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I have a fairly disturbing update on my 2016 Soul EV+. Battery cells were swapped in Aug. 2020, I had posted the last update above in May of 2021. I have noticed the estimated range has dropped continually over this summer and fall, but hadn't checked with SoulSpy until today. Jan 4th, 2022...

FWD introduces significantly negative handling characteristics and was always a "compromise" design choice even in ICE cars. RWD provides superior handling on dry surfaces vs FWD, and if you are in a market where ice and snow are a factor, AWD is again superior to FWD (and RWD). No need for FWD...

My 2016 EV+ blew a seal on the left drive axle at the gear box, and left about 1l of oil on my garage floor (all it holds). If you can get your phone camera under the front of the vehicle you should be able to see if there is oil around the sides of the gearbox (in the middle, under the 'motor...

Makes zero sense. How is Tesla (and other EV manufacturers) able to keep their adjustable charge limit feature without affecting their range ratings? Seems more like there was a some additional effort required that KIA couldn't be bothered with.

That's unfortunate.

My 2016 has a setting you can enable when using the scheduled charge times to limit it to 80% (or 100%, nothing in between). Wouldn't that work for you? I just keep 2 charge schedules on mine, one starts at 7:30pm everyday and the other is midnight (in case I get home late) and they both...

Unfortunately this lack of knowledge is typical of fledgling EV dealers. So frustrating. You might also try contacting KIA directly via the 1-800 number to open a case. They might be able to refer you to a qualified location, and also provide the tech with specific instructions to test the...

If it is too low on coolant it won't start the compressor (which does save power), but it doesn't throw any error codes then either, for some reason. I had this happen on my car last year. Once they refilled the coolant it was fine, but is running low again. Wish they could have found the leak...

Those are some truly impressive numbers. :) FYI. My battery was replaced (well, the cell packs were swapped out) last August. Since then I've only put on approx. 6,000km of mileage, usually charging using Type 1 to 80% max. Last night I did an uninterrupted charge from 7% to 100% to reset the...

That's a good sign. Fingers crossed.

Yep, the 10-60 km/h time is more important than 0-60 mph any day. :)

That is critical advice (test the battery BEFORE updating the firmware). I went through the same process last summer with my Soul, though it started out with a road-side assistance call for a front seal leak, once they had the car transported from Alberta to the closest dealership in Vernon, BC...

There is also gear oil in the gear box where the axle meets the motor. It's supposed to be good for 160K I think, so not a usual maintenance item.

The main killer of lead acid batteries is draining them below 50% capacity. Of course, in an ICE car cold weather starts are one common way of doing just that. My understanding is that in EV's the main killer of the 12v is vampire drain on the battery while the car sits unused for an extended...

Yes, this would be the first thing to check.

I'll let others more knowledgeable than I answer the technical details around calculating the SOH, but the fact that all the cells balance out during driving is a good sign I think. When my battery was failing there was a set of cells that were always quite far out of range vs the rest of the...

Congrats on your purchase AND on leaving FB!

Basically, the ideal charging pattern strictly for the longest possible battery lifespan is 40-60%. Battery degradation increases non-linearly as you use the battery outside of that range, with the low and high extremes being the most harmful, and a much more gradual/small effect as you extend...

Yesterday, while the car was charging in my unheated garage I took some temperature readings using an IR temp. gun. It started charging with 45% left in the battery, so was probably at 65% state of charge or so when I took the readings: Ambient temp. in the garage = 3c. 120v Adapter Cord...

Yes, I believe the closer the battery-pack gets to "full" the higher the resistance, thus, more power lost to heat.