Official Kia Soul EV thread

[GIBBER]

Talked to the hired test driver of this one tonight. Today was her first ever at breaking 100 miles on a full charge (105) she was quite surprised.

At what average speed?

She doesn't track it, the car was recording the data. All she does is drive it, this day (they max day) it was mostly city use.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

The battery warming TMS and the heat pump that draws heat off the motor and inverter are two features I'd be interested in after winters like this.

Motor and inverter waste heat at normal operation are not significant.

No? But if they have to be cooled anyway, might as well capture that.

motor doesnt but inverter creates significant amount of heat. not huge but more than enough to be useful

 

[GIBBER]

Talked to the hired test driver of this one tonight. Today was her first ever at breaking 100 miles on a full charge (105) she was quite surprised.

At what average speed?

She doesn't track it, the car was recording the data. All she does is drive it, this day (they max day) it was mostly city use.

Update: Encountered a second one yesterday, it wasn't half past midnight like the first encounter so he was more talkative. He was the second shift driver of a different Soul EV and stated his car was regularly averaging 5.0 Miles/kWh during the 1st shift, he was not aware of that drivers avg speeds/use. He drives it on his shift about 60% fwy at "flow of traffic" which at mid-day is >65mph. He has averaged about 4.7-5.0 Miles/kWh. As with the first driver I met he also had no specs on battery chemistry/degridation/average temps etcetera. He did add they have accumulated >13,000 miles in a month and the battery pack was being swapped out this week for a new one (no reason given to him) they really have had trouble with the DC machines staying hooked up to the charge ports, keeps popping out so KIA is working on that. Otherwise the car has in his words "been great".

 

[edatoakrun]

Good news in that it sounds like Kia may be planning production levels far beyond compliance.

Kia Motors said it will start building a battery-powered version of its Soul compact in Korea next month. The car will be Hyundai-Kia's first battery-powered EV export, with destinations including the United States and Europe.

For this year, the global sales target is 5,000 Soul EVs, said Cho Yong-won, vice president of Kia's Domestic Marketing Group.

In Korea, the Soul EV will cost about half of its 42 million won ($39,400) price tag after government subsidies, similar to the higher-end model of the gasoline version.

The car can run up to 148 km (92 miles) per 24- to 33-minute fast charge or 4 hours on slow charge...

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140311/OEM04/140319969/kia-to-start-building-soul-ev-next-month-for-2016-launch#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And that parent Hyundai is also planning BEV production:

(Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Co plans to start selling its first battery-powered electric vehicle (EV) in 2016 as South Korea's champion of fuel-cell cars hedges its bets in next-generation green technology.

Hyundai has leant toward engines which turn hydrogen into electricity in response to stricter emissions regulations in markets such as the United States. Research and development partner Kia Motors Corp has focused on rechargeable batteries.

But the division of labor is blurring at a time when the number of battery-powered EVs is on the rise. BMW's i3 and Nissan Motor Co Ltd's Leaf are widely expected to reach Korea this year - as will Kia's Soul EV.

"There is no clear direction about which eco-friendly cars will win. We are dividing roles of Hyundai and Kia, with Hyundai launching fuel cell cars and Kia focusing on electric cars," Senior Vice President Lee Ki-sang told reporters on Tuesday.

"But the time will come when Kia will introduce a fuel-cell car. Hyundai is also preparing to launch a (battery-powered) electric car in 2016," Lee said at the Korean launch of the Soul
EV.

Kia, 34 percent owned by Hyundai, on Tuesday said it will start building the Soul EV compact in Korea next month. The car will be the pair's first battery-powered EV export, with destinations including the United States and Europe...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/us-hyundai-motor-electric-idUSBREA2A07Q20140311" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

If their first year sales target is only 5000 globally, the odds that I'll see one for sale here just got smaller.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Expect full checkout of this car soon:

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Very exciting.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Expect full checkout of this car soon:

Seattle LEAFer with a 4 week test drive is claiming 118 miles on a charge which seems a "bit" optimistic. trying to get details on how he came about that conclusion

 

[JeremyW]

I'm pretty much convinced this is my next car. It's like they copied a '13 leaf and made it better. Way better nav, adjustable steering assist, heated AND COOLED front seats, and of course CHAdeMO!

I'll add some pictures I took yesterday in a bit.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

The battery temp is actively managed also.

100 kw charging for 25 min charge and 35 mins 50 kw ? That doesn't sound right ? Surely 100 kw should be less than 25 mins ?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

The battery temp is actively managed also.

100 kw charging for 25 min charge and 35 mins 50 kw ? That doesn't sound right ? Surely 100 kw should be less than 25 mins ?

sounds about right. keep in mind; the charging rate only runs at max speed for a VERY short period of time due to battery capacity size. 100 KW is nearly 4C charging which is relatively high so guessing it would charge that fast for maybe 5-10 minutes at the most, then brady down fairly rapidly.

if you were to time the charge based on the charge received, you will find you get about the same amount of charge in the first 11 minutes as you would in the last 19 minutes

problem we have here is really the "all or nothing" attitude created by session fee based public charging. allow us to pay for only what we need. I have charged over 30 mins less than a half dozen times. my normal charge was 10 minutes. (last time was actually 12 minutes but only because I had a conference call to finish)

 

[Valdemar]

The battery temp is actively managed also.

With air? A marginal improvement over Leaf at best in warmer climates.

 

[DaveEV]

With air? A marginal improvement over Leaf at best in warmer climates.

All depends on the temperature sensitivity of the battery chemistry. Even with liquid cooling the LEAF pack would not do well unless you could keep it at 75F maximum nearly all the time.

 

[KeiJidosha]

I'm pretty much convinced this is my next car. It's like they copied a '13 leaf and made it better. Way better nav, adjustable steering assist, heated AND COOLED front seats, and of course CHAdeMO!...

The Soul is moving up on my list as a replacement for the Fit EV as well. As L2 sites get busier, paid QC is more attractive for longer trips. This moves non-QC options (B-Class, 500e, Focus) to the bottom of the list. And CHAdeMO sites are the most available (working against CCS equipped i3, and eGolf). Kia has not done anything revolutionary here, but seems to be listening to the EV community. They seem to be addressing issues EV drivers care about. I like the Fit EV because it does many things well. the Soul seems to be targeting that success.

 

[Valdemar]

With air? A marginal improvement over Leaf at best in warmer climates.

All depends on the temperature sensitivity of the battery chemistry. Even with liquid cooling the LEAF pack would not do well unless you could keep it at 75F maximum nearly all the time.

I meant that air cooling is not much better than no active cooling at all unless you do a lot of QC or have a heavy foot.

 

[KeiJidosha]

...That Kia Soul is a real treat! Thanks to Keith for giving the test drives! and as promised... here's the video
http://youtu.be/elf3oqve_28

This vehicle is going to be the real competition to Nissan and Fiat.. the younger generation is going to love this thing!

^^^Thanks for the ride along

 

[gsleaf]

Awesome video thanks! Looks like its really well put together. Do we know when dealers might start to see these in stock?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Awesome video thanks! Looks like its really well put together. Do we know when dealers might start to see these in stock?

late Summer i believe

 

[TomT]

It's going to really be interesting when my lease is up next March. There are a lot of interesting (and likely superior) alternatives to the Leaf that will be available then...

 

[TonyWilliams]

Expect full checkout of this car soon

Seattle LEAFer with a 4 week test drive is claiming 118 miles on a charge which seems a "bit" optimistic. trying to get details on how he came about that conclusion

We will run a 100kmh ground speed loop with it to compare to the other cars tested.