Official Kia Soul EV thread

[Deleted member 14724]

I'm excited to hear that at least someone has figured out how to run charging locations profitably. If they are a loss-leader, the networks will continue to stagnate. If they are profitable, enterprising people will make them grow.

That's the thing I see regarding charging stations. I think they will probably have to be operated by one or more manufacturers for the foreseeable future (for the most part) because they appear to simply not be profitable. It has taken a lot of government largesse to get what is out there now. I don't think the usage rate is high enough to make a profit from the charging station itself at this point. And I don't see the usage rate really growing without DC charging. L2 is too slow to be used outside of destination points. But considering the unreliability of DCFC outside of Tesla, EV owners can't confidently travel more than half a battery pack's range outside of those destination points. It may be that everyone but Tesla will just have to be satisfied with the city car market. Which might be large, considering the trend of people moving back into close proximity to downtown areas.

 

[evnow]

It may be that everyone but Tesla will just have to be satisfied with the city car market. Which might be large, considering the trend of people moving back into close proximity to downtown areas.

Well, 200 mile (EPA ) would be a good "local" car, even without QC and people moving close to downtown.

 

[pkulak]

I must respectfully disagree with you here. It certainly is possible to set up their networks as intelligently as Tesla.

You're 100% right:

http://evsolutions.avinc.com/services/subscriber_network" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[GRA]

Yes.

CHAdeMO stations are quickly popping up at all the Kia dealers that sell the Soul EV.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to describe them as "quickly popping up", but Kia has started to install chargers at their dealerships, and unlike every other EV company they're taking the high road and making them all dual CHAdeMO/CCS.

Did I use the wrong term? Adding charge stations at a rate that far exceeds any other manufacturer?

Nissan - years to get its first CHAdeMO stations installed after LEAF launch

Tesla - one full year after Model S launch for first Superchargers

Kia - within a few months, many (most) of the dealers that sell the Soul EV have already installed a CHAdeMO station.

At the moment, just two in the Bay area, Dublin and Stevens Creek, out of about 13. So, while they're certainly faster than Nissan and to a lesser extent Tesla (which had less need for SCs off the bat, although they can benefit more from them), I wouldn't say they've been particularly fast.

I'm not sure what to make of including a CCS station. It seems dumb to me, and nobody else is crossing over to other COMPETING charge protocols. Not BMW, not Nissan, not Tesla.

Honestly, why isn't Kia installing Tesla Supercharger stations? Or just HPC's ? What does Kia allegedly get with a CCS charge plug that doesn't even fit their car?

I imagine they realize that promoting BEVs of any brand will boost BEV adoption, as well as buy them some brownie points with the BEV public and get people into their showrooms from competing brands. Tesla is such a totally different market at this point, and has gone so much further than CHAdeMO or CCS, that there's really no need for them too.

 

[DaveEV]

I must respectfully disagree with you here. It certainly is possible to set up their networks as intelligently as Tesla.

You're 100% right:

http://evsolutions.avinc.com/services/subscriber_network" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AV's network has a few major short comings:

1. Only 1 QC / L2 per location.
2. Have to call for per-session use.
3. The per-session use fees suck. They should be either kWh based or time based.

 

[hingisfan]

I test drove Soul EV yesterday at Kia Meadowvale in Mississauga Ontario. I got them to leave the car outside overnight and take a picture of the dash. Temperature was -10C overnight, and -8C during test drive, very windy too.

At 8pm the battery was 99% and showing 154km.

When I got there at 1130am the next day, it still said 99%, but it said 104kms.

I drove 43km somewhat aggressively, but mostly cruising on the highway at 120km/h.

Range dropped from 104km to 54km (drop of 50km when I really drove 43km)

Then on the way back with a warm battery in ECO mode and going 95km/h I drove 38km but range only dropped from 54km to 24km. (30km when I drove 38km)

In total I drove 81km and the range dropped from 104km to 24km, so it was right overall.

I'm guessing if I would have started out in the cold battery/car and driven 105km/h I could have went about 100km without too much trouble. More if it would have been plugged in and preheated or parked inside, less if it was colder (gets down to -25C here)...so depending on these factors winter range could be anywhere from 80km to 120km.

Overall I liked the car better than the Leaf...sits taller, more bells and whistles, more headroom. Probably not as quick off the line in normal mode, and Luxury trim does not get any stereo upgrade, the Bose on the Leaf is far better. Has parking sensors, but the Leaf all around view is much better. But I would still take the Soul EV over the current Leaf.

Soul EV also has 5 year bumper to bumper warranty, and 8 years on battery and drivetrain.

 

[DarrenDonovan]

Does anybody know the total usable kWh that this car has?
Thanks,

 

[pkulak]

Does anybody know the total usable kWh that this car has?
Thanks,

27

 

[nosuchthing]

When NEW... :lol:

 

[GRA]

Maybe I missed the announcement of this, but when the soul Ev was introduced it was initially only available in white, or blue with a white top, with black w/red top following at the end of last year. At some point Kia has added gray, as I saw one a couple of days ago, and it's now shown as a color choice on the Soul EV web page. To me it's the nicest of the available color options on the EV.

 

[edatoakrun]

Why CHAdeMO on the Soul, and why dual standard chargers at dealers:


Why did Kia decide to use DC Fast Charging on the new Kia Soul EV?

Posted March 2, 2015 by Charles Morris & filed under Newswire, The Vehicles.

DC Fast Charging is increasingly seen as a “must have” feature for an EV. Japanese automakers are committed to the CHAdeMO standard, while their US and European colleagues are equally locked into the competing CCS standard. However, as a Korean company, Kia was free to choose whichever system it thought best for its new Soul EV.

“We looked at both standards – it was about three years ago when we needed to make that decision,” EV Product Manager Steve Kosowski told Charged. “At the time, there was some genuine interest in CCS. Then we looked at the volume of CHAdeMO chargers in the US, and we thought the prudent thing to do was to fit the car with the CHAdeMO port, and it seems to be the right decision.”...

Kia decided to install a dual-standard DC Fast Charger at each of its dealership locations, and it chose the ABB Terra 53 CJ. “We wanted to make a long-term investment, so if you’ve got a $30,000 charger and you’ve got the choice to offer both ports, it’s prudent to do so,” said Kosowski. “The dealer can charge a Soul EV, a LEAF or an i-MiEV. But, if somebody wheels up in an i3, a Chevy Spark or an e-Golf, you’ve got the option to charge them…and it’s an opportunity for the dealer to give them a Soul EV to test-drive.”


http://chargedevs.com/newswire/why-did-kia-decide-to-use-chademo-dc-fast-charging-on-the-new-kia-soul-ev/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DesertSprings]

I'm curious how friendly the dealer's will be with non-Soul drivers pulling in to charge? As mentioned in this press release it is a good opportunity to expose a future customer to your products. However if Plugshare is any indication, a lot of dealerships have been down right hostile to different brands using their chargers, even denying short emergency charges to people out of juice.

Also I'm curious if the Kia dealerships are being a lot smarter about placement of the chargers as well. Seems most dealers have the chargers located either at the showroom, or in one case, in the island between the two lanes used by the service center. I can see how a dealer might not want another brand of car parked directly in front of the show room to use the charger, reminding potential customers being walked back into the showroom of a potential competitors product. Whereas a charger on the edge of the property wouldn't have that same level of "visual pollution", as could more easily be installed in such a way as to be accessible 24/7.

 

[EVDRIVER]

I'm curious how friendly the dealer's will be with non-Soul drivers pulling in to charge? As mentioned in this press release it is a good opportunity to expose a future customer to your products. However if Plugshare is any indication, a lot of dealerships have been down right hostile to different brands using their chargers, even denying short emergency charges to people out of juice.

Also I'm curious if the Kia dealerships are being a lot smarter about placement of the chargers as well. Seems most dealers have the chargers located either at the showroom, or in one case, in the island between the two lanes used by the service center. I can see how a dealer might not want another brand of car parked directly in front of the show room to use the charger, reminding potential customers being walked back into the showroom of a potential competitors product. Whereas a charger on the edge of the property wouldn't have that same level of "visual pollution", as could more easily be installed in such a way as to be accessible 24/7.

I don't think 1 Kia driver showing up each week will be an issue. :lol:

 

[GRA]

Via GCR:

Kia Soul EV A Big Hit In CA; Sales To Expand Sooner Than Planned

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1097078_kia-soul-ev-a-big-hit-in-ca-sales-to-expand-sooner-than-planned" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Kia Soul EV is currently sold at 17 dealers in California, and Kia had previously discussed expanding sales to New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Maryland.

However, that may not necessarily be the plan going forward.

The carmaker is "changing things around a bit," with regard to Soul EV expansion plans, Kia American vice president of product planning Orth Hedrick said in a recent interview with Autoblog Green.

He said customer interest in the Soul EV was significantly greater than Kia had originally anticipated, saying officials were "kind of shocked" by how well it was received.

OTOH, ievs.com says only 48 were sold in February, so there's some disconnect somewhere.

 

[eMaS]

We don't even have a local Kia EV dealer in the Greater Sacramento area - also when considered that this is the capital of California, the city with CALEPA and Air Resource Board. Unbelievable.
I have a local (Davis) Kia dealer who wants to sell electric cars and Davis would be a great location for the greater Sacramento area.

And then they want to expand to other states?

 

[GRA]

Via ievs.com:

Kia Expands Soul EV Availability To Additional U.S. States

http://insideevs.com/kia-expands-soul-ev-availability-additional-u-s-states/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Summary: Georgia in Q2, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Hawaii in June. “additional markets are set to come online in 2016.”

 

[evnow]

Via ievs.com:

Kia Expands Soul EV Availability To Additional U.S. States

http://insideevs.com/kia-expands-soul-ev-availability-additional-u-s-states/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Summary: Georgia in Q2, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Hawaii in June. “additional markets are set to come online in 2016.”

Cool. Finally I have an option other than Leaf when the lease is up in May.

I had been thinking of getting a 1 year lease extension - but that would leave me in no-man's land in 2017 with new models hitting the road. A 2 year lease now would be ideal for me to hop into a gen 2 model in 2017.

Will Kia Soul EV be cost competitive with Leaf ?

 

[dhanson865]

Via ievs.com:

Kia Expands Soul EV Availability To Additional U.S. States

http://insideevs.com/kia-expands-soul-ev-availability-additional-u-s-states/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Summary: Georgia in Q2, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Hawaii in June. “additional markets are set to come online in 2016.”

I'll cross post some of my reply from the equivalent thread on the Tesla forum

it so hard for the editor, the journalist or heaven forbid the PR person to list all the states in the release / article?

roughly in order of being allowed to sell the Kia Soul EV (number in parens is rank for EV sales in 2014)

California (2nd)
Oregon* (5th)
New York
New Jersey
Maryland
Georgia (1st)
Hawaii (4th)
Oregon* (5th)
Washington (3rd)
Texas

and why is Oregon listed in the old releases and listed as a new state now? Did they not get them selling in Oregon the first time around?

Lastly, “additional markets are set to come online in 2016,” according to Kia.

States in the top 10 for BEV sales in 2014 not covered in the 2015 states to sell the Kia Soul EV still include

Utah (6th)
Colorado (7th)
Arizona (8th)
Tennessee (9th)
Connecticut (10th)

though I have to admit I understand why they might want to avoid Arizona after the Leaf battery degradation issue. Still if they take on Arizona and don't have issues it makes a stronger statement.


From the scorecard we have Soul EV US sales of

??? Mar 2015
48 Feb 2015
69 Jan 2015
110 Dec 2014
130 Nov 2014
109 Oct 2014

It looks like a slow down not a ramp up from those numbers. Will Mar 2015 have a spike? We'll know by this time next week.

Keep in mind the goal per Kia is to sell 5000 per year worldwide with the US having the largest share of that (see http://insideevs.com/kia-targets-5000-sales-annually-soul-ev-u-s-expected-1-market-electric-soul/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false. If 50 percent are sold in the US making it 2500 a year we need to be seeing just over 200 a month sold. Not a high sales target for a car that on paper looks to be better than the Nissan Leaf which sells thousands a month.

 

[GRA]

The only one I'm somewhat at a loss to understand is Texas, but it will certainly give them a hot weather trial.

 

[evnow]

If they are losing money on each Soul EV, that would be a big reason for not selling too many. They'd probably have a certain number they can lose in total per year.