2016 Soul EV+ Battery Replacement - Remanufactured?

[S2kysk]

Here is a battery pack at kia dealer.https://instagram.com/stories/young...ource=ig_story_item_share&igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

 

[FLKiaEV]

UPDATE: Well, here we are June 20th and I still have not heard from Kia about my battery pack. In just a few more days it will be 7 months since I dropped off my car to have the battery pack replaced. As I said in a previous post Kia contacted me in late March or early April to tell me that my battery pack would arrive in the California port on April 25th, and here we are almost 2 months after that point and still nothing. I know the port situation is completely crazy, but are those container ships really hanging out there for 2 months before they get unloaded?

 

[Nigel]

Ran into battery degradation with my Gen I 2016 Kia Soul last fall - down to less than 50% range and very quickly from 160km until summer 2021; Local dealer in Ontario checked it out and quickly got approval for the warranty replacement (10th November 2021. After a very very long wait and many varied reasons why the replacement wasn't coming the replacement arrived yesterday and I took it in for replacement today (21st June 2022).

Don't know if the replacement is new or remanufactured - dealer didn't seem to know but will follow up and post.

 

[FLKiaEV]

Sounds like your wait time is close to mine, so perhaps I'll be getting a call in the next few weeks informing me that I can pick up my car. The Kia representative that I spoke to (my contact person within Kia) said months ago that the battery pack was being assembled in South Korea which leads me to think that it is new, but I guess I'll find out when it finally gets here. After 7 months + waiting, I would not be happy to find that it's a used battery with only 80% capacity or something like that.

Anyways, I will report back when I hear something one way or the other.

 

[IanL]

After 7 months + waiting, I would not be happy to find that it's a used battery with only 80% capacity or something like that.

Although KIA reserve the right to do that, everyone who has reported a replacement in the last 2 years or so has been given a new battery, or new cells in their original housing.

 

[FLKiaEV]

True. I remember reading that in the owner's warranty manual. Since the car is barely 5 years old (it's a 2016, originally sold in mid or late 2016 to its first owner) it would be in Kia's best interest to use new cells because otherwise there'd be a better than decent chance that they'd have to replace it again before the 10 years was up. Either way, I'm hoping they are the better cells and that I never have to have to replaced again!

By the way, apparently the battery pack is only guaranteed for 10 years in the United States? Supposedly, everywhere else it's only 7 years or something. Does anyone know if that's true? And if so, I wonder why?

 

[IanL]

It's 7 years in Europe for the whole car, including the battery. The why - I think it's driven by marketing. They pitch it where they think is high enough to get the market share they want.

 

[Nigel]

Hey, just got my EV back from the dealership and the replacement was 37510E4250R. They didn't seem to know if it was refurbished or new despite my asking directly. I understand the "R" implies refurbished. Got to get it fully charged and drive a bit to see how it is performing. At pick up range was 138km at 75% charge but need the battery control to settle down to see where the range really is after a few charge cycles but looking good.

 

[FLKiaEV]

I think @IanL is right when he says that they are new cells but in a "used" container. Should be in good shape. What I'm going to do when I EVENTUALLY get mine back (fingers crossed) is charge to 80% only, except for maybe once a month I'll charge to 100% (for calibration). Don't let it fall too low (I'll charge it when it hits, say, 25%) and DC Fast Charge it sparingly (and generally only as much as I need to get me to my next stop or home). Should help the battery last as long as possible.

 

[IanL]

Good plan

 

[FLKiaEV]

I look forward to the day when batteries have advanced to the point where they can be charged at any time and to any SOC without degrading. And if that same battery can do so 10 times faster than current technology, all the better! There are several concepts being tested behind the scenes - solid state, graphene, sodium-based formulations, etc - that I hope can come to market within the next 5 years or so. Sodium-based batteries are especially tantalizing because sodium is EXTREMELY abundant around the world.

 

[FLKiaEV]

So.... I recently got in contact with Kia Consumer Relations and they have confirmed that my battery pack is no longer pending arrival at the port, which means that it is definitely inside the US and is either on its way to the warehouse to be quality tested or is already there. Then it will go to the dealership to be installed. After waiting since November 26th of 2021 I am super excited to finally be getting my car back!

 

[FLKiaEV]

Another update! Kia called me Wednesday August 3rd to inform me that the battery pack has left the warehouse (after being tested 'ok') and is on the way to the dealership. I *SHOULD* be hearing from the dealership in "5 to 10 days" saying that my vehicle is ready to be picked up. The 26th of this month would have been *9 MONTHS* waiting for that battery pack. Apparently, according to my Kia case worker, the average before the world went to heck was about 2 months from drop off at the dealership to picking it up completed.

 

[FLKiaEV]

UPDATE!!!

After an eternity of waiting (since November 26th of 2021, nearly nine months ago) my local Kia dealership called me to inform me that my vehicle was ready to be picked up! I mentioned that the 12 volt battery and the tires were probably both flat since it had been nearly 9 months and they assured me that everything was ready to go (foreshadowing...)

So I immediately drove the loaner rental back to the rental car company and they drove me to the Kia dealership to pick up my car. By the way, I asked if they were allowed to tell me how much the rental cost was for the dealership. The lady told me it was just over $11,000!

So I get there and check in and it takes us 10 minutes to find the vehicle. For some reason they didn't have it ready to go in a visible spot near the front since it was ready to be picked up. When we found it, I went to start it and nothing happened. I noticed that even the interior light didn't come on so I knew the 12 volt battery was totally dead. So they brought out a little recharge thing and charged it up just enough to start the vehicle and then I was on my way.

On the way home I noticed there was a little bit of a vibration but nothing major. When I got back to my house I took a close look at the tires and could clearly see that the tires had been completely flat for so long that they actually had indentations in them even though they were fully inflated. Unbelievable.

Anyways, I'm just happy to have my car back and I'm happy to report that right off the bat my range is showing over a hundred miles. This is more than I've ever seen since I bought the car, used, in 2020.

 

[ksoul2084]

UPDATE!!!

After an eternity of waiting (since November 26th of 2021, nearly nine months ago) my local Kia dealership called me to inform me that my vehicle was ready to be picked up! I mentioned that the 12 volt battery and the tires were probably both flat since it had been nearly 9 months and they assured me that everything was ready to go (foreshadowing...)

So I immediately drove the loaner rental back to the rental car company and they drove me to the Kia dealership to pick up my car. By the way, I asked if they were allowed to tell me how much the rental cost was for the dealership. The lady told me it was just over $11,000!

So I get there and check in and it takes us 10 minutes to find the vehicle. For some reason they didn't have it ready to go in a visible spot near the front since it was ready to be picked up. When we found it, I went to start it and nothing happened. I noticed that even the interior light didn't come on so I knew the 12 volt battery was totally dead. So they brought out a little recharge thing and charged it up just enough to start the vehicle and then I was on my way.

On the way home I noticed there was a little bit of a vibration but nothing major. When I got back to my house I took a close look at the tires and could clearly see that the tires had been completely flat for so long that they actually had indentations in them even though they were fully inflated. Unbelievable.

Anyways, I'm just happy to have my car back and I'm happy to report that right off the bat my range is showing over a hundred miles. This is more than I've ever seen since I bought the car, used, in 2020.

Congratulations!

I have to say that after dealing with a large Toyota service shop for 15 years my experiences with KIA service has been miserable. Lack of knowledge, lack of customer care, charge to you 1 hour labour to confirm what you told the the problem was when you brought it in, something that would take them 10 mins on a lift, etc. etc.

 

[FLKiaEV]

Yeah, they need to improve this drastically if they want people to trust their EVs going forward. I totally love mine but their dealership customer service needs some work. That being said, last year when I brought my car because of a failed on-board charger to Wallace Kia in Stuart Florida - over 100 miles from my house but the closest EV certified Kia dealership at the time - they were everything that City Kia was not.

 

[Geinponem]

On October 5, 2016, I became the proud owner of a Kia Soul EV. The reach has decreased significantly over the past year and a half. In the autumn of 2022 I could only travel 110 km with a full battery. However, according to the dealer, the SoH was still above 70%, so I was not entitled to a replacement within the 7-year warranty.
Last August, under favorable conditions, I was only able to achieve 90 km on a full battery. The car had 120,000 km on the odometer at the time. Fortunately, a claim under the warranty was accepted at that time. The new battery was ordered and was installed on September 26, 2023 (9 days before the warranty expires). On September 28, I was able to cover no less than 215 km on 1 full battery with 2% remaining. With the old battery I once managed 178 km under the same conditions. So I must have gotten a bigger battery now. I am very happy with that. Hopefully we can enjoy our Kia Soul EV for at least 7 additional years.

 

[FLKiaEV]

What year is your Soul EV? For the 2018 model year they increased the battery size from 27kwh usable to 30kwh usable. Most of a battery's range is lost at the beginning of its life and then flattens out. I had a 2016 Kia Soul EV and I was getting around 84 or 85 miles of range when I first bought it (used). That was perfectly fine for me and how I use my car. But then a Electrify America charger briefly over-charged my battery: It went to over 60kw for about 10 seconds, even though the early Kia Souls like mine max out at 50kw for DC fast charging. Anyway, from that day on my range dropped more and more RAPIDLY. Within a week I was only getting about 40 miles of range! I took it to the Kia dealership and they determined that the SoH was...38%. So a new battery was approved since it was within the 10 year warranty (here in the US). It took almost NINE MONTHS for the car to be completed, but I was happy. (The dealership paid for a rental car for the whole time, which I found out was $11,000! The battery was about $9000, neither of which I had to pay luckily).

Anyway, the following January of this year I was in an accident and the car was totaled. The payoff from the insurance company allowed me to buy another Kia Soul EV, but this time a 2018 with more range. It has been great.

Good luck with your car.

 

[IanL]

For the 2018 model year they increased the battery size from 27kwh usable to 30kwh usable. Most of a battery's range is lost at the beginning of its life and then flattens out......

My 2018 model has done 45,000 miles and is still over 100% SOH, so I don't think the above theory of range loss applies to the new technology batteries in the 2018 models and later.

 

[FLKiaEV]

Good to know! My 2018 was bought used with about 33,000 miles on it and currently has around 36,000 miles. Fully charged the GOM is showing 107-110 miles, which is right on par with the EPA rating of 111 miles, so you're probably right. It's been great so far and I hope it continues to be.