Yes, Bluelink is controlled via a cell module inside the car, and yes that costs money after the first three years. I just turned on climate preheating while getting ready to check out at the grocery store earlier today from much further than Bluetooth range. No idea why it’s called Bluelink, but it’s not because of Bluetooth.

 

wow, thats unfortunate.. i can understand charging for road side service or some kind of on star service after 3 years, but to have to pay $100/year for a core function that is free in any tesla, like remote climate control, is pretty disappointing just on principle.

 

To be fair, Tesla charges $99 per year for premium connectivity. Nav is standard with Tesla, but everything else requires the subscription. This page offers a breakdown.

Connectivity | Tesla Support

Connectivity is an important part of all Tesla vehicles, further enhancing the driving experience by providing access to features that require data usage. Find out more about Standard and Premium Connectivity.

www.tesla.com

 

Curious where you got the $99 a year figure? When I took delivery the sales guy told me they didn’t know the cost yet since the service was less than 3 years old and no one has paid for it yet.

 

Bluelink+ | Vehicle Connectivity Service | Hyundai USA

Experience Hyundai Bluelink+, a connected car service offering remote access, safety features & convenience for an enhanced driving experience. Learn more.

www.hyundaiusa.com

"What are the Bluelink packages, and how much do they cost? Do you offer à la carte features?⁠Click to collapse
There are three Bluelink packages: Connected Care, Remote and Guidance. After the trial period is over, each package is available for $99/year. The Connected Care Package comes with a complimentary trial for all new Bluelink-equipped vehicles. Currently, there are no à la carte options available.

Connected Care is a comprehensive safety and car care package that offers peace of mind no matter where you are. Call Center agents are standing by 365 days, 24 hours a day to summon help or provide emergency assistance. The Remote Package gives you convenient access to features via the web or smartphone app. You can Remote Start your car, use Remote Climate Control (if equipped), unlock/lock your doors or locate your car when you forget where you parked it. The Guidance Package provides more than just the quickest route to your destination."

so $100 for the remote control functions, or $300/year if you want navigation and the onstar type service. that's crazy, i wonder how many people realize what it will cost after three years to keep these features. i don't care about their nav, it sucks compared to google maps on carplay, and i don't need onstar since i have CAA.. but i think it's pretty insulting to have to pay $100/year to use the phone app to defrost my windows on cold mornings.

 

Interesting. I wonder if the API is open to control these features? Could be something to add to my Home Assistant. As long as they provide a way to authenticate to my car, it could be possible to do 😀. My husband has been automating all our house heaters. Might as well add the car features. 😆

 

I'm using kia_uvo with my home assistant server which must be installed with hacs. Home assistant can now see pretty much everything from washer fluid sensors to the tyres. The highlight being though is I can use alexa (which is already integrated as an input device) - if I say "alexa car heater on" the climate control will turn on in the car 😎

 

If it means I get quality updates/OTA after 3 years, I'd gladly pay it. If all I got was warming and PaaK...maybe not

 

Sounds a similar model to Audi and VW- first 3 years free and then a subscription model thereafter. This looks like the way things are heading - software upgrades or mods to the car via software will increasingly become a
paid for service - car companies wanting to increase the longevity of income from your purchase…..

 

Sounds a similar model to Audi and VW- first 3 years free and then a subscription model thereafter. This looks like the way things are heading - software upgrades or mods to the car via software will increasingly become a
paid for service - car companies wanting to increase the longevity of income from your purchase…..

Of course, as I am sure consumers will want (demand) to see more than tweaks for their $99

 

I think the term is longer in Belgium(/EU?), as my lease term is 4 yours and the dealer told me it was "xx years" - I only remember it being more than 4 My guess would be 5 years together with the unlimited mileage warranty.
Prices were indeed not known yet last year.

 

Go to settings>Bluelink and it tells you when the subscription expires. 3 years here in Norway.

 

It's $297 dollars total after the free 3 years. There are 3 different BlueLink services that cost $99/year each or $9.90/month each. If you want the full experience, you have to get all 3.
The 3 different services are:
-Connected Care
-Remote
-Guidance

 

Do you know if I could buy just the Remote package without buying the other two? That’s the only one that really interests me.

 

I see you are Canadian, dealer told me 3 years, but on the main menu of bluelink app mine says active until 2027, so it seems like I got 5 years.

 

How the [bleep] is it in any way normal or acceptable to have to pay a subscription to use features I bought on MY CAR??? Mobile service fee? Fine. I'll pay that and use some free app for the basic features I want. Will Hyundai let me do that? If not, why not?

If not, I might have to look elsewhere. I have a big problem with buying any product that only comes with a stipulation that the maker can forever dip into my wallet.

My buying decisions depend on what I buy. Any subscription requirement tied to that only sours the deal. I have to view such purchases as not including those features at all, then consider the subscription completely separately. Devoting that thought to it quickly points out that there is no updating needed, no additional features promised or needed, (there's better nav on my phone, always up-to-date, adapts to real-time conditions and it's free), the only continuing cost related to the service being the mobile link. They're asking WAY too much to let you keep features that are already there, and that you already paid for.

The other way to look at this is you're buying features that expire unnecessarily, just so Hyundai can extort more money from you.

Seems rather stupid to allow such a highway-robbery sort of approach to jeopardize the sale of such an expensive product. Especially when there are competitors with more respect for their buyers.

On a related note, see this post at CleanTechnica (nearly a full-on Tesla fansite) where the readership is asked if they would be interested in a "dumb" EV without all the tech. The results are strongly in favor of the dumb EV. Hostage subscriptions like this are likely a good part of the reason.

 

I’m confused as to which features you feel you bought that are taken away with the Bluelink subscription? I personally never felt that I was misled in regards to Bluelink. Was told upfront about the cost associated. It’s not even an ev thing, Bluelink is available for ice models as well.

 

We still have a physical key to open the doors of the car we drive and this should be ok. As long as we do not connect things together at long distances (physical or via the networks of any kind) we still OWN the stuff in front of our eyes! All depends how many of us are willing to pay this kind of approach and how much. Informed buyers always saved money. We shall have no hesitation to remove our new fancy Hyundai EV from the family fleet if there is no value returned for the money we pay. Hyundai cannot charge without agrement. As long as customers do have options Hyundai like all manufactures must learn to respect clients. If Hyundai doesn't respect it may come a day when there is no Hyundai and this lesson applies to any name how great they are. Thanks to forums like this one we can be informed buyers.

 

I don't know if they still do this, but after your subscription expires and wait (who knows how long), they will send you an offer via email to make it cheaper. I re-signed on my previous car when it was $5 per month per package. If they still do this, then it's worth waiting for them to send you a promo. Otherwise if you don't need the service, then you can just wait for someone here to post about a new update and just sign up for one month to get the OTA.

$300 a year for all 3 is expensive though. Last I remember, Connected package was required to get Remote package. So I don't know if Guidance package can be standalone sign up or requires other packages.

 

I think most of the cost of Bluelink goes to the mobile cell usage anyway. 100€ per year is cheap just to get your device/car connected to the internet. Try finding a SIM (at least in Belgium) that'll give you that...

 

I have Google's cell phone service, Google Fi. we get extra data-only sim cards we can put in any device, whatever data is used is part of our regular plan. So yeah it would be a heck of a lot cheaper than 100 euros/year. Too bad the Ioniq 5 doesn't have a SIM slot we can put our own service in or have WiFi we can connect it to a hotspot.
What's really the cost is the servers and upkeep. All the BlueLink commands go through their servers then gets sent down to our cars. Also the SOS/BlueLink customer service people worldwide. As long as it keeps working and we get navigation map updates, then that justifies the cost.

 

I really don't think that paying is unfair ........... ALL of the FOBs have a remote start button.
UNLIKE my truck that doesn't BUT it does come with free app that you can remote start............. when it works Oh yeah and it also has a schedule start too, again, when it lets you but it's free

Is it nice to have , yes, is it mandatory ? No.
There are many cars in each manufacturer that do not have this app to use. So not a deal breaker for me.
Anyway, you can program an auto pre-condition on the car so.. meh.

 

Feel free to bitch about some additional charges after three years, but don't forget that everyone adopting an EV right now is going to avoid the current massive price hike of petrol and diesel. I saw a prediction that diesel may reach £3 per litre quite soon! I'm glad I am making this jump, even if the car is still a couple of weeks away from delivery. I installed solar PV on our house in anticipation, and am looking forward to mostly free driving in future. I think that more than offsets whatever charges Hyundai may/will impose on me in three years time!

 

3 years in Luxembourg!

 

Under the Guidance package they have charging station finder. That needs to be a standard item.

 

Is it true that bluelink, and the ability to control climate functions, heated seats, defrost, etc.. remotely on your phone are only included for 3 years, and then after that you have to pay $99/year?

Also, bluelink doesn't rely on a bluetooth connection with your phone right? Just wondering because it has the word "blue" in it. The car has it's own 3g/4g cellular connection? So as long as the car is somewhere that has a signal (not deep underground in a parking garage) and I have access to the internet, lte or wifi.. I could warm it up remotely? Like if I'm at a restaurant and my car is parked 3 blocks away, no problem?

True for 3G and 4G but no wifi bulit in! I can speak to my wallbox but not to my I5 in my garage as mobile data is poor

 

The I 5 has that, very similar to the Volt.

 

Something else to consider is that many insurance companies provide substantial discounts for having Bluelink installed and available, as it can work as a tracking device like LoJack, so you may be able to offset some of the Bluelink Costs that way.

 

I picked my car up last week ( love it) and got an email yesterday offering an upgrade to my subscription for a one off £99 plus £18 a month. Wasn’t keen at first but if I am reading it right then it includes annual services and breakdown cover.

It does say the free option that includes all discussed previously is free for 3 years.



what do folks think?

 

I think the excess voucher and maintenance make this a tempting offer, especially if the low voltage coolant changes are expensive in your area.

 

After 3 years they want to charge you for some features that require an on-board cell connection.
But don't forget about all the telemetry data they are taking from your car. They take that for free. They don't pay you for your data. The places I go, the way I drive and the technical parameters of the car are mine since I bought the car.
I heard a pod cast that it is expected that all this telemetry data from new cars (ICE and EV) will be worth $790 billion by 2030.
From my POV they can give me $10 of bluelink service per month for free since they are stealing my telemetry data.

 

I don't really care about my data. Everybody has it. I'm okay with paying for things that cost them money like roadside assistance etc. Except I don't want any of that. All I want is to control my car. Tesla is now dropping the base connectivity after 8 years. Used to be lifelong. But even 8 years is better than 3 years. And the $100 for Tesla's connectivity gives a lot more value than Bluelink.

I initially thought that I had to pay $200, but looks like I only need to pay for Remote which is $100. $200 was almost a deal breaker. $100 rankles, but it's not a deal breaker. And they had better get rid of it if they want to compete with Tesla.