Kinetic Charging software could us a revision

howie12 · Dec 7, 2023

WInter has started to rear its head here in Northern WIsconsin. SO far I am leaving my Kinetic outside rather than parking in the garage but that will soon change. I have been using it in 12-25 degree weather. I see the battery is cold and performance is limited warning a lot and it takes 15-20 miles for it to come off when riding in ECO mode and doing 25-35 mph. I thought I'd leave it plugged in overnight and use ready kilowatt fromthe Utility to warm the battery. Unfortunately that doesn't happen. Once the battery is full and the charger shuts off it doesn't seem to use line power for heating or restart to top the battery up. The machine losses significant charge over a few days. SOmetimes 7 or so % of charge on the Ultimate overnight and I have seen it down to 80% charge when it is left plugged in for 4 or so days but not used.

IT seems to me they need to modify the charging software to use line power, when available, to heat the battery and to restart the charging if the battery has lost a significant amount of charge.

I'd love to hear comments from others in cold country what their experience has been.

All the best,

Titos · Dec 8, 2023

The Kinetic aint no Tesla. You can't set max charge percentage either. Or schedule charging. Or have it auto-warm and charge based on calendar events. Or even remotely warm or charge the battery. I would say the technology in the Kinetic is roughly equivalent to the plastic everything in the cab. Why would you expect the software to keep the battery warm when the floor and the dash and the doors and the bed and the fenders and the entire body are made out of plastic?
I mean, what do you want for $30k to $37k? Basic technology? pshaw

The reality is that Polaris hired a "VP of electrification" for what is likely a crapload of money and gave him a broad, generic mandate. He created the Kinetic and subsequently got fired.
Electrification has WAAAAY more to it than bolting someone else's lithium battery tech onto an existing platform and calling it good. Tesla wrecked the standard model of moving slow. We expect more. A lot more. And you aint going to get it. Like, literally ever. Oh, but we have Ride Command+ Lol what a gigantic pile of shit. I swear to god it is 1990s tech.

Titos · Dec 8, 2023

That said, I do love my Kinetic

howie12 · Dec 11, 2023

me too and I waste my time replying to Polaris questionnaires about it filling it with comments. ENought that they actually called me back for clarification on my comments. Now I could go your direction and assume the callback was just a marketing ploy or I could take the high road and assume they really cared and want to make it better. It is too depressing to assume the former so I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now and assume the latter. At least I'll feel better until I realize it made no difference.

Titos · Dec 11, 2023

Interesting. I got a long ways into thoroughly filling out the survey and lost interest, expecting nobody to actually care. That you got a callback is pretty amazing. Was it a Polaris product person or the survey contractor?

howie12 · Dec 12, 2023

HE called himself a Polaris Product specialist. He was knowledgeable about the physical detail;s of the Kinetic and seemed to understand what I was saying and asked a couple clarifying questions that also indicated he had reasonable knowledge about the machine.

Kinetic Charging software could us a revision

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