RECALL) KONA EV - BMS UPDATE and 20% Reduce cell capacity

"HMC confirmed that the BMS update associated with the previous service campaign could detect the early onset of an internal short, illuminate a warning light, and limit vehicle's power until the diagnostic code is cleared".

Good news here.

 

Article about EV fires:

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/10/15/battery-fires-may-slow-the-ev-revolution/amp/

 

They could have told us this 6 months ago.

 

Anyone have any insight as to whether Level 1 charging is safer than Level 2?

 

I think I sort of said that earlier in this thread

John.

https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/recall-kona-ev-bms-update-and-20-reduce-cell-capacity.9707/page-2#post-111605

 

The advisory needs to be simple and direct, and come from Hyundai ...

 

L1 and L2 are way lower powers than rapid charging, driving or regen so unlikely it would make any difference

 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1129993_fire-concern-prompts-stop-sale-us-recall-for-2019-2020-hyundai-kona-electric?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

I suspect I am in still in limbo until they formally decide what the 'remedy' actually is. But that's really just my guess - who really knows. Hyundai's lack of communication is probably the most irritating thing here, but a lot of other companies in a similar position would have also tried the deer-in-the-headlights strategy.

 

I don't think that hyundai is 100% sure yet what exactly causes the issue and don't have a remedy yet.. They may be waiting until they know all the details about the problem and a solution for it..
I just hope that the solution does not include a range reduction.. My voltages are within 0.02 volts, so I doubt that my battery pack has issues..

 

Hey Kenny welcome to the forum, its neat to have a contributor from South Korea.
Looks like they did a flakey software update, do you know if they changed his battery or any other details?

 

Thank you Kenny, lots of interesting info on the Korea EV forum. From my initial survey it looks like the recall so far is just another BMS update that increases its sensitivity to undisclosed variables. If it detects a problem the BMS will flag with a warning light, cease charging and prevent the car from starting. At that point Hyundai will inspect the battery in consideration of new battery pack replacement.

There is some anecdotal information from folks who have already completed the recall in Korea suggesting a decrease of 3% in available SOC after update, and some folks experiencing 1Kw/h charge rates when SOC reaches 90% and the charge rate may subsequently increase( sounds like it may be also regulated by other variables ? battery temperature),folks are having a hard time selling their used Kona EVs as no buyers want them now and there is some movement already on a class action lawsuit in Korea(loss of residual value and mental anguish). It does not look very good at all.

 

Interesting that their official docs indicate no advertised range/SOC change: https://cafe.naver.com/allfm01:

"5. Doesn't the state of charge (SOC) decrease when receiving the BMS update this time, reducing the range available?

- no. In this update, only the sensitivity (measurement cycle/item, etc.) of the'monitoring while parking' logic of the BMS (High Voltage Battery Management System) has been changed. Since there is no change in the SOC, the range that can be driven is not reduced."

 

[QUOTE="apu, post: 112638, member: 13823]folks are having a hard time selling their used Kona EVs as no buyers want them now and there is some movement already on a class action lawsuit in Korea(loss of residual value and mental anguish). It does not look very good at all.[/QUOTE]

I believe Hyundai really shot themselves in the foot on this one. They were trying too hard to increase their EV's estimated range, by squeezing too much on its 64kW/h battery. The problem may very well be with people topping their EV to 100% SOC, when a bad cell may short circuit, and Hyundai's smaller-than-usual 3% buffer capacity. I had always set my SOC to 80% (except once a month 100% cell balancing....not sure if I will be doing that now), avoided DC fast charging, and had no problems (yet) with my Kona EV. From a bad decision that led to 14 fires, which could potentially lead to more....Hyundai is now trying to salvage their EV brand with software battery patches (some of which I do not even know if they had tested it out thoroughly).

It is a good car, in my honest opinion, but is getting really bad press now. Hyundai's un-open-ness about this whole issue isn't helping things either. Well, maybe they are scared of lawsuits, that's why they are keeping their lips shut, but the cat is out of the bag now.

 

The battery is definitely bigger than 64kw. I don't remember which youtuber it was but they actually tested how much kw available space there is in the battery and it was pretty much 64kwh. (I believe that it was Bjorn Nyland). So, the battery has to be at least 66 to 67 kwh. Also, why would SoC BMS show 95% on a new Kona if the SoC Display shows 100%?? Looks like a 5% buffer to me...

 

FWIW, My 2021 was at 50% today and the GOM showed 255km range left.