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2019 Kia Soul EV Spied, May Offer All-Wheel Drive
10 H BY STEVEN LOVEDAY 22
The all-new 2019 Kia Soul EV surfaces and we get a look.
The upcoming Soul EV will share a platform with the Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia Niro EV. This means it might come with a 64-kWh battery pack and a range of some 215-240 miles (~300-350 km), though it could only be offered with a smaller, 39.2-kWh battery pack, much like the base Kona. However, we don’t expect the Kona’s smaller pack to be available in the U.S., so we’ll see what happens in regards to the Soul EV.
More Kia Content:
The current 2018 Kia Soul EV – which is still available to order – is good for an EPA-estimated 111 miles of range. It comes with an updated 30-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The previous 27-kWh pack offered only 93 miles of range. So, the trendy, spacious crossover will see a significant and much-anticipated range bump for the 2019 model year. We also speculate that with Kia’s move to the new platform, CHAdeMO will go away and a CCS Combo fast charging inlet will be offered.
Automedia snapped these spy shots near Lapland, Finland after the upcoming Soul EV was undergoing extreme, cold-weather testing on a frozen lake. According to the information provided, the vehicle may actually offer an all-wheel-drive option, which has never been available in the past.
We don’t have any official information about the unveiling and release date for the 2019 Kia Soul EV, however, we expect to see it at one of the upcoming U.S. auto shows later this year or early in 2019.
17 photos
Categories: Kia, Spy Photos
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22 Comments on "2019 Kia Soul EV Spied, May Offer All-Wheel Drive"
Very happy to see that Hyundai/Kia are getting real about EV. It seems they want to offer a better range of products then any other builder. I just wish they will produce more units soon : the Soul and Ioniq EV looks to be hard to find in a dealership with a long waiting list.
Yes, volume is disappointing.
Lots of manufacturers are introducing lots of electric cars (BEVs) in the coming years though. I don’t think neither Hyundai nor Kia will have the widest selection. BMW, Mercedes, Audi and especially VW will all have more models to choose from soon, and I think the same will be true of Nissan and Renault. In fact several are already on a par with the two models Kia (Soul and Niro) and Hyundai (Ioniq and KONA) offer. Nissan has the LEAF and the e-NV200. VW has the e-Golf and e-Up.
I’m waiting for my KONA to be delivered, so there’s no anti-Hyundai bias here! But I just don’t think they’ll offer a wider range than others. The products they do offer however seem to continue and strengthen Hyundai’s record of delivering good quality and exceptional value. In Norway Kia also comes with by far the best warranty (7 years comprehensive warranty!) in the market, which would translate into significantly less depreciation, by far the biggest cost of car ownership.
They got 10 models plus the rumor EV SUV
That’s Kia Soul EV. Niro Phev, Niro EV, Kia Ray EV, Ioniq Phev, Ioniq PHEV, Sonata PHEV, Ioniq EV, Kona EV and Optima PHEV. So 10 electrified models and they have done more then GM
Don’t get too proud of them because those vehicles are nearly impossible to find and buy here in the USA.
Honestly, I don’t know which I find more frustrating: Car companies dragging their feet on EVs (yes, Toyota, I’m looking at you) or car companies nominally producing several models, but in such low volumes and with such limited geographic distribution they may as well be electric unicorns.
Agreed. But some are better than none and at least it’s a start. They appear to have a solid platform for multiple affordable, long-range EVs. However, they’re playing it safe, not having to worry about losing a lot of money up front. With the platform there, if the models are popular, the automakers can then increase production. Unlike Tesla, they don’t really have the option of producing high-priced, higher-margin models at first and then waiting to add the entry level, mass-market cars once the profitability is there. So instead, they release a bunch of models, try to get people excited, hope that it will catch on, and then ramp up later if and when needed. There are several automakers that really aren’t even trying, so I give Hyundai/Kia some credit. We can only hope that they don’t move forward with hydrogen, however.
10 models that GM has outsold with two. Hard to say they’ve done more.
Are you talking about Worldwide sales or just in one country?
Nope, those models together outsell GM’s plugin models. And that is by absolute numbers, GM of course being larger should mean that they sell much more than most manufacturers.
but what if GM had 10 electrified models with sales of their 2 they would be leading by now
Half of them are just rebadged Kia/Hyundai. But fact is still that you can hardly find any of them on the dealer lot even in the SF Bay Area. So, that is “below compliance” level of inventory.
Worldwide YTD sales to end of June 2018
#10 GM 24,482
#16 Hyundai 16,223
#17 Kia 15,884
http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/search/label/World
surpass gm to me since it like gm
Now they just need electric heaters in the PHEV models and actually sell them in a few places and I would be happy. There are like 50 Kia and Hyundai plug-ins of any model with 250 miles of me and 400 Volts and Bolt EVs, so almost 10x as many of the Chevy models within easy buying distance of me.
Yes, electric heaters and I’ll buy one when my (super cheap) C-max lease is done, otherwise no deal.
I hope they fix the HEAT problems that have caused all 16 SOUL EV to fail here in the Phoenix Arizona area . Our controller also shut down 2 days in a row from HEAT right in heavy rush hour traffic. She refused to drive it after that. I can’t blame her. We turned it in early on our lease. They are a hazard and I opened a National Highway Traffic Hazard case.
Who is she, your OS or a person?
This will be a really good EV, but, as long as Hyundai-Kia believe FCEVs are the future, they won’t build them in large quantities.
If you check latest automotive news in Korea, you’ll see that there are a dozen of articles where they explain how they aim to continue their FCEV development becuse that is the ultimate automotive tech for the future.
At the same time, though, they acknowledge that they are lossing huge amounts of money with each Nexo FCEV that they build.
Islamic Burqa
????
The camouflage 😉