Annoying fan noise while fast charging at 70kw+

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naticom

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I am driving a 2020 Niro EV and it is capable of receiving up to 77-78kw while using a fast charger. Lately my car keeps making non negligible disturbing noise while charging at 70kw+ so apprently the noise is from the cooling system.

Seeing is believing:

(engine compartment)



(from driver's seat)
(you can hear rattling noise at some point)
(this is how quiet it should be when charging below 50kw)

I've been to a nearby Kia dealer. They didn't even bother running diagnosis for my car, just bullshitting "If you charge at more than 50kw+ you will fry your batteries", and I'm like "???". Kia advertises the car being able to go from 0-80% within 54min at a 100kw charger (in fact it can stay at 77kw for around 10 min only), and now the mechanic's telling me it'll fry the batteries?

So I'm posting here to see if any Niro EV owner experiences the same issue, and I'd be super grateful if you can let me know exactly what parts went wrong?

Thanks :D
 
Do you find the warmer the weather the more noise it makes? Based on my experience seems to be normal.
 
I didn't see the videos the first time. That does sound a bit off. Mine isn't quiet. It makes a helicopter sound (can't describe it that well) but there's no rattling. The fan sound is audible from the cabin.
 
Not sure how I missed this thread when I posted about the same problem. As this thread seems more extensive, I am reposting the other thread here.

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David T in Silicon Valley said:
I had not used DC chargers much until a recent road trip from the Bay Area to rural Colorado, backpacking etc. and back. The last two weeks I have used them a LOT.

More often than not, the fan that kicks in when I am pulling 70-ish kW makes a noise that does not sound like a smoothly turning fan. I have recorded some using voice memos, but will need to figure out what formats this bulletin board will support.

In short, it sounds like about 60 dB buzzing noise (conversational voice level), maybe around 50 Hz. Sometimes it is a quiet whir, which makes me think there is something wrong with the louder noise.

Please tell me what YOUR Niro battery fan sounds like when you are drawing > 50 kW.
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One reply:
That does sound off. My fan kicks in as well. In fact it won't charge faster than say 54kW if it doesn't kick in. But my fan sounds like a helicopter rotor noise (can't describe it well). It's not quiet like a normal fan like you can clearly hear it inside the cabin.

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Paul-ATL said:
Mine sounds the same (off) and has the whole time I've owned it. It's not a comforting sound to hear when charging!
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That is good know that I am not alone. How often do you DC charge?

Greg Elmassian said:
To me, hearing the fan period would be comforting.
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Sure, a steady whirring sound is comforting. It says "the fan is moving air through a hot battery compartment" . When I hear a rattling noise it makes me question if the fan is doing its job. Is a blade hitting the side of the cabinet eventually destroying the fan motor or bearing? Is something sticking every revolution?

More disturbing is for short periods it will sound smooth and then start rattling...rather like naticons first drivers seat video #1

A happier thought occurred to me...maybe it is spinning super fast and moving air at high volume but the design of the ducts it is blowing through is such that it builds up some standing wave resonances that are creating a water hammer like effect with a periodic density shift at the fan blade location "thwack-thwack-thwack" like in some cars at highway speed when only one window is partially rolled down.


If more people say "yeah mine sounds like that too" I will chalk it up to inefficient design. I have my 15k maintenance Friday. I might ask them to do a charging test and see what they think.
 
My 2019 does this as well when charging above 55kw approx. You can feel heat dissipating out the drivers side wheel well, and see the coolant flowing through the reservoir in the engine compartment. I actually have only recently started using fast chargers capable of exceeding 50kw, and have been noticing this sound only since then. I'm at 59000 kms, the sound is more consistent though, not as rattley as in the videos.
 
It’s actually good you are hearing it. When you Use a DC fast charger, Your battery is intaking massive amounts of KW per second. The fans need fo turn on to cool down the motor and electrical battery.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
CodysEv said:
It’s actually good you are hearing it.
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I think you missed my point. I have used a lot of fans in my life and when they makes sounds like this one it usually indicates a mechanical problem.
Does your fan sound like my recording?



I’ve heard turbo fans in high vacuum pumps, I’ve heard turbo fans in jet engines. I’ve had three different high volume attic fans in houses I have lived in, owned dozens box fans and maybe small desk fans. I’ve heard fans and household vacuum cleaners in shop vacs. I’ve heard radiator fans for ICE vehicles. I have heard central HVAC system condenser and circulation fans at single family no me and massive office building scales. I’ve heard countless CPU fans in laptops and intel desktops and whole computer cooling fans. I’ve heard fans that drive HEPA filters in clean rooms. They have a variety of different sounds; some noisier, some quieter, but none of them have sound like a fan blade hitting the side of their cabinet except when that’s been going on or occasionally when a bearing is failing but not completely stuck yet (which tends to turn into a squeal as things rub that are not meant to).

This fan sounds a lot like the fan blade is hitting something. That is not generally a good sign.

I’m somewhat relieved that others report hearing the same unpleasant noise, implying that even if something bad is going on that’s just the way it is with this car. Even if it a design defect shared with all of these cars I have a concern that at some point that fan will fail, and if I’m charging at 70 kW, I’m going to do something awful to my battery because it will get too hot. Hopefully there’s some control circuitry that will throttle down the current if the battery is hot beyond some point regardless of what the fan may or may not be doing. But that’s not ideal either(slower charging. Road trip charge stops maybe now last an hour instead of a half hour, etc.).
 
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