Kia Soul EV range, battery & charging

The Kia Soul EV has the same battery and charging technology as the top-spec versions of the Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona Electric, but its bluffer styling costs it a few miles of range. Still, 280 miles is great even by the standards of more expensive electric cars, and our test drives have suggested you’ll get some 230 to 240 miles in varied real-world driving.

Kia Soul EV range

The Soul EV’s official 280-mile driving range is one of the best at the price, and its real-world performance is similarly impressive. Our test drive over a mixture of motorway, rural and urban roads suggested it’ll do some 230-240 miles with ease in mild conditions. It betters the range of both the Nissan Leaf and Volkswagen e-Golf and easily surpasses the official claimed range of the Peugeot e-2008 and Mazda MX-30.

Charge time

The Soul EV can charge at up to 77kW through its CCS port (located in the nose), so if you can find a 100kW charging point, topping up the 64kWh battery from 10-80% takes around 45 minutes. It also comes an app that allows you to check charging status, adjust its charging parameters, set it to pre-heat and more.

The standard Type 2 charging cable provided with the car works with pretty much all the public chargers you'll find in town-centre car parks, big shopping centres or supermarkets. At home, a 7.4kW wallbox will charge the Soul EV to 100% in around 10 hours – this is how the majority of users charge their electric cars.

Also provided is a three-pin cable that allows you to plug the car into the standard power sockets in your house. It’ll take some 30 hours or more to charge using this method, though, and even Kia describes it as an emergency backup solution only.