You made a comment about loosing range if you have to drive over a mountain. I commute over HW17 out of Santa Cruz to get to San Jose and I find that there is no penalty for the mountain - I use an extra 7% on the 7 mile climb (about 1.9kwh) to climb the 1800 feet - I fully get it all back in regen coming down the back side. Also using the high regen "B" gear position driving in hills and curves is a dream. It leads to one pedal driving which is delightful versus the gear shifting and braking in a normal car. Another discovery (I have 14k miles on my Soul EV) is that driving in traffic is highly beneficial to the range. In my gas cars I would look for big open areas away from other vehicles. Now I drop in line with a few other vehicles and get an extra 10 or more miles per charge.
I test drove this vehicle and I was impressed. I'm 6'4'' and my days of getting into low vehicles are over. I want something I can easily slide in and out of. The Model S is fantastic, but I'd probably go for the Model X for that reason. ...but unless I win the lottery, this vehicle is at the top of my list.
Love the episode and I am glad you were able to take it out for a proper spin since the center of London is not a great place to test. The interior road noise on the video at the later part of the video is very high. Road noise is the biggest thing to combat in electric cars for long drives on highways which can be addressed with noise cancellation tech. I hope that becomes standard, otherwise it looks like another great alternative to petrol and the price is affordable.
I drove a petrol (gasoline) Kia Soul for the first time as a rental car in a foreign state (Missouri) for about 700 miles. And loved it. No babying it and I still got 29 miles per gallon overall driving from on side of the state to the other and back. Loved it! Adequate power, coomfortable ride, handling was car like (but not sports car like) and roominess in front/rear seat/trunk (boot) were generous for four people. Findings consistent with your review, except mine was gas.
Hello Robert, very glad to have Fully Charged back after a short hiatus. Let me just say you've single-handedly changed the way I see electric cars, and I would now prefer one over my current LPG-burning device, but that's a topic for some other time. Anyone can tell from the video you must be tired of people remarking how (most) electric cars are ugly, but wouldn't you concede that looks count? It's akin to having ugly buildings: they may be very functional and cheaper to build, but then everyone has to put up with the misery of having to look at them. I'd add electric car adoption might be marginally higher if EVs didn't go out of their way to look so outlandish and weird. Look at the Tesla Model S, it looks so good you'd want it even if it was an ICE-driven car. That's my humble opinion. Please keep Fully Charged coming and congratulations and thanks for spreading the knowledge that there's a simply better way of us humans moving about across the surface of the planet.
Interested in those batteries. Wikipedia says the KIA Soul EV uses Lipo batteries, ie: Lithium Polymer, a dry cell type of lithium-ion battery commonly used in mobile phones and hobby RC cars. They are more energy dense, more powerful (can be discharged very quickly, and are also well suited to quick-charging), more expensive, and apparently safer than the ordinary wet cell type lith-ion batteries. I don't think i recall any EV using Lipos before, iirc EVs normally use ordinary Lithium-Ion wet cells, the kind used in laptops. Is this what gives the KIA Soul EV it's title of the most energy dense batteries, because it's the only EV that uses Lipos? (note: i suspect that what i said about wet and dry cells is not entirely accurate, they are likely all wet cells. I hear conflicting info, so if anyone wants to give their 2cents or just relay what they've heard, i'm all ears.)
Most people do forget the detremental affect of winter temperatures on battery capacity/range. That's not taking comfort interior heating the cabin into consideration. Testing in a winter traffic 2-3hr hold up would be interesting.
Well, I cannot afford a new EV, but used ones in great condition, low miles and one owner can be found for a fraction of the new cost. I've looked at several and have finally decided on the Kia Soul EV, probably the 2016 or 2017 model, plus version. They can easily be found for less than $14000, and base ones can be found for less than $12000. Other EVs include: - The BMW i3. Excellent car with some great features. Stay away from the Range Extender version. Can be found for between $15000 and $21000 depending on year a trim level (and miles, etc) - The Fiat 500e. This car would be perfect for me (excellent used ones can be found for less than $10,000) if it included any sort of fast charging - The VW eGolf. Also an excellent car, but not all service centers can work on it. Almost decided on this one. Can be found for between $12000 and $15000 - The Ford Focus electric. Quite small range and some other small issues, but drives like a dream according to reviewers. Under $13000 easily Have a look online and see what you can find! And also watch as many real-world reviews as you can for the one you're interested in. fullycharged and "Alex on Autos" are highly recommended.
@@christinechin1909 I've had my 2016 Kia Soul EV+ for almost 2 years now and love it. Best car I have ever owned. Every person who has ridden in it has said that their next car will be an EV, especially after I dispel their fears by answering their questions about EV ownership (LOTS of misinformation and _DIS_ -information!)
Love your shows. Fun and informative! Noted in this episode: you Thanked the parking Ticket Machine! We don't do that in the US, you Brits are much more polite! See you next episode!
Just lease a 2016 Soul ev+ with leather for $199/month with no money down, taxes rolled in, 3 yrs, 12,000 a yr. what a car. Beats the Ford Focus electric I drove for 3 yrs hands down in almost every way except shear acceleration
Got to like the new and brief logo, really conveys all the information (or symbolism perhaps) that it needs to. :) As for the Soul EV? I remember seeing the petrol version last year whilst on a bus, and thinking "I must see if there's an EV version of that!" and, of course, I found out there was going to be and not-so-quietly waiting for updates. As for the design? I personally like it, it's simple and yet not with it's lighting and subtle touches all around the body work. To me, it's how Volvo should have went when it comes to design. In other news, I saw TFLCar's recording of the speech that Kia gave about the Soul EV over in the US, read the occasional article on various sites, but this is by far the best analysis I've seen on the Soul EV - and, I have to say in full bias mode, this was the video I've been waiting for. Nicely done Mr Llewellyn. :) Now having checking my savings tin, I think I may be stuck with the bus and bicycle for a little bit longer...but not to worry. :)
electric cars are going to really change the way car modders and stuff work.. everyone is going to have a sleeper.. to the point where sleeper means nothing.. like right now, its kinda impossible to take some random 4cylinder and slap a v8 in it, and not alot of people would try to turbo charge one, but you could totally take a kia soul and make it some crazy drifting burnout machine.. and u wouldn't hear a thing or even know it was powerful until someone decided to take off, someone going and doing donuts in the snow, u wouldn't hear anything more than some kid slipping on ice lol
A range of 160km might be nice and workable in the UK, but here in North America, that is paltry. Most of our cities are 80-100km apart. Just try getting from London, ON to Toronto in a Soul EV. The two cities are 190km apart, and who wants to charge their car for a half hour to travel the remaining 30km? Then you'd have to charge in Toronto, then charge on your way home.
Hi Robert, When you selected regenerative braking you said that you only needed to apply the brakes for the last few metres. Given there's cars behind you when regenerative braking starts do the brake lights come on behind you ? The reason I ask is that if you were driving the vehicle behind - if the vehicle in front of you simply slows down and there's no brake light indication this could potentially cause an accident ! Your comment/feedback appreciated
To clarify something about the energy density claims by Kia, I'm fairly certain that claim is meant to be at the pack level and not the cell level. Tesla still has the advantage at the cell level, but all of the supporting hardware in their pack brings the density down at the pack level by quite a bit.
I'm not sure about the claim of most energy dense EV battery. From Kia: "The battery pack, with class-leading battery cell energy density of 200 Wh/kg," The Tesla/Panasonic NCA cell chemistry is around 250 Wh/kg at the cell level. It is possible that Kia loses less density than Tesla due to packaging at the pack level.
Robert, I think the Soul EV has heated front seats, right? Does it have a heated steering wheel? I think I read the rear seat is not heated. Your review confirms it has a heat pump, which is great. The only other thing it lacks is a direct heating defroster on the windshield; like the e-Golf.
Hey guys.. great informative video. I was wondering.. I live in Michigan.. where it can get to -10* C. How do electric cars .. the batteries specifically.. do under such cold weather conditions?
What I hate about evs as a pedestrian is that you can't hear them coming I had a close call with a scooter the other day at an alley where I stopped on the side to tie my shoe and upon standing up and stepping a foot towards the middle to gain balance that scooter just wheezed by at full speed If I had stood up a fraction of a second earlier I would be dead There needs to be some kind of noise that others hear and be alarmed
Better range than the Renault Zoe which I have and look a bit bigger. Would have liked to have seen the luggage space and how the seats lay flat. I just checked and they are available here in Switzerland. List price is 10,000 Swiss francs more than the Zoe. 7 year warranty is good. I like it an may go and do a test drive.
I've been looking at it too but have you also heard about the alternative Zoe motor and larger battery pack to be announced at the Paris motorshow? It might be worth waiting out a little bit.
I miss information as well about how fast the charger is. My Zoe can charge up in about 1 hour at a 22 kW chargepoint, or 2 hours at an 11 kW one. That's about 3 to 4 times faster than other EV's, which for me makes a huge difference. And I also wonder if the 28 kW is nett or gross, as the claimed Leaf batttery capacity (24) is gross, while the Zoe capacity (22 kW) is nett (the Zoe's battery is actually bigger).
Alexis Boom Yes, I did read about the newer motor. Did not hear about a new pack (although I can assume it might be fitted to the old Zoe as well then). I did understand it will charge a bit better at lower amps, but it won't charge faster than 22 kW? WTF! No more rapid charging? Or perhaps a switch to CSS? Very confusing.
Emile Nossin so the new motor gives +10% efficiency but loses CCS, the new battery pack is supposed to be close to 36kW. These are both to be announced at the Paris Motorshow this December so these are hypothetical figures from Renault.
Looses CCS? You mean CCS? The Zoe doesn't have CCS, it has AC fast charging. But it would loose that. So the rumour goes that perhaps Renault will also adapt CCS as the new norm. Or are you saying it doesn't get CCS in the new version? 36 kW would be nice, but how much would it cost? And can you put one under the current Zoe?
Hi Robert, I'm enjoying your show. Thanks for bringing a new technology to the fore in an entertaining and very human way. My question is actually about the new batteries in the BMW i3. Would you test a real world long distance test for the 2016 model? I'm seriously considering taking the plunge in January. If the car could show a real world range of 150 miles on motorway journeys, I think it would be a total no brainier for us. Many thanks Ben
Really nice review, however, the car is way too expensive for me. How many people can really afford having an expensive electric vehicle as a daily driver and then another car that they can do their long journeys in? My hometown is 300+ km away and even if I could make the whole journey on a single charge, I would still have to be charging throughout the weekend at my parents house. Fast chargers are non-existent in the countryside...
Looks like a 4x4 sort of shaped car like they did before electric cars were done? Seems a good car from the information or good reviewer Robert has shown us! Shape wise well, it is true it run more better if Kia had spent time redesigning the shape of the car to a sleek shape? But it still good for a electric car as we been shown? And the price sounds better to pay for than a tesla? If tesla could produce a electric car like the model 3 or x ( maybe called a model 4? ) which was like a good hatchback in size and shape and was only about £15.000p to buy then the buyers of the petrol or diesel hatchbacks would dump them for the electric model.
I suppose I can look it up, but I was curious about things like luggage space and how roomy the back seats are? My wife likes the Soul (assumedly the same way some people like pugs), so this is an interesting option. Nice opening graphics/logo.
+John Matthias Rear space is v. similar to the ICE soul, so check out the reviews for that. There's loads of them round here (including a few electrics) and looks like a really practical car. Shame that Kia are pushing a god awful "baby blue" colour for the EV - seems to be an obsession of car makers to make their electric range appeal to male infants.
David Waterman Sadly that is a common thing for Kia cars. My 2010 has it and the brand new Kia Niro as a hybrid is also noisy. So Kia is moving up on quality products, but they should really focus more on road noise, because you get tired of it after trying a car without, like a Golf.
My Kia Picanto GT Line has ace sound proofing in the cabin. When cracking along at 70, it sounds no different to being at 30mph. Incredibly quiet. 10/10
:) Nice test ride, thank you. Anyone know in general how the break lights are programed to operate in re gen and heavy re gen modes in EV (not jus the Kia)? Obviously weather you are using friction breaks or heavy re generations to decelerate any vehicle, proper break light operation is extremely important. :)
i'm finally able to buy an electric car now the price has come down to my price range :) this type seems very nice , thankyou for a great review. is it a flat load bay with back seats down, could you sleep in it?
fullychargedshow Robert, you mention the car can be charged to 80% in 25-30 minutes, but that would seem to be rather hard to do since the battery has more capacity than the Nissan Leaf. Is the time you mention the time from the press release, which mentions the possibility of a 100 kW charge, or is the power curve different in the way that charging tapers off less than with the Nissan Leaf with a standard 50kW charge.
The battery is larger than the LEAF's battery, so the rapid charger can provide higher power levels for longer. This will generally result in faster charging times.
It would be nice but remember 2 things. Nissan lies a lot on the speedometer so if you do 70 in fact you don't it's 62. Another fact, the temp.here was 8 degrees. Leaf 30kwh is not capable of doing 4.1 at 70 in 8 degrees with heating on. It would be around 3.5 on the cruise control. Kia is boxy but somehow it has more efficient drive train. Low speed Leaf has no chance. High speed it's similar. Winter Leaf again has no chance. Below 0 it struggles to regenerate fully and charge quick as well as losing a lot of normal range. Kia is affected but only 1/3 of what Leaf gets at the same temperatures (Leaf looses 10 miles of range Kia will 3-4). Anyway, after 2 years and 25000 miles and many rapid charges Leaf 30kwh is nowhere near Kia Soul 27kwh (which in fact is 30kwh total capacity). If you want to try compare your leaf we can set a drive along and you will see quickly which car is enginered/designed better
Nice review but 3.4x27=91.8, not 98. :) I wonder how much of these 27 kWh are actually available. The Leaf battery capacity is 24 kWh but only 20 to 21 are available (before any degradation).
Induction charging is not really a thing. First: no need to charge in city (really hard to deplete battery) Second: efficiency is far from good Third: automatic contactors are cheaper and as efficient as plug.
Arnis Tarassu only that apparently Korean industry doesn't think what you've suggested applies or is correct. Are you at desperate to be completely right?
Alexis Boom 1) if you make battery small enough you can always deplete it too early 2) efficiency is not good (up to 85% as they mentioned) 3) it is cheaper to make a two poles and hang a wire between them than make a system in the asphalt that must be rebuilt when paving the road again in 5-10 years. Korean industry just makes cool things but they are not talking about price. They said it is cheaper than expensive normal chargers that need 10 hours to charge but that is just a pure lie. Level2 chargers at home cost less than 500$. Level 3 chargers cost 10-50 000$ but that system costs even more (not per meter but for total cost).
Arnis Tarassu all I stated is that in addition to normal charging posts that Seoul decided I'd be more efficient to charge their buses a little at a time over the period of the day without having to stop or divert the vehicle. As for normal charging, the British isles are dotted with 22kW and 43kW Type2 chargers, I stop for about 10-20% minutes at them to go to the loo or grab a coffee before carrying on. I've done 400 miles in one day with the Zoe using this technique and come out the other end fresh as a daisy. And you don't have to charge to 100%, as long as that middle 70% gets you between charge stations then you only need to stay at most for 20 minutes if that charge station can't draw enough current from the grid for the full 43kW.
this has nothing to do with your car review I think but.....I have a 2014 nissan versa and found out that it loves to go either 40mph or 60mph so if I can maintain that speed I can exceed the cars printed mpg of 40mph and go a little over 46mph. I first found this out when playing with the buttons in the dash since it has a LCD screen in the dash, there is something called instantaneous mpg I clicked that and was able to see what my mpg was at various speeds so I tried it out and rest the average mpg counter and low and behold going those speeds increased my mpg to what it was on the instantaneous mpg meter, im only averaging 39mph right now when the air conditioner is on though. If electric cars work the same then I can possibly exceed there printed mileage as well so I will not have range anxiety since I work in a different city then I live its a 40 mile cu-mute.
If you have a 40 mile one way trip to work you should have an EV. Best to get one with 80 mile range. If you can have even a low rate charge at work you will save a lot.
+capacityplus too late, got a Nissan sentra now and aspire to get a Tesla model 3 since its not much more expensive then my sentra ( as long as it really will be 35k when the Tesla model 3 comes out ) with its range I could go 3 to 4 days of work without charging it.
There seems to be a lot of interior cabin noise. Also, you did not mention seat comfort. Are the seats heated? What is the car's audio system's quality ( cheap or damn good sound?)? Is this car as good as the BMW i3 going from zero to 60?
Dave Zykerman The kia is £25k after UK government grants, i3 is £30k+ before them. Even more with the range extender engine. All this whilst Renault Zoe is something like £9-10k after grants + £70 a month for the battery.
Esa Edvik Got to say that the Zoe is looking pretty good value (although I still harbour concerns about the battery lease). Currently it would be @£2600 for 36,000 mile 3 year battery lease - so I would guess that you could throw the whole thing away after 3 years and still have lost less than the deprecation on a Soul/i3/Mercedes B electric in the same time.
FFVoyager The laws on battery lease are still being debated in many countries, due to taxation reasons etc. I kinda like it, because it comes with a certain sense of security if it fails or if new battery tech comes available.
At 13:30, you talk about it being tiresome to drive a diesel. What about driving a petrol manual car - definitely more tiresome than a diesel. The torque of a diesel at idle lets you just let out the clutch to creep forward in traffic.
You made a comment about loosing range if you have to drive over a mountain. I commute over HW17 out of Santa Cruz to get to San Jose and I find that there is no penalty for the mountain - I use an extra 7% on the 7 mile climb (about 1.9kwh) to climb the 1800 feet - I fully get it all back in regen coming down the back side. Also using the high regen "B" gear position driving in hills and curves is a dream. It leads to one pedal driving which is delightful versus the gear shifting and braking in a normal car.
Another discovery (I have 14k miles on my Soul EV) is that driving in traffic is highly beneficial to the range. In my gas cars I would look for big open areas away from other vehicles. Now I drop in line with a few other vehicles and get an extra 10 or more miles per charge.
***** yup no need for hill start assist. .
*losing
I test drove this vehicle and I was impressed. I'm 6'4'' and my days of getting into low vehicles are over. I want something I can easily slide in and out of. The Model S is fantastic, but I'd probably go for the Model X for that reason. ...but unless I win the lottery, this vehicle is at the top of my list.
I like your new opening animation, simple, clean and quite professional!
Lovely wiper action!
(good review, as always)
Nice to see fully charged really well produced.
Excellent video, I miss the spark from these older videos that's absent in the newer stuff sometimes.
And sometimes the expert car reviewers are a bit too expert…
I love the Kia Soul! And now it's electric! Everything I've always wanted!!
Always enjoy you shows! Thanks for another real world review!!
Came back to remind myself of one of the various graphical intros over the years. Fun!
Test drove this at the Evolution Car Show in Edinburgh and the drive was amazing! Loved the car.
Love the episode and I am glad you were able to take it out for a proper spin since the center of London is not a great place to test. The interior road noise on the video at the later part of the video is very high. Road noise is the biggest thing to combat in electric cars for long drives on highways which can be addressed with noise cancellation tech. I hope that becomes standard, otherwise it looks like another great alternative to petrol and the price is affordable.
I drove a petrol (gasoline) Kia Soul for the first time as a rental car in a foreign state (Missouri) for about 700 miles. And loved it. No babying it and I still got 29 miles per gallon overall driving from on side of the state to the other and back. Loved it! Adequate power, coomfortable ride, handling was car like (but not sports car like) and roominess in front/rear seat/trunk (boot) were generous for four people. Findings consistent with your review, except mine was gas.
Love it or hate it this is the future of cars... and I love it!
Hello Robert, very glad to have Fully Charged back after a short hiatus. Let me just say you've single-handedly changed the way I see electric cars, and I would now prefer one over my current LPG-burning device, but that's a topic for some other time.
Anyone can tell from the video you must be tired of people remarking how (most) electric cars are ugly, but wouldn't you concede that looks count? It's akin to having ugly buildings: they may be very functional and cheaper to build, but then everyone has to put up with the misery of having to look at them. I'd add electric car adoption might be marginally higher if EVs didn't go out of their way to look so outlandish and weird. Look at the Tesla Model S, it looks so good you'd want it even if it was an ICE-driven car.
That's my humble opinion. Please keep Fully Charged coming and congratulations and thanks for spreading the knowledge that there's a simply better way of us humans moving about across the surface of the planet.
Couldn't agree more. Delightful
Really Love your Videos. Keep up the good work!
An excellent review. I have a GS450h and my mph is between 36-43 in normal driving conditions, not bad for I big "beast"
Maybe you should start to talk about leg room in the back and backup cameras and such!
Interested in those batteries. Wikipedia says the KIA Soul EV uses Lipo batteries, ie: Lithium Polymer, a dry cell type of lithium-ion battery commonly used in mobile phones and hobby RC cars. They are more energy dense, more powerful (can be discharged very quickly, and are also well suited to quick-charging), more expensive, and apparently safer than the ordinary wet cell type lith-ion batteries.
I don't think i recall any EV using Lipos before, iirc EVs normally use ordinary Lithium-Ion wet cells, the kind used in laptops. Is this what gives the KIA Soul EV it's title of the most energy dense batteries, because it's the only EV that uses Lipos?
(note: i suspect that what i said about wet and dry cells is not entirely accurate, they are likely all wet cells. I hear conflicting info, so if anyone wants to give their 2cents or just relay what they've heard, i'm all ears.)
I saw I was the first time a Korean-made of EV cars.
Is pretty looks good is perfection.
It will be a threat for the automotive industry in Japan.
Dang right I will be back! I love this show! It just keeps growing and getting better.
Most people do forget the detremental affect of winter temperatures on battery capacity/range. That's not taking comfort interior heating the cabin into consideration. Testing in a winter traffic 2-3hr hold up would be interesting.
Well, I cannot afford a new EV, but used ones in great condition, low miles and one owner can be found for a fraction of the new cost. I've looked at several and have finally decided on the Kia Soul EV, probably the 2016 or 2017 model, plus version. They can easily be found for less than $14000, and base ones can be found for less than $12000. Other EVs include:
- The BMW i3. Excellent car with some great features. Stay away from the Range Extender version. Can be found for between $15000 and $21000 depending on year a trim level (and miles, etc)
- The Fiat 500e. This car would be perfect for me (excellent used ones can be found for less than $10,000) if it included any sort of fast charging
- The VW eGolf. Also an excellent car, but not all service centers can work on it. Almost decided on this one. Can be found for between $12000 and $15000
- The Ford Focus electric. Quite small range and some other small issues, but drives like a dream according to reviewers. Under $13000 easily
Have a look online and see what you can find! And also watch as many real-world reviews as you can for the one you're interested in. fullycharged and "Alex on Autos" are highly recommended.
Yes, I just got a 2016 low mileage (kilometerage!) Kia Soul EV, for €14,000 & I love it.
@@christinechin1909 I've had my 2016 Kia Soul EV+ for almost 2 years now and love it. Best car I have ever owned. Every person who has ridden in it has said that their next car will be an EV, especially after I dispel their fears by answering their questions about EV ownership (LOTS of misinformation and _DIS_ -information!)
@@JustWasted3HoursHere 👍👍
So to make the battery lifespan long enough how much of that 100 miles can you do regularly before you should charge to keep it healthy?
I like the new into Robert. Short and sweet but looks great.
Love your shows. Fun and informative! Noted in this episode: you Thanked the parking Ticket Machine! We don't do that in the US, you Brits are much more polite! See you next episode!
Just lease a 2016 Soul ev+ with leather for $199/month with no money down, taxes rolled in, 3 yrs, 12,000 a yr. what a car. Beats the Ford Focus electric I drove for 3 yrs hands down in almost every way except shear acceleration
Good, composite review showing multiple driving conditions. I thought it was quite noisy on the motorway.
Got to like the new and brief logo, really conveys all the information (or symbolism perhaps) that it needs to. :)
As for the Soul EV? I remember seeing the petrol version last year whilst on a bus, and thinking "I must see if there's an EV version of that!" and, of course, I found out there was going to be and not-so-quietly waiting for updates. As for the design? I personally like it, it's simple and yet not with it's lighting and subtle touches all around the body work. To me, it's how Volvo should have went when it comes to design.
In other news, I saw TFLCar's recording of the speech that Kia gave about the Soul EV over in the US, read the occasional article on various sites, but this is by far the best analysis I've seen on the Soul EV - and, I have to say in full bias mode, this was the video I've been waiting for. Nicely done Mr Llewellyn. :)
Now having checking my savings tin, I think I may be stuck with the bus and bicycle for a little bit longer...but not to worry. :)
Hey! Great new intro! Short and to the point as it should be!
The drag coefficient of the Kia Soul EV is about .38 (as compared to say, a Prius at .25). While high, it's not egregiously so.
seeing traffic like that I now see why city air is so polluted
Nice Partridge reference at 2:45 :)
Are you the guy who played Kryton on Red Dwarf?
Robert, please elaborate more about the quietness inside the car!
Imagine Kia's new slogan for the Soul EV: "Truly Unremarkable!"
electric cars are going to really change the way car modders and stuff work.. everyone is going to have a sleeper.. to the point where sleeper means nothing.. like right now, its kinda impossible to take some random 4cylinder and slap a v8 in it, and not alot of people would try to turbo charge one, but you could totally take a kia soul and make it some crazy drifting burnout machine.. and u wouldn't hear a thing or even know it was powerful until someone decided to take off, someone going and doing donuts in the snow, u wouldn't hear anything more than some kid slipping on ice lol
thank you Robert!
A range of 160km might be nice and workable in the UK, but here in North America, that is paltry. Most of our cities are 80-100km apart. Just try getting from London, ON to Toronto in a Soul EV. The two cities are 190km apart, and who wants to charge their car for a half hour to travel the remaining 30km? Then you'd have to charge in Toronto, then charge on your way home.
Cameraman did a fine job, would love to know which camera and lens he used.
usually go pros
Do a video on Mission R electric superbike.
Hi Robert, When you selected regenerative braking you said that you only needed to apply the brakes for the last few metres. Given there's cars behind you when regenerative braking starts do the brake lights come on behind you ? The reason I ask is that if you were driving the vehicle behind - if the vehicle in front of you simply slows down and there's no brake light indication this could potentially cause an accident ! Your comment/feedback appreciated
To clarify something about the energy density claims by Kia, I'm fairly certain that claim is meant to be at the pack level and not the cell level. Tesla still has the advantage at the cell level, but all of the supporting hardware in their pack brings the density down at the pack level by quite a bit.
CORRECTION: 3.4 * 27 miles = 91.8 miles (instead of 98 miles)
Love the new opening.
I have never taken any notice of a car's looks. It#s what it does that's important to me.
So cool. Thank you
I'm not sure about the claim of most energy dense EV battery. From Kia:
"The battery pack, with class-leading battery cell energy density of 200 Wh/kg,"
The Tesla/Panasonic NCA cell chemistry is around 250 Wh/kg at the cell level. It is possible that Kia loses less density than Tesla due to packaging at the pack level.
I like the new opening graphics!
Robert, I think the Soul EV has heated front seats, right? Does it have a heated steering wheel? I think I read the rear seat is not heated. Your review confirms it has a heat pump, which is great. The only other thing it lacks is a direct heating defroster on the windshield; like the e-Golf.
any more progress on the manufactured noise generated for the benefit of pedestrian notification? enjoyable video. BTW.
Very nice!! Can i contact you with a question about my Kia Soul EV 2016 model please?
Robert, what's it like compared to the leaf?, I thought you might mention it!
may i ask a question plese when you have an ev dont you have to join certain compANIES TO GET ELECTRIC AND SIGN UP WITH THEM THANK YOU
Was the window open during this test? The road noise seemed rather loud.
Very little mention of the technical details, however anyone can look them up.
Hey guys.. great informative video. I was wondering.. I live in Michigan.. where it can get to -10* C. How do electric cars .. the batteries specifically.. do under such cold weather conditions?
Nice car, I think I might buy one of these or the toyota Rav4 Electric...guess I need to go test drive both and see which one is more fun to drive
Very nice review. Thank you. Have you tried the 2016 version ?
think the car looks so cool! and the Electric one looks allot better then the petrol one i think.
What I hate about evs as a pedestrian is that you can't hear them coming
I had a close call with a scooter the other day at an alley where I stopped on the side to tie my shoe and upon standing up and stepping a foot towards the middle to gain balance that scooter just wheezed by at full speed If I had stood up a fraction of a second earlier I would be dead
There needs to be some kind of noise that others hear and be alarmed
Put solar panels on top.
They are going to start charging us for using the charge points? How much?
Better range than the Renault Zoe which I have and look a bit bigger. Would have liked to have seen the luggage space and how the seats lay flat. I just checked and they are available here in Switzerland. List price is 10,000 Swiss francs more than the Zoe. 7 year warranty is good. I like it an may go and do a test drive.
I've been looking at it too but have you also heard about the alternative Zoe motor and larger battery pack to be announced at the Paris motorshow? It might be worth waiting out a little bit.
I miss information as well about how fast the charger is. My Zoe can charge up in about 1 hour at a 22 kW chargepoint, or 2 hours at an 11 kW one. That's about 3 to 4 times faster than other EV's, which for me makes a huge difference. And I also wonder if the 28 kW is nett or gross, as the claimed Leaf batttery capacity (24) is gross, while the Zoe capacity (22 kW) is nett (the Zoe's battery is actually bigger).
Alexis Boom Yes, I did read about the newer motor. Did not hear about a new pack (although I can assume it might be fitted to the old Zoe as well then). I did understand it will charge a bit better at lower amps, but it won't charge faster than 22 kW? WTF! No more rapid charging? Or perhaps a switch to CSS? Very confusing.
Emile Nossin so the new motor gives +10% efficiency but loses CCS, the new battery pack is supposed to be close to 36kW.
These are both to be announced at the Paris Motorshow this December so these are hypothetical figures from Renault.
Looses CCS? You mean CCS? The Zoe doesn't have CCS, it has AC fast charging. But it would loose that. So the rumour goes that perhaps Renault will also adapt CCS as the new norm. Or are you saying it doesn't get CCS in the new version? 36 kW would be nice, but how much would it cost? And can you put one under the current Zoe?
Hi Robert,
I'm enjoying your show. Thanks for bringing a new technology to the fore in an entertaining and very human way.
My question is actually about the new batteries in the BMW i3. Would you test a real world long distance test for the 2016 model? I'm seriously considering taking the plunge in January. If the car could show a real world range of 150 miles on motorway journeys, I think it would be a total no brainier for us.
Many thanks
Ben
I saw x.xxkW on dash. I already like it (compared to Leaf)
Really nice review, however, the car is way too expensive for me. How many people can really afford having an expensive electric vehicle as a daily driver and then another car that they can do their long journeys in? My hometown is 300+ km away and even if I could make the whole journey on a single charge, I would still have to be charging throughout the weekend at my parents house. Fast chargers are non-existent in the countryside...
I like this ride nice work KIA
Kia Soul Smurf Edition (blue body, white top)
Anyone else remember Junkyard Wars?
Wasn't it Scrapheap Challenge?
Looks like a 4x4 sort of shaped car like they did before electric cars were done?
Seems a good car from the information or good reviewer Robert has shown us!
Shape wise well, it is true it run more better if Kia had spent time redesigning the shape of the car to a sleek shape? But it still good for a electric car as we been shown?
And the price sounds better to pay for than a tesla?
If tesla could produce a electric car like the model 3 or x ( maybe called a model 4? ) which was like a good hatchback in size and shape and was only about £15.000p to buy then the buyers of the petrol or diesel hatchbacks would dump them for the electric model.
I suppose I can look it up, but I was curious about things like luggage space and how roomy the back seats are? My wife likes the Soul (assumedly the same way some people like pugs), so this is an interesting option. Nice opening graphics/logo.
+John Matthias Rear space is v. similar to the ICE soul, so check out the reviews for that. There's loads of them round here (including a few electrics) and looks like a really practical car. Shame that Kia are pushing a god awful "baby blue" colour for the EV - seems to be an obsession of car makers to make their electric range appeal to male infants.
Love the show!!
Did you give the car the nickname, "David"?
That could be interesting with the Kia Soul... "Don't give up on me Baby!"
good job bob
18:00 we don't have hills around here, so I should get 130miles.
Has the soul got battery heater like the Ionic
quite a lot of road noise?
Yes Kia Souls are REALLY loud and have a lot of noise.
David Waterman Sadly that is a common thing for Kia cars. My 2010 has it and the brand new Kia Niro as a hybrid is also noisy. So Kia is moving up on quality products, but they should really focus more on road noise, because you get tired of it after trying a car without, like a Golf.
Max Waterman I too was taken aback at the road noise, compared to my Leafs quiet nature the Soul sounds like you're in the Tube /Subway.
My Kia Picanto GT Line has ace sound proofing in the cabin. When cracking along at 70, it sounds no different to being at 30mph. Incredibly quiet. 10/10
:)
Nice test ride, thank you.
Anyone know in general how the break lights are programed to operate in re gen and
heavy re gen modes in EV (not jus the Kia)?
Obviously weather you are using friction breaks or heavy re generations to decelerate any
vehicle, proper break light operation is extremely important.
:)
i'm finally able to buy an electric car now the price has come down to my price range :) this type seems very nice , thankyou for a great review. is it a flat load bay with back seats down, could you sleep in it?
fullychargedshow
Robert, you mention the car can be charged to 80% in 25-30 minutes, but that would seem to be rather hard to do since the battery has more capacity than the Nissan Leaf. Is the time you mention the time from the press release, which mentions the possibility of a 100 kW charge, or is the power curve different in the way that charging tapers off less than with the Nissan Leaf with a standard 50kW charge.
The battery is larger than the LEAF's battery, so the rapid charger can provide higher power levels for longer. This will generally result in faster charging times.
Range going up.. you sure that wasnt the odometer Lewellyn lol
as usual, very entertaining
wtf is the red X that appears for a few frames at 2:27?
First class show.
Awesome intro haha.
In the Leaf Gen 2 I get 4.1 miles/kWh at the motorway speed limit on the flat...
It would be nice but remember 2 things.
Nissan lies a lot on the speedometer so if you do 70 in fact you don't it's 62.
Another fact, the temp.here was 8 degrees. Leaf 30kwh is not capable of doing 4.1 at 70 in 8 degrees with heating on.
It would be around 3.5 on the cruise control.
Kia is boxy but somehow it has more efficient drive train.
Low speed Leaf has no chance.
High speed it's similar.
Winter Leaf again has no chance.
Below 0 it struggles to regenerate fully and charge quick as well as losing a lot of normal range.
Kia is affected but only 1/3 of what Leaf gets at the same temperatures (Leaf looses 10 miles of range Kia will 3-4).
Anyway, after 2 years and 25000 miles and many rapid charges Leaf 30kwh is nowhere near Kia Soul 27kwh (which in fact is 30kwh total capacity).
If you want to try compare your leaf we can set a drive along and you will see quickly which car is enginered/designed better
3.4x27=98? Shouldn´t it be 91.8? Apart from this a nice review though! :)
Well the energy consumption is about as good as the VW Scirocco EV conversion I built over a decade ago. Not very good aerodynamic performance then.
Thanks for another good review! :-)
Nicer production values these days.
Also, does the KIA battery have active battery temperature cooling/heating?
AFAIK all production EVs since 2013 have this in order to extend the short term range, long term degradation, and add safety.
Nice review but 3.4x27=91.8, not 98. :)
I wonder how much of these 27 kWh are actually available. The Leaf battery capacity is 24 kWh but only 20 to 21 are available (before any degradation).
From what I've seen, after some one million total EV miles the battery degradation in these lithium batteries has been around 0.1%/year
So advanced but yet the wheel is still on the wrong side xD
Only in South Korea is 200kwh/kg more than 250kwh/kg.
Induction charging is not really a thing.
First: no need to charge in city (really hard to deplete battery)
Second: efficiency is far from good
Third: automatic contactors are cheaper and as efficient as plug.
Except that in Seoul where this car is designed and built they have induction chargers in the bus lanes already 😉
Alexis Boom
Does that tell anyone that 1 or 2 or 3 is wrong?
Arnis Tarassu only that apparently Korean industry doesn't think what you've suggested applies or is correct.
Are you at desperate to be completely right?
Alexis Boom 1) if you make battery small enough you can always deplete it too early
2) efficiency is not good (up to 85% as they mentioned)
3) it is cheaper to make a two poles and hang a wire between them than make a system in the asphalt that must be rebuilt when paving the road again in 5-10 years.
Korean industry just makes cool things but they are not talking about price. They said it is cheaper than expensive normal chargers that need 10 hours to charge but that is just a pure lie. Level2 chargers at home cost less than 500$. Level 3 chargers cost 10-50 000$ but that system costs even more (not per meter but for total cost).
Arnis Tarassu all I stated is that in addition to normal charging posts that Seoul decided I'd be more efficient to charge their buses a little at a time over the period of the day without having to stop or divert the vehicle.
As for normal charging, the British isles are dotted with 22kW and 43kW Type2 chargers, I stop for about 10-20% minutes at them to go to the loo or grab a coffee before carrying on. I've done 400 miles in one day with the Zoe using this technique and come out the other end fresh as a daisy.
And you don't have to charge to 100%, as long as that middle 70% gets you between charge stations then you only need to stay at most for 20 minutes if that charge station can't draw enough current from the grid for the full 43kW.
Everything is great, it is just that ugly dramatic drop of the roof at the rear that bothers me....
Why no one of the new electric cars have no tow-bar. Just to bring the garbage away?
this has nothing to do with your car review I think but.....I have a 2014 nissan versa and found out that it loves to go either 40mph or 60mph so if I can maintain that speed I can exceed the cars printed mpg of 40mph and go a little over 46mph. I first found this out when playing with the buttons in the dash since it has a LCD screen in the dash, there is something called instantaneous mpg I clicked that and was able to see what my mpg was at various speeds so I tried it out and rest the average mpg counter and low and behold going those speeds increased my mpg to what it was on the instantaneous mpg meter, im only averaging 39mph right now when the air conditioner is on though. If electric cars work the same then I can possibly exceed there printed mileage as well so I will not have range anxiety since I work in a different city then I live its a 40 mile cu-mute.
If you have a 40 mile one way trip to work you should have an EV. Best to get one with 80 mile range. If you can have even a low rate charge at work you will save a lot.
+capacityplus too late, got a Nissan sentra now and aspire to get a Tesla model 3 since its not much more expensive then my sentra ( as long as it really will be 35k when the Tesla model 3 comes out ) with its range I could go 3 to 4 days of work without charging it.
Nice.
There seems to be a lot of interior cabin noise. Also, you did not mention seat comfort. Are the seats heated? What is the car's audio system's quality ( cheap or damn good sound?)? Is this car as good as the BMW i3 going from zero to 60?
Isn't the i3 like double what this costs?
Esa Edvik
I got the impression that the Kia's price was close to the i3's price.
Dave Zykerman The kia is £25k after UK government grants, i3 is £30k+ before them. Even more with the range extender engine. All this whilst Renault Zoe is something like £9-10k after grants + £70 a month for the battery.
Esa Edvik
Got to say that the Zoe is looking pretty good value (although I still harbour concerns about the battery lease). Currently it would be @£2600 for 36,000 mile 3 year battery lease - so I would guess that you could throw the whole thing away after 3 years and still have lost less than the deprecation on a Soul/i3/Mercedes B electric in the same time.
FFVoyager The laws on battery lease are still being debated in many countries, due to taxation reasons etc.
I kinda like it, because it comes with a certain sense of security if it fails or if new battery tech comes available.
At 13:30, you talk about it being tiresome to drive a diesel. What about driving a petrol manual car - definitely more tiresome than a diesel. The torque of a diesel at idle lets you just let out the clutch to creep forward in traffic.
so what happens with vandals pulling charger cable out?...
Dave Smith The car locks the cable in place unless its fully charged.
Callum Burns So the car is charged, the cable unlocks, then the vandals steal your cables.
again it also depends on the car! Loads of variables to it. For example the Tesla cable locks and can only be unlocked when the key is present.
Not a very aerodynamic front end?