I recently
had a chance to spend a week driving the 2015 Kia Soul EV and while I have had
a variety of other electric drive vehicles with gasoline range extending
engines, this was my first extended test time in a true EV – during which I
learned the many upsides and the sole downside to daily driving a pure electric
vehicle.
Before
getting into my views on the 2015 Kia Soul EV, I want to
clarify a few points on my experiences with both electric vehicles and with the
traditionally powered Kia Soul.
I have
had the pleasure of driving a handful of pure electric vehicles – those which
do not have any sort of range extending gasoline engine – including the Nissan
Leaf and the Fiat 500e. However, I only got to put a few miles on those cars
and in terms of longer test sessions, the only “electric vehicles” with which
I’ve spent any significant amount of time have been the Chevrolet Volt and the
Cadillac ELR. Both of those vehicles use an electric drive system, but they
also feature a range extending gasoline engine which allows you to essentially
ignore the remaining electric range, as when you run out of battery power – the
Volt and ELR have a gas engine to keep the battery charged.
On the
other hand, when the battery in the Kia
Soul EV is dead, there is no fallback plan, so daily driving the electric Kia
would require more careful planning than did the Volt or ELR – but we will get
to that later.
The Kia
Soul
The Kia
Soul is an interesting little vehicle that really doesn’t fit into any of the
traditional automotive types in the US market. It is hard to call it a
crossover, as it is small, low to the ground and only front wheel drive, but it
does offer a ton of cargo space and seating space like you would get with a
crossover or small sport utility vehicle. It is hard to call a station wagon
because it really isn’t shaped like any of the station wagons, as they are
generally car-based and the Soul clearly isn’t a “car”. On paper, the Soul
isn’t the kind of vehicle that I would enjoy, as I am a lover of muscle cars and
other high performance, rear or all-wheel drive sports cars along with full
sized trucks – but having spent time in a traditionally powered (non-EV) Soul
in the past, I have no qualms stating how much I enjoy driving the Soul.
While
it might not really fit into any vehicle class in the United States market, it
is efficient, affordable, incredible roomy, nicely appointed inside and –
surprisingly – very fun to drive. The Soul is not a vehicle that I should
enjoy, but I do…and I look forward to spending time driving the funky little
Korean station wagon/crossover vehicle.
However,
would the electric version of the Kia Soul offer all of the attributes
that lead me to enjoy driving the gasoline powered models?
For the
most part, yes, but driving the 2015 Kia Soul EV taught me a great deal – not
just about this Korean EV – but all pure electric vehicles.
Living
with an Electric Vehicle
My
first key lesson on living with an electric
vehicle came on my second day with the Kia Soul EV, as I had to drive to a
media event in Detroit. From my house, Detroit is about a 45-48 mile trip
depending on the path chosen and the Kia Soul has an EPA electric range of 93
miles. However, when the Soul EV was fully charged, it was “only” reading around
88 miles of range. If you do the math, a vehicle with 88-93 miles worth of
range would have a hard time making it from my house to Detroit and back
without charging.
Fortunately,
during my first day with the Soul, when I was running errands closer to my
home, I noticed that I was able to use my electric range very
efficiently. I started my day with 88 miles of range and I drove about 30 miles
yet I only used around 24 miles worth of range. Based on those numbers, I found
that I was able to squeeze at least 10% more mileage out of the Soul EV than
what the on-board diagnostic system predicted so with 88 miles of range, 10%
more would put me around 96 miles and 96 miles is – in theory – enough to get
from my house to Detroit and back, without charging. Mind you, my 10% figure
was fairly conservative, so I was confident that I could make the trip into
Detroit without worrying about running out of juice.
When
the time came to make the trek to the D, I unplugged my Kia Soul EV and headed
out with 88 miles of range on the high tech odometer and when I had reached my
destination in Detroit, I had driven 46 miles and I had only used about 40
miles worth of electric range, leaving me 48 miles to make the 46 mile trip
home.
While
driving home from the event, I continued watching the miles count down as I got
closer to home, and while I was pretty sure that I would make it, I used the
Soul’s built-in charging station locator to see where I might be able to stop
if I was getting too close to running the Kia out of battery
power. This system really is cool, as it can direct you to all of the public
charging stations in your location, including the exact mileage so that you can
see which is within the available range. Later on, out of curiosity, I did
drive around to see how accurate the charging station location system was – and
I found it to be 100% accurate, so the Soul EV will safely guide you to a
public charging station if you get in trouble with your range.
Fortunately,
my math worked out and I was able to make it home from Detroit with 3 miles to
spare. In the end, I drove 93 miles with 3 miles left on 88 miles worth of
range and I did so while driving normally, so throughout the duration of my 93
mile trip, I was generally traveling at or slightly above the posted speed
limit. No hypermiling or special driving needed to squeeze extra mileage out of
the Soul EV, although I definitely experienced the annoyance of range anxiety.
The
rest of my trips in the Kia Soul EV were normal,
shorter trips that posed no risk of running out of electric range, so all of my
normal daily driving exercises were a breeze. I plugged the car in while I was
home and every morning, I had just shy of 90 miles of electric range to get
through my day and while I used some public charging stations simply for the
experience, I didn’t actually need to use anything but the charging cable
plugged into a standard socket at my house.
Soul VS
Soul EV – Inside and Out
While
the Kia Soul powered by the 2.0L gasoline engine, which offers 164 horsepower
and 151lb-ft of torque, is hardly fast by today’s standards of performance
cars, the funky little crossover is surprisingly fun to drive. It has solid
acceleration from a stop, it pulls well through the midrange (highway acceleration)
and it handles very well so while you aren’t going to dominate your local race
track – I expect that most Soul owners do enjoy driving their little Kia. I enjoyed
driving it when I had it and I prefer big trucks and muscle cars. It is spunky
and nimble enough to keep the driver engaged and in terms of affordable,
efficient crossovers, that can be hard to find.
On top
of the driving excitement offered by the gas powered Kia Soul, it has plenty of
room for four adults, a huge cargo area for such a small vehicle and tons of
high tech amenities inside that come as a nice surprise in a vehicle that is so
affordable, with a price topping out under $30k.
The
issue is that the Soul EV
costs a great deal more – my test vehicle had a sticker price, fully loaded, of
$36,625. Also, the addition of the battery system often cuts into the interior
space of many electric vehicles, so the Soul stood the risk of losing some of
that impressive cargo and seating space in converting it to an EV…or at least I
though.
Upon
getting into the Kia Soul EV, there is really no indication that this vehicle
is any different than other than the extra information displayed on the dash.
The Soul EV has the same spacious interior with plenty of leg room for
rear-riding passengers and the Soul EV has just as much rear cargo space as the
gasoline powered Soul. The Soul EV also comes all loaded up with an impressive
infotainment system, heated and cooled front seats, heated outboard rear seats,
leather throughout the cabin and a great sounding stereo system. To get an idea
of how well appointed the Soul EV is, consider that to get all of these features
in the non-EV Soul, you have to order “The Whole Shebang Package”. It is
actually called that – The Whole Shebang Package. How can you not love that?
Anyways,
in short, Kia has managed
to preserve all of the strong points of the Soul in the EV version from front
to rear so having been impressed by the non-EV Soul, I am every bit as
impressed with the electric version.
Finally,
while the Soul EV has some unique features – such as the charging station
integrated into the front grille area, the package specific wheels or the
gorgeous bright blue and white paint scheme – it looks pretty much the same as
the non-EV Soul, as that is a good thing. The EV package includes high tech LED
headlight trim over dual projection headlight units as well as LED taillights
out back. The gas-powered Soul looks sporty and kind of aggressive, and the EV
maintains all of those attributes while incorporating the EV-specific features
in a way that only adds to the good looks of this spunky little 5-door.
The
Final Word
If you
like the Kia Soul and you are considering an electric vehicle, the Soul EV
might just be the best choice on the market. The Soul EV preserves the good
looks and the spacious, loaded interior of the gas-powered Soul, but it ditches
the gas engine for an electric drivetrain that provides tons of power for
strong acceleration and a very solid range of around 90 miles on a charge.
Basically, the Soul EV
requires no compromise in terms of the features that make the original Soul
such a great little vehicle, so if a pure electric vehicle with this range
works for your daily driving routine, the Kia Soul EV is definitely a vehicle
that you need to check out before making your next big purchase.
While I
was sweating a little on that drive to Detroit, I enjoyed my time in the Soul
EV just as much as I did the gas-powered Soul, so if I was shopping for a roomy
EV, this would most certainly be at the top of my list.
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