How to estimate SoH for Buying Used

[buddhaauthor]

Hi All,

My six month lease extension is up in a couple weeks and my residual is high, so I'm in the market to buy a 2016 +, maybe with Fun & Sun, just for, well, fun.

Trouble is, I don't have an Android phone, so I'm having to guess the SoH of cars I see advertised. Almost all ads have photos of the console and show the GOM and the range bars. I've calculated, via driving, SoC% for each bar. So, for example, one well-priced, non-dealer car has 22 miles at 38-43% SoC. My math says that means a range of 51-58 miles. That would make the car eligible for a battery replacement.

Or would it?

It could be that the previous owner drove it really hard with the AC on all the time, right? I can look at the driving history. If it shows 4+ miles per kWh, then it definitely seems to need a new battery. If it's 2.5 miles per kWh, then maybe not.

Is there anything else I should do to learn more? I mean, I could drive it to a Kia dealer and ask for a SoH. I'm in Los Angeles and wonder if any dealer would be nice enough to do that for me (without charging me $100). Now that I've written that, I'm thinking that perhaps this is a strong argument to buy one from a dealer, since surely they'll do a SoH to sell the car.

I'd love to hear any advice from everyone.

 

[Calaveras]

I bought a used 2017 with sun and fun package. the sunroof is not worth extra in my opinion. It is just a seal that can leak in the future.
I tried to get two different dealers to test the battery to get a SOH. one actually pulled it into the service area, but when the mechanic realized I was wanting the traction battery tested not the 12v accessory battery tested they said it would take a few days and l would have to pay for it.
Most people at the dealership know less about the car than you do. With an ICE car you could have a 3rd party mechanic do a compression test the engine and the dealer would understand.

 

[buddhaauthor]

Calaveras, that's annoying, but I guess doing the SoH test is work, and who likes to do that?

As for my situation, I'm looking at a low range Plus at 22K miles, very clean, and the battery is at 34 miles at 63%. The driving history is consistent at 3.9-4.3 miles/kWh. That's normal efficiency, so I estimate this car at 57% SoH. (I got that figure by extrapolating the 34 miles to 53 miles at 100% then dividing by .93 to get 57%)

Is my math about right? I'm really tempted to buy this car and drive it directly to a Kia dealership for SoH and (hopefully) battery replacement. I think it will be $2000 cheaper than a comparable certified car I'm considering. That's a big difference!

 

[warren55]

Don't know anyone with an android phone or tablet? How about an Amazon Fire tablet? (Mostly the same thing, I think it could work)
That is your best bet at knowing exactly where you are, but I think your math seems logical and I think you would get a new battery from what I know on mine. I get at least 1 mile for 1% of battery charge unless it's really cold!

 

[buddhaauthor]

Warren55, this is so stereotypical but I live in Hollywood and I am stumped to think of a close non-iPhone friend. I REALLY should drive a Tesla if I had any pride. (Joking, of course: I really don't want a Tesla.)

Right now, I'm leaning toward the one-stop-shopping notion of returning my lease to Kia of Irvine and then buying their 11.5K mile 2016 + and driving home and being done. No worries about battery percentages, no dealing with ICE rentals, no worries at all. It will be 10% more expensive than my battery-replacement-angle-Soul, but, as my wife says, "don't take on projects you don't really want."

 

[JeroenE]

Warren55, this is so stereotypical but I live in Hollywood and I am stumped to think of a close non-iPhone friend.

I don't know anything about iOS but it seems strange there isn't an OBD-II app for iOS that you can use to get the readings from your car.

It might not have the easy SoH number that SoulSpy displays, but if you can access the underlying numbers in another app you can calculate the SoH yourself using the formula.

 

[rjb8c]

Hello, I am also looking at buying a 2016 kia soul ev used with about 35k miles on it. I did recieve a soh report from the kia dealer but am worried since it says it is at 100%. This seems odd to me. I know I will have some time left on the warranty. Do I have to find another way to calculate SOH ie with the recommended obd dongle and kia ev spy? Trying to avoid buying these things but will do it to avoid a bad purchase if needed.

BTW,
I am trading in my low mileage subaru impreza 2012 since I am trying to find a more eco friendly commute aside from my bike. I commute anywhere from 10 to 30 miles one way or 20 to 60 miles round trip three times a week. Usually run small errands at home with the family as well ie <10 miles one a week. Currently, only fill up on gas once a month or less at 300ish miles a month. Honestly, I ride my bike a ton on the shorter ie 20 mile commutes and am looking to do a 60 mile commute with the car at most 3-4 times a month. Can trickle charge at work or find a charger on the way home if needed since I live in Denver. These commutes will likely be cold at times but since I bike in 20 degree weather, I won't need the heater besides the defrost. Any feedback would be great.

 

[jray3]

I used Soul Spy when test driving my 2016 with 24k miles in October. It reported 99.7% SOH. The car was sedately driven for 36 months by my friend, literally the preacher's wife. Today after 6000 more miles of hard driving, it reports 100.7%!
As luck would have it, tonight's commute was above my normal 75 highway miles, we covered 89 miles in the rain at 41° on snow tires, going all the way down to a sinful 1.5% SOC!
Though I won't make a habit of it, this battery seems to like some hard cycling to awaken latent capacity. However, the cell voltage differential climbed to 0.10V at that extreme.

Pick up a cheap quality Android tablet. I got this Samsung Galaxy for $80 and it quickly linked up with a new Konnwei, no glitches.

Footnote, KIA finance customer service stinks. They cashed my lease payoff check 6 weeks before handing over the title, which caused the registration to expire!