Driving Diary

[JejuSoul]

tractioninc - that is really good fuel economy for February driving. 5.3 miles/kWh is 8.5 km/kWh.
I am getting 8.0 km/kWh.

Here is a chart showing the fuel economy for 27 cars here on Jeju.
I am in the top 10%, but am beaten by 2 or 3 cars. I suspect the BMW i 3 to be at the top.
(Soul EV 12 cars, Renault SM3 9 cars, BMW i 3 3 cars, Nissan L eaf 2 cars, Chevy Spark 1car )
(Yellow shows the quartile 25% to 50%, Green shows the quartile 50% to 75%)

 

[tractioninc]

I find that while I perceive that my driving style varies a bit, my efficiency varies even more. When I'm careful I can often average better than 5.0 mi (8.0 km) per kWh, when I'm not trying to be patient I'm closer to 4.0 mi (6.4 km) /kWh and when my wife drives she averages closer to 3.5 mi (5.6 km) /kWh. I only post here when I've been patient during my commute, as real-world evidence of what's possible with these cars.

 

[tractioninc]

Driving update: February 24, 2017

Once again I forgot to plug in overnight. When I started my car this morning the range estimated on my dash was 37 miles. My commute would take me 41 miles. Would I make it??

Starting Charge – 47%
Starting GoM Range – 37 miles
Distance Driven – 41 miles
Displayed Efficiency – 4.5 miles/kWh
Ending Charge – 8%
Ending GoM Range – changed from 6 miles to "---" (5 miles) as I parked
Calculated Efficiency – 1.0 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 105 miles

Of course I made it!! Why? Because the GoM is very conservative and my efficiency was assisted by the unseasonably warm weather today (72 F / 22 C).

Take a look at the 'Calculated Efficiency' value however -- looking back to earlier posts, the distance per % charge I observe on a freshly charged battery is noticeably more than what I'm getting as the battery nears depletion.

 

[SoulEV2016]

that's a part of the CALC added in torque pro = a real range estimation in REALtime (with a 5% security) : http://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=471&start=170#p5404

http://www.automobile-propre.com/forums/kia-soul-ev/ca-donne-quoi-un-soul-ev-derriere-des-camions-t4900-50.html#p84907

Very usefull for me because i don't know the real range when i drive in restrictive road.
Example : i have a chademo charger at the start of a mountain ... and at the end (not on the top).

Chademo chargers are only every 40km in my circle.

 

[tractioninc]

That app may eventually convince me to try an Android device!

 

[tractioninc]

Driving update: April 20, 2017
19,900 miles

Warm temperatures have returned - the high today was 86°F / 30°C

Starting Charge – 100%
Starting GoM Range – 90 miles
Distance Driven – 58 miles
Recorded Efficiency – 4.7 mi/kWh
Ending Charge – 56%
Ending GoM Range – 48 miles
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 132 miles

 

[slobodanc]

tractioninc - that is really good fuel economy for February driving. 5.3 miles/kWh is 8.5 km/kWh.
I am getting 8.0 km/kWh.

Here is a chart showing the fuel economy for 27 cars here on Jeju.
I am in the top 10%, but am beaten by 2 or 3 cars. I suspect the BMW i 3 to be at the top.
(Soul EV 12 cars, Renault SM3 9 cars, BMW i 3 3 cars, Nissan L eaf 2 cars, Chevy Spark 1car )
(Yellow shows the quartile 25% to 50%, Green shows the quartile 50% to 75%)

OMG how do you ppl manage that? You must not have a lot of highway driving.
Right now I am around 6 km/kWh
On highway I limit my speed to 90 km/h and most cars are passing me. Any slower and it becomes a problem. When I drop to 80 I can see most drivers are annoyed.

Sure local 50-60 km limit streets I can see 8.

 

[tractioninc]

My Soul EV just spent a month at the dealer to get the OBC replaced. I'm excited to have it back -- the ordinary Soul + rental car that I have been driving in the mean time just is *not* the same.

 

[tractioninc]

Driving update: August 30, 2017
Odometer: 23,100 miles (37,100 km)

Starting Charge – 100%
Starting GoM Range – 96 miles
Distance Driven – 58 miles
Ending Charge – 51%
Ending GoM Range – 46 miles
Displayed Efficiency – 4.8 mi/kWh
Calculated Efficiency – 1.2 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 118 miles

 

[tractioninc]

Driving update: October 18, 2017
Odometer: 24,500 miles (39,400 km)

Starting Charge – 100%
Starting GoM Range – 105 miles
Distance Driven – 36 miles
Ending Charge – 72%
Ending GoM Range – 72 miles
Displayed Efficiency – 5.1 mi/kWh
Calculated Efficiency – 1.3 miles/% of charge
Calculated Max Range – 129 miles

 

[JejuSoul]

-
Your car still matches mine. Same age (2 1/2 years), same distance driven, both still at 100% SOH.
Also the same increase in efficiency as the summer ends and we can turn the air con off.

 

[tractioninc]

I'm really pleased. When I first signed my lease I wasn't sure whether, over time, the car's available range would still be adequate for my needs because of battery deterioration. After 30 months I'm still able to easily beat the advertised range of 93 miles (150 km) despite the fact that my daily commute includes highway driving of speeds over 70 mph (115 kph).

 

[Omar]

I have a second hand Kia Soul EV 2015, Imported from California to Jordan last May. Current ODO is 26,000 Miles.

I also do this calculation from time to time. I am getting constantly a calculated range of 120 - 125 Miles. My daily commute is 46 miles. I start normally at 80 miles range at 80% charge. When I get home, usually I get 43 miles left. I normally run the AC on my return trip which is around 23 miles and takes around 65 minutes.

My maximum 2 commutes were 97.5 and 90 miles. The calculated range was 129 miles and 115.5 miles respectively. The 90 miles trip was 95% of highway driving. Speed was 50 - 60 mph.

Here is the summary. My fuel economy average is (5.1 - 5.2) Miles/KWh


Regular Commute:

Starting Charge: 80%, Starting GOM reading 80 Miles
Total Distance Driven 46 miles. First 23 miles Temp is 20 C, AC is off. The second 23 miles, Temp is 33, AC is on.
Driving speeds 35 - 55 mph.
Remaining charge 43%, GOM reading 43 miles.
Calculated range: 124 miles (I did this around 15 times; all results are between 120 - 125)

Max Commute 1:

Starting Charge: 85%, Starting GOM reading 85 Miles
Total Distance Driven 97.5 miles. 40 miles AC was on.
Driving speeds 40 - 60 mph.
Remaining charge 10%, GOM reading 9 miles.
Calculated range: 128 miles

Max Commute 2:

Starting Charge: 100%, Starting GOM reading 100 Miles
Total Distance Driven 90 miles. AC was never on.
Driving speeds 50 - 65 mph.
Remaining charge 22%, GOM reading 22 miles.
Calculated range: 115.5 miles

 

[JejuSoul]

-
tractioninc the author of this thread had a three year lease on his Soul EV. He stopped posting here when he returned the car back in February this year. I liked his posts. His usage was very similar to mine, and he had very similar averages.

Omar you now seem to have a similar car. My car is also a 2015. I have driven 49,500 km. My SOH is still 100%
During the last few months (Summer days = 33C; Summer nights = 28C) my average trip consumption is 8.2km/kWh.
That is with air con on all the time, and with speeds always less than 80km/h.
Charging to 100% shows a GOM of 195km. Normally I charge to 80%, but have gone to 100% when needed.
Calculated maximum range is 221km.
My longest trip was 160km on a single charge with 28% of the battery remaining.

Most of the Americans on this forum have now left, having returned their cars after 3 years, so I see no reason why I should bother converting to miles anymore .

 

[edzee3]

I have a original-purchase Kia Soul EV+ 2015( manuf. Oct-'14, purchase Feb-'15) , So. California coast. Always garaged. Current ODO is 12,000 Miles. Level-2 charger in garage. Hardly ever used public chargers.

I'm long-since retired and just do local odd-length trips, Freeway/local driving maybe 50/50. Freeway driving speed limited to 63 mph. Use of A/C is pretty light.

From the beginning , my GOM would read about 96 mi. at 100% energy and actual trip distances would match . But of concern, in the last few months, the GOM now reads 80-86 mi. at 100% and consistently underestimates actual range.

Recent actual examples of trips: 67 and 74 mi., using 58 and 63 % of Batt. energy. I calculate about a 40% difference between the Actual mileage per % of energy and the GOM mileage per %.

Also, I calculated actual energy/mile used from my wall charger display, to be about 4.3 mi./kWh. I assumed a 15% loss between charger and batt., I hope that is a decent assumption.

Finally, my EV screen display of recent Eco-History shows 4.2 mi./kWh.

My question is: why did the GOM start showing much less range in the last few months and continues to do so?

BTW, Love the car.

 

[edzee3]

Forgot to add to my post on the GOM low-indication, that I have used regen ("B" selector) for the last couple of years.
And I don't know how to get the Batt. SOH or SOC.

 

[JejuSoul]

...Most of the Americans on this forum have now left, having returned their cars after 3 years, so I see no reason why I should bother converting to miles anymore .

Oops I spoke too soon!

...From the beginning , my GOM would read about 96 mi. at 100% energy and actual trip distances would match...

My actual trip distance has always been much higher than my GOM stated at 100% SOC. The main reason my numbers are higher than yours is because I drive slower.

...Recent actual examples of trips: 67 and 74 mi., using 58 and 63 % of Batt. energy...

These trips would average about 115 miles on a single charge if you carried on until empty. Much higher than the GOM reading you are reporting now or in the beginning. This distance can also be found if you multiply the battery size by the efficiency 27 * 4.2 = 113.4 miles.

The usable capacity of your car when brand new was 27kWh. The calculated usable capacity of your car now is 27kWh. Therefore SOH = 100%
Just like my 2015 Soul EV and Omar's in the post above we retain 100% usable capacity after more than 3 years.

That your GOM is showing unusual values is not something I can figure out. It is a Guess-O-Meter.

 

[edzee3]

JeJuSoul,
Thx much for your helpful reply; great help, as always.

Maybe I missed it somewhere here, but I wonder if there is a explanation of how the GOM works ?

What does Kia use to calculate the GOM?

I would guess it could use the Eco-history (4.2) x 27 kWh, but that doesn't compute.

Thx again,
Ed

 

[Omar]

Hi Ed,

I noticed that you are using the "B" mode all the time. This actually is not a good choice, in fact it will degrade your fuel economy!
If you are driving on a straight or a slightly inclined street, then it is more economic to use your car momentum to go forward. In the B mode the car resists that momentum and convert it to energy. During the conversion from momentum to electric then to chemical energy inside the battery, significant losses occur. So keeping the momentum is better in normal cases.
You can get the best energy efficiency, if you use the "B" mode whenever you use excessive (too many speed bumps), continuous (long/steep declines) or frequent braking (Traffic jam, start - stop driving).
Sometimes I reached 6.5 miles/KWh, based on this style. However, I drive this car normally like any other gas car I owned before

 

[notfred]

This is wrong. What B mode actually does is remap the throttle pedal position and makes the neutral position (0 power in or out) further in the pedal position, increasing the possible regen when you lift off. There isn't any generic resistance to your forward momentum when you are demanding power.

You are correct in that it is more efficient to maintain momentum. Taking power from the battery and converting it to momentum, and then regen putting it back in the battery isn't very efficient - I've seen figures around 30% quoted. It is still more efficient to brake using regen and put that energy back in the battery than brake using the wheel brakes and waste that energy as heat!

N.B. The brake pedal also has a mapping where the first few mm of travel are regen braking and then the wheel brakes start coming in. It's technically possible to drive in D and when you need to slow down, lift off the throttle pedal and just press the brake pedal a few mm to get a similar level of regen to driving in B, but it's very tricky to get just the right amount of regen without bringing in the wheel brakes and easier to just drive in B.

The one thing you do need to watch is if the roads are slippery and bumpy. If the front wheels skid even slightly e.g. going over a bump then the anti-skid cuts the regen totally for a few 10ths of a second. This lack of braking actually feels like you are accelerating! Always be ready with your foot to hit the brake pedal and use the wheel brakes in that scenario. The ABS is far more responsive than the regen anti-skid.