Replacement battery log: 2016 EV+ @ 43k mi.

[ReggiesRide510510]

Just wanted to share and document the starting of my replacement battery journey. I've read a few other posts on this site and am grateful for the knowledge on here.

Got my CPO 2016 EV+ last July. (LOVE IT!) It had all the service maintenance regularly done and recorded at the dealership; also it was a local SF/Bay Area single owner car with about 35k miles so the car has been with me in the Bay Area since the start. The SOH image I got from the dealer at purchase said "100%" but now I'm skeptical.
The car has been performing superbly until I took it in for the parking recall in early September. Probably just a coincidence but not long after that my range had drastically gone down. It only took about a week for me to notice the range went down to 50 mi. @ 98% charge. I thought it was b/c I had recently done some highway driving due to easing up of Covid lockdown. Otherwise, I'd only done local errands these past summer months. I've only put about 8k miles since original purchase (& Covid) and I hadn't regularly charged to 100% unless I know I'm going on a farther trip than usual. Everyday driving is 80% max with an additional "top-up" to 90% for my freeway commute. Otherwise, it stays between 25-80% for local errands. I have a home L2 charger where I do 99% of my charging.

So the GOOD news is that the Kia dealership & Corporate quickly approved a battery pack replacement and the part is on order as of 11/11/20!!! Customer service said the battery should arrive from LA in "a couple of days or next week max". :shock: I'll just leave that there to sink in.
From what I've seen others have posted, they waited 6-8 weeks for a battery.

Dealership gave me a printout of some diagnostics but it conveniently doesn't show the SOH and & couldn't wait all day at the dealership for them to get to my car otherwise I would've specifically asked for them to give me a copy.
I took my car home since I can use it for the interim while waiting for my the battery pack to arrive.

Does KIA install refurbished batteries? How do I know if i'll get a pack with 100%? Is it possible to get one with, say, 80% capacity and maybe have to do this all again in 2 years?

Will post updates... maybe next week? Or in 6-8weeks?
Thanks for reading.

 

[MassDeduction]

[...]The SOH image I got from the dealer at purchase said "100%" but now I'm skeptical.[...]

Thanks for reporting your journey to us! @JejuSoul and others have reported that when the dealers service the car, the SOH is often briefly reset to 100% health, and as the car is used the BMS re-learns what its state of health actually is. This isn't purposeful fraud, this is an unintended consequence of some of the software updating, etc., that they do.

The best way to get the actual SOH may be to use the SoulSpy app and an appropriate adaptor.

 

[ReggiesRide510510]

Thank you for that!
I did get the CarScanner app and a Veepak OBD (w/ iOS device; don't have Android) and tried looking for an "SOH measurement." The closest category I found that somewhat matched was: MAXIMUM DETERIORATION: 49.1%. (which makes sense if my car is only getting 50 miles range ??
Haven't figured out how to have the app show a graphic of cells.

I wonder if anyone else has an iOS app they could recommend which shows SOH?
Thanks!

 

[MassDeduction]

Thank you for that!
I did get the CarScanner app and a Veepak OBD (w/ iOS device; don't have Android) and tried looking for an "SOH measurement." The closest category I found that somewhat matched was: MAXIMUM DETERIORATION: 49.1%. (which makes sense if my car is only getting 50 miles range ??
Haven't figured out how to have the app show a graphic of cells.

I wonder if anyone else has an iOS app they could recommend which shows SOH?
Thanks!

What some have done is purchase a bog standard Android device, second-hand possibly, to use SoulSpy. If someone knows of a great app for iOS then fantastic. But it no one's of any help there, the cheapest compatible Android device you can get your hands on will do the job, if SoulSpy is the only thing you need it for.

 

[IanL]

Does KIA install refurbished batteries? How do I know if i'll get a pack with 100%? Is it possible to get one with, say, 80% capacity and maybe have to do this all again in 2 years?

From reading around this subject, It appears that KIA usually replace cells in an original battery enclosure. Early reports suggest that they used to replace the worst cells, so the resulting battery was over 70%, but more recent reports suggest complete cell replacement, with 100% SOH. Owners of 27 kWh models have reported improved battery cells together with updated BMS firmware, to give a somewhat higher capacity.

 

[ksoul2084]

Thank you for that!
I did get the CarScanner app and a Veepak OBD (w/ iOS device; don't have Android) and tried looking for an "SOH measurement." The closest category I found that somewhat matched was: MAXIMUM DETERIORATION: 49.1%. (which makes sense if my car is only getting 50 miles range ??
Haven't figured out how to have the app show a graphic of cells.

I wonder if anyone else has an iOS app they could recommend which shows SOH?
Thanks!

The main variable that goes into the SOH % is the max deterioration number. 49% is bad, I would proceed to getting the dealer to test it. Really, the poor range should be enough too.

(If you don't feel like messing around with Android, etc.).

 

[ReggiesRide510510]

Does KIA install refurbished batteries? How do I know if i'll get a pack with 100%? Is it possible to get one with, say, 80% capacity and maybe have to do this all again in 2 years?

From reading around this subject, It appears that KIA usually replace cells in an original battery enclosure. Early reports suggest that they used to replace the worst cells, so the resulting battery was over 70%, but more recent reports suggest complete cell replacement, with 100% SOH. Owners of 27 kWh models have reported improved battery cells together with updated BMS firmware, to give a somewhat higher capacity.

That's good news! Thanks!

 

[ReggiesRide510510]

Thank you for that!
I did get the CarScanner app and a Veepak OBD (w/ iOS device; don't have Android) and tried looking for an "SOH measurement." The closest category I found that somewhat matched was: MAXIMUM DETERIORATION: 49.1%. (which makes sense if my car is only getting 50 miles range ??
Haven't figured out how to have the app show a graphic of cells.

I wonder if anyone else has an iOS app they could recommend which shows SOH?
Thanks!

The main variable that goes into the SOH % is the max deterioration number. 49% is bad, I would proceed to getting the dealer to test it. Really, the poor range should be enough too.

(If you don't feel like messing around with Android, etc.).

Yup! Took it to the dealer and they approved a replacement battery. Just waiting on it to be delivered.

 

[ReggiesRide510510]

New Year - New Battery!

Just to update - Kia replaced my battery pack pretty quickly! After dropping it off in November, they had my car for 12 days total which was very surprising! I picked it up w/ 106 mi @ 99% charge. They had approved a rental but that took awhile and by the time that was approved, my car was ready. Luckily, I didn't really need the rental; maybe I didn't ask soon enough.

For the first 2-3 weeks driving around my normal local places, I was getting about 3.2-3.5 mi/kWh which was really low for me. After about a month (and once, driving in heavy stop and go fwy traffic) I was able to get up to 4.5 mi/kWh - my highest since owning the car. I'm back at 4.0 which is my normal driving pattern.
I did recheck the battery w/ the OBD and CarScanner and the MaxDeterioration now says 0%. (old battery = 49%) I'll probably do a recheck every 6 mos. Such a relief to not have to worry about range anymore (good enough for my daily driving usage). I wonder if it will need another replacement at 43k mi? Makes me wonder how the previous owner drove & charged it.

On an unrelated note, the cabin heater is also now working wonderfully.

Thanks for this forum!