
Tcalp wrote:Hi Everyone, I recently just purchased a 2016 Kia Soul EV with Luxury trim (Canada). It was previously used as a Taxi Cab (Teo Taxi bankruptcy). The unit has 130,000~KM but has a pretty awful range when fully charged; Getting 90-105KM when fully charged. I took my car in to get inspected by the local EV service center today. They wanted to keep the car for further testing (as they said Kia head office would likely ask for additional tests to be done), but given that it was the weekend, I opted to pick-up the car and bring it back when requested (if requested), next week. Sadly, there seems to be a hick-up with my paperwork as I asked for copies of my battery report and was provided a report for a 2018 EV from mid last month; Not sure if this was just an error in the print/copy or if they ended up sending the wrong data to Kia head office. Either way, I suppose it's a good sign that they at least are at least forwarding the data onto Kia head office for review which, I imagine means, that they agree there is a problem. Anyhow, I'll give them a call in the morning and keep you all updated over the coming weeks on what/if happens with my attempt to get my battery replaced under warranty. This is the newest vehicle I have ever owned in my life, so hoping this all goes well, though, a little nervous about it.
Kish wrote:Sweet! That's great to hear, and you're welcome. In and out in 15 mins at a Kia dealer, that must be a record time! The magic keywords are "Give me HV battery SoH report!". Now the question is, how long this entire ordeal will take for you? For me it was done in 8 days, but others had to wait for months.
As an aside, SoH at 48% is crazy low. Are you the original owner of the vehicle? What kind of condition was the car in for the last few years? 48% of the original EPA miles (93) is like 45 miles. That means a round trip of no more than 22 miles without having to stop to recharge, ouch!
Wow! Just last year this process was taking upto six months.TubbyLumkins wrote:...I took it to Kia of Pomona... I dropped the car off on Wed, 8/7/19 and the next day the dealer told me that Kia was authorizing a replacement battery... (this maybe) the record keeper as the quickest replacement of 5 days / 3 weekdays).
Having a facility in Texas probably saves an enormous amount of time and cost compared to shipping everything from Korea.Lelik wrote:...I finally got my battery replaced by Kia, they told me there is a facility in Texas where they reassemble batteries...
Tcalp wrote:So, I just spoke to the dealer, and the guy that answered the phone was the guy that I was dealing with yesterday (really nice guy). He agrees that the data for my car is from a report from roughly 1 month ago / wrong car / wrong year / wrong VIN etc... which kind of sucks (not the end of the world though). The tech that did the work isn't in until Monday, so pending until that time.