Watch Kia Soul EV Battery Degradation Test After 7-Years/60k Miles

It's the first generation of the car, which appears to suffer from substantial range reduction.

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Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Apr 19, 2022 at 8:49am ET

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Battery degradation is one of the most important topics for EVs, specifically in the case of older cars. Here we can take a look at a first generation Kia Soul EV, recently tested by Bjørn Nyland.

The car is almost 7 years old and covered almost 100,000 km (62,000 miles). Its nominal battery capacity (usable) - when new - was 27 kWh, although after multiple tests, Bjørn Nyland sticks to 26 kWh as a more appropriate/achievable number, in his opinion.

In the US, the original Kia Soul EV had an EPA range of 93 miles (150 km), while its slightly upgraded version, with a 30 kWh battery, was rated at 111 miles (179 km). Let's note that those cars had no liquid cooling for the battery system.

For a few years now, Kia has offered in Europe a completely new generation, with a 64 kWh or 39.2 kWh battery.

Battery degradation test results

The discharge test from about 100% to about 4% state-of-charge (SOC), down to the turtle mode, revealed a range of a bit over 100 km (62 miles) and energy consumption of 163 Wh/km (262 Wh/mile).

According to Bjørn Nyland, it means that the car has available about 17 kWh, which is roughly 65% of the initial net battery capacity.

Battery capacity degradation of 35% or so sounds pretty substantial, especially for a car that is almost 7 years old and covered 100,000 km (62,000 miles). If true, the drop would be about 5% per year, on average.

In the end, some additional fast charging tests revealed that also the charging power is lower compared to a newer car.

Bjørn Nyland wonders whether such a high battery capacity degradation and range reduction will be covered by the warranty, which is still active (for 7 years or 150,000 km). We are eager to see a follow-up episode.

Another question is whether it's a single case or an exception to lose a third of the driving range at that point?

What do you think?

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In the video comment section, we have found a few users reporting a substantial battery capacity/range degradation as well. Some got approved for a battery replacement, some already after the replacement operation.

In other words, it's worth double checking the topic when buying a used Kia Soul EV with a 27/30 kWh battery.