Corporate Stupidity

[jray3]

Of course Mitsubishi bungled the marketing of I-MiEV and blew the potential of Outlander PHEV in the US market, but at least the vehicle reliability and durability has been superb. Other corporations with lesser designs are compounding their shortcomings with poor handling of warranty and recall issues. GM’s initial response to the Bolt fires, Chrysler’s stop-sale only one week after launching the Pacifica Hybrid, and Ford’s failing Mach-E contactors come to mind, but my current source of amusement is KIA.
I bought a used SOUL EV betting on being able to exercise the battery warranty, due to their selection of a LiPo battery and allowing DCFC at very high amps all the way up to 94%. So, after 83k miles, my SOUL SOH was only 65% and I turned it in for battery replacement, getting an Enterprise rental in return. KIA refused to lend me a new EV6 (of course), and wouldn’t EVen attempt to line up another used SOUL EV, so they’re paying Enterprise $57/day for my use of a Grand Cherokee, probably for at least 6 months! Now that I’m finishing up a 2300 mile family road trip, I’ll see if they’re willing to pay, say $45/day to let me find my own solution, as I’ll mainly park this 23 mpg hostage until the SOUL is restored in another 6-8 months. A fellow SOUL EV owner finally got his battery after a nearly 9 month wait, and the rental bill to KIA was over $11k!!
The initial response to letting me find my own substitute vehicle was that I could submit receipts and apply for reimbursement after I get the SOUL back, but no guarantees!!

 

[PV1]

(This could end up being a very long thread)

The fun continues with Chrysler. There is a new (yet another) fire recall, this time related to the drive battery. I haven't confirmed, but I suspect they also use LG pouch cells and are suffering the same problem as Chevy. They have no idea on a fix and have advised owners to not charge the vans.

 

[pbui19]

I was wondering about whether the high charging profile in these up&coming EVs is detrimental to the pack longevity. I recall DCharging my pokey ChevyBolt and relishing the high rate on the BMW, Hyndai, Kia, Porsch.... These rates even made my 101kw max on my Telsa 90D seemed pokey. My guess is it is due to consumer demand.

 

[JoeS]

I had to laugh at jray3's example of Corporate Stupidity regarding the rental car for warranty repair. I guess the dealers don't care as they're reimbursed by Corporate for anything dealing with warranty.

pbui19, when I first read your post I couldn't help but think what role Marketing plays in corporations. Buzzword metrics such as charging speed in BEVs appeal to clueless dabbling potential customers, without thought of the consequences which make that corporation's engineers cringe. Wish those same companies would spend the time in educating their customers - I came across a lady with Polestar at a dcfc charger and when talking with her I realized that she didn't even know that she could charge her car using her garage wall outlet at home!

In the case you identified, charging speed, on road trips I've often wanted to slow down the charging rate in my Tesla while enjoying a leisurely lunch, although nowadays my 2013 Tesla MS85 has been software-limited to significantly under 100kW, whereas it used to be good for a steady 115kW at low SoC. To my knowledge, no company has instituted the ability to manually reduce dcfc charging rates, as that would certainly enhance battery longevity. Pity.

Thankfully, continued battery chemistry and battery packaging and temperature control are constantly improving...