Comparison Of Fuel Economy for Battery Electric Vehicles

JejuSoul · Aug 29, 2015

According to the U.S. Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity the Soul EV is the second most economical EV, just behind the BMW i3.

Source: http://avt.inl.gov/fsev.shtml
Information in Wh / Miles
i3: 261
Soul EV: 264
Leaf: 279
Spark: 290
i-MiEV: 299
Smart: 326
Ford Focus: 347

I found this posted at the German Leaf Owner's Forum here http://www.goingelectric.de/forum/kia-soul-ev/wie-sparsam-der-soul-ev-wirklich-ist-fleet-fuel-economy-t12287.html

I found another article at the AVTA much more interesting. But its about the Nissan Leaf 2012 so may be less relevant to Soul EV.
Effects of Electric Vehicle Fast Charging on Battery Life and Vehicle Performance
http://avt.inl.gov/pdf/energystorage/FastChargeEffects.pdf
The main point was to avoid heavy driving during the summer in Phoenix, Arizona. (It is very hot there!)
Battery degradation for both slow charging and fast charging was substantial with high ambient temperatures.
Pure fast charging is slightly worse than pure slow charging.

Just found another set of data supporting the conclusion: Pure fast charging is slightly worse than pure slow charging.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/05/the-battery-pac.html

Code:

Mitsubishi tested the cycle life of the pack under standard (50 A) and quick charge (120 A) conditions using the JC08 driving pattern and found that the pack retained 84% of capacity with quick charging and 83% with standard charging after 1,000 cycles.

Birkeland · Sep 3, 2015

Thanks for this

From what I can see from the data, the average range for the Soul EV is 165km on a full charge (100 miles). Not bad

JejuSoul · Sep 3, 2015

I get the same result - using the following math. Is this how you got your result?
Usable battery capacity = 27.5 kWh = 27500 Wh
Average used per mile = 264 Wh
Average range = 27500/264 = 104 miles = 167 kilometers.

This seems quite good to me because the cars are being tested in Phoenix Arizona. The probable regimen is

Each vehicle was operated with the automatic climate control enabled
and set at 72°F such that heat or air conditioning would
automatically maintain a comfortable cabin environment, constantly between
vehicles. Drivers were instructed to drive with the flow of traffic,
and to follow a set route consisting of highway and city portions.

The results so far are for the six months up to June. Given that the weather is much hotter in the summer I think the average range will take a big hit. Will be interesting to see if the Soul overtakes the i3 because of the better HVAC.

JejuSoul · Dec 9, 2015

JejuSoul said:
The results so far are for the six months up to June. Given that the weather is much hotter in the summer I think the average range will take a big hit.

Yep! The latest data is now up. The 3 summer months have been added.
The cumulative average electricity consumption for the Soul is 305.5 AC Wh/mile. (was 264). !!

This is much worse than it looks because that is a cumulative average.
The summer months only represent a third of the tested miles so far.
It indicates a drop from 105 miles of range to only 70 during the 3 summer months.
Puzzling because my Soul did not suffer such a huge loss of range in the summer here.
I saw a drop from 130 miles at 20c to 120 at 30c during the 3 summer months.
I didn't drive in August when the temperature got up to 38c
What was the temperature in Phoenix this summer?

But I was wrong about the BMW. The performance is now 269.7 AC Wh/mile ( was 261)
Conclusion: the BMW performs well in the summer heat, the Soul doesn't. In fact the results for the Soul are much worse than I expected.
I wonder if Phoenix has a cold enough winter to give us a comparison for extreme cold.

JejuSoul · Dec 9, 2015

The new table of fleet test results.

Source: http://avt.inl.gov/fsev.shtml
Information in Wh / Miles
i3: 269.7
LEAF: 290.1
Soul EV: 305.5
i-MiEV: 319.0
Spark: 326.1
Smart: 333.6
Ford Focus: 359.5

Birkeland · Dec 9, 2015

This is quite contradictory to my findings, and my understanding of range on EVs in the summer. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is the high rate of battery degradation in Phoenix Arizona as this link explains:

http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/Battery_Capacity_Loss

Since the battery degradation is so rapid in Phoenix, the internal resistance in the battery must go up rapidly as well, so that could explain the increased value in watt usage/mile.

I live in Norway which should be quite advantageously for the battery (see the same link), and I wish I had the tool to get the min/max deterioration data from my batterypack.

Note that the battery chemistry described in the link provided is different from Kia Soul EVs, but Li-ion batteries tend to have pretty much the same properties. I wish Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity soon would update the battery testing data sheet for their 4 Kia Soul EVs so we could get the battery degradation data. Considered the total range the cars have driven, the testing should allready have been performed, but the data is not updated yet.

JejuSoul · Dec 10, 2015

Here is an image from FleetCarma showing how Nissan Leaf electric-car battery range varies with temperature.

data-from-fleetcarma-on-electric-car-battery-range-variation-with-temperature_100449576_l.jpg

A 25% drop is to be expected as the temperature rises from 20c to 35c.
This is not degradation of the battery, just how Li ion batteries perform at different temperatures.
The 4 Souls in the data above dropped by about 30%. We don't know what the temperature was.
The surprise is that of the different cars tested the Soul had the worst performance drop in the summer.
(That my be statistical artefact because the others have been tested for longer - will check)

Tom · Dec 10, 2015

The KIA Soul EV is very well insulated so this can not be the reason.
Also cooling both car the same way.
But the KIA was driven during the peak temperatur saison 1000 miles more per month then the i3 and this can make easily the 2.2kWh per 100km more in average.
Also is cooling a factor of time and not a factor of milage.
But most energie will be used to cool down your heated up car from 60 to 25C during peak saison and not so from 40 to 22 during spring time.
So maybe they did not drive so often the i3 during peak saison because it is not cooling so good?

This fact sheet tells us (I tooked one by random):
On-Road Usage and Performance Summary for 2013 Nissan Leaf S VIN 9270
Reporting Period: January 2014 through September 2015

Average trip distance (mi) 3.8

Good luck to cool down you car every trip and as I wrote......the i3 did much less then the Soul during hot summer month

JejuSoul · Dec 10, 2015

The Soul Ev does not sell in Arizona, but we do have a thread on this forum with owners who have imported cars from California.
A comment from June 25th this year.

tractioninc said:
jstack6 said:

We have at least 3 of us that have the new SOUL EV in the greater Phoenix area. We ordered them from California. We will be doing extensive HEAT testing and measure the battery capacity to be sure it can take our HEAT.

Click to expand...

I see that the high today in Phoenix is 112 F (44 C). This year has been a scorcher! Do you guys have an update on how your cars are coping?

So Phoenix was very hot indeed again this summer.
As yet there was no report back on how the cars did. see http://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=218

JejuSoul · Dec 10, 2015

Tom said:
... Also cooling both car the same way. ...

The battery cooling system for the Soul EV is Active - Forced Air
We discuss it here - http://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=135&start=180

The BMW i3 battery cooling system is Refrigerant Cooled
This is discussed here http://insideevs.com/bmw-lg-chem-trump-tesla-battery-thermal-management-bower/

I think the BMW i3 has the better system for very hot weather.

JejuSoul · Dec 11, 2015

Here is the data just for the 3rd quarter. Only July August and September.
The previous figures were averages for the vehicles life.

The 3rd quarter 2015 fleet test results.

Source: http://avt.inl.gov/fsev.shtml
Information in Wh / Miles and miles driven in these 3 months.
i3: 294.8 -- 8,500
LEAF: 363.5 -- 9,700
Smart: 373.4 -- 6,000
Soul EV: 376.6 -- 12,500
Spark: 410.6 -- 6,400
Ford Focus: 462.4 -- 6,400
i-MiEV: 471.2 -- 4100

There are 4 of each car apart from the i-MiEV which has only 2.
That the Soul EV is driven more than the others means it has less chance to cool down after each drive.
I also assume they do not pre-cool the Soul EV before starting, which would make a really big difference.
Even so it is still fairly obvious that the i3 does better than the rest in extreme heat.

Tom · Dec 11, 2015

As long we do not have more facts is hard to say.
Those sheets available only for the i3s at the moment:
http://avt.inl.gov/pdf/fsev/evop2014i3EV5658EV.pdf
On-Road Usage and Performance Summary for 2014 BMW i3 EV VIN 5658
Average distance driven between charging events (miles) 31.6

Almost all four i3 are driven arround 30 miles each trip (this is a very large number as average).

To cool down a car for a longer trip need less energy in average (per mile) then a shorter one.
Also are the i3s not driven in stop and go traffic but at relativly high speed.

What tmp. die Soul starts cooling down the battery and does it also during parking (or only is plug in during parking). Some question not so easy to answer.

Lets wait until this Soul sheets gets published.

JejuSoul · Dec 15, 2015

Tom said:
As long we do not have more facts is hard to say....

Okay. More data would make this comparison easier.
A useful graph in the On-Road Usage and Performance Summary would be
"Battery Energy Throughput During Driving by Pack Temperature".
This is missing for the i3 and the leaf but does exist for the Ford Focus.
The Focus cooling system seems to keep the battery between 30C and 40C.

On these pages there are also data for battery deterioration. Not yet for the Soul.
I have been looking at this data for the other EVs, but I will not post about this data in this thread.
For comparing fuel economy it doesn't matter how big the battery or fuel tank is.
It is all about how far you go on 1 unit of energy or 1 litre of fuel.
I will instead post AVT deterioration data on the Battery Ageing Model thread.

johntox · Apr 6, 2016

I bought a white car for this reason. Heat will kill a Lithium battery faster than anything else. It will not only compromise performance but degrade the battery permanently. I live in CA so heat is more problem than cold.

JejuSoul · Apr 6, 2016

johntox said:
I bought a white car for this reason. Heat will kill a Lithium battery faster than anything else. It will not only compromise performance but degrade the battery permanently. I live in CA so heat is more problem than cold.

I agree - heat is more of a problem than cold. For me winters are short and mild. I can adapt to the range loss. But the summer is long, hot and humid. I am more concerned with the battery degradation in summer than the performance loss due to running the air con. Strategies for keeping the battery cool are probably best discussed in a new thread. This thread is about comparison of performance between different cars and different seasons.

The avt website has a new look. The BEV data is now here - https://avt.inl.gov/fuel-type/electric
Performance data has been updated for fall 2015. No new battery data.
A quick summary. All BEVs get better fuel economy in the fall compared to the summer.

JejuSoul · May 20, 2016

There is new data for Q1 2016 Fuel Economy on the AVT site.

Here is the current cumulative Fuel Economy ranking.

Code:

BMW i3	   279.4 Wh/mile
2015 Spark  288.4 Wh/mile
2013 Leaf	290.6 Wh/mile
Soul EV	  298.3 Wh/mile
2011 Leaf	319.4 Wh/mile
i-Miev	   325.6 Wh/mile
Smart   	 328.9 Wh/mile
Ford FFE    355.7 Wh/mile
B Class	  377.2 Wh/mile

And here is the ranking just for the 'winter' season (Jan, Feb, Mar)

Code:

2015 Spark	 208.2 Wh/mile
2013 Leaf	  245.5 Wh/mile
Soul EV	    249.8 Wh/mile
Smart	      276.2 Wh/mile
BMW i3	     313.7 Wh/mile
i-Miev	     316.6 Wh/mile
Ford FFE      340.9 Wh/mile

The AVT site now also shows operating costs for each vehicle. There you can find the monthly fuel economy. This graph is for Soul EV 1908. Click for bigger version.

JejuSoul · May 25, 2016

Another great graph from the AVT site is the energy consumption at speed graph found in the On-Road Usage and Performance Summary Report. This graph is for Kia Soul EV '1908'

For comparison Tony Williams performs range tests on EVs. His data is here

Tony Williams said:
Range at 65mph (100km ground speed) on dry, hard surface level road with no wind or cabin climate control with new condition battery at 70F, battery capacity is “useable” amount, not advertised amount. Ranges are at maximum available charge and EPA rating is the maximum published.

Nissan
LEAF – 4 miles per kWh (250 wattHours per mile) * 21.3kWh = 85.2 miles / EPA 84

BMW
i3 – 4.7 miles per kWh (213 wattHours per mile) * 18.8kWh = 89 miles (the “REx” version has less electric range)

I3 “REx” (with gasoline engine) – 4.6 miles per kWh (217 wattHours per mile) * 18.8kWh = 86 miles minus reserve held for gasoline engine operation = 80 miles

Kia
Soul EV – 4 miles per kWh (250 wattHours per mile) * 27kWh = 108 miles / EPA 93

VW
eGolf – 4.1 miles per kWh (244 wattHours per mile) * 24kWh = 100 miles

GM / Chevrolet
2014 Spark EV – 5 miles per kWh (200 wattHours per mile) * 19kWh = 95miles / EPA 82

2015 Spark EV – 5 miles per kWh (200 wattHours per mile) * 18kWh = 89 miles / EPA 82

Mercedes
B-Class ED – 3.6*** miles per kWh (278 wattHours per mile) * 31.5kWh = 113 miles / EPA 87
*** Mercedes consumption meter is calibrated so that 3.6 miles per kWh will show 3.0 on the dash. The correction factor is 83.7%, or 1.2

Toyota
Rav4 EV – 3.4 miles per kWh (295 wattHours per mile) * 41.8kWh = 142 miles / EPA 113

JejuSoul · Sep 5, 2016

There is new data for Q2 2016 Fuel Economy on the AVT site. - see https://avt.inl.gov/fuel-type/electric

Here is the current cumulative Fuel Economy ranking.

Code:

Spark	   282 Wh/mile
Soul EV	   288 Wh/mile
BMW i3	   292 Wh/mile
2013 Leaf	  296 Wh/mile
i-Miev	   320 Wh/mile
Smart	   330 Wh/mile
Ford FFE    355 Wh/mile
B Class	   392 Wh/mile

And here is the ranking just for the 'spring' season (Apr, May, Jun)

Code:

Soul EV	   221 Wh/mile
i-Miev	   235 Wh/mile
Spark	   244 Wh/mile
Ford FFE    329 Wh/mile
Smart	   343 Wh/mile
2013 Leaf	   364 Wh/mile
BMW i3	   396 Wh/mile
B Class	   428 Wh/mile

This BMW i3 seems to have had a bad month in June this year. If I remember correctly there was a heatwave at the end of June.
It may just be bad luck that the BMW was the car driving that week. It is Vehicle #5626

If this BMW result was due to a heatwave it may turn out to be a positive event for the i3 in the longterm. At very high temps the BMW i3 actively cools the battery to reduce degradation. Obviously this cooling will reduce fuel economy, but the cost of the extra electricity to cover that cooling will be small compared to the cost of a new battery. If the battery lasts much longer as a result of a good TMS then the savings are greater.

JejuSoul · Dec 9, 2016

There is new data for Q3 2016 Fuel Economy on the AVT site. - see https://avt.inl.gov/fuel-type/electric

Here is the current cumulative Fuel Economy ranking. (Wh/mile)

Code:

2015 Soul EV	287.2 Wh/mile
2015 Spark	288.7 Wh/mile
2014 BMW i3	300.0 Wh/mile
2013 Leaf	303.2 Wh/mile
2012 i-Miev	317.4 Wh/mile
2014 Smart	331.8 Wh/mile
2013 Ford FFE	360.3 Wh/mile
2015 B Class	394.6 Wh/mile

And here is the ranking just for the 'summer' season (Jul, Aug, Sep)

Code:

2012 i-Miev	266 Wh/mile
2015 Soul EV	279 Wh/mile
2014 BMW i3	333 Wh/mile
2015 Spark	351 Wh/mile
2014 Smart	387 Wh/mile
2013 Ford FFE	394 Wh/mile
2015 B Class	406 Wh/mile
2013 Leaf	422 Wh/mile

The result for the 2012 i-Miev is odd. They only have 2 cars, both drove very little. One had an average about 400 Wh/mile which is what I'd expect from this car, the other had an average about 200 Wh/mile.

SoulEV2016 · Dec 9, 2016

2015 B Class 394.6 Wh/mile

jeeeeez, propulsion group is a Tesla Product ... :|

Comparison Of Fuel Economy for Battery Electric Vehicles

Help Support Kia Soul EV Forum:

Moderator

Well-known member

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Well-known member

Moderator

Active member

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Active member

Moderator

Member

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Well-known member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!