be glady appreciate it.
thanks
CharlieR
 
Hi CharlieR,

I got a Sportage PHEV a little over 2 weeks ago. At first I spent some time trying to manage whether it was in EV or hybrid mode by switching between EV, Automatic, and Hybrid modes. But now I leave it in EV mode and it seems to manage whether it’s in EV or hybrid mode on its own. Not exactly what I expected. Figured EV mode would use only EV until I ran out. Figured Auto mode would do a blend. But EV mode seems to also do some blend of EV and hybrid mode. And the car switches over seamlessly when it runs out of EV range. So I’ve stopped worrying about the mode and just let it do its own thing. Since I got the car, I’ve driven over 425 miles and have I’ll put 5.6 gals in the car, so I’m feeling pleased! Good luck
 
EV = “Use battery first”. HEV = “Maintain the current charge.” I think the goal is to use 100% of the battery, as long as you can charge it up again. If you are driving further than the battery range before charging again, it’s most efficient to use the battery/EV mode at slower speeds/stop & go driving. So on a longer trip, PHEV drivers will try to use up the battery on the slower sections and switch to HEV on the highway/faster sections of the drive. But really only need to do if you want to save some of the battery for the end of the trip, when there might be slower driving. Otherwise, just leave it in EV to make sure the battery gets used up. However, it helps to have extra charge in the battery for any hill climbing on the highway. Otherwise, you are stuck with the noisy ICE and won't have as much power climbing up mountain passes...

Auto mode is a bit of a mystery. It probably does something similar - Tries to use EV mode at slower speeds and then HEV at faster speeds. But it doesn’t know how far your total drive is, so may not use up the entire battery. Unless maybe it takes input from the onboard Nav? That way it knows how long the total trip is and where the slow/fast sections are. But that’s still unverified. In any case, Auto is best for long trips when you don’t want to bother with switching EV/HEV modes. “Set it and forget it!”

The PHEV will start the ICE for all sorts of other reasons, besides an empty battery. Mainly for heat, but also for extra power and to keep the engine up to temp and ready to cut in at any moment. If not for power, it’s usually just idling and not using much gas (EV light will be on at the same time ICE is running). It helps to watch the hybrid diagram to figure out what it is doing.

Secret tip: Switching to Sport mode on the highway will charge the battery! Not a lot, but if you are on a long trip and have used up the battery, Sport mode will charge it up for some slower driving after the off ramp. We drove cross country and would use Sport mode 15 min before an exit. Gave us 5 mi or so of battery charge.
 
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Thanks. Thats interesting to hear about the battery charging in Sport mode, doesn’t it do that in the other modes?
 
Not really, because the ICE isn’t running as much.

Again, EV uses the battery, HEV “holds” the battery charge - doesn’t add any more. But when Sport mode is used it is the exception, in that it overrides the HEV holding somewhat and adds charge.

Of course, HEV mode is constantly using and charging the battery, but the difference is that it doesn’t ADD any more. You will finish the drive with the exact same charge as when you started.

The other modes affect the handling of the car, not generally the hybrid system. Steering, throttle response, transmission shifting, etc.

Smart mode seems to be a combo of Eco and Sport. Don’t think it really “learns” anything about your driving. Just is quicker to cut in the ICE when you need it. General rule of thumb concluded in these forums is that you should use Eco most of the time and Smart mode for highway driving. Works better w/cruise control.
 
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steveo said:
EV = “Use battery first”. HEV = “Maintain the current charge.” I think the goal is to use 100% of the battery, as long as you can charge it up again. If you are driving further than the battery range before charging again, it’s most efficient to use the battery/EV mode at slower speeds/stop & go driving. So on a longer trip, PHEV drivers will try to use up the battery on the slower sections and switch to HEV on the highway/faster sections of the drive. But really only need to do if you want to save some of the battery for the end of the trip, when there might be slower driving. Otherwise, just leave it in EV to make sure the battery gets used up. However, it helps to have extra charge in the battery for any hill climbing on the highway. Otherwise, you are stuck with the noisy ICE and won't have as much power climbing up mountain passes...

Auto mode is a bit of a mystery. It probably does something similar - Tries to use EV mode at slower speeds and then HEV at faster speeds. But it doesn’t know how far your total drive is, so may not use up the entire battery. Unless maybe it takes input from the onboard Nav? That way it knows how long the total trip is and where the slow/fast sections are. But that’s still unverified. In any case, Auto is best for long trips when you don’t want to bother with switching EV/HEV modes. “Set it and forget it!”

The PHEV will start the ICE for all sorts of other reasons, besides an empty battery. Mainly for heat, but also for extra power and to keep the engine up to temp and ready to cut in at any moment. If not for power, it’s usually just idling and not using much gas (EV light will be on at the same time ICE is running). It helps to watch the hybrid diagram to figure out what it is doing.

Secret tip: Switching to Sport mode on the highway will charge the battery! Not a lot, but if you are on a long trip and have used up the battery, Sport mode will charge it up for some slower driving after the off ramp. We drove cross country and would use Sport mode 15 min before an exit. Gave us 5 mi or so of battery charge.
Click to expand...
I agree to that
 
CharlieR said:
Hi Everyone, new poster from North Georgia. Im about to buy a 2024 Sportage phev and have been avidly reading this website to get more information on what i can expect. Been reading about some of you having issues with the 12v battery running out and car shutdown, that has me a bit worried.
I also have some questions on whether most of you use the ev mode until battery runs out or switch of it before it gets to that point.
This will be my first Kia, I am old so have driven many different car makers, starting with the Plymouth Cricket to my current Mazda CX5
Any advice on what to watch out or expect will be glady appreciate it.
thanks
CharlieR
Click to expand...
Hi Charlie, I’ve had my 2024 Sportage PHEV since mid-March. No battery problems at all. Most of my driving is relatively short trips 15-40 miles. I almost always just leave it on EV mode. It switches over seamlessly, so it’s no big deal when it runs out of battery power and moves to hybrid mode. The only time I bother trying to switch modes manually is when I have a longer highway trip with non-highway driving at the end. Then I try to save some battery to use off the highway. The beauty of the PHEV is that it works great in both modes, so it doesn’t really matter all that much. But I get a kick out of trying to optimize battery usage and try to get home with no excess battery left.
 
Sallyh said:
Hi Charlie, I’ve had my 2024 Sportage PHEV since mid-March. No battery problems at all. Most of my driving is relatively short trips 15-40 miles. I almost always just leave it on EV mode. It switches over seamlessly, so it’s no big deal when it runs out of battery power and moves to hybrid mode. The only time I bother trying to switch modes manually is when I have a longer highway trip with non-highway driving at the end. Then I try to save some battery to use off the highway. The beauty of the PHEV is that it works great in both modes, so it doesn’t really matter all that much. But I get a kick out of trying to optimize battery usage and try to get home with no excess battery left.
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I'm going to be taking my new Sportage PHeV to Denver (from PHX) in about a month. I'm going to use this trick (use HEV for the highway to save some battery for city driving at the end). I will only have the slow level 1 charger at the Air bnb so I'd like to arrive with at least some juice in the battery.

I've also read (I think on this forum) that driving in SPORT mode on the highway actually replenishes the battery -- as opposed to just keeping it at the same level. I'll try that too.
 
We purchased a '25 Sportage Prestige PHEV a couple months ago. We have a couple thousand miles on this vehicle. We have had reasonably cold weather, but using the heated seats feature as our only source of heat when running on pure EV, the ICE has yet to come on. The vast majority of our daily driving is local, and with our level 2 home charging system we only use gasoline for longer distance driving - making sure we exhaust the 34 miles of electric range in the process. We have owned regular hybrid vehicles for several years so we are used to operating our PHEV pretty efficiently when in hybrid mode. We get between 34 and 35 mpg when using the internal combustion engine (hybrid mode) only. We spent a little more for the Prestige trim and enjoy the many safety and comfort features it offers. No regrets so far.
 
I'm picking up my Sportage (prestige) PHEV on Thursday this week. It's my first time owning a hybrid and my first time owning an EV. Took me long enough! I'm looking forward to testing it out and seeing how it compares. I start with a long road trip so I won't get that EV benefit but once I get back home, most of my driving should be mostly EV.
 
pd119534 said:
I'm picking up my Sportage (prestige) PHEV on Thursday this week. It's my first time owning a hybrid and my first time owning an EV. Took me long enough! I'm looking forward to testing it out and seeing how it compares. I start with a long road trip so I won't get that EV benefit but once I get back home, most of my driving should be mostly EV.
Click to expand...
Sounds like my use for it too.. Use it mostly for going to the store and run small errands close to home, so it's mostly EV use. But we also use it to make long trips as the BEV just isn't there for that yet, but once they open up the tesla chargers, then it will be a different game.
 
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