Accelerating as much as possible as often as possible ok?

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RussellGolfs

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2021
Messages
12
So in an ICE I'd very rarely put the pedal to the metal because all that spinning up of the engine at every stop light would surely degrade the engine fast. However, given the simplicity of the motor in the Kia Soul EV (2017) and the lack of gears etc I have been tempted to simply press the accelerator nearly to the floor and launch out of every stop sign with only the care of not squealing the tires preventing me from putting the pedal all the way to the floor.
Am I a fool that would be replacing a motor/drive shaft/ something else much faster if I kept this habit? Or is it really fine to accelerate as fast as possible as often as possible in a KIA Soul EV and that's just a benefit of having electric car?
Note:I'm sure anyone with a stick shift Honda Civic or better that knew how to use it could keep up with or beat me out of all these stop lights if they desired but the fact is they don't desire to damage engines on such frequency so I've felt like a real man scorching other drivers in 0-25mph races lol. Truly enjoy this car so far, just got a few days ago.
Thanks.
 
I think you'll find that most EV owners enjoy this. Here's an ad for the Smart EV that plays on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1iJJZfB7i0

It's added wear to the battery to be doing high power in and out. In the overall scheme of things you are only accelerating for a few seconds at a time, so minimal compared to driving long distances at high speed on the highway.

Battery charge level doesn't matter, it's 81kW. A fully charged battery will be higher volts and lower current, and vice-versa, but the limit is the power. The inverter doesn't care what voltage the battery is as long as it hasn't gone in to turtle mode.
 
Last time I had my 2016 Soul EV in the shop they had a traction motor out of a similar vintage Soul EV. I noticed that the output gear was partially stripped and asked the mechanic what had happened. His comment was that the car came in for a warranty traction motor replacement but he didn't know if that would happen as they'd found nothing wrong with the motor. I asked if excessive acceleration might have caused the problem. In response I was told that was unlikely and that leakage of lubricating oil could have caused it.
 
Yeah one of my favourite aspects of this car is the ability to "just go" at low speeds and get out in front of the pack. :)

It does seem though that these cars eat gearboxes, unfortunately. It's a single gear-gear box, couldn't be more simple, but I've had to replace mine off warranty and when I looked for good used ones at wreckers every single one of them was already picked by someone else. Also, at this time people report difficulty even finding a new gearbox in stock at KIA.

In my case the gearbox made slight whirring sounds from the moment I bought the car, which gradually got worse over time, eventually the car wouldn't go into Drive solidly but would jerk forward and then rev in place, etc.

I also had 2 incidences of the axle seal failing and leaking the gear oil out, which no doubt contributed to the problem.

It might be a fun EV, but it's still a KIA!
 
Yeah one of my favourite aspects of this car is the ability to "just go" at low speeds and get out in front of the pack. :)
Yes, I'm not a boy racer, but I must say that if one inadvertently gets into the wrong lane but can get onto the starting grid at the traffic lights in joint first place then it's usually straightforward to get back into the correct lane without too much drama.
 
Yes, but... I have stopped kicking butt at stoplites, for fear I might break something. 2016, 40k miles, base model. Always whined a little.
 
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