While starting from the ground up is probably the best way to go about building an electric car, Kia’s Soul is nevertheless an ideal

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

vehicle to electrify. It has enough cabin roominess and cargo capacity for real practicality, while doling out a significant dose of unique style.

Kia actually claims the compact model was initially designed to accommodate electrification, with the Soul EV only requiring some structural strengthening and a beefier suspension to manage the extra battery weight. It loses a bit of rear legroom and cargo volume in the transition, but the South Korean company’s innovative plug-in nevertheless becomes the go-to EV for active-lifestyle pragmatists.

Kia also revised the funky five-door model’s styling with blocked out body-colour grille

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

openings up top and down below, the ventilation from the conventionally-powered model’s mesh grille inserts not needed anymore as there’s no longer a radiator to cool, and the aerodynamic benefits of closing them up significant. Besides, where else would they have put the plug? The now larger upper faux grille gets a sliding panel on its right side that opens to reveal two recharging outlets, while the rest of the redesign includes unique led headlamp clusters incorporating the rooftop’s robin’s egg blue colour scheme also found on the lower lip spoiler and rear bumper garnish, as well as the mirror caps, plus the “ECO electric” badges and graphics atop each front fender; the cool logo gets attached to

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

the rear liftgate too. A unique set of aerodynamically designed 16-inch five-spoke alloy wheels are done out in white with silver pockets and circled by 205/60R16 Nexen N blue EV low rolling resistance rubber. From front to back the Soul EV stands out from the crowd, let alone from its gasoline-powered equivalent.

You can forgo all the baby blue trim bits (incidentally dubbed Sky Blue Pearl in Kia-speak) if you delete Pearl White from your order form and instead opt for Electronic Blue, in which case all of the accents will be finished in Pearl White, or alternatively you can choose Onyx Black which will trim out the little EV with racy looking Inferno Red highlights, so at least there’s no excuse to go electric from the available colour palette.

Of

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

course exterior colour choice will reflect the interior’s styling scheme, mine featuring a two-tone grey and blue motif that my partner and I found quite refreshing. The soft-touch padded and stitched instrument hood was finished in the dark grey, with the rest of the dash top and instrument panel trimmed out in the lighter grey, that is until midway down the IP where it once again went dark, matching the curving extremities of each door panel, while the door inserts and door pull details were finished in the lighter grey. Likewise for the perforated leatherette upholstery, the seats’ lower and top inserts in light grey and bolsters plus outer sections in dark grey, although a nice light blue piping separated the two. Also of note, Kia surrounded all centre stack controls in a glossy body-colour white, matched by the same body-color treatment around the shifter, the top of the shift knob, and highlighting the door armrest garnishes front to rear, while attractive satin-silver accents were dispersed throughout the cabin.

All

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of this pampering is nice, but Soul EV buyers can be especially proud that their car’s premium accoutrements are friendlier to mother earth than most other cars populating our planet. Nineteen parts of its entire interior mass are derived from bio-based materials, earning the first and only UL environmental claim validation in the industry, says Kia. Additionally, Kia made sure that harmful chemicals like benzene weren’t used for painted interior surfaces, while sugar cane and corn were chosen to create the cabin’s plastics.

Frankly, I expected Kia to do something special with eco-materials as this has been done by others over the years and to omit this important benefit of EV life would’ve

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

been a mistake, but I didn’t expect the level of luxury Kia offers in the Soul EV, with that padded soft synthetic dash top also joined by soft front door uppers, whereas the door inserts were done out in a perforated leatherette to match the seat inserts. It was all very nice, giving compact buyers yet another reason to go electric. But hold on, it gets better.

As with the regular Soul, all of the EV’s switchgear and graphic interfaces are first-rate. The primary instruments are entirely made up of brilliantly clear high-resolution full-colour TFT displays that are fully active and driver programmable. Likewise, the infotainment display is one of the best I’ve ever seen in any car. The graphics are superb, resolution crystal clear and ultra crisp, colour rich and overall functionality excellent.

Along

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

with the usual audio and phone features the Soul EV’s UVO system included navigation, nice for a base yet fully stocked compact, and a separate EV screen that showed estimated range, nearby recharging stations, available battery life, and other EV-specific settings.

After an hour and 53-minute charge, which by no means fully tops up the 27-kWh, 360-volt, 192-cell lithium-ion polymer battery, the Soul EV went from an estimated 27-km range to a potential 87 km. This result flies in the face of Kia’s advertised recharging estimate of 80-percent battery capacity from empty in only 33

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

minutes, the Soul EV being one of few electric cars available with an 480-volt DC charger to meet this fantastical claim, but before you start thinking their numbers are akin to one of the federal party’s campaign promises, note that the results don’t jive because there are precious few DC charge stations in Canada as of yet. Just the same, Soul EV buyers can at least rest assured that they’re prepared for the future.

The second time I charged it, about three days later, I left it for four hours at which point it was showing a 150-km projected range, which is even better than Kia’s claimed 149-km range estimate. I also found that the Soul EV’s real range was greater than what was estimated, but that may be due to the warmth of summer and no heating required, plus my partner and I don’t use air conditioning very often, instead driving around town with our

Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press

windows down. I also rarely extracted all 109 horsepower and 210 lb-ft of torque from the AC synchronous motor, instead consciously trying to get as far as possible on a single charge.

Full power is made between 2,730 and 8,000 rpm and 100-percent of the motor’s torque arrives from standstill at zero rpm up to 2,730, yes exactly when full horsepower takes over, which means there’s so much get-up-and-go available off the line, combined with a relatively light curb weight of 1,515 kilos (3,340 lbs) in as-tested Luxury trim or 1,492 kg (3,289 lbs) in base guise, that you don’t really need to goose it. What’s more, the Soul’s single-speed reduction-gear automatic transmission is as efficient as “gearboxes” get. All of this meant that I only needed

Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press

to recharge it three times within a week’s worth of driving, the first a partial charge just after receiving it, the second a full charge that lasted the better part of the week, and the final one a courtesy charge the day before returning it.

I did all my charging at free quick-charge stations, incidentally, easily found in shopping malls and government buildings these days, although the EV comes with its own charging equipment for plugging into a regular household socket too, but expect to leave it overnight for a full charge unless you have access to a 240-volt socket, in which case its 6.6 kW on-board charger will have it topped up in less than five hours. That’s the left-side socket found in the sliding front panel previously

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

mentioned, by the way, and the same one used at all the charging stations, so Kia’s charge claim is very conservative, as you’ll remember mine exceeded their range estimate in only four hours.

You may have already figured out by the description of my test car that Kia supplied me with the top-tier version of its Soul EV. The base model is given no name other than Soul EV, whereas the top-line model is dubbed EV Luxury. The base model, which starts at $34,995 plus $1,715 for freight and pre-delivery prep, includes an impressive list of convenience and luxury features including 16-inch alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, automatic headlights, LED taillights, powered heatable and folding side mirrors with integrated turn signals, a dash-top charge indication monitor, proximity-sensing keyless access with pushbutton ignition, the leatherette primary instrument hood covering, soft-touch interior surfacing

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

and high-gloss white interior detailing I mentioned earlier, plus an electronic parking brake, a tilt and telescopic leather-wrapped multifunctional steering wheel that’s also heatable and features Kia’s driver-selectable steering-feel system that let’s you choose between Comfort, Normal and Sport settings, an Eco driving mode, a leather-wrapped shift knob, the LED instrument cluster and multi-information display I went on at length describing, cruise control, automatic climate control, bio-fabric upholstery, two 12-volt power outlets, and finally the eight-inch infotainment touchscreen with navigation, a rearview camera, and an AM/FM/MP3 audio system featuring satellite radio, USB input and more.

Right

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

about there I’d probably call a halt to the spending spree because the Soul EV is about as well equipped as most luxury cars, and as mentioned, about as nicely finished inside, but nevertheless Kia offers its EV Luxury trim for those who want it all, so for $37,995 plus freight you’ll also get fog lights, aeroblade wipers, automatic power-folding side mirrors, the leatherette upholstery and door trim I noted earlier, ventilated front seats that helped cool things down amid summer’s heat, heatable rear seats that obviously weren’t needed but would no doubt come in handy during winter, front and rear parking sensors that are always appreciated, a cargo net, a cargo cover, a 12-volt cargo area power outlet, a heat pump that allowed for EV range-enhancing climate control, and that future-think 480-volt DC fast-charging system.

While

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I was more than impressed by the Soul EV’s standard and optional features, I had one problem that I’ve never experienced before in any car. After working well for the first couple of days, the UVO infotainment system’s Bluetooth hands-free wouldn’t let me hear the other person during incoming and outgoing calls, forcing me to delete and reconnect my phone. For the sake of transparency I was using my fairly new Samsung Note 4, which has worked faultlessly with every other Kia and every other brands’ wireless phone connectivity system. What it did very well, however, was pre-cool the interior while charging, a welcome feature on a hot summer’s day. It’ll pre-heat during the winter months too.

Over and above what I’ve said already, the Soul EV should be praised for its cargo capacity,

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

which while stated is slightly smaller than the regular Soul’s total luggage volume, is still class-leading at a very sizable 532 litres (18.8 cubic feet) when the standard 60/40 split-folding rear seatbacks are upright, and an even more commodious 1,402 litres (49.5 cubic feet) when they’re laid flat. That’s a lot of loading space for any car, let alone an electric, all made possible because the Soul EV’s battery pack is a thin, flat design located below the floor, freeing space above. Most electrics and hybrids house their motive batteries in the rear bulkhead, which robs cargo space. Maybe Kia really did design the Soul to be an electric from onset?

Kia also deserves kudos for the Soul EV’s overall driving dynamics, which are very good for its compact MPV class. I’ve already commended the conventional car’s engineers multiple times for providing such capable handling through curves and excellent

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

stability on the highway, while its ride is also quite compliant, and the Soul EV gives up nothing to its gasoline-powered sibling. I thoroughly enjoyed driving it around town, never feeling harshness from the suspension, while a couple of trips on the highway showed that the little EV could certainly run with the big boys. The brakes were good as well, and not too grabby as is often the case with EVs and HEVs, the grabbiness due to regenerative braking systems that capture normally wasted kinetic energy from the braking and coasting process and then feed it back into the battery. Despite incorporating the same type of regenerative braking system, the Soul EV’s brakes were very smooth.

With all the numbers crunched and regulatory details sorted the Soul EV delivers an EnerGuide five-cycle fuel economy rating of 2.0 Le/100km in the city and 2.6 on

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

the highway, which really doesn’t mean all that much to me because, as mentioned, all the power was free. If you’re going to be recharging at home, suffice to say you’ll be saving loads compared to gassing up a conventionally powered Soul at the pump.

In the end, $35k is a lot to spend on a compact five-door hatch from a mainstream volume producer, but such is the challenge of producing electric cars these days. Kia would love to sell it cheaper, but about 40 percent of the Soul EV’s total cost can be found in that slim battery pack under the floor. It’s a problem that plagues EV producers everywhere and one that will only be solved when enough

Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press

automakers are producing enough EVs to bring the price down, plus advancements in batteries do likewise.

For the time being some of our provincial governments have stepped up to make plug-in ownership more affordable and hopefully tempt we car buyers into taking the plunge, with BC offering a $5,000 rebate, Quebec $8,000 and Ontario $8,500.

Would a $26.5k to $30k Kia Soul woo you? Even if your fuel bill was reduced to zero? Or are you motivated more by environmental issues. Either way, the Kia Soul EV is an excellent way to experience electrified motoring.
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