battery replacement in turtle mode

biffidum · Feb 1, 2022

What has your experience been with battery replacement? I have a confirmed case number for a new battery and have been waiting since early October. I have 50km of range and can only get home from work if I charge at work. Now that EV's are increasing in popularity it becomes a race to the charging station. Definitely won't be buying a Kia EV again.

IanL · Feb 1, 2022

biffidum said:
... Definitely won't be buying a Kia EV again.

Whilst I understand the sentiment, the 2018 MY SoulEVs batteries have much improved chemistry, so the problem you have experienced wouldn't happen again. But it is bad having to wait so long for a replacement - probably the dislocation due to Covid has caused it.

EVDee · Feb 1, 2022

biffidum said:
What has your experience been with battery replacement? I have a confirmed case number for a new battery and have been waiting since early October. I have 50km of range and can only get home from work if I charge at work. Now that EV's are increasing in popularity it becomes a race to the charging station. Definitely won't be buying a Kia EV again.

That's okay, once you get your battery replaced you won't have to buy another EV for awhile. I get you're a bit upset at the situation you find yourself in, but what do you want Kia to do here? All first generation EVs seemed to have battery issues that got worked out later, thankfully. The Soul is no different other than they seem to be the only one actually replacing these batteries under warranty and putting in the better battery to boot. Nissan? There's a reason why I skipped the LEAF entirely..

As for my experience: I knew more than my dealership did yet got treated like an idiot, had them scan my car mutilple times with it below the SoH needed for replacement only to have them drag their ass on getting it approved - only then to have to call corporate myself and get them to do something about my claim since the dealership seemingly wouldn't or couldn't (they gave me the # to call, what does that tell you?). Once corporate approved the work, I think it was 2-3 weeks before it arrived and they swapped it out in one day - but it took them the day to do it.

Now with the heat on full blast and it being -20C to -30C where I live, the dash shows 100km range in the winter. Summer is about 140-160km.

biffidum · Feb 2, 2022

Calls to head office get forwarded to the dealership... dealership calls head office. It's a sad state of affair. Classic run around. Are you sure they will in fact replace the battery? I would love to know if someone has had a replacement in the last couple of months.

EVDee · Feb 5, 2022

You've gotten approved for the replacement, they're just struggling to source it for whatever reason. From past memory it seems like they have batches where lots of people were waiting then suddenly they all get resolved around the same time. You might just be in that waiting period and hopefully it won't be much longer. Keep us updated.

Mdbuilder · Mar 28, 2022

biffidum said:
What has your experience been with battery replacement? I have a confirmed case number for a new battery and have been waiting since early October. I have 50km of range and can only get home from work if I charge at work. Now that EV's are increasing in popularity it becomes a race to the charging station. Definitely won't be buying a Kia EV again.

My 2016 has been at the dealer since late October. My battery arrived in LA about 10 or 12 days ago and hit the dealer mid-last week. Hope to get the car back by the end of the week...

thepavelkas · Jul 27, 2022

Our 2016 Soul EV battery would only charge to 31 miles and is under 50,000 odometer. It was tested and approved for replacement battery back in mid-March 2022. I was told to expect the replacement to be sent to the dealer by early to mid-April. It's nearly the end of July and crickets. My service advisor is frustrated too, saying he checks every day and KIA has no updates except to say it's been ordered. I get there have been supply chain issues since Covid, but why say the battery would take up to a month to arrive and now I'm heading into the 5th month? How can KIA's internal communication be so broken? On top of that, once they began the warranty evaluation, they said I could even get the car back to drive for short trips while waiting as this was a safety issue.