Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Kia Soul EV

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
...Second though was trying to find a salvage car and see if I can get the battery cover. That seems like a real longshot....

There is one salvage car that seems it might not need its battery cover.

There's a YouTube video here


In the video at 1 min 03secs they state - the Soul EV battery has the highest energy density of any EV battery pack.

There's also a write up on the DIY Electric Car Forum - Tesla Powered Cobra Race Car
We chose the Kia Soul EV as the battery pack donor largely based on DOE test reports which showed it as one of the few OEM packs capable of putting out over 300kW for sustained length of time. It is also one of the lightest packs available. The 30 kw-hr pack (27 usable) only weighs 400 pounds. We purchase what was probably the first Kia Soul EV that was written off, and hauled it across North America! It was fully functional vehicle which allowed us to do some reverse engineering of the CAN bus. We are able to utilize the factory charger for both regular and ChaDeMo charging and obtain cell temperature and voltage data from the BMS. We will be limited in the duration of our runs due to the pack size, but we didn't want to double up on the pack before we even had any real world test data.

 
It is interesting to see these lead times for the Kia parts. I have a coworker that literally signed a lease on a new Soul EV a little more than a week ago. Then two days ago it started making a loud 7k tone while he was driving so he took it back in. They diagnosed it and the part is back ordered for 3 to 6 months. They put him in a rental ICE for that time but I think it is kind of ridiculous that he has to be without his EV for months.
 
It is interesting to see these lead times for the Kia parts. I have a coworker that literally signed a lease on a new Soul EV a little more than a week ago. Then two days ago it started making a loud 7k tone while he was driving so he took it back in. They diagnosed it and the part is back ordered for 3 to 6 months. They put him in a rental ICE for that time but I think it is kind of ridiculous that he has to be without his EV for months.

There are two levels of escalation available when these kinds of delayed repair issues arise. I don't have my sheet handy where I keep track of the ongoing repair status, otherwise I would let you know what the names of the escalated levels are. In my case, there is the possibility of battery damage, so KIA corporate was very cooperative in getting the part here ASAP so we don't end up having to deal with a burning car in the dealers lot.

Having said that, yes, it is unfortunate that significant repairs can take many weeks. Probably attributable to the low volume (~150/month) of vehicles sold. Doesn't make sense for KIA to stock battery cover parts in the U.S. since its so unlikely that some random bonehead would run over a parking stop and impale the battery case on it :cool:

RT
 
Just FYI, my latest repair estimate is 3-1-17. I just spoke with the KIA corporate escalator to find out if the 3-1-17 date versus the 4-25-17 date is due to the part(s) coming by air versus ship. He is looking into that, and will get back to me in 2-3 business days to see whether the 3-1-17 date can also be moved up.

RT
 
Just FYI, my latest repair estimate is 3-1-17. I just spoke with the KIA corporate escalator to find out if the 3-1-17 date versus the 4-25-17 date is due to the part(s) coming by air versus ship. He is looking into that, and will get back to me in 2-3 business days to see whether the 3-1-17 date can also be moved up.
RT
RT: Good luck with the repair. Hoping you can post some pictures of the opened battery / damaged battery case.

Here's a photo from inside a non-damaged pack.

5xr2snpzu6l.jpg
 
RT: Good luck with the repair. Hoping you can post some pictures of the opened battery / damaged battery case.

Here's a photo from inside a non-damaged pack.

5xr2snpzu6l.jpg

Wow, is the bottom right of the battery as it sits in the car in the upper left bottom in your picture? So the battery in the picture is right side up with the front on the left?

I can see why the labor estimate is 7 hours now. And $2,500 for the lower battery case.

RT
 
Just got my car back this week after almost 2 months in the shop. It turns out that the battery itself was not damaged, thank God. Repair cost came out to just over $4,000. Yikes. Anyway, happy to now have the Hamster back...

Anyone done the Los Angeles to Solvang trip (Soul EV)? From Pasadena, I see 65 miles to Oxnard for a DCFC, 38 to Santa Barbara for another DCFC, then the last stretch to Solvang is only 34 miles, but the 154 goes up over the high pass. The EV trip planner says a Model 60 will consume 9.5kWh and 34 rated miles. I would think this would not be a problem, but never done a long trip requiring DCFC before, so a bit worried.

RT
 
Just got my car back this week after almost 2 months in the shop. It turns out that the battery itself was not damaged, thank God. Repair cost came out to just over $4,000. Yikes. Anyway, happy to now have the Hamster back...

Anyone done the Los Angeles to Solvang trip (Soul EV)? From Pasadena, I see 65 miles to Oxnard for a DCFC, 38 to Santa Barbara for another DCFC, then the last stretch to Solvang is only 34 miles, but the 154 goes up over the high pass. The EV trip planner says a Model 60 will consume 9.5kWh and 34 rated miles. I would think this would not be a problem, but never done a long trip requiring DCFC before, so a bit worried.

RT
It must feel great to have your own car back! Had you used that Turo Nissan Leaf the whole time? How did it go?
 
Anyone done the Los Angeles to Solvang trip (Soul EV)? From Pasadena, I see 65 miles to Oxnard for a DCFC, 38 to Santa Barbara for another DCFC, then the last stretch to Solvang is only 34 miles, but the 154 goes up over the high pass. The EV trip planner says a Model 60 will consume 9.5kWh and 34 rated miles. I would think this would not be a problem, but never done a long trip requiring DCFC before, so a bit worried.

RT
You should be able to do that in one stop. Stretch to the last charger on 101 before the Ventura-Santa Barbara fast charging gap, which is Pacific View Mall. Then you should have less than 65 miles to go. A 30 minute charging session should get you to or past 80% SOC depending on the Soul's charge taper. The Santa Barbara side of San Marcos Pass is steeper, so you will go slower up that side, then you can just coast and regen down the long gradual downslope on the Solvang side. The return will probably be less efficient because going down the Santa Barbara side likely requires significant friction braking.
 
RubberToe am glad your car is fixed. So who paid for this repair. Kia or your insurance.

I paid the $1,000 deductible, the insurance company paid $3,250, and Kia paid for about 40 days of rental car for me. The accident was my fault. Not a good idea to drive over a parking stop. If it was one of the ones made from recycled tires instead of concrete, it would have been a different story. :)

RT
 
I saw the thread on the Leaf group buy for $8,000. My Soul comes off lease in December with a $16,000 residual. I really like the car and would like to keep it, but with deals like the Leaf available it would be crazy to pay $16k for my car.

Any chance the leasing company or whomever is handling the return might make me an offer better than the $16k? Not sure how this works. If I do return the car, would I be able to but it back, or a similar, at an auction?

RT
 
So the dealer that repaired my battery cover is Car Pros Kia in Glendale. Today I received a letter from them where they state an interest in acquiring my vehicle due to "high demand". I go to the web page they directed me to, and fill in some vehicle information. And lo and behold they come back and tell me that they are looking to immediately acquire my vehicle for $13,500:

Kia%20Offer_zps0frxsev1.jpg


Kind of interesting in that the trend seen at the anaheimpreownedcars website is that used Leafs and Fiat 500e's are going for something like $<8,000. So anybody know why my similar (i.e. 90 AER) vehicle would be worth twice that?

Could be they are just trying to get me to come in and give them a bunch of money for leasing something else, but there is a Soul EV lease deal out now for $169 per month. Curious if any of you other owners are getting these yet. My lease will be up in December.

RT