SK Innovative

Kia SOUL EV – Our favorite EV is stuck in the throes of extreme degradation and just when you think you need a new battery, our EVC lab becomes your salvation because we repair it on component level by changing cells. The vehicle that was previously driven in hot Spain left a mark on the battery cells, which apparently damaged almost half of the battery system due to poor cooling and high operating temperatures. The story here is deeper than the degradation of the battery itself, because there is also the “degradation” of the KMAG user experience, which has become extremely unfriendly in terms of conditions and fulfillment of warranty requirements. Here, the warranty on the battery, which is still active, was completely unjustified declined, because the service book (wtf is service book for EV) is missing. The already familiar story with KMAG, where we witnessed several times the rejection of the warranty for completely unfounded reasons, for example by asking for the invoice of some first service and similar “strange” stories where they tied the general warranty to the warranty of the drive system which is extremely stupid and invented just to be the reason to reject warranty. But where KMAG “bendovers you”, EV Clinic try to save you. With a short run-in test, we isolated the worst cells of the “first layer refurbish”, replaced them with LGX cells from the Hyundai Ioniq, given to us by our colleague Peter from Slovenia and a colleague from France with almost new SK Innovative cells. We had enough to repair half a battery pack. We changed all the upper “overheated” cells and made the first test, which under the new “second layer refurbish” showed an additional 8 groups in bad condition. The third layer and the test showed that the complete group 1-14 under the passenger side is extremely bad and we decided to change the complete block by changing all cells. Through the tests, we had from the initial 50 km of range, to the 85, 105 and then at the last 118 km of range, which brought the condition of the battery to a usable state for use in the next 1-2 years, where we can only hope that some aftermarket solution for cells with approximately the same dimensions will come out. Because dimension of cells about 10.5 mm is the decisive factor.
In the second layer, we had only 19 kWh of the declared 28 kWh on measurement, which is about 65% SOH or 35% Degradation. In the last “layered refurbish”, we measured a usable 22kWh, which is about 75% SOH or 25% degradation, which is a big change in any usable case. We will remove the vehicle from the list of recommendations and suggest Kia NIRO EV, which has Active thermal control with antifreeze and coolant plate with same cells.

Kia SOUL EV – Naš omiljeni EV zaglavio u mukama ekstremne degradacije i taman kad pomisliš da ti treba nova baterija, naš lab ti postane spas. Vozilo koje je predhodno voženo u vrućoj Španjolskoj ostavilo je trag na baterijskim ćelijama koje su izgleda zbog lošeg hladnjenja i visoke radne temperature oštetile skoro pola baterijskog sustava. Ovdje je priča i dublja od same degradacije baterije, jer postoji i degradacija KMAG korisničkog iskustva koji su postali izrazito extremni po pitanju uslova i ispunjavanja garancijskih zahtjeva. Ovdje je potpuno neosnovano odbijena garancija na bateriju, koja je jos aktivna, jer nedostaje servisna knjiga (wtf servisna za EV). Već poznata priča sa KMAG gdje smo nekoliko puta svjedočili odbijanju garancije iz potpuno neosnovanih razloga, trazenjem računa nekog prvog servisa i slične nebuloze gdje su opću garanciju vezali za garanciju pogonskog sustava. Ali tamo gdje KMAG “otudji”, EV Clinic vrati. Kratkim uhodanim testom izolirali smo najgore ćelije “prvog sloja zahvata”, promjenuli LGX celijama iz Hyundai Ioniq koje nam ustupio kolega Peter iz Slovenije i kolega iz Francuske sa skoro novim SK Innovative celijama. Imali smo dovoljno za reparaciju pola battery pack. Izmjenuli smo sve gornje “overheated” celije i napravili prvi test koji je pod novim “drugim slojem zahvata” pokazao dodatnih 8 grupa u losem stanju. Treci sloj i test je pokazao da je kompletna grupa 1-14 ispod suvozaceve strane izrazito loša i odlučili smo mjenjati kompletan blok. Kroz testove smo imali od pocetnih 50km dometa, 85, 105 i zatim na zadnjem 118km dometa sto je dovelo stanje baterije u upotrebljivo stanje za koristenje narednih 1-2 godine gdje se mozemo samo nadati da ce izaci neko aftermarket rijesenje za celije priblizno istih dimenzija, jer debljija celije od 10.5mm je odlučujući faktor.
U drugom sloju smo imali od deklarirani 28kWh na mjerenju samo 19 kWh sto je od prilike 65% SOH ili 35% Degradacija. U zadnjem “slojnom zahvatu” smo na mjerenju dobili usable 22kWh sto je oko 75% SOH ili 25% degradacija što je u svakom slučaju veliki pomak. Vozilo ćemo maknuti sa liste preporuka i predložiti Kia NIRO EV koji ima Active thermal control sa antifrizom i coolant plate.

OEM KMAG Kia – 28400 EURO
EV CLINIC – 2000-6000 EURO
Part numbers: 37513-E4000, 37501-E4000, Mobis, SK Innovative,
Errors – Low range, Low SOH,