Kia "CHARGE UP" Card

[oilerlord]

FWIW, the i-MiEV was rated as worst green car by Consumer Reports: https://consumerist.com/2016/03/17/10-cars-that-consumer-reports-says-are-not-so-great/ They called it "only slightly better than a golf cart."

It's basic to the extreme but I've been hanging out at the i-MiEV forum, and owners love them. I did watch a funny Youtube review that mirrored your sentiment...he actually called the Soul EV a "Bentley" compared to the i-MiEV. On the used market, you can buy three i-MiEV's for the price of a Soul EV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiCnKae7rKs

I just made an offer on a 2015 Soul EV with ~12,000 miles on it (at about half the price of a new 2016). It's a lowball offer but the dealer has had the car for a while and may be motivated to clear it. The salesperson thinks it should be enough to get it done but is having the manager call me tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they are going to try and squeeze an extra $1000 out of me. We'll see. I'm already stretching my budget above the Spark EV but the bigger battery, chademo, and 6.6kW L2 charging are worth it.

 

[Jon]

Would anyone have an extra, unregistered Charge-Up card they'd be willing to part with? I'd really like to have one, and they're definitely not given to Canadian purchasers. I'd be willing to send a Chargepoint card your way if you wanted one.

 

[kallenyc]

I just wanted to chime in with recent input since I just bought a used 2018 Kia Soul and it came with a ChargeUp card but was not easy to activate. It was shrink wrapped in the glove compartment with an instructional insert and the "Soul EV Features & Functions Guide" booklet. It's a Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle and had just under 15K miles on it. One owner leased it for 3 yrs before me so I'm not sure if they just never used the card or if the dealership provided a new one (I'm guessing the original leasee never used the card since they put so few miles on it).

Directions on the insert did not work. It said to go to http://kiachargeup.com and follow the sign up steps...but I could not get a website to pull up at that address. There is a customer service phone number on my card and the insert which did help: 1-844-413-2133. They sent me this link to activate my card: https://charge.greenlots.com/greenlots/ezChargeRegistration.jsf?ev=KIA&validatevin=true&guid=null. However, that also didn't work on my computer (I tried both Chrome & Microsoft Edge browsers). It did work--albeit very slow to load--on my phone!

You need to activate the card and set up the account through that links which works and THEN download the Greenlots app and login to your account. I do see several free charging stations that will be extremely helpful so I'm psyched so far although the limited range of the Kia Soul EV is a bit worrisome. Fingers crossed and I hope this helps any new owners in the U.S. struggling to make sense of the ChargeUp card!

 

[gnad]

Yeah, I was told to download the greenlots app and sign up for a green lots card there. Great, one more card to have to make my life "easier".

I just wanted to chime in with recent input since I just bought a used 2018 Kia Soul and it came with a ChargeUp card but was not easy to activate. It was shrink wrapped in the glove compartment with an instructional insert and the "Soul EV Features & Functions Guide" booklet. It's a Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle and had just under 15K miles on it. One owner leased it for 3 yrs before me so I'm not sure if they just never used the card or if the dealership provided a new one (I'm guessing the original leasee never used the card since they put so few miles on it).

Directions on the insert did not work. It said to go to http://kiachargeup.com and follow the sign up steps...but I could not get a website to pull up at that address. There is a customer service phone number on my card and the insert which did help: 1-844-413-2133. They sent me this link to activate my card: https://charge.greenlots.com/greenlots/ezChargeRegistration.jsf?ev=KIA&validatevin=true&guid=null. However, that also didn't work on my computer (I tried both Chrome & Microsoft Edge browsers). It did work--albeit very slow to load--on my phone!

You need to activate the card and set up the account through that links which works and THEN download the Greenlots app and login to your account. I do see several free charging stations that will be extremely helpful so I'm psyched so far although the limited range of the Kia Soul EV is a bit worrisome. Fingers crossed and I hope this helps any new owners in the U.S. struggling to make sense of the ChargeUp card!