There Is A Problem With Battery Cells, Kia Recall Soul EV

Kia Soul EV 2018. (Doc. Kia)

JAKARTA - The South Korean car company, Kia, withdrew the 2015-2019 production Soul EV model. The cause of the withdrawal was due to the potential for a short circuit in the battery pack.

The company recalled the electric hatchback as many as 2,689 units although only one percent are expected to show symptoms of problems in batteries. Previously, three incidents have been reported (two in the US and one in Canada), it can be confirmed that no one was injured in the incident.

Kia first became aware of the problem in May 2022, when a diler saw smoke billowing from the battery ventilation under passengers during the examination period on the 2017 model Soul EV. However, as reported by Carscoops, Wednesday, April 5, 2023, it turned out that the damage was caused by heat in the battery of high-voltage vehicles.

Then, the second case occurred in October 2022. At that time, the owner of the vehicle was behind the wheel seeing smoke, and the vehicle slowed to stop. However, the damage occurred only in the battery part.

The last case occurred in Hawaii, when a driver complained of hearing explosions and smoke billowing from the bottom of the 2018 Soul EV cupholder.

According to Kia, if the vehicle does not fully charge, or has fluctuations lower than normal, or the EV warning light is on, this is a sign that problems arise.

The manufacturer identifies all the vehicles that have problems, but the effort to extinguish fires using water hampers problem solving. For example, Kia knows that a short circuit occurs between anode and cathode in battery cells. However, no such reason can occur. On paper, the amount of abnormal deposits in the battery can cause problems.

To overcome this, Kia has developed the latest software for battery management systems that should be able to detect abnormal battery cell voltages prior to short circuits.

The manufacturer will immediately contact customers on May 26 and ask them to return their vehicles to the dealers, where the software can be installed.