2018 sun n fun 97,500 miles, what to expect?

[sjcaus]

Was looking to get a little advice from those with higher mileage 30 kWh battery cars. We’ve had our 2018 Sun n Fun since new. Have not hooked up an OBD2 but based on the routes we drive I’m estimating we currently have 95% of original battery capacity left. WA state car, we avoid charging to 100% if not necessary and when charging to 100% do so just before driving car. Fast charged about 20-25 times since car was new but usually for only 10 minutes or so.
My question is what has been other’s experience with 30 kWh cars after 100k miles mark. What can I expect for battery health going forward? I’ve been looking at newer EV‘s recently, but I’m pretty happy with this one. Thank you.

 

[JejuSoul]

Great question. There is no information on this site about the 30 kWh battery cars with battery degradation.
My assumption has always been that the cell chemistry of the 30 kWh battery (E400 cells) is much better than the original 27 kWh battery (E375cells).
It would be nice to get some statistics.
I recently posted a poll from the US Facebook site that did indicate a lot of 30kWh battery replacements, but because of numerous errors in the poll questions and responses it is hard to know if that is accurate or what proportion it represents.
The majority of the 30 kWh battery cars are in Norway. It would be great to get some data from there.

 

[sjcaus]

Great question. There is no information on this site about the 30 kWh battery cars with battery degradation.
My assumption has always been that the cell chemistry of the 30 kWh battery (E400 cells) is much better than the original 27 kWh battery (E375cells).
It would be nice to get some statistics.
I recently posted a poll from the US Facebook site that did indicate a lot of 30kWh battery replacements, but because of numerous errors in the poll questions and responses it is hard to know if that is accurate or what proportion it represents.
The majority of the 30 kWh battery cars are in Norway. It would be great to get some data from there.

At 98k miles, based on other members input, we did a range test: 95% down to 55%, 52.25 miles driven, 4.2 miles/kwh (freeway but lots of traffic). The calculations indicate battery is at 100%+ capacity. Even assuming a 42% battery usage, it still comes out 98.7%. My experiences that the battery percentage tends to drop faster in the last 10% then the first 10% so not sure how accurately the car really knows how much percentage battery is left, but very happy with results regardless. Hope that helps anybody else with a 30 kWh battery.

P.S. Test drove a Hyundai Ionic 5 SE large battery yesterday.

 

[jray3]

Thank you @sjcaus -It's about time we had some good news on this forum! I'll invite you to the Seattle EV Association meeting sometime, details here: https://www.seattleeva.org/wp/ SEVA meets again on April 9th at the Rivian showroom in University Village.
Sure, it's a bit nervousing to lose the warranty on one's car, but at least the safety recalls still apply. I kept our 2016 with the 30 kWh replacement because I'm confident that it will give reliable service long past 100k miles (now approaching 109k). Also, our EVs are about the only old KIAs that the 'KIA Boys' can't touch with their thieving techniques!

 

[sjcaus]

I performed another range test yesterday. Due to an unexpected vehicle change, I inadvertently charged to 100% and let the car sit for two hours or so at 100% (I know it pained me that I did this right). Anyway we then drove 63.57 miles at 3.5 miles/kwh (some 70 mph) and showed 36% remaining charge. In is downhill to our house and I just ticked back up to 36% before we got home. This indicates a battery SOH OF 94.5%. My thought as we lost about a percent letting it sit for two hours and the percentage reading on the car did go down quickly to 99% as we left the house. This would take us to 96%. Either way a satisfactory SOH after 6 years and 98k miles. We did get the yellow EV triangle on a couple times this week. Been seeing that for the majority of the car’s life, sometimes going months between seeing it, after a period of getting it often. Dealer can find no faults, even with light on. I checked for climate system faults and found none. I think since we’re nearly out of warranty, I’ll get a photo of it with the mileage when it happens next and take it to the dealer just to get that on the records.

 

[sjcaus]

Performed one additional range test. Charged to 100%, departed about 15 minutes later after finally getting everyone loaded up. 63 miles traveled, 56% remaining SOC, 4.5 mi/kwh efficiency = 99.1% SOH. As previously noted, I think the biggest unknown in this calculation is does the car know the SOC accurately.

 

[JejuSoul]

If you drove 63 miles using 44% of your capacity then you could drive 143 miles total.
63 / (100-56/100) = 143.2
This is a good range for a 30kWh car. (230km!)



Your efficiency was 4.5 mi/kWh. This suggests a usable battery capacity of 143 / 4.5 = 31.77 kWh. This is greater than the capacity as new.

How did you work out the SOH from this?

 

[sjcaus]

My apologies, the miles driven was 60 (59.96) miles, not 63 miles, 63 was GOM reading.
60mi/4.5mi/kwh = 13.3kwh used
13.3kwh/30kwh = 44.4% of bat cap used
44.4% kWh used/44% car reported used= 101% SOH.

I think I divided 44% by 44.4% last time, which is how I got 99%, I think I got it right this time. If you’ve used more kWh % of the battery than the car thinks you’ve used than you’re above 100%

Of course when the car reads 56% it may very close to 57% or 55% which you don’t know unless you were paying attention which I wasn’t. Also, as I think I previously noted, in my experience, the car takes a lot longer to drop from 100% to 90 than it does from 10 to 0, which makes me suspect that the percent number displayed is accurate. Interestingly, I did a range test of the car when it was new, 100% to 0% but I don’t think I recorded the mi/kwh, which would have been very interesting.

 

[sjcaus]

2018 Kia Soul EV + (Sun n’ Fun)
My final calculated SOH post, promise.

Charged battery to 100% at 220V. Loaded up (4) adults about 5 minutes later and started drive.

Drove 50.2 mi at 4.0 mi/kWh with indicated 56% of battery remaining. Parked car for 2 hours.

Drove home 49.4 miles at 3.8 mi/kwh (I checked the weather, and it looks like we had a bit of a headwind on the way back).

Arrived home with 3% showing, actually got down to 2% but went back up to 3% after a downhill section.

The first segment calculates as 12.55 kWh used or 41.8% of battery, car indicated 44% used so that calculated as a 95% SOH.

The second segment calculated as 13kwh used or 43.3% of battery 30kwh capacity, car indicated 53% used which gives an SOH of 81.6%.

On the trip home. I had to slow way down because I wasn’t gonna make it if I didn’t. Even after getting off the freeway and cruising at 35 miles an hour, the battery dropped very quickly once we got below 10% indicated. This confirms my observation that between 50 and 100% the battery is optimistic and below 50 especially when you get below 10% it catches up with you. Hope I got the calculations right this time.

Incidentally, we put a deposit down on a rear wheel drive Ionic 6 lease after we got home. We actually leased the Kia soul EV but liked it so much that we bought it off the lease about halfway through the 3 year lease. Our $21,000 car has saved us $16,000+ in gasoline over 100K, really can’t complain at this point. We will use it primarily around town once we take delivery of the IONIQ 6, and try to keep the battery between 20 and 80% for the rest of its life.
Still curious about others experience with 2018 and 2019 MY batteries.