Official Kia Soul EV thread

[EVDRIVER]

You want to surprise the competition. Now they have to catch up, and fast. It shows that this is not a compliance offering. We benefit.

Before you know it Soul EV will be in all 50 states. The only problem with the car is finding a fitting nickname (Sparky, Leafy). I'll take suggestions.

Don't think that Kia just started working on this vehicle recently or that they modeled it as a catch up to a LEAF. The Kia is still a conversion car on an old ICE platform and the LEAF is more of a hybrid. Neither are ground up designs. Even Mercedes had full EV models long before the LEAF was even released, not the one they are selling now either. Ironically, the only major auto maker with a production ground up EV design like Tesla is BWM at this point. Keep an eye on Kia's parent company as likely candidate for a more "production like" EV.

 

[TomT]

If only you truly knew....

Keep an eye on Kia's parent company as likely candidate for a more "production like" EV.

 

[BestPal]

Of course it's a personal preference, but I think it looks pretty slick in black and red. I'd take this look over my black leaf any day of the week!

 

[GRA]

Yes, the black and red looks the best of the available colors, but barring someone living in Alaska or one of the northern tier states, a black BEV (IMO any black car) is not a very good idea, not that that has stopped sales of black LEAFs around here. Kia does offer the regular Soul in a nice green metallic color, so we can hope.

 

[Jagular]

A neighbor has a 2013 Leaf SL. Had actually. He traded it in on the Soul EV Plus and says he could not be happier... They also given him a silly-high trade-in value in my opinion...

I found the exact opposite. I had one payment left on the Leaf and the dealership looked at the residual value of it and told me I'd be better off making the last payment and returning it to Nissan (and I chose to do so).

 

[Jagular]

Many of the features mentioned are on the 2015 Leaf, so it's not really a fair comparison to use the 2011
Leaf for comparison. Again, Kia has had over three years to reverse engineer the 2011 Leaf and 'play
catchup' providing a moderately improved Gen 1 BEV.

Absolutely. I agree. Given what's available right now, for the money, it was between the Soul EV and the '15 Leaf. It was close but really the difference was the better range; the other improvements helped, of course, but the ability to get a real world ~100 miles highway was enough to sway us.

 

[RubberToe]

The guys at Green Car Reports are saying that we won't be getting any monthly sales numbers for the Soul EV: "James Hope, Kia's national manager of product communications, refused to break out sales of the electric Soul--following the company's precedent of refusing to say how many hybrid Sonatas it sells."

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1095238_plug-in-electric-car-sales-in-oct-leaf-record" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[adric22]

The guys at Green Car Reports are saying that we won't be getting any monthly sales numbers for the Soul EV: "James Hope, Kia's national manager of product communications, refused to break out sales of the electric Soul--following the company's precedent of refusing to say how many hybrid Sonatas it sells."

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1095238_plug-in-electric-car-sales-in-oct-leaf-record" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh man, that sucks. I've been waiting around all day for Soul EV sales numbers.

 

[nosuchthing]

In Ca you can possibly get them from the ZEV rebate people in San Diego.

 

[ydnas7]

If only you truly knew....

Keep an eye on Kia's parent company as likely candidate for a more "production like" EV.

Kia is its own parent company.

Kia is older than hyundai motors, but lost most of its independence during the asian financial crisis of late 1990's.
Hyundai's ownership of Kia has steadily decreased from around ~50% down to ~30%. Kia has always had its own board.

Kia has historically shown a liking to Li ion (early korean LPG hybrids used Li ion batteries) whereas Hyundai seems more like Toyota....

Its an interesting relationship between Kia and Hyundai, they are like step brothers, deeply competitive, and with 50% differing DNA.

 

[nosuchthing]

Now that the DNA cousins got both slapped with $100 mil in jacked-up mpg fines, maybe Kia will be forced to roll out Soul EV faster than planned to reap carbon credits to offset the cost while earning extra few of them in the process. :lol:

 

[LeftieBiker]

Yes, the black and red looks the best of the available colors, but barring someone living in Alaska or one of the northern tier states, a black BEV (IMO any black car) is not a very good idea, not that that has stopped sales of black LEAFs around here. Kia does offer the regular Soul in a nice green metallic color, so we can hope.

Eh? Heat in really cold weather takes more energy than A/C in hot weather, even with the heat pump-equipped models, so the solar heating from a black car with a black interior (which was actually my preference, but they only had an S with that) saves energy when it is needed most. I think the B&B Leaf is the only one that looks at all Macho.

 

[RubberToe]

Titanium Gray just showed up this morning in both Northern and Southern California.

RT

 

[GRA]

Yes, the black and red looks the best of the available colors, but barring someone living in Alaska or one of the northern tier states, a black BEV (IMO any black car) is not a very good idea, not that that has stopped sales of black LEAFs around here. Kia does offer the regular Soul in a nice green metallic color, so we can hope.

Eh? Heat in really cold weather takes more energy than A/C in hot weather, even with the heat pump-equipped models, so the solar heating from a black car with a black interior (which was actually my preference, but they only had an S with that) saves energy when it is needed most. I think the B&B Leaf is the only one that looks at all Macho.

Which is why I said that a black car makes sense in cold states. You're assuming that energy efficiency is the sole reason why I think black cars are dumb in high temp climates. It's both energy efficiency (having to use the A/C more) and for BEVs battery degradation that make it a bad idea. As for what looks macho, while I agree that the blue and white isn't going to attract the muscle car or even the rice rocket crowd and white is blah, whether a car like the Soul (which advertises itself using hip-hop hamsters) needs to look 'macho' for its target demographic is a question its customers can decide. Some will undoubtedly go for the black/red for that reason, but judging by the colors and occupants of the gas Souls I see frequently, how 'macho' it looks isn't an issue - this is a car bought by millenial metrosexuals, not good old boys. OTOH, I agree that the white with light blue accents 'Barbie' edition was several steps too far :lol:

 

[nosuchthing]

Love the white and no one sees the blue steering wheel stitching.

White reflects the abundant Ca sunshine heat that we get here daily, year round. It's road visible, i.e. safe, and does not show dirt like the black does.

 

[Valdemar]

Yes, the black and red looks the best of the available colors, but barring someone living in Alaska or one of the northern tier states, a black BEV (IMO any black car) is not a very good idea, not that that has stopped sales of black LEAFs around here. Kia does offer the regular Soul in a nice green metallic color, so we can hope.

Eh? Heat in really cold weather takes more energy than A/C in hot weather, even with the heat pump-equipped models, so the solar heating from a black car with a black interior (which was actually my preference, but they only had an S with that) saves energy when it is needed most. I think the B&B Leaf is the only one that looks at all Macho.

Black also radiates more heat, so it is less efficient at night

 

[GRA]

Love the white and no one sees the blue steering wheel stitching.

White reflects the abundant Ca sunshine heat that we get here daily, year round. It's road visible, i.e. safe, and does not show dirt like the black does.

Of the available choices, I agree that white would be it for me; my last three cars have been silver metallic. It has the second highest albedo after white, and like white doesn't look dirty even when it is (which is most of the time, as my car typically gets washed once a year on my birthday for free at a local car wash, whether it needs it or not :lol: ). But white is a problem, as I'm a backcountry X-C skier who often has to park his car at trailheads and leave it for the weekend or longer. Any significant snowfall and white cars can disappear as far as snowplow drivers are concerned At least if even a small portion of the car is exposed, with silver there's some contrast that can make them say, "hey, that's a car and not a snowdrift - guess I'll steer around instead of plowing it". Maybe a small matter, but I've seen enough snowplow-damaged cars for it to weigh on my mind. OTOH, I'm doing less ski-camping now than I used to, so maybe I can move that to a lower priority. But I also do a lot of road driving with strong sun, and having to wear sunglasses all the time because of reflected sunlight can be a pain.

 

[nosuchthing]

I'd attach Raiders' flag in the driver's window and you'll see your white Soul in the snow drift no problem. :lol:

 

[GetOffYourGas]

If I ever got a Kia Soul, it would have to be white.

http://randomoverload.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/4b542c76t-on-wheels.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Berlino]

Careful with the Soul EV and CHAdeMO.

From what one can gather in Norway, some models of CHAdeMO stop working after being visited by a SOUL EV.

Only a dozen of so SOUL EVs have been shipped to Canada, but this problem has cropped up as well. The bad part is that, unlike Kia Norway, Kia Canada isn't notifying anyone. The good part is that technicians were able to repair a damaged station within hours in Canada. I think the only impacted model is in use in California is the ABB one. Ironically, didn't Kia dealerships go with ABB?


http://www.elbil.no/nyheter/ladestasjoner/3402-kia-soul-eiere-bor-ta-pause-fra-hurtiglading


Edit: Here's the Google translate link: http://translate.google.ca/translat...eiere-bor-ta-pause-fra-hurtiglading&sandbox=1