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

AC Charging (up to 7KW) uses the onboard charger. It converts 120-240VAC to ~400V DC for the battery.
DC Charging (10s of KW) bypasses the onboard charger. The car gets straight ~400V DC for the battery.

Nothing bypasses the Battery Management System (BMS). It needs to run all the time to monitor and rebalance the cells.

 

Ther goes that hypothesis; -p

 

I really doubt the mode of charging has any impact. The only common element from the minimal information released is that many were on-charge at the time, but I suspect that has more to do with being at 100% and/or cell-balancing rather than any relation to the charging speed.

I meant DC in that statement, kudos to those paying attention!

 

I had the 960 campaign BMS update successfully done today to my Kona. A couple things to note:

• My Kona was built January 2019 in Korea
• "Aux Battery Saver" is indeed gone from the Utility menu
• My SoC & GoM mileage was the same when I picked it up as when I dropped it off
• AC & DC charge settings were both set to 100% (I usually do 90% AC, 80% DC)

I'll be curious to see if my Kona doesn't get a recall notice eventually since the BMS update is done.

 

I had the update done a few months ago.

• My Kona plate says December 22, 2018
• Aux Battery Saver is gone from the menu
• My GoM has gone up massively (>20% -- it generally reports ~300 miles when full) since the update and that increase seems accurate. Both for city driving as well as a recent 120 mile trek to Cleveland. It said ~310 miles when I started and when I got there the estimate had decreased by almost exactly the miles traveled -- and those were almost all at 73-78 mph (not exactly peak efficiency).
• AC and DC charge are both set to 100%, but I've only DC charged once and that was before the update. I generally charge on a Level 2 charger at work, and now at home (thanks COVID).

 

Updated on Hyundai Canada's site today with a recall for my 2019 Kona built April 3rd 2019.

Seems so far they keep saying when the vehicle is fully charged there is an issue. I never charge more than 80% unless it's a long trip (none of those now with covid). Will keep doing that and keeping it outside for now.

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Ah well there goes my worry free charging theory

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From NATSA:

October 13, 2020 NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V630000
Lithium-Ion Battery May Short Circuit

An electrical short in the Li-ion battery increases the risk of a fire.

NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V630000

Manufacturer Hyundai Motor America

Components ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Potential Number of Units Affected 6,707

Summary

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Kona Electric vehicles. The lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery may short-circuit after it is fully charged.

Remedy

Hyundai will notify owners, and dealers will update the Battery Management System (BMS) software and inspect the Li-ion battery, replacing it if necessary, free of charge. Owners are advised to park their vehicles outside and away from structures until the repair is complete. The recall is expected to begin December 11, 2020. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 196.

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

2 Affected Products
Vehicle

MAKE MODEL YEAR

HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 2019-2020
2 Associated Documents

• Recall Acknowledgement RCAK-20V630-6127.pdf 244.646KB
• Defect Notice 573 Report RCLRPT-20V630-7305.PDF 214.468KB

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So they still don't have anything close to a plan for what the remedy is.

 

They likely need time to get their logistics in place globally.

 

Well, it is clear that on the logistics end of things they don't have anything set up right now.

 

If they really need to replace a significant amount of battery packs and if they actually knew what they were doing( I don't believe they do) from a logistics perspective I can see this taking at least a year to complete. Its looking like we are going to see more burn cars before this is sorted, Korea has had the bulk of them only because they have over 30,000 Konas in the fleet. Statistically speaking we are overdue for another North American vehicle.

 

Does anyone know what the build date was of that Montreal Kona?

 

News reports say he bought it in March of 2019. Work backwards from there to come up with a guesstimate.

 

I know in the articles it says it was bought in March 2019 so maybe sometime within two months of that? (Going off my April build date and pickup at end of May in Ottawa)

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Just beat me to it

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They don't even have a clear idea as to the cause yet. They believe that they can detect abnormalities ahead of time with software tweaks. They also claim that cars with the BMS update haven't caught fire - is this true? Don't know.

 

Well, I bought mine in April/2019 (possession on May 1) and the build date was Dec 27, 2018. In Canada, there was lots of inventory available right up to April/2019 because of the announced May 1 fed subsidy coming online at that time.