Thinking of getting a higher mileage 2016

[beanman]

So I'm happy to report:

That the mechanic confirmed the car was riden hard (needs new back shocks and front brakes) but was otherwise in much better wear and tear than the last tax soul ev I brought him that had 23k more kms on it.

I went back to the dealer and proposed a price that was higher than I initially wanted to pay, but conditional on them fixing the problems my mechanic found, certifying it of course, and essentially having their electronics/wiring guy return the car to "civilian use"

That included, for the record now for all those looking at these taxi's; reconnecting all the antennas and confirming the gps works again, removing the taxi controllers from the glovebox and rear spare tire well, reconnecting the front USB and AUX ports, and likely in the process removing the rigged power cable in the centre console with the transformer underneath. They agreed.

To boot I asked them to quote and attempt to take care of the roof damage from removing the taxi signage and literally plugging and siliconing the holes. I wrote it into the bill of sale but there's room for some back and forth regarding refinishing and retaining the roof.

Note also that I think all the taxi's I've seen come with only one fob. I wrote in that I wanted a second fob as well. The price was also lowered because I purchased a L1/L2 cable separately.

I'm excited that the battery may well have been replaced/refurbished under warranty and even if it wasn't the range is proof of a solid system. Given the brakes/wheel/shocks/tires all check out or will be replaced accordingly, I don't know what other wear and tear we haven't checked for.

Now I'm hoping it all comes together for delivery on the weekend. It's been an intense search and both my wife and I are hopeful I'm done.

 

[JejuSoul]

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Very interesting to read all these lengthy reports. It seems all these taxis were driven hard and suffered far more than most of our cars. I'm particularly interested in seeing the battery degradation figures. There is a group of cars in Phoenix, Arizona that all needed battery replacement, regardless of how far they were driven. This must be a heat issue. But in Montreal, extremely hot weather for months on end is not likely. The obvious answer is that they degraded faster than normal because they were driven so hard.

Yes, it is possible that the latest car you have just tested has a brand new battery. The BMS has yet to calibrate for the new battery which explains why the GOM is so confused. It is also possible that it is just a BMS reset on an old battery, but at the moment the range test you did >90km on 60% of the battery makes the new battery a higher probability.

Good luck on getting your new car.

 

[rscamp]

As another data point, I bought one of these former Teo Taxi taxis. But it is a 2018 with 36k km on it rather than a 2016.

It had most of the common issues mentioned previously with regard to wiring and missing items although the wiring tended not to be disconnected, rather it was just 'tapped-into' for the radio equipment. So the radio and USB were still working from the get-go. It was originally fitted with winter tires that have since been replaced with a new set of the stock Nexen "Blue EV" tires.

The standard dealer battery SOH test reported 100%. Before driving, it reported 176km range at 99%. I drove it economically for about 65 km and it reported 129km range at the end of the trip. Seems reasonable under the conditions...

 

[ksoul2084]

So I finally got to inspect my copart auction taxi yesterday in person. It is certainly a project.

- Roof is pretty mangled, two rows of largish holes to mount a large taxi sign I guess, they also dented the roof a fair amount. They covered these with a black wrap but looks pretty rough from above and not sure how long the wrap will keep the moisture out of the holes. This wasn't disclosed in the auction damage info so is pretty disappointing, though I guess not completely unexpected for a taxi.

- Passenger's door has some complex dents in it that didn't look so bad in the photos. What else is new?

- Holes drilled in the top of the dash on the round piece that also houses the charging indictor LEDs. Hoping I can simply purchase a replacement piece.

- Strange taxi black boxes in 3 locations, one under the drivers dash, one in the glove box, and some kind of antenna unit under the rear cargo floor. Also the 12v power cord in the center console. I noticed an enormous power lead cable that comes off the main fuse junction box under the hood (rated 300v) that seems to be aftermarket. I am assuming all the taxi equip. was being powered by this vs integrating with the car's stock wiring but won't know until I take things apart to clean it up.

- Missing the level 1 charging cable, though the cargo net and flat tire kit were there.

Still haven't gotten the car to boot, seems to be no 12v into the cab of the vehicle. Miraculously the 12v battery level is fine. What I discovered is that somebody removed the three 50v fuses from the main fuse box under the hood and it seems those would certainly be required to power the dash, computer, etc. That is probably why the 12v was saved from draining, as the on/off switch in the driver's fuse box was left on.

I have the 50v fuses on order at KIA and should be able to install them and see if I can get the car to boot up tomorrow.

Buying one of these fresh off the auction block is not for the squeamish.

 

[beanman]

Hi ksoul2084 and thanks for the update.

The one under the driver side dash is new to at least me. I've seen a few of the taxi controller with some sort of cab-lock and the transponder-like device in the spare tire well.

In the cases I've seen, those controller boxes were wired back to the odb2 port, likely but not certain, as part of a power source.

You should also lift the centre console armrest and look for a drill hole in the bottom with a power care poking through. Likely with a transformer underneath that can't be accessed without removing the console.

What interests me the most in your case and I will have to check mine when I pick it up this weekend, is the tapping in to 300v power passing the car's own fusebox and wiring.

Out of curiosity, was this a 2016 model? And did you pick it up as part of a public or dealer-only auction?

Most of the set of drill holes (tablet holder mount) I've seen were also towards the front of the dash, no easy repair, likely going to cut some plastic and screw or glue it on top. In your case you might be lucky as you said and just need to replace the one small panel.

Good luck getting it to boot!

 

[ksoul2084]

In the cases I've seen, those controller boxes were wired back to the odb2 port, likely but not certain, as part of a power source.

You should also lift the centre console armrest and look for a drill hole in the bottom with a power care poking through. Likely with a transformer underneath that can't be accessed without removing the console.

What interests me the most in your case and I will have to check mine when I pick it up this weekend, is the tapping in to 300v power passing the car's own fusebox and wiring.

It's actually a 600V/6AWG cable that runs from the positive terminal on the under-hood fuse box. It has a giant fuse holder of its own with the fuse removed so no power to it now. This is not stock from the diagrams and online photos I've seen, and is exactly the kind of power lead a high-end stereo installer might use. I'm hoping that they used it to power the Taxi stuff without hacking up the stock cabling too much, but we'll see.

The center console does have the 12v power cord in it as described. I'll remove the console and clean that up at some point, not a big deal.

Out of curiosity, was this a 2016 model? And did you pick it up as part of a public or dealer-only auction?

Most of the set of drill holes (tablet holder mount) I've seen were also towards the front of the dash, no easy repair, likely going to cut some plastic and screw or glue it on top. In your case you might be lucky as you said and just need to replace the one small panel.

Good luck getting it to boot!

Yes, 2016 and the copart Toronto auction is dealer/broker only. So I used an online broker to bid, etc.

The dash holes are fortunately in the small dash module that the centre air vents and Hazard button are attached to. Only about $100 to replace with a new one from KIA and as easy as popping off and back on to fix.

 

[beanman]

Kindly post the link to that part for order! A few off us may want to do just that instead of covering it some other way.

 

[ksoul2084]

Well I'm happy to report that installing the missing 50V fuses brought the car back to life.

Every feature is working fine now with the exception of the right mirror signal light, so that's a big win in my book.

Mileage is 140,000km.

Battery had 58km range remaining on it and had been last driven on April 13th.

I took it to a Level 2 charger and let it charge to 100%, topped out with 83km estimated range at 100%. So by my math that is approx. 55% of the original capacity(?).

After charging it to 100% I drove 73km in varied conditions, some inefficient fast starts and hwy speeds and more often economically, with about 2/3rd hwy and 1/3 city. That left me with 26% remaining on the battery, so it works out to about 1km/ per 1% of battery, ergo actual summer range is maybe 100km? Not great but probably to be expected. At least I may qualify for a replacement before the warranty expires.

I want to order a Bluetooth ODBII reader and use the SoulEVSpy app to get more details. Will any ELM327 compatible device work with the app?

 

[ksoul2084]

Some additional observations:

So my car at least appears to have originally been painted white with light blue accents and roof like in this photo:

Teo Taxi then either painted or wrapped the cars to match their colour scheme like this (note the giant sign on the roof, no wonder it's so mangled):

So the car now has some interesting modifications to its appearance:

• - The entire roof and back side beam has been wrapped in black, sealing the roof-top molding inside the wrap (and covering the holes).
  - For some reason the hood has been wrapped in white. I only noticed this after washing the car. The white wrap doesn't have the shiny speckle bits that the original white paint does.
  - The light blue highlights have been covered with white pin-striping or some kind of paint in various places on the edges of the body panels.
  - The headlights have silver stripes on the outside of the lens to cover the interior light blue accent. On my car this is starting to come off.

The steering wheel is absolutely thrashed/gross. At some point they painted it and there is some slight overspray around it on the steering column. Bizarre. I'll be looking at a replacement or certainly a wrap. Ditto for the shifter knob.

The Aux and USB ports in the lower console are missing, a replacement blank plastic is there instead. No biggie as I can use a 12v USB charger next to that for my phone and am fine with bluetooth which seems to work well.

The Sat Radio works as do AM/FM. Navigation/GPS is also fine.

The backup camera doesn't work.

The suspension and alignment seem fine and no obvious issues with the brakes (haven't inspected their wear level but they work well and don't grind or squeak).

I need to pass a provincial safety inspection to register this in Alberta so not sure but worried that the non-functional backup camera and right mirror turn signal might be deal breakers. Going to need to see if I can repair these or replace. First order of business is a thorough cleaning of the interior.

 

[ksoul2084]

- For some reason the hood has been wrapped in white. I only noticed this after washing the car. The white wrap doesn't have the shiny speckle bits that the original white paint does.
- The light blue highlights have been covered with white pin-striping or some kind of paint in various places on the edges of the body panels.

Correction, the hood isn't wrapped with white, it is actually from a different vehicle, a 2018 according to the sticker on it. So it has the plain white paint instead of the metallic white on the rest of the car. Must have been in an accident at some point or otherwise got damaged. Because they wrapped their hoods with the teo green it wouldn't have mattered to them that it didn't match perfectly.

Also what I thought was paint or pinstriping is actually left over glue from the taxi wrap strips down the top of the doors. This should be removable with some effort.

 

[beanman]

I took ownership of the 2016 former-cab today.

I am happy I made the reversing of the electronics modifications (and reconnecting the antennas) a condition of sale. I don't mind small projects but rather have paid a bit more to make it their problem. The front USB and aux ports are back and working.

My own mechanic suggested the rear suspension and front brakes were done. The dealers mechanic replaced those and the wipers for the safety certificate.

When I first saw it two weeks ago, the dealer already had paid a contractor to pull the bars off the roof and plug+silicone the holes.

The plugs are not attractive and there's still minor dents in the roof. I think I'm going to try a vinyl roof wrap. I expect I will still see the plug impressions but it's better than a mix of grey and black plugs on the blue roof and I don't love the blue.

119,000kms and the bms still shows a SOH of 110%. Trickle charging it back up now and will likely try again to drain to 20% to force a calibration. Kia said they only have record of a warranty AC/heating replacement of some kind and various firmware resets back in 2017. No new battery.

I believe the tire pressure sensors, which read 0 on soulspy, may not be connected in these upgraded all weather/ev specific tires. I'm not sure if I can read tire sensors on the dash infotainment system. I just had time to pair my phone this evening.

I would love to order two replacement trim pieces if I knew where. The one site I found doesn't deliver to Canada. I am going to the US for a wedding in a few weeks... also need a second FOB.

 

[warren55]

Most of the friends I have in Canada have set up PO boxes or something similar in the US for mail order stuff. They certainly punish you to ship things there it seems. There seems to be a lot of vendors that ship OEM parts down here, but I haven't checked if they ship to you. https://www.getoemparts.com/oem-parts/kia-vent-97410b2100ga6?c=YT1raWEmbz1zb3VsLWV2Jnk9MjAxNiZ0PXBsdXMmZT1lbGVjdHJpYw%3D%3D

 

[ksoul2084]

Congratulations!

When I first saw it two weeks ago, the dealer already had paid a contractor to pull the bars off the roof and plug+silicone the holes.

The plugs are not attractive and there's still minor dents in the roof. I think I'm going to try a vinyl roof wrap. I expect I will still see the plug impressions but it's better than a mix of grey and black plugs on the blue roof and I don't love the blue.

The wrap won't hide any imperfections/dents, etc. but would of course make the colour uniform. In fact, if it is shiny it might make the imperfections more noticeable vs the factory paint clearcoat.

I would love to order two replacement trim pieces if I knew where. The one site I found doesn't deliver to Canada. I am going to the US for a wedding in a few weeks... also need a second FOB.

Shouldn't you be able to order these from any KIA dealer's parts dept.?

 

[ksoul2084]

...the hood isn't wrapped with white, it is actually from a different vehicle, a 2018 according to the sticker on it. So it has the plain white paint instead of the metallic white on the rest of the car. Must have been in an accident at some point or otherwise got damaged. Because they wrapped their hoods with the teo green it wouldn't have mattered to them that it didn't match perfectly.

I'm starting to think the difference in paint between the hood and the rest of the white on the car might be factory. I've noticed the other teo soul ev's at the copart auction seem to have the same difference in their hoods. Also this pic also seems to show a contrast between the two whites:

Can anyone else confirm this?

 

[beanman]

I've always understood that ordering from an oem parts supplier vs. A dealer saves up to 50 percent.

I think a new fob is $300 from KIA vs. About $150 oem

Can't tell ya anything about the finish of my hood besides that it's original and looks white like most of the rest of the car.

 

[RickinSD]

I bought a fob on ebay from Korea for $69 US, cost another $60 to get it programmed.

 

[beanman]

Does anyone know if you can program a FOB yourself for the Soul EV? I'm assuming the Canadian version is the same as the US version but I'm not really sure.

And just to update: Soul EV Spy now is showing my Tire pressures. Perhaps the electronics guy working with the dealer reconnected something else as he was fixing the antennas and usb/aux ports. 36.5 36.75 37.25 and 30.5! Guess I better find and add more air to that tire.

Battery still showing SOH 110%. I assume I'll get the battery down to 20% for re-calibration by Friday.

 

[warren55]

As far as I know, only the dealer can program the FOB.
Wow, sounds like you might have a new battery or a very good one at least! I'm not sure how long it takes to recalbrate but it sounded like your mileage vs. your SOC was doing very well. So how much (if you don't mind saying) do you have invested in this?

 

[ksoul2084]

I bought a fob on ebay from Korea for $69 US, cost another $60 to get it programmed.

Mind sharing details on how you got it programmed so inexpensively?

 

[beanman]

Happy to share some of my costs. I paid about 13k for the car plus tax, including the vinyl roof wrap going on this weekend. 2016 w/119000kms

So, 6 additional cabs were purchased through auction I understand last Wednesday. They are all 2016 just back from kia with refurbished batteries. I can't speak to the state of the cars otherwise. I know this because I was still in contact with some of the dealers I had been speaking with prior my purchase.

The cars are at a dealer in Mississauga and another in Oakville. If anyone can't find them on autotrader and is still interested, let me know.