High-Pitched Motor Noise

I had the motor replaced yesterday! the hissing sound still persist. it is really annoying

 

the tapping sound in cold is gearbox. mine started tapping when it went below -10 c

 

It is a high pitched noise (constant alont all RPMs, gets louder on acceleration or deceleration, aka when electrons are moving around) , if you're an older gentleman you would probably not hear it

 

I have always had the hissing sound, even after the motor replacement. Its mostly evident when your windows are down in summer and when I'm driving by a building or another vehicle and the sound seems reflected back into the car. I can't hear it in cooler temperatures. Its present on acceleration and regeneration. I suspect it more of an inverter/ electronics harmonics related sound than the actual motor. I believe its feature sound and there really not much we can do about it. I agree it can ruin an otherwise pleasantly silent driving experience.

 

I have never had the hissing sound (just the VESS), so don't know what that is.. But re tapping sound, they first replaced my gearbox for that, but the sound came back within 400 kms. Then they also replaced the motor, and it has been good ever since then.

 

Its like the sound made by Cicadas, if you cue to 3.20 minutes of the following video it is a pretty darn close approximation of the Kona hiss sound

 

Haha, no, never heard that,... from the bug or my Kona...

 

Exactly this!
It’s electronic frequency range and unfortunately is unavoidable. It’s the frequency at which the electric motor inverter operates at lower speeds. Manufacturers can quite easily get around this by using motors that run lower speeds at a frequency undetectable by the human spectrum. For example - Tesla’s motor at lower speeds operate at a frequency completely undetected by humans.

You’ll also notice that many owners who “do not” have this “issue” are generally older. This is due to frequency loss at certain ages. Everyone’s ears lose the ability to hear certain frequencies at different ages.

As an example - a neighbour of mine bought a 2021 model Kona EV (I own a 2019). The day he picked up his car, I could hear him turning onto our street a couple hundred meters away, just by the high-pitched noise alone.

He was never once able to hear it. There’s about a 25 year age gap between the two of us.

I have spotted a few Kona’s In the wild, every one has had the same frequency pitch, as well as any at my dealership that I’ve seen.

Unfortunately, it’s just something we need to live with.
It’s a shame Hyundai didn’t chose to adjust step voltage a little higher so that it would be in a range that we couldn’t hear.


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I don't believe that. This came up a couple years ago after I first got my Kona when some people complained about the noise. And some of these were not young either. I asked friends and family (young ones, too) if they could hear any such sound. None could, so I know my car doesn't do it.

Why some cars do make the sound, I can't say. But it is not all, that's for sure.

 

I would disagree with this.
Every single person I’ve tried to explain the noise to has had no idea what I was talking about until I REALLY dug deep in explaining what they were looking for. Even the half a dozen Hyundai techs (including an engineer that was sent over from Korea to diagnose another issue with my car) were unable to hear it until I spent about 10 minutes explaining it to them, going on drives (particularly slowly, and beside concrete walls) and pin pointing the precise sound before the aha moment of “ohhhh that noise!” is finally achieved. Everyone’s initial response is “oh yea, that’s the VESS” and I have to tell them to listen “beyond” the VESS. We as owners are more sensitive to the sound because we live with it daily.

I’m definitely not calling you a liar, but I’ve been within close proximity to, I would guess, 20-30 Konas from all model years (most recently an EV show before covid shut us down) - every single one has the hissing noise. I’ve been at the dealer with my vehicle when they unloaded a shipment of brand new Kona’s - I went outside to watch the unloading process and sure enough - every one made the noise while driven onto the lot.

Also, this isn’t a localised issue - it’s been reported from Australia to Canada and in between. The engineer from Hyundai Korea explained the frequency pitch to me, and having to dig way back into my own engineering degree days - pitch/frequency modulation makes absolutely perfect sense.

So I suppose congratulations are in order as you, my friend, are the sole owner of a silent Kona EV.


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Well, if the sound is that hard to find/hear, I certainly can't call it an issue. I know I tried everything to hear mine (with others in the car) windows open, going by concrete hard walls. Nothing!! I think you may be confusing it with the VESS, esp when you say you heard it it on cars driving onto a lot.

In any case, that is the least "issue" I would be concerned with my car. If it was so major, you would be hearing a lot more about it, incl reviewers.

 

Brennan,
Long time no hear! I thought you'd ditched your car ages ago and disappeared from the forum. Was very surprised to hear you still have it.

 

Lol agreed.
I think I started this thread 2 years ago when I first got my Kona. Now, it’s a joke in comparison to the plethora of other issues facing the car. Mainly this battery debacle *eye roll*


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Hahaha thank you Sir,
Yes - still have it and still love it! Life got busy - met a girl, fell in love, bought a house, got engaged - amazing what can happen in one short year! Not to mention COVID. Trying to ease back into these forums day by day.

Mainly just seeing what’s been happening with this battery recall! What a difference between us and our friends to the south. Seems they’re all getting fair buy-back offers while our only option is to wait for a battery replacement.

Long and short of it is - this is my only car and we have a ton of camping trips booked for the summer. The 80% max now means I’ll have to borrow an ICE vehicle to go about my daily life. Not overly happy but I guess that’s what we get for being an early(ish) adopter?

Great seeing familiar faces (handles) again though!
Happy to be back!


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You really shouldn't worry about charging to 100% when you need it.

 

Mine makes this sound too.. I don't really notice it unless I'm close to walls either, so doesn't really bother me that much. It's made this sound for the whole 35k miles I've driven it, so I've gotten pretty used to it.

 

Ditto,
I’m at 60k KM and it’s done it ever since!


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Hahah you’re absolutely right!


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