Canadian availability of the Soul EV

[fanbanlo]

nice, which EVSE are you using at home, irfca? The Bosch? 16A or 30A?

How often do you charge? every night?

 

[irfca]

nice, which EVSE are you using at home, irfca? The Bosch? 16A or 30A?

How often do you charge? every night?

I have the Bosch 30A w/18' cord. I do charge every night, and occasionally a partial charge during the day if I know I am going to need it for an evening trip. I received my first Hydro bill this past week, with EV charging on it ... I have yet to figure out what the approximate increase is due to charging, but using the rough ratio I have always had for peak + mid peak and off-peak, it looked like the increase in off-peak usage was approx $85 for the month, or around $3/day (I don't tend to drive it very far on Sundays). For the Venza I replaced, that would have been approx $8/day or approx $200/month @ $1.05/L

 

[fanbanlo]

nice, which EVSE are you using at home, irfca? The Bosch? 16A or 30A?

How often do you charge? every night?

I have the Bosch 30A w/18' cord. I do charge every night, and occasionally a partial charge during the day if I know I am going to need it for an evening trip. I received my first Hydro bill this past week, with EV charging on it ... I have yet to figure out what the approximate increase is due to charging, but using the rough ratio I have always had for peak + mid peak and off-peak, it looked like the increase in off-peak usage was approx $85 for the month, or around $3/day (I don't tend to drive it very far on Sundays). For the Venza I replaced, that would have been approx $8/day or approx $200/month @ $1.05/L

Thanks.

Do you think you could have survived with the free 16A they give away?

 

[irfca]

Do you think you could have survived with the free 16A they give away?

Most of the time it think it would be OK at up to 8 hrs or so to charge, so overnight that would be sufficient. However, I seem to find every 2-3 weeks I need to charge at home during the late afternoon in order to drive someplace in the evening ... and on those occasions, I've only had 1 hr or so to charge it up enough, and even then, only just enough ... the 16A charger would not have been sufficient. Also for future proofing ... if battery capacity were to double or triple, the 30A charger would need 8-12 hrs to charge, while a 16A charger would be in the 16hrs - 24 hrs .. so, at least for me, the $325 to upgrade was worth it vs having to one day discard a 16A charger in favour of a new, larger charger.

This past Thursday, I got home from work with 30% battery left (it was cold, so the battery does not seem to provide as much power), and my wife had to go grocery shopping ... only time for a 1 hr charge ... she went out ... when she arrived home, there was 8% left, which was starting to cut it closer than either of us like - but then for use to go pretty much anywhere for shopping, it's 20 km each way.

Now, if you have charge capability at work (I don't - I've been warned by site security NOT to charge at the 120V outlet I found on site - but I'm working to change that!), then that could significantly reduce the charge time at home, and even the need for a quick, partial charge for evening driving (assuming your drive to / from work (or your daily destination) does not take most of your battery capacity). Or, if you have regular / near access to a 30 minute DC charger or 30A public charger, that too would help ... I don't really have either - I can count on 1 hand the number of chargers I see on plugshare in a 40km radius.

 

[julie416]

I purchased a white/l. blue EV Luxury from Meadowvale Kia in Ontario on November 1st - and I am still waiting for it... has anyone else waited this long for the vehicle?

Now the dealership is stating that Kia is going to begin building the 2016 model as of May, and I will most likely be flipped to this, but I can't find any information on the 2016 coming out this soon.

Thoughts?

 

[thibod]

I talk with Kia Canada last week . He says from june,all canadians dealers receives 10 Soul EV per month.I wait for a Soul EV + since 2 month from 2 dealers in Quebec.Sorry for my English.

 

[EVEREVE]

I ordered a blue/white Luxury from Meadowvale Kia on Oct. 20 and the wait is still on.... I was told by the dealer in April that Kia is having another EV production run in May and POTENTIALLY there will be some cars coming to Canada in August.

 

[fanbanlo]

I talk with Kia Canada last week . He says from june,all canadians dealers receives 10 Soul EV per month.I wait for a Soul EV + since 2 month from 2 dealers in Quebec.Sorry for my English.

Good to hear, if that's true.

 

[LFFarm]

Has anyone who was waiting actually got their Soul EVs?

We have been waiting for over 4 months (ordered in November 2014)
Only 180 Soul EVs sold in US in 1Q 2015. Where are the Canadian Soul EVs?

What would Carlos Ghosn do?

Should we just give up?

Late reply, but I had waited almost 6 months for mine and it showed up without even the dealer being notified it was coming. Completely love the car and was well worth the wait. As for sales numbers, I feel that they much higher then whats quoted in this thread. Kia on Huntclub in Ottawa has sold more then that on their own. I only know this because I saw the stack of client folders on the managers desk when I'd routinely go there to check on the car. In fact there were two people buying one the night I went to pick up my car.

 

[irfca]

As for sales numbers, I feel that they much higher then whats quoted in this thread. Kia on Huntclub in Ottawa has sold more then that on their own. I only know this because I saw the stack of client folders on the managers desk when I'd routinely go there to check on the car. In fact there were two people buying one the night I went to pick up my car.

I believe the press (and Kia for that fact) can only claim delivered vehicles as sold, and not their order back log ... so the sales would be based on supply availability - which seems to have been pretty anemic in Canada. Toronto Kia had a good backlog of orders too ... and so far Kia Corp has chosen to supply cars to the US so they can sit on lots and be bought by walk-ins ... which is fine ... but to me, it shows where their corporate focus is. A "real" international car company would have globally accepted and built the cars as the orders arrived ... and once those orders are filled, stock the dealerships ... or at least, allocate a consistent % of production to pre-sold vehicles vs dealer stock.

Hopefully the supply to Canada (and other countries with order back logs) rises and everyone who has waited patiently will get their cars!

 

[simingfu]

This is so called create a starving market.

I leased mine from Kia Richmond Hill, Ontario on night of December 4th 2014, during the day I had test drove one SoulEV at Kia Mississauga, the sales manager who can include the ontario incentive 8500CAD in the total price, but failed to negotiate since we need the car delivered before the X'mas, ended up we signed at Richmond Hill with 2 return packages included and lease to own with the option that we need to apply the ontario incentive on our own, but we got the car delivered December 20th, 2014.

No L2 Bosch EVSE included, but so far I only see 3 of them on the street in the past 6 month, I see more Ferralli on the street than the SoulEV.

I guess I was just lucky, that I didn't order from Mississauga store with the 8500 included, I got that incentive already in March.

 

[JeffBacon]

FYI. I ordered my Kia Soul EV+ from the Ottawa dealership (Kia on Hunt Club) in Dec 2014 and it still has not arrived. I ordered the blue w white top but has since been informed they may not be getting any of those but I can take the black/red one if I prefer when it arrives. After 7 months, I just want the damn car so I'll take whatever colour comes in

In April I was told there was a shipment stuck on a boat off Vancouver awaiting customs clearance (ETA on that was unknown) and it would take 2-3 weeks after docking for the cars to make their way across the country. Not sure if that was just a line by the dealer to hold me off or not but regardless, it's not here 2+ months after that conversation.

I don't mind waiting... but would prefer more realistic expectations from the dealer of ETA (and my other car is faring worse and worse so I hope it holds out!).

 

[notfred]

I ordered the same from the same dealer in mid-April. Haven't been told anything about it yet just a vague "should be July" when I called them a couple of weeks ago. I left a message yesterday asking if they have any more details as it is now July and they haven't returned my call yet.

 

[beaker]

If you wanted a Luxe (+) model, the wait is extremely long...
People that have order in Sept-Oct (2014), are still waiting !

 

[irfca]

From what I could tell, while I was waiting, it is 100% Kia Corp that is at fault ... the local dealerships and even Kia Canada seem to be kept in the dark as to availability and what is happening - I'm guessing Kia has never had to deal with an order backlog and demand exceeding supply (at least in some parts of the world) ... and in general are doing a pretty poor job of handling it.

I will say, it is worth the wait - I've been extremely happy with mine and am racking up the km's at an average of 3000+ km/month ... I'm driving 3x what I used to at a fraction of the cost. I'm still undecided if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[LFFarm]

I've got to back the dealers on this one too. I waited 6 months for my soul from kia on huntclub, and when my car showed up (Kia sent the wrong one) the dealer didn't even know it was coming, it was just there one morning. Kia could sell so many of these cars if they could ship in a reasonable time period.

But just so you don't become sour waiting, it was totally worth it. I love the car and it's performing better them advertised (180-200km with effort on country roads) and the cat gets lots of attention.

 

[julie416]

Still waiting... Just passed the 8 month mark.

Over the phone, Meadowvale said they would switch the order to a 2016 to be received in August... I am still waiting for that in writing.

 

[PaeteSolar]

Sorry to hear some of you guys still waiting, Wife and I must just be lucky had been looking at Soul EV since Elon musk touted his powerwall, got serious 2 weeks ago stayed in touch with our local KIA dealer and boom snagged a Onyx on Red hope all you get yours soon!

One thing I didnt realize is that american base model got the 480, I unfortunately in Canada our base model does not get a 480 only stage 2. Anyone know if it is possible to get 480 installed after purchase!!

Second has anyone installed a tow hook would like to get a bike rack!!

I havent been scheduled for post purchase meeting with service department yet but I thought I would ask the community first!

 

[julie416]

I just received an email from the dealer... No 2016 white luxury coming anytime soon BUT I was offered a 2016 titanium instead! With the sunroof! It is slated to arrive at the dealer late July. Looking forward to finally getting this car!

 

[fanbanlo]

Nice... I should have waited for the sunroof...