Is dealer SOH accurate or do I do my own?

rjb8c · Dec 17, 2019

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 but am trying to avoid the headache of a degrading battery. Do I have to find another way to calculate SOH ie with the recommended obd dongle on this website and kia ev spy? Trying to avoid buying these things but will do it to avoid a bad purchase if needed.

BTW here is the why,
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 two-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.

notfred · Dec 17, 2019

Two things:
1) The dealer SOH is the one that actually matters in terms of warranty replacement. The ones reported by Soul Spy and Torque are what people on this board have worked out to line up with the dealer SOH

2) The reported SOH can be at 100% if the Battery Management System (BMS) firmware has been updated and the BMS hasn't had a chance to learn what the actual battery state is since the firmware update. This requires charging to 100%, driving until it is less than 20% and then charging to 100%. During the 2nd charge, the BMS will recalibrate the SOH. N.B. It can take a few times to learn the real SOH if there is a big difference.

So for the vehicle that you are looking at, either it has had a battery replacement or the BMS has been reset and it hasn't been driven much since then. There are some counters that show the battery operating time and accumulated charge and discharge power - if those are low numbers then your BMS hasn't learnt the battery yet.

rjb8c · Dec 19, 2019

Wow, that was quick. Thank you for response. I have the following print out:

SOC 82%
SOH 100%
battery dc voltage 379.4 volts
max cell voltage 3.96
min cell voltage 3.94
battery dc current 11 A
available charge power 31.44 kw
available discharge power 90kw
auxillary battery voltage 14.1 V
Does this help determine if it is in the 2nd state as discussed?
Would carfax list if the battery has been replaced? How do you find that information out if the dealer claims they do not know? Can you see something on the car if this is the case?

Thank you so much! I bought the adapter listed on the website forum from amazon and downloaded soul lite in hopes to drive the cars this weekend again to see if I can get a soh. Any recommendations on how to do this testdrive? Do I need to purchase the normal software or can I use the lite version?

Thanks!
Becca

notfred · Dec 19, 2019

Unfortunately the numbers you posted don't show the counters to know whether the BMS has been reset or not.

If you have the VIN of the car you are looking at and phone Kia's corporate office, they may be able to tell you the history on the vehicle - particularly with respect to has the battery been replaced and has the BMS had an update, and if yes then when those things happened.

Soul EV Spy Lite is enough, you can actually run it and select "Play demo data" off the bottom of the left menu to get familiar with it. When you get to the car you will need to first remove the fuse box cover that is by the driver's left knee. Start the vehicle and plug the OBDII adaptor in, then start Soul EV Spy and slide the "Connect via Bluetooth" selector at the top of the left menu to get it to connect to you adaptor. If you haven't previously used your adaptor then you will need to go to "Settings" at close to the bottom of the left menu and select your OBDII adaptor in the Bluetotth device before you can turn on the "Connect via Bluetooth" slider.

What you are looking for is first of all on the "Car" screen on the left menu, the first item is "Battery SOH %" and confirm that it matches what you have been told, then change the left menu selection to "Battery Management System" and scroll down until you get to all the entries for
"battery.accumulative" things, there are 2 charge, 2 discharge and one time. If any of those numbers are really low (less than 1000) then it has had a BMS reset recently and probably hasn't learnt the battery yet.

rjb8c · Dec 20, 2019

Thank you so much for all your help! Will call corporate since I don't think the dealer is aware of the last BMS update but reports the charging assembly was replaced in 4/2018. I would think a update might have been done at that time but not sure about anything after that date. Will try to get the SOH tomorrow!

rjb8c · Dec 27, 2019

Sorry for the delay. I was never able to preform the soh and it looks like the bms had been reset so it wouldn't have been accurate anyway I was thinking. Unforunately I ended up going with a nissan leaf which was a really good buy given the xcel, colorado, and federal incentives. It ended up being similar in price to the used kia soul ev. In addition, the kia dealer was not informed and a little shady about the used kia soul evs as well. It was a shame since the kia soul ev is a super comfy car for taller individuals.

Thank you for everyone's input! Still love the soul