Getting only 73 miles in the winter

[aha]

Hi All,

It's been 32,xxx miles with my 2016 Kia Soule EV-e, always driven in ECO and in B for maximum regenerative braking. Typical commute is about 70 miles, 90% Highway doing 65 MPH. Display shows 4.0miles/kWh. WInter in 2016 - 88 miles. Winter in Cali. can reach 40F but the car is park in the garage. Interestingly, i have noticed the battery degradation as follows, winter in 2016/2017 - 83 miles, winter in 2018 - 73 miles, summer weather usually adds about 5-7 miles. Tire pressure is at 39 psi and it's usually charged with level 2 charger to 100%.

Within less than 3 miles reaching home, the indicator shows 0 miles left with all kinda warning, by the time it reaches the garage, 0-1% left on the battery. Yes, attempted slowdown on the highway at 55-60MPH but seems to have no effect. I tend to ignore the miles indicator, but when it flashes and shows 0, I have lost my confidence in ignoring it.

Has anyone experienced this before? The range anxiety attack is true, there is no way I'm buying it after the lease ends this year.

 

[JejuSoul]

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Try reading this thread. 27,000 miles 86-mile range; my Soul EV commute is over

Almost all the battery problems we have heard about are by drivers with long commutes at high speed.
None of these drivers have recorded battery data on this site.
Hence we can't prove it but it seems the Soul EV battery is not very long lasting when driven far and fast.

The other possible cause of fast degradation is Arizona heat. But I don't have any detail for those cars.

 

[akindredsoul]

I mostly drive far with my Soul EV, with a lot of fast charging. But I never drive fast (max. 95 km/h). I don't live in a super hot climate (Southern France). I have no degradation after 2,5 years.

 

[biffidum]

We are seeing the same thing. 73 miles is about 117km. We typically see 135-142 per charge in the summer months. Last summer our range recovered once into warmer weather.

This year I have different rims and wider tires. I had hoped the range penalty was not going to be too severe, but so far all indications are that it is. I may have to ditch the rims and get something more concervative. The current rims are Kia snowflake rims (18”) with 245/40zr18 tires.... all season but smooth tread.

We are seeing 18kw/100km consumption.

My wife drives the highway to work and back three days a week (84km total) at about 100km/h..... I have no patience for that’s so bless her heart...

Just sharing my experience so someone else might think twice about the wide rims.

 

[biffidum]

The warmer weather has hit (15C) and we are increasing our range to 130+ km’s. I expect we will be back to 142km’s by the time we hit summer.

We have never seen the 156km that was on the gauge when we first picked up the car new.

So I would say that degradation is not evident after 1.75yrs of mostly highway km’s and normal driving habits.

 

[biffidum]

Well spring has really arrived and with temperatures near 20C today we got 150km on a charge... 17.4kw on the eco meter thingamabob. This with wide tires on 18” rims.

It seems like the Kia would be best suited for temperate climates. As soon as it gets below 10C things deteriorate.

 

[biffidum]

P.S. we still love our Soul and choose it over our other vehicles whenever we can...

 

[Iguesssoulmanistaken]

Hi, nice to hear, as I am about to put on wider rims.

A loss of range from 80-ish miles to 73 miles is pretty good for the winter (here in Alberta at least!)

Jim