Battery Recall for Canadian Kona Owners

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Wagnard said:
Hi all,
I just wanted to add my experience here.
On May 3, we had the "check EV system" on our Kona EV 2021. it has only about 4000 KM
But mine is dead, the car won't start. and it has since been parked at Hyundai st-Jérôme (Quebec) pending a new battery.
We are extremely surprised because the vehicle is not part of the recall.
Super sad and confidence with Hyundai is at its lowest.
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My 2021 was also not part of the recall when the battery failed. After four months (Oct/2020 - Feb/2021) I got a new battery. Two more cars burned recently, one in Korea one in Norway, I have no clue if I will get an other battery or not.
 
I just got the call from my dealership that I'm next in line for the new battery, it should be replaced in July. Hope it's the real solution
 
Alejo said:
Next at my dealership here in Montreal
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The reason I ask is that "next" implies that there are enough batteries available at your dealer that there have been others before you and more after you and if that is truly happening then I'd like to know why it's not happening anywhere else. Have you received a "second letter" from Hyundai explaining their recall plan?
 
Wildeyed said:
The reason I ask is that "next" implies that there are enough batteries available at your dealer that there have been others before you and more after you and if that is truly happening then I'd like to know why it's not happening anywhere else. Have you received a "second letter" from Hyundai explaining their recall plan?
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No, I got a call from my dealership asking me to be available during July for the replacement.
No new letters or new communications from Hyundai Canada
 
10 days after my "check ev system" light first illuminated and 9 after visiting my dealership I still have no word about what the issue is (they had no idea and were supposed to be checking with corporate) but for the last 3 days I've been getting random notifications on Bluelink that my charging cycle has successfully completed. But it does it over and over again at random odd hours. It also does it at my scheduled charging time. It's just sitting in the driveway, has not been driven and is fully charged to 80%.
I'm wondering if something untoward is going on.
 
Wildeyed said:
10 days after my "check ev system" light first illuminated and 9 after visiting my dealership I still have no word about what the issue is (they had no idea and were supposed to be checking with corporate) but for the last 3 days I've been getting random notifications on Bluelink that my charging cycle has successfully completed. But it does it over and over again at random odd hours. It also does it at my scheduled charging time. It's just sitting in the driveway, has not been driven and is fully charged to 80%.
I'm wondering if something untoward is going on.
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By your description it sounds like 1 cell (in a parallel group of 3) may be lower than the other 2 by ~hundred millivolt or more, and the BMS is trying to balance. Of course the cell won't hold that charge for long, so it might attempt this every 4 hours or whatever timing pattern has been set up in the software. Just a guess. Has it lost any small increment of percentage SOC since it has been sitting? Do you have a software monitoring app like Torque Pro or access to one?
 
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electriceddy said:
By your description it sounds like 1 cell (in a parallel group of 3) may be lower than the other 2 by ~hundred millivolt or more, and the BMS is trying to balance. Of course the cell won't hold that charge for long, so it might attempt this every 4 hours or whatever timing pattern has been set up in the software. Just a guess. Has it lost any small increment of percentage SOC since it has been sitting? Do you have a software monitoring app like Torque Pro or access to one?
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Thanks. I have seen it reporting at 79% on occasion rather than 80%. But I have seen that in the past without the weird charging behavior.

If what you say is actually happening is it indicative of anything nefarious? And no, I don't have a battery monitor. And there's no discernible pattern in the top-ups. 12 hours, 6 hours, 3 hours...
 
Wildeyed said:
Thanks. I have seen it reporting at 79% on occasion rather than 80%. But I have seen that in the past without the weird charging behavior.

If what you say is actually happening is it indicative of anything nefarious? And no, I don't have a battery monitor. And there's no discernible pattern in the top-ups. 12 hours, 6 hours, 3 hours...
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I had the same kind of thing happen in my second Leaf. I used Leafspy to determine one cell (in the Leaf AESC pack they were 2P groups not 3P like LG)
started that behavior. What is actually lost is a portion of the capacity of that one cell, in the case of Kona , a portion of 62.5 wH so nothing major. It can be tricky to find even with an app like Torque Pro. You would notice a deviation in that one cell group of say 100mv (if the defective cell is the middle one, and if the defective cell is one on the edge of the group, a slight deviation in the adjoining cell group, as the "bad cell" gets topped up by the closest available to it. The deviation could be smaller at start of issue ie: 4.15v compared to 4.17 V( 20 mv variation) The deviation would be intermittent for a while, until it became unrecoverable, in my case the deviation went to over 180mv (.18V) in a course of 1 year, and increased more rapidly in the later stages, of course the deviation would have to be 300mV before throwing a code, so no help from the dealer. After a longer period, the adjoining cell(s) could also loose capacity trying to feed the starving one.
The "hairpin trigger" on the more recent Hyundai updates might have picked up on any deviation smaller than those listed above, but when the cell "recovers" the code would no longer be present.
Not to say that is what is happening to you, just speculating, hope the explanation helps.
 
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Do we actually know what type, if any, of balancing system these packs actually have? And in what
ballpark capacity to shuffle charge around?

_H*
 
Transport Evolved on YouTube has two recent videos about both the Kona and Bolt battery recall issues. I highly recommend watching. Very frustrating how haphazard it's being handled but apparently it IS happening, sporadically and seemingly randomly, even in Canada.
 
She made a lot of mistakes in the first video and got an ear-full from viewers including myself, hence the subsequent apologetic tone. And in the second she still thinks the Kona's SoC was forcibly software limited, perhaps due to confusion with BlueLink reminders.

I also pointed out that Bolt owners have gotten the bum's rush from GM regarding leaving them stuck with faulty batteries but she didn't bother to investigate or even mention that. Even the masses of Bolt owners over at chevybolt.org, some quite technically astute, mostly appear to be accepting the software monitoring as a fix. It's quite an amazing contrast to the Kona given the similarities of the issue.

Just saw that there's a recent Bolt fire, 2nd July, a Vermont USA owner. I left out the photo as it's unnecessary. It not mentioned if this 2019 was an "affected" example, and if so was the software fix applied.

upload_2021-7-4_15-26-5.webp
 
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I found the comments on the Transport Evolved videos informative. I could glean a wider perspective on the breadth of the recall activity both in Canada and worldwide and of how spotty it is.
 
I'm reluctant to get too far off topic but it's pertinent to the concern about whether software fixes are adequate. I found more info on that Bolt fire I mentioned above, 1st July apparently. This topic was started on ChevyBolt.org which I follow even though I've never seen a Bolt :). The service referred to is the "fix" that Chevrolet released as the solution to the defective batteries.

upload_2021-7-5_9-43-30.webp
 
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KiwiME said:
I'm reluctant to get too far off topic but it's pertinent to the concern about whether software fixes are adequate. I found more info on that Bolt fire I mentioned above, 1st July apparently. This topic was started on ChevyBolt.org which I follow even though I've never seen a Bolt :)

View attachment 12590
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Just out of curiosity, if you know, was he supposed to be able to return to 100% charge after the software update?
 
KiwiME said:
Yes, definitely. This is from the recall site I linked above.
View attachment 12592
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Discouraging for the efficacy of a software solution.

I also find it odd that Canada and the U.S. recommend 80% max. charge while the rest of the world (I think) has been told 90% - including Bolt owners. Makes it seems like it's just guessing.
 
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