Best way to drop 1% SOH on 2016?

[BassCadet]

Hi, Soul-mates. I recently (10/13) purchased a 2016 Soul EV (+ if that matters) for my daughter. Since she's still on a learner's permit and can't drive solo, I've been taking it to work and saving lots of dead dinosaurs.

I like most everything about it except the range. When we first got it, it was estimating 46 miles @100% charge. SoulSpy said SOH was 54%. I took it in and the service department agreed the range was low but did not respond to my request for SOH. Instead they said they had to "Update the BMS" and that everything was back to normal. The range showed 93 miles. Of course I know they reset the counters and those are the default numbers. After a few cycles, and noticing real world range about 60 miles, SoulSpy is now saying the SOH is 70.9%. So close!

My question is: what's the best way to drop that another percent or more and have them replace the battery? We did buy it from an authorized Kia dealer, it is Certified Pre-Owned, and they do have a trained EV service technician although not sure how much experience they have with these vehicles.

Thanks!

 

[buddhaauthor]

BassCadet,

I know this is annoying, since it just cooled down, but the best way to drop a % is to heat up the battery. The ambient air is not going to help so much, right now, but you will definitely degrade your battery by repeated DCFC charges while driving at highway speeds. Maybe this weekend you could drive to Santa Barbara or something. That could well do the trick, especially during the day. Getting your battery over 115 degrees or so is key. You'll know it's really working if the car gives you a warning that it is decreasing power to the motor.

Good luck in your perverse and yet totally logical and understandable quest!

Franz

 

[BassCadet]

Thanks for the suggestion! I was babying the battery: trying to avoid deep discharging, overcharging, and even driving on the freeway. But now that you mention it, I will be driving more on the freeways and fully charging the battery. Since it is already borderline 70%, a little extra abuse should help speed things along. Wish I knew this last week when it was in the 90s.

 

[BassCadet]

After a little more freeway driving and a few more charges, SoulSpy is now showing SOH = 65.8%. WIll take it into the dealer and am prepared to show them screenshots from SoulSpy. Not sure how they'll respond, but they do have another sister Kia dealership (same owner) not too far away. There is also another Kia dealership (different owner) close by.

BC

 

[jray3]

Thanks for posting and please keep us posted... I just purchased an off-lease 2016 with 24k miles and 99.7% SOH according to SOULSPY.
Can you confirm that the battery capacity warranty applies to 100k miles regardless of whether the vehicle was purchased used or CPO? I've seen conflicting info on that...
As a point of comparison, our e-DEVIL (red on black) SOUL EV was purchased for my new super-commuter status, with a round trip daily commute of exactly 150 miles. Our other modern EV, a 2012 Mitsubishi I-MiEV with 108,000 miles could do the commute, but required a 20 minute CHAdeMO session mid-way both morning and night. The onboard charger warranty was extended this summer by Mitsubishi to 10 years and unlimited mileage, but that was two years after our OBC failed. I had replaced it with a junkyard salvage charger, and had to re-do the swap in order to present the car to my dealer with a dead charger in order to get the redesigned charger under warranty. They refused to EVen look at my original unit with blown capacitors until it was mounted in the car. :roll: That replacement job is now at the 6 week point. The dealer refused to EVen try to order a replacement charger for inventory until the car was in their possession, so I've been holding a gasser loaner car hostage, while actually driving the SOUL EV.

 

[JeroenE]

Thanks for posting and please keep us posted... I just purchased an off-lease 2016 with 24k miles and 99.7% SOH according to SOULSPY.
Can you confirm that the battery capacity warranty applies to 100k miles regardless of whether the vehicle was purchased used or CPO? I've seen conflicting info on that...

My English is nto good enough to know what you mean with CPO and searching for it only returns things like Chief Petty Officer, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra , Compulsory Purchse Order and other things that don't seem to apply.

Anyway, as long as the guarantee rules are kept you should be good. In my country that means you need to bring in your car every 15k to a dealer who then has to sign in the booklet that they checked the car and so on. The rules that apply to you should be stated in the manual/guarantee booklet.

As a point of comparison, our e-DEVIL (red on black) SOUL EV was purchased for my new super-commuter status, with a round trip daily commute of exactly 150 miles.

Theoretically this should work without fast charging during every trip, but I would say that you are on the very edge of what the car can do. I have a one-way commute of 90km, so about 56 miles. With a brand new battery (and no winter yet) I have between 30% and 40% left when I arrive. That means I should get to drive 75 miles without problems. But in the winter I have far less left so I would not get to drive 75 miles without recharging.

 

[jray3]

Thank you JeroenE. Even while breaking in new winter tires, I've not gone below 17% SOC on my commute, and after pumping up the tires to maximum sidewall pressure and reducing speed to 100 kph with only seat heat, steering wheel heat and minimal defrosting, I typically arrive with 23% SOC after 75 miles (121 kilometers). Now with over 3400 miles driven, I just purchased a diesel-fired air heater, and will post once I figure out an installation method that works... The Chinese clones of Webasto Air Top heaters proved popular with i-MiEV owners, able to be installed in place of the original 12V PbA battery.

 

[BassCadet]

Took the Soul in to the dealer on Wednesday afternoon. SoulSpy was saying SOH = 58.9%. Service called me back today and said Kia has authorized a "high voltage" battery replacement. They will give me an estimate next week when they expect the replacement to be available. This is for my daughter who is still on a learner's permit, so no real need for a loaner. I should have asked what they loan. I would have taken a Stinger GT to help them advertise.

As far as I know (I left the owner's manual in the car), the electrical drive system is warranted for 10 years/100,000 miles from first in-service date, CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) or not. CPO does extend the powertrain system to 10 years/100,000 miles and provides a 1 year "Platinum" warranty. It probably helped the replacement battery happen more quickly, too.

I miss the Soul EV. It's a fun little car and I didn't need to fill up for a while.

 

[buddhaauthor]

BassCadet,

I hope the battery has been replaced by now. Well done on trashing it! With the reconditioned batteries now available, the replacement time seems quite short. I ended up buying a 2016 to replace my leased car. It has only 11K miles and the SoH says 100%, though I don't believe it. But with only 11K miles after over three years, I reckon I'll be able to replace the battery if I keep the car long enough.

Hope the daughter likes the car. (Mine says it's too nerdy. Sheesh. Let's see if she says the same next year, when she gets her permit and has nothing else to drive.)

Franz

 

[BassCadet]

I called the dealer on Friday and they have not received the replacement yet. The service adviser said a previous replacement took 2-3 weeks so they were hopeful it would be soon. But I have read that it could be until January 2020 before they have replacements available.

I asked if I could just drive the Soul until the replacement unit was in but he said it could be unsafe. He offered a loaner Niro Hybrid so I am driving that now. I was hoping for a full electric or plug-in hybrid but this is the standard hybrid. It's not too bad--gets about 47 MPG city and 39 MPG highway.

My daughter likes the Soul EV. We've been noticing a lot of ICE Souls but very few EVs. They can carry a surprising amount of people/stuff and are fun to drive: decent handling, almost one-pedal driving, usable controls.

 

[BassCadet]

Got my Soul back yesterday. It took a while to get the replacement battery pack in, but once received the dealer swapped it out the same day.

It is a re-manufactured battery pack and is performing as expected--no sharp drop in range while driving on the freeway, GOM more accurate, and all car settings (radio, Bluetooth, etc) were saved. I did have to replace the remote battery. They probably left the remote in the car for a month.

I learned a little about hypermiling with the hybrid Niro. When I returned it, it was showing 60 MPG @93% ECO, 7% normal, 0% power driving. Would have hated to follow behind me, but it was a good learning experience and should translate well to the Soul EV.

 

[BassCadet]

Wow, it's been a while. The Soul EV is still running well. My older daughter finally got her license and is driving it to college. We took it in to have the AC recharged but other than that, it has been very reliable and has not needed any service. It is a great car.

For our younger daughter, we decided to get another used EV. Wanting a little variety, we bought a 2016 Volkswagen eGolf (SEL) in July. It is more fun to drive than the Soul and has some nice features but has its downsides, too.

I noticed the HV battery does not have much range, especially if driven on the freeway or at higher speeds. This happened to the Soul and my electric motorcycle (2014 Zero S) and both those were replaced under warranty. I think I have a good idea of battery capacity and life. Volkswagen charged me $200 to diagnose the HV battery and tell me it is within normal operating range (SOH 89%).

There is no real equivalent to SoulSpy except for OBDEleven, which I did get and is telling me 79% of VW's nominal capacity. VW uses 70% of nominal capacity, which is 90% of total battery capacity, so it's more like 63% of battery capacity. I am at 70% of total battery capacity, but now have to figure if I need to derate this to match VW's 89% number. All this to say, VW is not a good company. I really thought with DieselGate they would be more supportive of customers.

Kia is an excellent company and doesn't try to scam its customers.