Driving through high water

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ralyon

Active member
Joined
Mar 11, 2016
Messages
38
So with all the flooding we have had in Texas as of late, I was wondering what the tolerance is for driving through flooded roads. In my neighborhood, if water starts collecting on my street, it is over a foot deep on the only road out of my neighborhood. I know my beetle diesel could handle that no problem, but how water tight is the underside of the Soul EV? I would assume it would have to be pretty decent just to keep water out that splashes up when driving through puddles. I know the battery is at the bottom of the car as well and water on battery terminals is much worse than water "on" an ICE (as in not "in" the engine). Anyone know?

ralyon
 
Bumping this thread with hopes of more discussions like this as I feel its crucial to the majority of owners who live in areas that can get high water. I am currently researching how to increase the vehicle height because of such concerns. I did see that leaf video but the nissan leaf and Kia soul ev are 2 different cars and while both are bev 's they have completely different build mechanics and what may seem to work for one does not guarantee the other. I wish there was more clarification on this subject and way more discussion here about it. I will do what I can and try to gather more info and return with an update if I find something.
 
I don't think you have any concerns about the high voltage battery until the water is at the bottom of the doors.

The Soul EV is in general very similar in electrical layout to the Leaf, it's clear that the Kia engineers took apart an early Leaf while developing the Soul EV.

The one area where the 2014-2018 differs from the Leaf is in battery cooling. The Soul Ev draws cool air in from under the front seats and there is a fan in the bottom of the trunk. So basically if you don't have water in the car then the battery is sealed.
 
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