Official Kia Soul EV thread

[gsleaf]

The only thing I like about this car is the commercial. Talk about hideous looking.

Ian B

I think it looks good.

 

[Devin]

The only thing I like about this car is the commercial. Talk about hideous looking.

Ian B

I think it looks good.

I like it, too. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I could see this being the first EV to really appeal to people in my age group, like the Prius C has done with hybrids. Most of my college friends want EVs (I may have something to do with that, but I digress) and will be buying cars once they get jobs out of school. There is no manufacturer trying to sell EVs to this demographic which is tech savvy, environmentally conscious, and willing to try something new. I guess Fiat maybe, but the Soul EV is shaping up to be a vastly better car than the 500E.

 

[MrIanB]

The only thing I like about this car is the commercial. Talk about hideous looking.

Ian B

I think it looks good.

Glad you like it. Another thing to consider is that Hyundai and Kia have horrible resale values for the most part. I will wait for the Audi and Tesla 3. If the new Volt looks the same with rounded edges, I will pass and be done with Chevrolet.

Ian B

 

[evnow]

If the new Volt looks the same with rounded edges, I will pass and be done with Chevrolet.

Ian B

So, you are looking for a boxy Hummer ?

 

[TomT]

+1

The only thing I like about this car is the commercial. Talk about hideous looking.

I think it looks good.

 

[TomT]

No worse than Nissan...

Another thing to consider is that Hyundai and Kia have horrible resale values for the most part.

 

[nosuchthing]

The ad shows full charge 120 km range. That equals to 75 miles. Seriously, Kia?

 

[pkulak]

... even the 60kw ones around here start at 44 or so and start to taper down very quickly. Staying above 50 for the whole charge would make a pretty decent difference.

The chargers only ramp down because the car controls the charge rate.

Even if there was a 100kW with a Nissan LEAF plugged in, the LEAF would charge at exactly the same profile as it does on a 50kW one.

Yes... This is a thread about a new car that's coming out, not new chargers. I'm hoping that the Soul will be able to suck down more than 44kw, and for longer before tapering.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

The only thing I like about this car is the commercial. Talk about hideous looking.

Ian B

the car grows on you. my in=laws got the gas version 3 years ago and I thought it a bit too "boxy" for my tastes but my tastes have changed over time. A lot of people said the same thing about the LEAF (and still do!) but I thought mine was beautiful from day one. probably the true cool blue that did it for me

 

[JasonA]

Seriously, Kia?

Seriously, ILETRIC? :roll:

Apparently you haven't been looking much in this thread.. just post.

 

[evnow]

CG hamsters aren't cheap.

Kia has been using hamsters to promote Kia for a long time. The ad even got an award in 2010 ...

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/01/hamsters-ftw-kia-soul-ad-wins-top-nielsen-auto-ad-award-w-vide/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[nosuchthing]

Seriously, ILETRIC? :roll: Apparently you haven't been looking much in this thread.. just post.

Seriously, JasonA. At least that's what I saw. Now I'm a bit confused, I admit (see pics). Ultimately, I can only hope it's not going to be another "100-mile" car ala Leaf. (I'm down to 60 miles on my 2011).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLPP_A9A-84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is the 120 km (75-mile) reference. It flashed through way too fast. All I could focus on was that 120 number. I did not manage to notice the 60% charge level on the right - sorry about that...






And here is what appears to be an overly optimistic 125 miles (200 km) range display...




I am actually not quite sure what I'm looking at here, to be honest. It's quite fuzzy.

Enlighten me.

 

[JasonA]

You be the judge.

Again, if you're going to make comments without looking through this thread or read anything of what actual people who've tested it have to say, then why open your mouth? It's like the internet trolls that first started to slam it when I posted the video of the car and the trolls came out of the wood work..

Not enough range.. ugly.. this and that.. slow, etc,etc..

I tell you, with 4 people in the car, Jeremy, Keith in the front, Tony and me in the back.. this little car MOVES!!

Look at the range.. 92 miles on a 88% charge.

So there.. this car is gonna rock!

 

[evnow]

Look at the range.. 92 miles on a 88% charge.

You mean on the GOM or actually driven ?

 

[JeremyW]

Look at the range.. 92 miles on a 88% charge.

You mean on the GOM or actually driven ?

The driver (who had it for two weeks) said it had a bit more range than the leaf... that said I feel it is another 100 mile car. But marketed toward the youth, I think it will do well. I came away from the car thinking, they've copied the leaf but made it better. Now, it's no Rav or Model S in range, sure. But I think it's more mega-city "americana" ready than the i3. The CHAdeMO port alone says a lot. The killer feature for me though, is air conditioned seats:

Kia: Take a page from the 500e playbook and offer two weeks a year of car rentals for road trips. Throw some quick chargers in places other than dealerships. Market strong toward the tech youth out of college who have a decent job but can't stretch a Model S. Also, give us easy access to the geeky data of the car. SOC % is good, but if we could get even more like battery temperature, coolant loop temperature, pack voltage, and cell voltage that would be awesome. Of course, we'll find it all regardless if you help or not! :twisted:

 

[Devin]

CG hamsters aren't cheap.

Kia has been using hamsters to promote Kia for a long time. The ad even got an award in 2010 ...

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/01/hamsters-ftw-kia-soul-ad-wins-top-nielsen-auto-ad-award-w-vide/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Okay? Having worked in post production, each new second of CG hamster costs a minimum of $15,000. This single spot is a multi-million dollar investment, and it hasn't even aired yet. Pretty sure no other company has spent that much on an EV ad thus far.

 

[evnow]

Okay? Having worked in post production, each new second of CG hamster costs a minimum of $15,000. This single spot is a multi-million dollar investment, and it hasn't even aired yet. Pretty sure no other company has spent that much on an EV ad thus far.

Interesting information.

BTW, is this ad done in US or Korea (Korea might be cheaper).

 

[nosuchthing]

Wonderful. Another (better perhaps) 100-mile car. The wait for Tesla Model 3 continues...

:arrow: Dreaming about Tesla's Li ion-graphene 500-mile battery.
http://www.graphene-info.com/tesla-developing-graphene-enhanced-li-ion-battery" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Smidge204]

Okay? Having worked in post production, each new second of CG hamster costs a minimum of $15,000. This single spot is a multi-million dollar investment, and it hasn't even aired yet. Pretty sure no other company has spent that much on an EV ad thus far.

A sizable portion of that commercial seems to be people in suits, with CGI heads.. and I'm not sure they were always CGI heads. I don't think that commercial was nearly as expensive as you make it sound.


In other news, this thread is well over a year old now so it's fun to look back through the early posts and see people's concerns and speculation.

Lots of accusations/concerns about it being a "Compliance car" - not entirely out of the woods yet on this one, but the fact that they are rolling it out in multiple states and actually making advertising for it is a good sign. They seem to have the PR machine running.

Like some others I'm also a bit skeptical on the charge door mechanism. I did think it was a sliding door at first but it's more like a double hinge/parallel linkage. The worst part, IMHO, is the door provides absolutely no protection from the elements for the charging connector. At least with the LEAF's door you could close it partially to act as a little hood. The SoulEV's door also looks all too easy to rip off, accidentally or otherwise.

Looking forward to price and options/trim level announcements...
=Smidge=

 

[Devin]

Okay? Having worked in post production, each new second of CG hamster costs a minimum of $15,000. This single spot is a multi-million dollar investment, and it hasn't even aired yet. Pretty sure no other company has spent that much on an EV ad thus far.

A sizable portion of that commercial seems to be people in suits, with CGI heads.. and I'm not sure they were always CGI heads. I don't think that commercial was nearly as expensive as you make it sound.

VFX/CG works costs a lot more than people think.

Here's the low bid for a fairly simple shot with a CG fish (no additional water effect added) for 54 frames on a project I was involved in (for TV, there are 30 frames/second and furry creatures cost more than scaley ones):
Element Option 1: Modeling for total CG Fish: $26,070.
Element Option 2: VFX shoot $15,675 + CG Prong $2,700 = $18,375 - Assumes no enhancement to puppet fish. Would need to incl FD, BT, SD seq. for cont. (updated 6/27).
+ $8,468 to comp for 54 active frames (no handles).

The cheaper option here is about $500/frame and involved a puppet that had already been created (so that cost isn't included here). This is VFX elements only (i.e. the creature itself), not including any practical stunt/shoot cost, and this bid involved outsourcing work to India.