Battery SoH 18%?

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ooopie

New member
Joined
Sep 13, 2021
Messages
4
I'm considering a used 2017 Soul EV, but I'm worried that the battery might be junk.

It's got about 55k miles on it. When I turned it on, the dash said 43mi left in the charge, but looked like 75% on the gauge.

I downloaded the EVNotify app and tried to get an ODBII reading and it seems to be telling me that the battery state of health is only 18%.

I've never owned an electric vehicle before, so I'm not sure what to expect. I would appreciate any advice you can give. The car is $12,000. If the battery is this degraded, might it be eligible for a replacement under warranty? Am I testing it correctly? Thank you.

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On the face of it, it doesn't look good, but it is possible that the displayed values are misleading because of lack of regular use. An important consideration is where the vehicle has been used. The 27 kWh batteries have suffered greatly in hot climates. What needs to be done is to run the battery down to less than 20%, and then charge it to 100%, and then read the SOH. That is what the KIA dealer does, but he uses the KIA test equipment to read the SOH, and pays no heed to readings from other sources.

Whether it is eligible for a free replacement battery depends on the rules KIA applies in your country. Where I live, they will wriggle out if the car does not have a complete servicing record, which means it goes to the dealer at least once a year. If it is not being sold by a KIA dealer, I would not rely on any assurances from the seller. You could ask a KIA dealer to check with the KIA Company in your country by quoting the VIN. They should have centralised records.
 
Ooopie - in November 2021 you posted
"I just got a 2017 and I want to find a good routine to keep the charge between 80 and 20 percent to preserve the battery health."
Care to explain what this new post is about?

Anyway assuming you live in the US the battery warranty is 10 years.
The car probably has a bad battery so would be eligible for a battery replacement.
Once the battery is below about 50% SOH all the readings are unreliable.
Both what is shown on the car's screen and the OBD.
 
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