Kia Soul EV

The Kia Soul EV is a family-sized, uniquely styled electric car

Overview

The Kia Soul EV, launched in 2014, was Kia’s first mass market electric car. In 2020, Kia refreshed the Soul EV for the second time.

It’s a quirky electric car that is both fun to look at and drive.

It’s pretty spacious inside and would be an ideal SUV for an eco-conscious family.

It also comes with Kia’s 7-year warranty which removes a lot of the angst if you go down the buying route.

Read our short review below covering battery range on a single charge, prices and trims, charging costs and times, efficiency and performance, and more.

Kia Soul EV Price, Trims & Variants

The price of the Kia Soul EV starts at £32,845 for the base Urban trim, and goes up to £39,045 for the top spec Explore trim. Here are all the variants:

Range & Batteries

How far can you drive on a full charge of the battery in the Soul EV? In ideal conditions, you should be able to achieve the official ‘WLTP’ range in miles. However in winter, for example, electric car batteries don’t perform as well, and actual range will be lower.

This table shows both the more optimistic WLTP range, and a rough, more likely ‘average’ range for the various versions of the Kia:

Efficiency

We are all used to ‘miles per gallon’ of petrol or diesel when thinking about efficiency in traditional cars. With EVs, you need to replace ‘gallon’ with ‘kWh’. 1 kWh = 1 unit of electricity. So the ‘miles per kWh’ measure tells you how many miles you can go on 1 kWh of electricity – the higher the number the better.

Here’s data for the Soul EV, together with an equivalent in miles per gallon (yes, electric cars really are that efficient!):

Charging Times & Costs

If you have off-street parking, the best and cheapest place to charge your Soul EV is at home. Depending on your home energy tariff, you’ll either charge at a standard flat rate or at a lower off-peak rate. The 0-100% charge times below are a ‘worst case’ scenario – typically you will charge 1-2 hours a day, or maybe go for a longer charge on just a couple of days a week.

Charging at Home on an Off-peak rate of 10p per kWh

Charging at Home on a Peak rate of 34p per kWh

When you’re on a trip, you can get a quick boost at a rapid charger. These vary in terms of charging speed and you are also limited by the Soul’s maximum charging rate. Take the 10-80% charging times with a pinch of salt – the charging rate will gradually decrease and times are often longer.

Charging in Public at a 50 kW Rapid Charger at a rate of 50p per kWh

Charging in Public at a 150 kW Rapid Charger at a rate of 60p per kWh

Charging in Public at a 350 kW Rapid Charger at a rate of 70p per kWh

Performance

The Kia Soul EV, like all pure electric cars, has its wheels turned by one or more electric motors. The motors themselves are powered by a lithium-ion battery. Battery + electric motor is a great combination, giving you instant torque with no gears to change.

You’ll find the Kia eerily quiet after an internal combustion engine. Here are the performance stats:

Kia Soul EV Boot Space & Dimensions

The Soul EV is an SUV, and its boot space can be further increased by folding the rear seats down. Here are all the boot and dimensions measurements:

Boot Space & Cargo Volume

Dimensions

Next Steps

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief analysis of the Kia Soul EV. We’ve focussed mainly on potentially unfamiliar electric car related items, such as batteries, range and charging.

Where to next?

1. Narrow down your EV search in a systematic way using our Car Selector tool
2. Read more about the Soul EV at Kia’s UK website
3. If you’re ready to go, consider leasing the Kia Soul EV from a low-cost broker