My 2017 Kia Soul EV still has over 90% of its battery life. So no, it did not suddenly die or lose so much capacity as to be inoperable after 5 years of life as some were predicting 8 years ago. However my spouse’s 2017 ICE vehicle is in need of at least $3000 of maintenance every year for the last 3 (since no longer under warranty) just to keep it reliably running which is already over 1/2 the cost of replacing the EV battery. If the lifetime maintenance of their vehicle and mine were compared, I could probably replace my battery in a couple years and not be any more expensive and still have saved 80% in fuel costs for the prior decade on top of that. I’m glad I took the risk to buy it and the technology has just been getting better.
My 2017 Kia Soul EV still has over 90% of its battery life. So no, it did not suddenly die or lose so much capacity as to be inoperable after 5 years of life as some were predicting 8 years ago. However my spouse’s 2017 ICE vehicle is in need of at least $3000 of maintenance every year for the last 3 (since no longer under warranty) just to keep it reliably running which is already over 1/2 the cost of replacing the EV battery. If the lifetime maintenance of their vehicle and mine were compared, I could probably replace my battery in a couple years and not be any more expensive and still have saved 80% in fuel costs for the prior decade on top of that. I’m glad I took the risk to buy it and the technology has just been getting better.