New Owner, 2016 Soul EV

[Glasswalker]

Hi! I'm new to the forum, been in the market for an EV for quite some time, originally from Canada, we had hesitated due to the "sparse" charging infrastructure there...

I recently immigrated to New Zealand, which has an amazing charging infrastructure, and extremely high petrol prices, so with those things combined, I finally decided to buy my first EV here.

So I bought an imported UK model 2016 Gray Soul EV, with 7500km on it (which I thought was fantastic mileage).

Anyway, wanted to say hi, introduce myself, and ask: Is there anything I should immediately be checking/doing on the car? Any "must-have" upgrades/hacks/tweaks? etc.

Being a UK model the Android Auto upgrade is unfortunately not possible (already tried to manually download, etc, car won't take it).
I already have a OBD2 Bluetooth device for Torque on order, and will be using Torque Pro to monitor the battery, etc.

So far, the GOM is giving me 135km range on full charge. But I drove around town for a total of 20-30k and it took me down from 100% to about 94%, so that seems to be good... I'm not going to be using it for any long trips at all, so I'm planning on normally not charging it beyond 85%. I have no electric in the car-park at my apartment, so I have to rely on public charging infrastructure. Good thing is many of the CHAdeMO fast chargers in town are free to use, so that's handy.

In town even many of the motorways have a speed limit of 80Kph, so generally the driving patterns in-city, and even on high-way should be good.

I seem to be averaging 15.8Kwh/100km right now.

It's unfortunate that the NAV doesn't work in NZ as the local NZ market doesn't sell the Kia Soul EV, so you can't get the official maps from Kia, and the UK map data won't work of course. (it actually didn't even come with an SD card). There are other Kia models with local nav, so maybe it's possible, but I don't expect to have much luck with Kia on that.

Anyway, so far found lots of great bits of info on the forums.

Anything else I should be looking into?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Oinq]

I'm in the same boat (car) but in Belgium. Is there anything I should immediately be checking/doing on the car? Any "must-have" upgrades/hacks/tweaks?

I have been thinking to install the unit from 2017, that already has android auto. Any chances it will work good?

Kind regards and thank you
Nuno

 

[JejuSoul]

-
Good luck with your new cars. I have already commented that the Belgian Soul EV still has a great HV battery.

I would -
1/ Look to install an L2 c harger at home, work, gym, somewhere you goto often each week.
It is going to be much easier long term to use an L2 rather than public fast c hargers.

2/ Range test your car. Drive it from 100% down to 10%. Note down the details.
It helps you get used to the car as it is now, and to dispel range anxiety.
This data will be useful for comparison in three or four years when your battery has degraded.

3/ Android Auto can be installed on European cars using the latest European software update for the Soul EV Navi.
There is nothing security wise that stops you from downloading and doing this yourself.
You just need to find someone willing to share, and have an SD card with 9GB spare.

There's no big advantage to having Android Auto though. It displays what is on your phone.
You can just look directly at the phone, without having the hassle of installing and connecting all the extra software.

 

[notfred]

I disagree on the Android Auto - having it on the car headunit is a lot better:

1) Bigger screen - easier to see, and easier to enter destinations.
2) Able to trigger voice commands by pressing the microphone button on the steering wheel without needing it to recognise "Ok Google".
3) Navigation prompts will briefly mute the audio in the driver's speakers making them easier to hear while still having other audio sources like radio playing.
4) When Android Auto is listening to the microphone for voice prompts then it turns the climate fan speed down so it can understand you better. This also happens when doing phone calls via bluetooth without it plugged in to Android Auto.

 

[JejuSoul]

-
Thanks notfred for the useful tips.

 

[Oinq]

There's no big advantage to having Android Auto though. It displays what is on your phone.
You can just look directly at the phone, without having the hassle of installing and connecting all the extra software.

- In some European countries any kind of interaction with your phone will give you a huge fine. With the radio not.
- Having Google Maps or Waze is the ultimate navigation system, It's connected to the internet and it chooses the best route based on traffic.
- And has said before the bigger screen is a big advantage, allowing you to distract less while driving..

I will search it and let you guys know how it was. Does someone have a download link he wants to share?


Best regards and thank you
Nuno

 

[mariano3113]

@Glasswalker

Where you using a 2016 UK download for the SD card update?


The region specific Kia Motors modifiers are pretty code strict for updating.

Ie cannot use Canadian software link to update NA or UK head units, nor can you use wrong model year, and for whatever reason NA seems to give issues if Vin in file header is not matching.

I believe Kia UK and Europe share the same Server and software download.(I could be wrong)

http://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=832&p=8509#p8509

(If manual downloadlinks are needed like in the other forum thread, let me know and I'll try to find the correct server url.)
Edit;:
Android Auto UK site (shows Soul EV as compatible with update) (not US list as US never had cee'd)

https://www.android.com/intl/en_uk/auto/kia/

https://www.kia.com/uk/owners/connectivity-centre/