Long drives are getting more feasible all the time, as the DC charging infrastructure improves. Sadly in Europe, Ionity (who are the largest provider of DC charging stations along the highways in several countries) have just changed their pricing structure, meaning they're now about twice as expensive per kilometer than buying gasoline or diesel. Government granted monopoly strikes again as they in many places simply have no competition because governments don't allow anyone to set up competing charging stations...

and a 150km back... I just can't sit for more than about 90 minutes, even in a car as comfortable as the e-Soul (yes, I own one and love it).

CaptainDuckman I also drive a E Soul with a range of only 130 miles at best at the height of summer. Yet, I enjoy driving to London every second weekend and make One stop on each leg of the journey on the M1 motorway. Not a problem. Just a little bit of planning. Currently I’ve saved almost £2000 in running costs.

My foot hurt, my back hurts and I have to pee after about 2 hours of driving a car. I always seem to see these anti-ev people who say "I need to drive 600 miles nonstop" and I can't imagine that. They must drink no water and eat no food for 6 hours, and then pee into bottles while driving. On my last 500 km trip I needed to stop for two breaks, and I charged while I stopped. I don't see the charging being that big a deal so long as the fast chargers are situated near restaurants and bathrooms.

CaptainDuckman: The seats in my 2005 Volvo V50 are so ergonomically great that I managed to drive 2x10 hours straight with a 10 minute pit stop in between. I drive 200km every day to and from work non stop. Never had any issues with my back (not even a sore bum lol). However, my back could only take one and a half hours of continous driving in my previous car (Lancer GLi 94), so the seats in my Volvo are quite unique. That being said, I really want the e-soul!

Thanks. Interesting idea with a basket under the bonnet. I guess one of those Ikea boxes should do fine. As for rear legroom, I didn't go into detail in this review, but I noticed because of the batteries the floor in the back is rather high, so an adult sits with legs perched much higher, than one would like. Charging only what you need is something I'm trying to convey to my viewers. I noticed many people focus on the high price of DC charging, and the fact it would be very expensive to fast charge to 100 percent every time :) I guess it is something that needs to be regulated with different pricing schemes depending on the country. A flat plug-in fee won't work in Poland, because you'd get people occupying the chargers all day long.

The charging network is growing, but as of December 2019 we had just over 700 AC chargers and less than 300 DC chargers. So still a long way to go. BUT in April 2019 we only had 400 AC chargers and 200 DC chargers.

Thanks!

Typical Polish driver.

Nothing special, thankfully it was straight, quite flat and dual carriageway road. I see people going 180+ on narrow country roads with many curves there, so you see a soft version of our reality there ;)

I noticed that too, if it were me driving the soul, I would have take it up to around 140km/h on average (if it can). dont know how much impact it would do to the range.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Much appreciated!

I know, but this is what viewers want to know. Driving it around town I can easily achieve 450-500 km. It would take me 3 days though :)

As an EV driver I actually think these road trip videos are useful. The days of EVs only being usable in the city are long gone. I have the original BMW i3 and easily could take it on 300 mile road trips (completed in half a day).

@Darcer's Tech the i3 is a challenge in Poland. Even with REx petrol stations were barely often enough. But with a 50+ kWh battery you can (if you really want to) drive around Poland without too much hassle.

@@MarekDrives I am from Slovakia, so do know what you mean, but have just looked at the Greenway map and the infrastructure seems to have improved massively. Is reliability the issue? (Density of the chargers seems good enough.) For any EV, pre-conditioning while plugged in helps a ton.

@Darcer's Tech so far I never had an issue with a Greenway charger, and I don't think I ever saw anyone using it :) I usually meet people on free chargers (these will start charging money as well quite soon). I know, I always precondition the car, especially before a longer journey like this one, when every kilometer counts. Speaking of Greenway, when I first started planning a road trip like this in early 2019 the DC charger nearest to Zakopane was in Slovakia :) Over 2019 fast chargers started appearing all over the place. Most people don't know about them, but why would they? It's once you switch to electric you start noticing them.

Just 'Skarżysko kamienna' 😂 greetings from Poland ✋

It translates into something like "complainment stone" :)

I'm not bothered. In Poland driving 140 on the motorway (which is the top legal speed) you'd be intimidated, as people tend to drive much faster. No speed cameras on the motorways. I find it amazing that Poles claim: 1. car speedo always indicates lower speed than GPS, therefore you can drive with GPS-indicated speed 2. there is usually 10 km/h tolerance, so you can drive GPS speed +10 3. police is not going to give a toss if you're driving 20-30 over the limit, so you can drive at GPS speed +10 tolerance +30 for a good measure. By now you're doing indicated 190 on the motorway. And if you ask the driver WTF were they thinking, they'll ask WTF is your problem? :)

I understand what you are saying. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. With a bit of planning (i.e. you know the area) you are able to gain sufficient momentum going downhill (even with recuperation) to climb the next smaller hill using mainly kinetic energy. And yes, ultimately it will even out, as you will finally have to climb back to where you started. Perhaps it's a bit of optimistic calculation from the computer, but judging by the distance driven and the range displayed, recuperation in the e-Soul is very effective. That being said, cars like these are best suited for city driving, where aerodynamics play little role, and the car brakes or costs quite often.

Latem z klimą 450 bez problemu.

@@MarekDrives jadąc 100kph.. U nas to prawie niemożliwe chyba że się używa boczne drogi.. Conajmniej 110 potrzebne żeby ciężarówki nie wyprzedzaly tutaj

@@MarekDrives wszystko też zależy jak gorąco na zewnątrz..

@Toronto Electric Vehicle Association TEVA 27C wystarczy?

@@MarekDrives e tam spróbuj nasze 40c z wilgocią haha

I drove the e-Niro in +27 C with AC, and I got 450 km range out of it. Here I used the heater, heated seats, heated steering wheel. Everything was on.

EVs easily beat LPG cars when charged at home and regarding maintenance and road tax!

If you have free electricity at home then yes, otherwise no. Maintenance together with depreciation is probably worse on the EV. Road tax is depending on the location my county doesnt have it.

@@zsoltpapp3363 Why free? I said cheaper. Here in the Netherlands electricity costs €0,22 at home. Modern battery tech lasts long and there is barely any maintenance on EV's.

If you have solar panels, it's free energy

@@DonHrvato You must pay for solar panels :-)

DonHrvato well, surprisingly in Belgium, we do have to pay electricity companies for the use of their networks...so it’s not completely free here

Average was 17.7kWh/100km. 33pln = 7.68eur. So thats just over 0.43eur per kWh. According to statista Poland electricity rates are around 0.98eur per kWh so this charger is taking over four times the national average. Looks like everybody is green until there is money to be made. Then they are greedy.

@@DonHrvato Free energy that you already paid for the panels to make. You will also have to pay when those panels need to be repaired or replaced and how fast can they charge the car again? 64kWh with an average constant yield for a normal home system of around 0.6kW means it would take around 106 hours from empty to full. Or not far off four and a half days. Of course that would be presuming the car could accept such a loow rate which it can't so you will also need a battery array, controllers and the power transfer will take however much longer that adds and need however much more energy generated to make that work. Thats the better part of a week to charge a car.

I talked about it in the video, and it's all linked in the description. Here's the e-Niro in +27C kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iMd4a7iJldnKm4k.html Here's the Kona Electric top legal speed kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i8iimLaHx9mxkac.html

We're talking medium range cars, not city cars. But OK, 150 would be even better.

Noted!

@@MarekDrives It was just a joke. Have you ever a dutchman heard talking English include myself. I have deep respect for the way you present and film your reviews. Imho you have one of the best automotive channels on the tube. With kind regards Robert

The only Dutchman I know enough to pay attention to his accent was this guy we did impressions of Pulp Fiction with. So we were aiming for Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta :)

@@MarekDrives Haha french fries with mayonees we fucking drown them in it. Great movie ! I was just watching ypur suberb Ioniq 5 review.

Yes, this was the first time I tried french fries with mayo :)

Average speed. If you want quicker, here's a top legal speed run video kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i8iimLaHx9mxkac.html

it'd go up to about 19 KWh/100km doing 110. Based on my personal use of my e-Soul.

Yes, I think it's the best price/range combination currently available on the market.

That's true. Unless you live somewhere where only pure EV is favoured, you'd be better off with a PHEV.

1 kWh from a 230V socket costs about 15 cents, so it's not that much more expensive, than in the US. Also we have 230V, so even at home the car will charge much faster, than from a 110V socket.

@@MarekDrives Regards voltage: all housing in America (even condo) equipped 110V and 230V. Electric Cars in Europe are very good potential for now and in the future as well. USA-Canada - (not yet), usually long distance to drive, and only Tesla best one on the market.

It's not allowed to drive 160 in Poland. This should answer your questions: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i8iimLaHx9mxkac.html

@@MarekDrives what about 120km/h?

The rear end of the car or Marek?

@@kevinn1158 Marek's rear end is beautiful, I'm talking about that horrendous car.

personal preference, I like it. And as the driver I don't see it anyway and the interior, the important part, is brilliant.

@@jwenting You have to like it now, since you own it 😂

@@Sh0tD0wn if I didn't like it I'd not have bought it but opted for the Niro or Kona instead :)

Why would they? It was never a sporty car, and it never had a sporty version.

@@MarekDrives It seems that somebody who reports with amusing comments missed the sarcasm in this comment. Lighten up a bit, you are not the only comedian in the world.

@Graham Johnson but I'm always deadly serious :)

yes and during this pandemic you could keep it clean with R Soul wipes...

About 5 times cheaper at home.

@home, but its much slower, however if you have solar panels it free at all

@@DonHrvato you're wrong with 'free at all', because: 1. you need to pay serveral thousands € for the devices (panels, wallbox, home battery, installation, all other stuff). if it was only 5000€, with 8€/100km rate you could drive more than 60,000kms for that money. and then: 2. you can't take the panels with you. 3. with panels you are quite limited by weather/season/latitude still, as for now, photovoltaic panels are the way to go for the future. I made a calculations that in my area (which is a little bit more south of Poland) 25 square meters of panels would provide enough energy for driving about 15,000 kms per year.

I'm sorry this is not my usual structured and scripted review, so I can't point you directly to a specific timecode. I know I mentioned this in the Polish version, so I supposed it's somewhere here as well. Over the whole trip climate control amounted to several percentage points of the total energy use. I know in cold weather battery conditioning does take a fair bit of energy, but as far as I know in warmer climate it's not as bad. Also in ideal circumstances you'd have the car plugged in for charging, and use a mobile app to a set departure time to precondition the car.

Actually the next day I drive this car around Zakopane (up and down all the time) I my range jumped from 420 after unplugging to about 550 at the end of the day after I've driven for about 100 km. It all depends on the conditions.

@@MarekDrives so had that same journey on that same day in those same conditions been flat you would have got further.

I think Volvo was testing this type of driving, but until autonomous cars are a thing, driving in another car's slip stream is illegal and dangerous. www.wired.com/2012/01/semi-autonomous-road-train-trial-is-a-success/

EV infrastructure is scarce, hence expensive. How much does 1 kWh fast charging cost where you live?

It depends, UK tariffs vary but in some cases it's 24p/kWh, 30p on the motorways, or if you have various electricity provider subscriptions, in can be as low as 15p but up to a max of 39 nowadays. I haven't checked the Ionity 250 KW/h superchargers, but likely they're around the 50p mark. If my math is right, even for a poorly efficient accessible EV pulling out 20 kW/100 kh, that's stil a max of 2.5£ rather than 8E... But I guess it makes sense given that they're not everywhere, although your government should be pushed to help with this shift towards EVs. On a side note, Soul is a boxy shape EV so that's not helpful either at high speed. Though I like it as it's querky and unusual. They just need to up their range or get better, more efficient batteries.

So in Poland if you charge at home you're going to pay (a rough conversion) something like 12-15p/kWh. And then there is basically one nationwide charging network called Greenway, which costs anything between 19 and 33p/kWh for Type 2 charging (3 hours limit before a per minute charge of 10p is added), and 25-55p/kWh for 50kW CCS/ChaDeMo charging (60 or 90 minutes limit before a per minute charge of 10p is added). So yes, if you want to be certain the charger will work, when you arrive, it will cost a lot. There are still some free options (including fast charging), but you never know if they are in working order or whether someone is using them, and for how long (there's bound to be a Tesla plugged in, and the owner is gone without leaving a phone number). Having said that the charging infrastructure has vastly improved over the last couple of years and the fact I can take a road trip like this is proof. I'm sure we'll soon get Ionity, and energy companies are also working to offer their own paid networks, which will make things easier (and ultimately cheaper). You mentioned aerodynamics and high speed. IMO in Poland the latter is the real problem. As you probably saw in the video I'm being overtaken literally by everyone. It's not because I'm going particularly slow, but because everyone else is speeding. The rule of thumb in Poland is speed limit + 5-10 km/h (because the regulators cheat, and the speedo shows lower speed than GPS) + 10% of the speed limit (because there's an unofficial grace margin) + 20-30 km/h (because the police won't stop you for a minor violation). As a result you're likely to see people driving 50 km/h or more over the speed limit, which is ridiculous. A coupe of years ago the authorities implemented a rule that people speeding 50 km/h or more within the city limits will have their license suspended for 3 months for the first violation, 6 months for the second, and revoked for third. 50+ in urban areas (sic!).

I know what you mean, infrastructure changes are going to be one of the biggest challenges in the coming years. As for dodgy driving, that's likely something embedded in each nation's blood, probably more so in Poland due do that high max speed limit. We have to settle with a 70 mph limit (115 kph), average speed cameras and plenty of 50 mph (80 kph) speed zones. But EVs are more and more popular and it's a nice shift. And the fact that you also now have the option of doing long trips in Poland is a testament to this upcoming change. I for one welcome our electron overlords.

I'd have to be right on his bumper. Otherwise there is too much turbulence :-)

@@MarekDrives I know and I'm just teasing you..I love the way you do things and tell the truth about modern cars!

It does.

@@MarekDrives in this video this esoul dont have heat pump! So consomption is so high !

@@MarekDrives and ne more time. I see on your video when you show engine bay. On the passinger side is hole there is nothing. There is the place for heat pump :p

That would be nice, wouldn't it? ;) I remember the BMW i3 with REx could barely keep up at 100 km/h. AFAIK with a portable generator you're going to get a couple of kilometers of extra range per hour, so it's purely an emergency solution.

How about you google it?

@@MarekDrives Would like to know what it was on your trip.

I have. And?

Marek Drives was there a review?

This was a 35 kW charger (the slowest paid DC charger I encountered). Normally they are 45-50 kW (apparently 100+ kW chargers are appearing in Poland as well, but these are going to be even more expensive per kW and per minute). Under normal circumstances I would have regained about 150 km range in this time for similar price.

@@MarekDrives ... Almost all reviewers or marketing strategy of electric vehicles, present them ONLY on FREE charging stations. 7.5 euro is NOT cheap for only 100-150 km, and the TIME you have to wait is also ``not cheap`` at all !!! Thank you for presenting the TRUTH !!! 👍👍👍 Kia E-soul with 64kw battery STARTS from 38000E and it is a SMALL electric vehicle ... For 38.000 - 45.000 E we have so many BIGGER conventional vehicles !

@@CristianP you can check tesla prices on supercharger, they are far more cheap.

well tesla is far better choice i would say. And considering almost everyone (around 80% of drivers) do the only city driving most of the year, you can charge at home( if you have house, and even if you have a public garage)

You are completely misinformed. Electric cars compensate for their battery production emissions within a few years of driving. Zero local emissions and modern batteries last very long. Also, they are MUCH more efficient than any ICE car, that's just a simple fact.

@@Simon-dm8zv they compensate emissions in the city they are in. No doubt. But that's a small scale way of thinking. We all live in the same planet. Please check how the recycling industry works - not in your country but I the country yours sells the waste too. Also, please check on the mining effects for the minerals needed for battery production.

Mota I was talking about global CO2 emissions. Battery production is not as bad as many people think. Oil production, refining, transportation and combustion is much much worse.

@@Simon-dm8zv if CO2 is your only measurement then yes, you're absolutely right. But there are a lot more variables to be taken into consideration. Just as an example, in my country most electricity still comes from burning coal.

Mota Almost all electricity is cleaner than diesel or petrol. Yes, even coal.

Actually I always liked the Soul's boxy design, but I know I am in the minority. This was supposed to be a hip and funky car, but (at least in Poland) you would never see a young(ish) person drive one. It was mainly bought by older people, who find it easy to get in and out. And they would always buy the base spec without the cool livery, etc. As for the EV bit, I think it did reasonably well. I decided to drive faster, because +5C would not make that much of a difference in terms of range. Maybe it it was -5C, but these days we don't get winters, like we used to. It's currently +12 outside, and it should be -12. I recently asked some top brass at BMW, what's their take on hydrogen. I was told this is something they are looking into, but 1. currently it's not a priority, 2. they think it would make sense in larger vehicles that typically are used on long-range drives, like SUVs. I assume the rationale here is that it's easier to fit a relatively large hydrogen tank in a larger car (and SUVs are all the rage anyway), and it would sell well in North America, where you tend to drive longer distances. But I'm guessing here. No, Poland never adopted the common currency, and every time there is an election approaching there is some upheaval as to whether we should adopt it or not. One camp believes keeping our currency saved us from the euro zone crisis, the other camp says as the EU pushes for further integration the euro zone countries will be closer to the decision-making core. I.e. THEY will make the decisions, while non-euro zone countries will be left on the fringes. Political and economic arguments aside, there is a strong sentiment among many Poles that keeping our national currency is important. Fun story (sounds like an urban tale, but I am willing to believe it): after introduction of the euro (which is worth slightly more, than the US dollar) cost of doing business in Russia allegedly increased as euro became the preferred bribing currency. So instead of USD100 you'd have to bribe EUR100 :)

@@MarekDrives I thought dirty money i.e. bribery went digital into the Bitcoin world now. ;) To your point about FCs, I think for sure hydrogen will be adopted for buses, trucks, maybe even commuter trains as the number of refuelling stations can be centralized and the number required won't be high. These larger vehicles will be able to have much longer ranges and refuel quickly. I'm glad Toyota redesigned their FC Mirai. It actually looks really good now. As far as the design goes, I get they are trying to be funky, but for me it comes off like a cartoon. I like boxy actually. Cars like the Rivian (except the headlights) and the Jimny are cool. There's a chiselled/purposeful feel to them like they aren't trying hard to be funky. Even that new Honda e. It's clean yet somehow retro. It's a fine line I guess. Going forward, either the battery tech will need to improve a lot with respect to recharging time or the number of charging stations will need to be increased massively. Even in Toronto, many people live in apartments. They will have to set up charging units for every underground parking spot. And many houses in the city don't have parking so "on street charging" will also need to expand exponentially. I like the idea of EVs but there's a lot of hurdles to overcome. These kind of videos are great to show everybody "real life" experiences with an EV! Great video Marek.

@@MarekDrives I'm with you, I quite like the design of the Soul as well, ended up buying one. And yes, a larger car is easier to fit the batteries and stuff needed for an electric car in than a smaller one, which is why all EVs with larger range are larger size and smaller EVs like the i3 and e-Up! have horrendous range.

@@jwenting Batteries are not that big. Remember they introduced denser batteries to the i3 without changing the size of the battery pack. I think there's also the price to take into consideration. It's easier to conceal higher price of long-range batteries in a larger car.

@@MarekDrives Batteries are still bigger and heavier than gas tanks... And most cars tend to place them in the floor to lower the center of gravity and preserve boot space, where they have to be a relatively thin layer or the car gets too tall. So you still need a pretty decent amount of area. Yes, batteries are getting smaller and denser, but we're not yet at the stage where a VW Up! can contain a battery that gives it the same range as its petrol powered version, or even close. So if you want a car with decent range you're still limited to either a larger car and/or a car with less interior space than a petrol car with the same range. I personally, as a physicist, do not see that flipping any time soon, but we'll see. And for now enjoy driving around in cars like the e-Soul :) Of course cost is also an issue, with EVs being more expensive to manufacture and most people more willing to pay that price for a larger car than for a smaller one (an e-Up with 195km MLTP range for example comes in at 23000 Euro here, the petrol version with 700km MLTP range costs 15000) there's no real reason to seriously create smaller EVs, they tend to not sell well.

Fast charging is a premium service. At home it would cost peanuts. Something like 1.5 euro.

so you are driving 550 km without stops? wow.

Yes, sometimes I do. And sometimes I need to do it without losing much time charging

@@rogeriogomesosorio4755 I dont have anything agains you, just saying for such a people there is diesel engines. But most people 80-90% do only city driving with 2-4 Vacation trips yearly, when they not drive more then 300km without break.

Wrong. EVs are very efficient. So even if you drive on coal electricity it is cleaner than any ICE car. When you charge at home you can drive for 4 euro per 100 km.

4 euro/100 km still does not worh it as you pay at least 50%-100% more when you buy the car. EV is probably cleaner i agree.