Antuan Goodwin/CNET

The first things that you notice about any electric vehicle is just how quietly they move as well as the seemingly effortless acceleration. The Kia Soul EV is no exception. With a zero-to-60 time of about 12 seconds and a top speed of 90 mph, the Kia isn't mind-bogglingly fast, but something about the lack of powertrain noise or vibration and the delivery of torque without interruptions for gear changes makes the EV feel more nimble than the numbers imply.

So how about those numbers? The 2015 Kia Soul is powered by an 81.4 kW AC synchronous permanent magnet motor that outputs a stated 109 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque. Like all full-electrics, the Soul EV's party trick is that it is able to deliver all 210 pound-feet of that torque from a dead stop, which makes it feel more responsive than a gasoline-powered engine of similar spec, simply because you never have to wait for it to build engine revs and power.

Kia tells me that the Soul's motor uses multilayer magnets to boost efficiency and reduce the engine whine, but it would probably take back-to-back rides to tell if the electric Kia was actually any quieter than the Ford Focus Electric or the Nissan Leaf. Suffice it to say that the Soul EV was extremely quiet during my testing at both city and highway speeds. At speeds below 12 mph or when reversing, the Soul gets a bit artificially noisy, thanks to an audible Pedestrian Warning System that softly beeps to announce the vehicle's presence.

The Soul EV gains about 300 pounds over its gasoline-powered sibling, but also gains about 60 pound-feet of instantly accessible torque. Antuan Goodwin/CNET

Despite weighing in at 302 pounds more than the gasoline-powered variant, the electric Soul surprisingly felt more planted. This is possibly due to the lack of weight transfer that comes with the interruption of power between gear changes -- because the Soul EV uses a single-speed transmission between the motor and the front wheels -- and possibly due to the 620-pound battery pack mounted under the floor, lowering the tall, compact crossover's center of gravity.

The Soul EV's suspension has been updated to compensate for the increased weight and altered weight distribution of the EV powertrain.

The flat 27 kWh battery pack is composed of lithium polymer cells and affords the Soul EV a stated range of about 93 mile from a full charge. During my testing, I was pretty spot on with the automaker's estimate, finishing up my approximately 40 mile trip with 56 percent of the battery's reserve remaining and the trip computer estimating a range of 56 miles more.

The 40 miles of my test took me through the suburbs of Palo Alto, up to highway speeds, and onto a nice and twisty bit of road as we made our way across the San Francisco peninsula to the coast. I tested the Soul's top speed of 90 mph and I hustled the EV up a steep and twisty road through the Santa Cruz mountains -- I basically drove like an auto journalist. This wasn't 40 miles of hyper-miling, so the Soul's ability to deliver on its advertised range was even more impressive.

I didn't take it easy on the Soul EV during my short test, but it delivered on the promised range. Antuan Goodwin/CNET

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