... I'd love to see some photos around the motor and gearbox area, preferable from underneath. I did see one today on display by a dealer at a (county-fair type) show today and poked my nose as far as possible under the hood but couldn't make out much. I can see however that it is a much-evolved design from our legacy EVs.
Of course they're going to be better, but the next year that one'll be better. I am going to drive my ancient old '19 until her little copper coils grow cold. I cannot afford to trade in cars unless there's a serious problem with the current one. I wish I could though!
The Hyundai/Kia eSoul, Ioniq, 2019-2023 Kona and 2019-2022 Niro all have a similar mechanical architecture to the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3 and similar-vintage EVs, a water-cooled "dry" motor bolted up to a simple 2-stage gear reducer. With the E-GMP EVs Hyundai/Kia have now moved on to an oil-cooled "wet" motor design, tightly integrated with the gear reduction unit. This is the same architecture most other current EVs use; the Chevy Bolt, Model 3/Y, Ford Mach-E, to name a few. The VW iD3 and 4 also use a closely-integrated powertrain, but retain the water-cooled dry motor. The 2023 Niro is a minor mystery because the motor torque has been inexplicably 30% lower than our cars but the power is the same 150 kW. It's not clear why this is and I'd like to clear that up. My quick look under the hood did not reveal much but I can see that it's quite different, at minimum to accommodate a frunk. I expect the 2024 Kona will have the same drivetrain.
However, the electric motor, which is similar in design to the one used in the EV6, is generationally new. It has an integrated reducer and now also oil cooling. Source of information:https://fdrive.cz/clanky/test-za-volantem-nove-kie-niro-ev-nejen-nove-jmeno-prvni-jizdni-dojmy-9539
The reduction gearbox is completely different.According to the manual, it has a filling of 2.8-2.9 litres. Oil ATF SP4M-1. The old model had 1.05l.
I think because of the volume of oil, the engine is flooded and therefore cooled by the oil. I have not verified this ?!??
It's clear to me from the links and oil capacity you provided that it's a "wet" type motor, not flooded precisely but continually wetted for cooling and optionally bearing lubrication. The oil capacity essentially proves that. What we have is the E-GMP mechanical architecture but with a 400V motor installed instead of 800V. Aside from a wet motor, it would also correct the geometric overconstraint present between the motor and GRU input shaft by having two or three bearings in total instead of four. Hyundai/Kia are learning from mistakes that have caused grief for some owners, they just can't admit it. This should hopefully put an end to the risk of the "tapping noise" and dirty oil issues. This model Niro should really have its own forum as there will be little in common with the outgoing model. I fully expect the next Kona to use the same powertrain.
I think you have described and summarized the issue of the new engine very well. We just have to hope that the new engine will be truly maintenance free for the life of the car.
