Battery Backorder? Since Nov '21

[Jluigi]

So I see the final bill came to like $25k and in my case they are loaning me a car at like $300 a week. Has anyone tried to see if they will just give a cash offer and buy out the car to save money? Because if I wait a year like you. That's $15k in rental fees and it bring the total up to $40k. Not worth it for them on a 2016 soul lol

 

[jray3]

Greetings Jdohe and jluigi,
I tried different pitches around a cash or credit allowance in lieu of a loaner/rental car, but EVeryone I dealt with behaved like a corporate drone without decision-making authority. I didn't seek a buyback of the '16 SOUL, as owning a 30 kWH car debt-free at no additional cost was more appealing than additional range plus a shiny new payment! The only lEVerage I found was to increase the corporate pain threshold by negotiating up to the most expensive rental car possible.
The replacement 30 kWH pack is behaving great, and we're sticking to plan with 80% daily charging and also using L1 charging at home to reduce stress on the cells (and home circuits too, having 3 EVs recharging EVery night!)
As my 16 y/o daughter is now accruing the most miles per day, the SOUL is becoming her daily driver, and I often alternate between a 2012 i-MiEV and a 1998 Ford Ranger EV.
There have been some rather amusing remote coaching sessions around DCFC, despite the fact that she sat through several hundred DCFC sessions as a passenger over the past decade! :roll:
-JRay

 

[Lithium]

My 2016 Soul EV+ Battery pack went bad 66% SOH at 57K mi and 5 1/2 years. Was around 50-54mi range. Saw Dealer 12/27. Submitted claim 12/28. On 1/4 Kia corp called to say approved and last closed batch shipments was Oct 31 so could be 2-3 months. Email received 1/6 from corp saying pack was in warehouse (US) and being shipped to dealer. Pack arrived at Dealer on 1/12. Went to dealer on 1/19 and replacement was done within the week.
Back to 94mi at 98% in 47F weather. Highway driving 70mph 3.4mi/kwh easily got me close to 100mi of range. Like a new car now! Less than 30 days start to finish.

 

[beanman]

I'm getting my 2016 Soul EV battery replaced under warranty in Richmond Hill, Ontario

I was first told in the end of November'22 that it was covered.
A couple of weeks later told to come in for replacement.
Dropped it off in the morning, called at about 2pm that day with an apology. The part is on backorder and someone misread the part order that came in....

Two months later, the rep and service manager aren't returning my emails. They did promise to look into it. I suspect they are getting stonewalled as well at corporate.

 

[beanman]

Happy to post an update. Received a call from the dealer Wednesday that 4 batteries had "dropped" but they are under the gun to get them all replaced in 5 days, and ship the old ones back.

They were nice enough to come down and get my car Thursday to work on it Friday.
I picked it up Saturday and all is good except for a no heat when the heat/blower was turned on. They invited me back next week to have it addressed.

(Climate control self-diagnostic reads error code 20 DRIVER TEMP DOOR POTENTIOMETER Malfunction B2406)

The battery appears to be Korean made, said the rep, and appears to be a replacement of the same capacity as the original.
(Not the made in California batteries I had been reading about that go ~200km)

I charged from 60% - 100% and the GOM reads 128km with HVAC off. I may update after doing a battery discharge <20% and charging again.

 

[IanL]

If they didn't reset the BMS, which applies default data to the GOM, then it will take something like 6 to 8 cycles before it reflects the new battery capacity.

 

[beanman]

It appears that my warranty battery swap for the 2016 Soul EV (and likely the 4 others they did in Richmond Hill, Ontario that day) are of the original ~27Kwh battery variety. I've only seen about 125 - 150km of range per charge. And the service rep mentioned that the battery packs were made in Korea, not California, as I believe the 200km battery I read about earlier in these threads was.

Still so happy to be < 60km a charge. At this point I believe the battery may outlast the car and looking for inexpensive ways to protect the body from rusting. A full car vinyl wrap sounds fun but costs $2,500+

 

[IanL]

The replacement battery will have the same number of cell-pairs as the original (96), but the cells are probably the newer technology used in the 100 cell-pair 30kWh batteries, which have a higher capacity and much better durability, so they should last a lot longer. The increased capacity should be something like 96/100 x 30 = 28.8 kWh.