Rangeis not guaranteed. In freezing temperatures, it is safe to expect at least a 10 percent degradation of battery power. The battery cells are all huddled together, like train passengers waiting on the platform. In extreme subzero temps, as was the case with Soul EVtesting in Swedish Lapland, near the Arctic Circle, cold weather degradation can be up to 50 percent.
We left the Soul EV exposed after a full charge for 12 hours in freezing weather on the top of a parking garage to wind chills in the single digits and temps in the teens. It had 91 miles of range when we left; it was down to 74-mile range when we got back in. Remarkably, after two minutes of driving, the range went back up to 90 miles. All the heat generated from the butt warmers and steering wheel and climate control heated the cabin, which heats the battery in the floor. While it may be problematic to leave the Soul EV exposed in such cold with only a quarter battery left, most plug-in owners wouldn't do that anyway.
The Soul EV can be programmed to heat itself for 15 minutes before you get in, as long as it's plugged into the grid. Remote programming is available through a smartphone app.
Kia's UVO infotainment system is customized to the EV, providing a list of the nearest chargers on a real-time basis, from nearby dealerships to public chargers to Charge Point stations. We had no idea how many chargers were available to us in the Chicago area.
While the interior of the Soul EV is not nearly as striking as the Soul ! (top-of-the-line Soul Exclaim), it is in line with Kia's holistic design philosophy. Many plug-ins get higher-grade trim levels standard to support the EV premium, but instead of the exclamation point, Kia used the symbolic equivalent of recycling arrows. More
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