Max range available per instrument dial is always super low (<8mi)

I have a 2014 Kia Soul EV and after a full charge, the range it says I can do is never more than 8 miles. The actual range I can do is more or less what it normally would be, but the power saving or turtle mode keeps kicking in unless I nurse the accelerator. This even happens if the battery percentage available is greater than 50%.

I live in the Cayman Islands (the car was imported from the UK) and I took it to the the Kia dealership here but they turned me away as soon as I mentioned that it was an electric car. I have had two mechanics run a diagnostic test and neither of them could identify any problems.

Has anyone else come across a similar problem and do you know how best to address this?

Thank you.

Perhaps you could progress this by reading the OBD2 fault code(s) and battery data when the car is in turtle mode, and then communicating with the KIA corporate headquarters in the country your car came from.

Get the Android app Torque Pro, and a Konnwei KW902 OBD2 Bluetooth dongle to read the codes.
The best app for accessing the battery data is Soul EVSpy - the crucial item is the SOH - state of health.

-
The probable reason you can't accelerate hard is because one cell of your battery is really bad. I have had this issue on a Hyundai BlueON EV. In most cases very easy to check. Just find a steep mountain road. A very degraded battery will not be able to accelerate up nor regen down.
In your case I note the Cayman Islands are mostly flat. One notable exception to this is The Bluff on Cayman Brac's eastern part, which rises to 43 m (141 ft) above sea level, the highest point on the islands. I doubt you will find a steep incline here. So ...

I also recommend checking the battery data with SoulEVSpy. The SOH is not as important as the battery cell data.

This can be seen in a SoulEVSpy voltage heat map from a car in Canada. -



The dark red indicates cells with voltages that are very different from the rest. These cells have gone bad.
Normally I would suggest taking the car in to Kia to start the process of getting a new battery under warranty.
In your case I suggest driving slowly and carefully while you do more testing. Then research your options for fixing the battery.