Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle? | Page 432 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?

mimico_polak said:
Anybody got thoughts on the KIA SOUL EV? Got a few days off this week so may do some road tests if the monsters let me get away.
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Watch out for the battery size. The earlier ones date back to an earlier shorter-range era, and the battery was (IIRC) 28 kWh. A friend's Soul EV of that generation was the first EV I ever drove.

The Niro is a bit bigger. IIRC Bakaboy has a plug-in hybrid of the new generation.

I just did Brampton to Lindsay and back via northern-bypass secondary-roads route. 282 km. Fog yesterday forced lower speeds, particularly on the way home. Didn't bother plugging in last night. Went to Limehouse for a good long walk to burn off some calories consumed yesterday. Went to the Forks for a coffee and a bowl of soup. Just got back. 350 km on this charge, GOM still shows 39 km. Works for me.
 
Brian P said:
I just did Brampton to Lindsay and back via northern-bypass secondary-roads route. 282 km. Fog yesterday forced lower speeds, particularly on the way home. Didn't bother plugging in last night. Went to Limehouse for a good long walk to burn off some calories consumed yesterday. Went to the Forks for a coffee and a bowl of soup. Just got back. 350 km on this charge, GOM still shows 39 km. Works for me.
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A fellow brave soul (pun not intended).

I'm notorious for running my vehicles on low fuel, think i filled up the X5 the other day showing 36kms but it was dropping like a rock the last few minutes. Lowest I got on the XR was 7km before i chickened out, lol.
 
mimico_polak said:
Thanks! I’ll give a call tomorrow.

I need to see if the Bolt pricing posted on AutoTrader includes the 5k federal program. Because if theyre 37-40k before the rebate…could make it happen.
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EX trim, so mid level. looks like dual zone climate, sunroof, heated seats and steering wheel, wireless phone charging.
 
Evoex said:
A fellow brave soul (pun not intended).

I'm notorious for running my vehicles on low fuel, think i filled up the X5 the other day showing 36kms but it was dropping like a rock the last few minutes. Lowest I got on the XR was 7km before i chickened out, lol.
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In my case there's a little bit of method in the madness. You're supposed to run it below 10% once in a while and run it up to 100% once in a while and leave it plugged in for a bit, to encourage the BMS to keep the cells balanced and help the GOM guess more accurately. I had it up to 100% before setting out for Lindsay yesterday and it was plugged in at 100% for a couple hours, and now it's around 10%, plugged in, but "delayed charging" (it won't start charging until sometime overnight).

In the hour and change between coming home and plugging it in (just now, because I won't be driving it any further today), the GOM increased from 39 km to 46 km, and the state-of-charge bar graph turned on the next bar without being plugged in (!!), so it's thinking about it. Also, coming home from Belfountain only used 9 km to drive 22 km according to the GOM, and it was already on orange low-charge-level-warning there. (It is somewhat downhill, overall)

This is all "nature of the beast". The voltage on this type of battery stays flat for a large part of the charging curve, making it hard for a cell voltage measurement to correlate to a charge level, and if you habitually stay in that range (which is my normal practice - charge limit is normally set to 80%) the BMS slowly loses track of exactly what the state-of-charge is due to inherent inaccuracies. Then it starts looking like you are losing range, even though you're not.

Solution ... really simple ... exercise it once in a while.

An inaccurate BMS with unbalanced cells caused by not doing this, won't cause any actual operational problems. It'll mostly just make the GOM display less range than you've actually got.
 
SunnY S said:
I'll cut them some slack.
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Surprising nobody.

mimico_polak said:
Anybody got thoughts on the KIA SOUL EV? Got a few days off this week so may do some road tests if the monsters let me get away.
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My sister has a 2018. Great car so long as you understand the range is lower because of the smaller battery size - same size as our old Hyundai Ioniq we owned, actually - basicaly the same platform for the most part, actually.

Up until the 2020 model years however they used CHADEMO which will be a bigger issue in the years ahead as it's really fading away in north america, so if you can find one of the slighly newer ones with the CCS plug instead, I'd go that way, but there's still a decent amount of CHADEMO fast chargers out there in the meantime. A complete non issue of course if you don't ever need to fast charge.

I'll actually be considering one of the 2016-2020 model year Souls when I decide to replace the Volt. The prices should be quite affordable by then, and it's a perfectly good mid-range EV.
 
mimico_polak said:
I need to see if the Bolt pricing posted on AutoTrader includes the 5k federal program. Because if theyre 37-40k before the rebate…could make it happen.
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That'll include the $5k off already unfortunately.

I took a new Bolt EUV LT for a test drive this past Friday and honestly it didn't do anything for me. After driving 2 small CUV's (the other a Qashqai), I've come to the conclusion I prefer a lower seat height with a more planted feel to the vehicle. Maybe the regular Bolt is different??

A real turn off for me was the short centre console armrest. I'm used to driving with my elbows resting on something and my hands on the lower part of the wheel. My right elbow had nothing but dead space. I moved the seat closer and the wheel back and it just rested on the edge but still didn't like it.

Overall, I'm waiting for something like a new Golf EV (ID.2 or whatever it'll be) or the next gen Prius Prime perhaps but the Volt is staying put for now.
 
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Thanks guys, always glad I can get so first hand opinions.

@PrivatePilot what kind of range are they getting? Specifically interested in cold weather as I’m still shooting for something to do 300km in the dead of winter, but understand that may not be possible.

@LBV I agree 100% with preferring lower to the ground, more feel, etc etc

However with 3 kids, and a wife as a driver, those ‘wants’ I used to look for are taking a back seat to the functionality (fak this makes me sound old) of the car and usability by the both of us.

I just need to find some time to start a thread on car recommendations, and getting out there to drive a few things.
 
mimico_polak said:
what kind of range are they getting? Specifically interested in cold weather as I’m still shooting for something to do 300km in the dead of winter, but understand that may not be possible.
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Absolutely won't happen even in the best summer conditions on the first gen Soul/Ioniq's. The best we ever saw from our Ioniq on a full charge was something like 230km on the GOM with a full charge, and that could slip to the 125-150km range in the winter, although our Ioniq had the less power hungry heat pump vs relying solely on grid heat. My sisters Soul can get down to around 110-120 in the winter.

They're not high capacity EV's - good what they were designed for, but just not designed around a big battery. But priced accordingly, when you don't *need* that big battery for your use case scenario.
 
The only version of the Soul EV that has a chance of doing 300 km range is the latest-generation one in "EV Limited" trim which has a 64 kWh battery (suspiciously similar in capacity to what's in a Bolt ...) and that's a $52k vehicle.

www.canadadrives.ca

Kia Soul EV Range & Specs: A Closer Look

The Kia Soul EV range is competitive compared to its newer rivals, and Canadians can choose between two battery capacities according to their needs and budget.
www.canadadrives.ca www.canadadrives.ca

I didn't even think Kia was still selling those. But, there it is.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Absolutely won't happen even in the best summer conditions on the first gen Soul/Ioniq's. The best we ever saw from our Ioniq on a full charge was something like 230km on the GOM with a full charge, and that could slip to the 125-150km range in the winter, although our Ioniq had the less power hungry heat pump vs relying solely on grid heat. My sisters Soul can get down to around 110-120 in the winter.

They're not high capacity EV's - good what they were designed for, but just not designed around a big battery. But priced accordingly, when you don't *need* that big battery for your use case scenario.
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Ok that makes sense thank you. I was looking at the 2021-2022 models, and as I understand it there were 2 battery options.

But the Bolt seems to be ticking the most check marks…except for towing, but that can be done with the odyssey and wife can be left with the other car.
 
mimico_polak said:
But the Bolt seems to be ticking the most check marks…except for towing
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Don't discount it, apparently they tow great, within reason. Range will be significantly impacted if you have a big wind profile, but there's quite a few people out there towing popups with good results apparently...or towing bigger if they can work within the range decrease realities.

We towed a popup earlier this spring with our Volt (after the trailer accident, and before we got the new one) and I was honestly blown away at the difference in effeciency with the popup vs our usual camper with a much higher wind profile. The car towed both equally well, but the fuel consumption with the popup was easily 30-40% less, so it makes sense that equates to lower electric use as well when towing with an EV.
 
SunnY S said:
@mimico_polak

you need towing capability?

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You're not going to show the followup where the car died and the driver abandoned it? Lot's of question marks there.


Edit:

More info here. Trailer was empty. Given the circumstances, I won't be surprised if the tesla and trailer were stolen.

www.thedrive.com

Tesla Model Y Tows Semi Trailer Until It Can’t Anymore, Driver Flees

The EV was spotted dragging the 53-foot trailer all over town before the driver ditched it near a gas station.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
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I just realized earlier today that as of a week or so ago I've owned my 2011 Volt for 6 amazingly trouble free years. My wife's 2012, which we sold and then was re bought by my son (and is in our driveway again as I type this), the car which originally started this whole thread saga was close to 7 years ago.

Both still going strong with minimal to zero repairs aside from minor stuff. My total cost of ownership including things like brakes and one minor emissions related repair a few weeks back I'd mentioned here has been something in the range of $500. Hands down the best car I have EVER owned despite the naysayers in the early parts of this thread.

The same can be said for the most part (maybe another $750 in repairs vs mine) on the 2012 as well, still going strong with something like 260,000km on it now as well.

And this thread is also coming up on 7 years old.

Holy **** where have the years gone.
 
bakaboy said:
Very happy with the plugin hybrid Niro so far. No complaints on the local haul or long distance runs.

Kid has a Kia Sentos. Very happy with it 3 years in. 75 000 kms
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I’m sure I asked this….how far on just EV in real world?
 
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