Thinking of getting a higher mileage 2016

[warren55]

I bought my 2016 as certified pre owned with 8500 miles a couple months ago for $14K, which sounds like a steal until you do the conversion from US to Canadian dollars! Closer to $19K for you.

 

[beanman]

That was an incredible deal.
Do keep in mind, my car is now one year older, with ten times the mileage, and was formerly used as a taxi cab.

I'm waiting on hold right now with Kia to ask again if my battery was replaced because the GOM is showing 56km range, SOC 44.5%, SoulEVSpy SOH is 110%.... Nope they swear no warranty service since 2017....

At some point the battery will be down to 20% to force the calibration. At 20km / weekday I'm still right on track still for the full 150km range....

 

[warren55]

How many Kilometers have you driven it so far on the current charge?

 

[beanman]

So I just drove about 152 and have 16km left of charge.

SOC is 13.5%

Just plugged in and SOH still at 110%

KIA says no warranty battery replacement occurred.

Min/max percentage deterioration at 0

This car has 120,000km on it and it's 2.5 years old.

Maybe the battery doesn't recalibrate until it's charged up again. Perhaps someone who knows these cars better can suggest.

I will mention that I drive at least half the time on B mode and reach ECO Level 8 quite quickly. 20km bumper to bumper each day would do that. I believe that can explain the longer range between charges, as there's a reasonable amount of recharge going on while coasting.

I think it's a great car and I'm happy I got to get my first EV this way. I've attached pics now that the roof and mirrors were wrapped today. I think it worked quite well.

The small dents are still underneath the roof wrap and the 8 silicone caps do bulge as expected. But overall it looks nicely finished and I do prefer the look to the factory blue.

 

[JejuSoul]

-
beanman - please keep writing these reports - its really interesting to read.
Your car is a good buy. It can easily do your 20km commute. Paying 10k USD is a great price.
Can you post the last 5 digits of the VIN so I can work out the manufacturing date.

"Min/max percentage deterioration at 0" - this means a battery reset or battery replacement has occurred recently.
Kia should know this - it is odd that they tell you nothing.

Battery calibration should occur once your car charges back up. Please let us know the updated numbers.

You write - "So, 6 additional cabs were purchased through auction I understand last Wednesday. They are all 2016 just back from kia with refurbished batteries". Do you have any more details on these? Price? Odometer?

 

[beanman]

While it's obvious that the BMS was reset on my unit prior to the dealer taking possession, no one has been able to confirm who or why.

I just got the image links in my last post above working the way I want.

I was able to get some warranty replacement information from KIA: (last 6 VIN digits 015289)

Car Registered - August 10, 2016 (warranty start date)

Replace / Repair:

• AC Condenser Replacement 2017 July
  Expansion Valve 2017 August (related to A/C)
  Heater September 2017
  EV BMS logic improvement (firmware) September 2017
  OV Charger update (firmware?) September 2017
  ECM update (firmware?) September 2017

I called Kia back this week just to see if they omitted anything (apparently they weren't even supposed to tell me that much information). They only confirmed again that no battery was replaced and the last warranty service was September 2017

The newer battery replaced cars are at Redline Motors (on southcreek rd) in Mississauga and Jazauto in Oakville. ~130,000km ~$13,000+

Looking forward to updated BMS numbers from my unit after re-calibration and will report here. Do I need to charge back to full?

 

[notfred]

Yes, you need to charge from under 20% to 100% in one go for calibration.

 

[ksoul2084]

@beanman your car looks great and I also feel like you got a good deal. Also your pictures confirm that I'm not crazy and the factory hood colour is the 1D / flat white vs the Pearl White the rest of the car has.

An update on my auction Soul.

Things I have done/fixed:

• - Extreme detailed the interior, the leather seats, carpet, roofliner all look fresh and clean now. The steering wheel is "clean" but was extremely worn and had been spray painted at some point, with overspray on the buttons etc. Added a new cover to the wheel for now.
  - Removed the taxi-devices and bulk of the wiring. I left one big bundle under the dash tucked out of the way and labelled as "former-taxi" for future reference. It's not hurting anything there. I also removed the giant power that went from the under-hood distribution box through the firewall into the cab.
  - Tweaked the front bumper and rock guard alignment. Seems like the bumper was put on in haste.
  - Removed the silver wrap over the headlights (it was partially coming off already) to expose the stock blue colouring, looks much better since my "silver" stripes were already messed up.
  - Passed the AB Out of Province inspection. So the brakes, alignment, tires, etc. are all good.

Still to be done:

• - Replacement side-mirror (used from a wrecker), this will correct a broken signal light and worn out mirror adjuster.
  - Replacement steering wheel (slightly used from a wrecker). This will provide a much nicer steering wheel with no spray paint, etc.
  - Replacement centre vent dash piece (from a wrecker). This will replace the piece with the holes in the dash.
  - Re-connect USB connection now that the Cdn firmware update has been made available for CarPlay.
  - See if I can figure out why the back-up camera isn't working (low priority).

I also contacted KIA Canada and switched the contact info for the remaining EV powertrain warranty to myself. They informed me that the car has an outstanding recall: "Campaign #170069 - PSEV OBC Logic Improvement and inspection and replacement" that will expire by Jan 2 2020.

My biggest issue right now is that I the A/C isn't working (heating works). I didn't realize this before because the weather was a bit cooler. The AC dash light turns on, the blower fan cranks up, but no cooling occurs and no power is being used by the climate system. The cooling fan behind the radiator never runs, and even while driving down the highway no cooling occurs. The climate self-diagnostic comes back with "00", so nothing there.

I tested the cooling fan relay yesterday as per the service manual and it failed, so replaced but no difference. Some people have reported fuse-box wiring issues elsewhere so today I'll take apart the fuse box and inspect the wiring inside it. Hopefully something simple like that, reading the service manual it appears that a "freon" recharge on this thing is very specialized and cannot be done with standard equipment.

I also captured some numbers using SoulEVSpy. I'm pretty new to this so if someone can provide some insight into what these mean I'd appreciate it.

• Battery SOC disp: 93.5%, actual: 89.1%, prec: 60.31%
  Battery energy: 390.3V
  Est. range: 75.0km.
  Battery accumulative charge current: 19600.6 Ah
  Battery available charge power: 71.83 kW
  Battery available discharge power: 90 kW
  Battery min cell detoriation pct: 0
  Battery max cell detoriation pct: 33.2
  Battery SOH: 93.4%
  Odometer: 140516 km

Battery Map (parked car):

• Temps range from 18c to 20c.
  Most voltages are 4.06, one is 4.08, and two are 4.04.

 

[beanman]

Interesting and thank you.

Ksoul2084, someone knows those values much better than I. I'm initially concerned about the SOC display showing 93.5% and range is 75km, but the SOH at 94% sounds like a great sign.

I need to find a new wrecker in the GTA and see if I can find that dash replacement trim to rid myself of the screw holes. I've put a perfectly sized sticker there for now. Maybe they have a fob too.

I've contacted two kia dealerships and neither have gotten back to me about programming a second fob.

Can someone inform me about the process of doing a Canadian fw upgrade and if it's free? edit: actually I see some action on that on another thread.

Thank you. Battery should be all charged in an hour or so. UPDATE: charged and SOH still at 110%, GOM range read 119km, but I just drove 10km and it shows 113km now. Deterioration values still at 0... so doesn't look like anything recalibrated yet in regards to the BMS.

 

[warren55]

Well I will go on record that this is the most entertainment we've seen in this forum for as long as I've been following it. Keep it up, we need to liven things up around here!

 

[beanman]

So then let's convince a few more that are lurking or on the cusp that potentially getting into an EV via these prior cabs at the dealers is a really good option. Most aren't willing or can't put as much work into it as our Alberta friend in this thread but there are a few of these left in the GTA (and I assume Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver) that are in reasonable order with dealers willing to handle safety inspections, etc...

I certainly never thought I would get into an EV at this price. I put my deposit on Tesla M3 on 4/8/16 and loathed that the new provincial govt removed the (overly subsidized) 14K credit shortly after they got into office and shortly before the base M3 was available to order. I had been looking forward to a $31K CDN new model 3. However it turned out I didn't have the spare cash either and when it came time to replace my 2nd family car these Teo cabs couldn't have come at a better time.

I first test drove 2 used Leafs and they were absolutely fine. One was very low mileage at a dealer and I did put an offer, but they ended up wasting my time for a week or so. It seems known that Kia took a lot of notes from the leaf when they developed the 2015-2019 soul ev, but tried to make certain improvements as well (there's threads about heating/cooling systems for battery and cabin, etc). The first time if drove the soul ev I was sold. I just had to check out 4 more cabs before I circled back to the first one and bought it.

Really, what was I going to do, by a used low mileage Corolla as a second car for $16K or get something fun and very environmentally friendly for 13K? If you commute in a metropolitan area, I no longer see any reason why not own one of these previous generation EVs with a top range of about 150km. If you get a Leaf there's also a lot of talk about aftermarket replacement batteries to increase the total range to about 360km for about $8k to $10k in the ?near? future. Same is possible of course for the Soul but with many fewer of those out there it would be more specialized.

 

[RickinSD]

A note on the key $69 fob I bought from ebay. I bought the car from KIA of Fontana and called them they said $60 to program the key because I bought the car there. I talked to another dealer KIA of Covina and they said $65 but when I went there they said they couldn't program an EV key. I called a couple of other dealers here in So-Cal and they wanted a lot more. I don't know if it's a KIA standard but they programmed the key and also washed and vacuumed the car.

I wasn't planning on buying an EV but this one had the sunroof and plus package and it was immaculate without a single blemish anywhere. I had never driven an EV before and was really impressed with the torque. Anyway made the deal and they delivered it to my house that afternoon 40 miles away. What a great car. It's been 2 months and 1,500 miles since I bought it and not a single issue. Drove it over a 100 freeway miles last week and still had 10 miles leftover. The car had 33,000 miles when I bought it.

 

[FueledUpRooster]

Hey everyone,

Just joined the forums, I purchased one of these EV's last weekends, very minor damage (replacing a bumper bracket, roof not caved in from taxi mounts).

Couple of strange things so far, When we picked it up after purchase the GOM read 122 km range left, after a long drive home from Toronto (1 stop to charge). charged it to 80% next day it read 96km.

2nd day charged to 80% read 76km (I drove 100km that day, brought the battery to 1%, I know thats low i wanted to try and recalibrate the reading).

Charged to 100% overnight to today, and it now read a full range of 96km at 100%?!?!

The SOC vs ACT vs PREC are way off, not sure what they mean, or what to do about the GOM being so unpredictable. SOH is at 94%

Now that it is at 100% again I am going to try to discharge it low to try and get a full charge to re-calibrate from 100. It is just odd that at 76km i got 100km, at 96 i will probably be able to get 120+.

The car drives great, only downside is it comes with the winter tires and taxi crap, but I have already started the removal process, and also all the silver on headlights bottom of bumper etc.... are all vinyl wrap, looks less tacky when you take it off to match the roof.

 

[rscamp]

The highest range I had seen om my 2018 former taxi until the other day was 177km. After bringing down enough to go into Turtle mode, I did a full charge and got 187km. This morning after topping it up for a trip it reported 191km range. It would be nice if this trend continues!

 

[beanman]

Hi FueledUpRooster

A couple of notes:
1) If it's the same tires as I saw on a few models in Toronto, those are not crappy winter tires, but upgraded all weather tires (Think snow tires you're allowed to use all year round). I'll leave it to others who know more about which tires are actually best for these EVs .. apparently there's a whole resistance line of tires that help with mileage)

2) I'm still learning my GOM (and maybe it's still learning me). My driving habits on the 2016 have been getting 160KM usable range per each of two full charges so far. However, when fully charged it shows 122km range, I drive 10km, it shows me 118km range. I get back in the car later in the day, it showed 113km ranage, I drive 10km, it showed 108km range, etc... Yesterday with the SOC at ~70%, I had driven 75km and the GOM showed another 75km range available.... so take what you want from that.

Congrats on your new EV!

I'm actually still debating removing the silver stickers (not vinyl on mine) on the front bumper and around the headlights as I've already changed the roof and side mirror blue to black. But it's peeled in a few places so I may not have much choice soon.

 

[FueledUpRooster]

Hi FueledUpRooster

A couple of notes:
1) If it's the same tires as I saw on a few models in Toronto, those are not crappy winter tires, but upgraded all weather tires (Think snow tires you're allowed to use all year round). I'll leave it to others who know more about which tires are actually best for these EVs .. apparently there's a whole resistance line of tires that help with mileage)

2) I'm still learning my GOM (and maybe it's still learning me). My driving habits on the 2016 have been getting 160KM usable range per each of two full charges so far. However, when fully charged it shows 122km range, I drive 10km, it shows me 118km range. I get back in the car later in the day, it showed 113km ranage, I drive 10km, it showed 108km range, etc... Yesterday with the SOC at ~70%, I had driven 75km and the GOM showed another 75km range available.... so take what you want from that.

Congrats on your new EV!

I'm actually still debating removing the silver stickers (not vinyl on mine) on the front bumper and around the headlights as I've already changed the roof and side mirror blue to black. But it's peeled in a few places so I may not have much choice soon.

Thanks!

The tires do not have any indication of being an all weather, there are snowflakes all-over it, I will have to look into it for sure.

My GOM is a bit whacky, I drove today from 100% charge and got 105km, which i did similiar driving to yesterday when it was at 80% and I got 100km. I definately do not think my battery is reading correctly, but the day I picked it up, which it read 120km @ 100%.

We just did a 100% discharge down to 5% to see if we can get it to "reset" or re-calibrate, if no success we will continue with the 20-80 charge which seems to give us the same range anyways.

The black roof looks pretty good on your car, What did you do to fill the holes? Bondo?

Anyways thanks again and thanks for the reply!

 

[beanman]

So the bars were removed and holes plugged and siliconed by a contractor of the dealer I bought at. They did so before it got to their lot for sale. The owner inferred that he paid about $400 and received a 2 year warranty. Hi did it on one or two Teo Leafs as well.

He noted that getting someone to remove the roof top in order to weld new pieces of metal to the top is risky as there are apparently air bag systems in the roof? I wasn't sure of what he was saying but the plug and silicone is a reasonable solution (once I added the vinyl wrap for $350)

I also had another idea to get a metal fabricator cut (and bend if needed) 2 black metal bars to replace the silver bars remaining on the car.

I think yet another idea for those cabs is to leave most of the silver metal bars (they are fine as they are) but get the middle posts that have been cut through removed and capped or a spacer put in if possible. There's certainly ways to work with it.

 

[ksoul2084]

Another update.

I received, cleaned, and installed the parts I had ordered from the wrecker.

This would be a new right mirror assembly (signal light wasn't working on my mirror and I had messed up the black wrap so the original blue paint was showing through). New one is factory black, looks great. Of course I kept the old one in case I ever decide to return the mirror covers to their original blue colour in the future.

Also installed a very fresh steering wheel that is like new. Makes a huge different in reducing my "ick" factor over the super worn and spray-painted original.

And the centre dash vents/hazard piece that had the holes drilled in it. Very nice to not be looking at those holes anymore.

I'm really enjoying driving this car on my daily commute. Very comfortable and "Zen" vs. with my ICE car.

Mine came with 2 newish looking Cachland H-W2002 winter tires on the front and 2 somewhat worn Firestone Winterforce2 winter tires on the back. They are somewhat noisy in my opinion but I am not planning on replacing in the short-term.

My range has been a concern. My daily commute is approx. 35km each way, +/- 5 km depending the route I choose due to traffic, etc. When fully charged my car reads 83-81km range. On Monday I drove home through a strong headwind (storm moving through the area) and only had 14km left when I arrived. Yesterday, I went for a short drive at lunch and has 44km range left when I set out for home. I was a little concerned to be honest. So for the first time I used ECO mode and limited my highway speed to 115km/hr. Due to traffic I wasn't able to maintain that speed for as long as usual either. So when I arrived home I still had 24km range left, when I should have had only 12 or so. So how you drive has a huge impact on range, obviously.

I'm thinking that my battery pack is either below the 70% SOH or just on the margins at this point. However when I first checked my SOH in SoulEVSpy read 94.3%, then the other day I checked again and it was down to 84.5. It would appear that if I drive conservatively I can get 100km range with mixed driving.

 

[notfred]

limited my highway speed to 115km/hr.

That's not limiting! :shock:
The Soul is a big square box, not very aerodynamic at all. Put the cruise on at 105km/h on the highway and you will do far better on the range.

 

[JejuSoul]

I also captured some numbers using SoulEVSpy. I'm pretty new to this so if someone can provide some insight into what these mean I'd appreciate it.

• 
  Est. range: 75.0km.
  Battery min cell deterioration pct: 0
  Battery max cell deterioration pct: 33.2
  Battery SOH: 93.4%
  Odometer: 140516 km

You posted these numbers for your car last week. From this and your latest report, I too would guess that your battery is fast approaching 70% SOH. The battery warranty ends at 160,000km in Canada. To hit that deadline you will have to hope you reach 70% SOH before then.

Fast driving in the Soul EV isn't just less efficient; it also degrades the battery fast. Unlike my assumption that for beanman his used Soul EV will suit his needs for a decade or more, I doubt yours is going to keep you happy for more than a few months. Unless you get the new battery, and then look after the car better than the previous taxi driver did.

- Replacement side-mirror (used from a wrecker), this will correct a broken signal light and worn out mirror adjuster.

The motor on one of my side mirrors has worn out also. How much did you pay for a replacement?, was it from a gasoline Soul?, how easy was it to replace?

------------------------------
Edit: I corrected the warranty from 150,000km to 160,000km