Dead 12V battery in 2019 Niro EV

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tonycpsu

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I recently drained my 12V battery at the drive in movie. I know I had the car in the on position at the start, but I guess I must have accidentally turned it to auxiliary at some point. A couple of people offered to jump but then got scared off by the fact that it was an EV, so we called roadside assistance who were able to get it started.

In the future, aside from not letting it drain in the first place -- I only learned about the "utility mode" after this happened -- does anyone have any advice on what to do if this happens again? I've read that the PHEV has a "battery reset button" but can't see anything about this in the EV manual. I know there's a a "aux battery saver mode" but I've read that it doesn't do a lot. Is one of these USB power pack jump starter things enough to get a Niro through the start sequence so I can turn the vehicle on and get it running off of the big battery? And, finally, how is this even a thing in a car that's basically a giant rolling battery?
 
Don't relate your EV to the Plug-in hybrid. You only need the 12v to power the ECUs in the car. Don't be scared to jump start it. They are independent batteries with independent electronics. I can't tell you why they don't just use the propulsion battery for everything. My guess is that it's safer to charge the 12v and use electronics from that source and it's able to keep a safer and more reliable range of low power to keep from destroying the computers.
 
Check in the settings if the 12 volt batter saver is checked. I'll walk out and even if the car is off and not plugged in occasionally it will have a green light on signaling that it is charging the 12 volt battery.
 
tonycpsu said:
I recently drained my 12V battery at the drive in movie. I know I had the car in the on position at the start, but I guess I must have accidentally turned it to auxiliary at some point. A couple of people offered to jump but then got scared off by the fact that it was an EV, so we called roadside assistance who were able to get it started.

In the future, aside from not letting it drain in the first place -- I only learned about the "utility mode" after this happened -- does anyone have any advice on what to do if this happens again? I've read that the PHEV has a "battery reset button" but can't see anything about this in the EV manual. I know there's a a "aux battery saver mode" but I've read that it doesn't do a lot. Is one of these USB power pack jump starter things enough to get a Niro through the start sequence so I can turn the vehicle on and get it running off of the big battery? And, finally, how is this even a thing in a car that's basically a giant rolling battery?
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I've used usb power pack jumpers on other vehicles (Honda Ridgeline that I let sitting too long). They work.
 
Thanks for the recommendations. Bought one of those charging packs and will keep it on hand.

I ended up having Kia roadside assistance tow it to a dealer because I was concerned about the "check regenerative brakes" warning I was seeing while trying to start the car. Of course, despite the dealer saying they worked on EVs, it turns out they don't -- the guy must have thought I meant PHEV or Hybrid when I said "electric vehicle". Guess next time I need to make it clear there's no gas tank, no engine, etc. just so it gets through. And the service advisor was unbelievably hostile considering the fact that it was his fault my car was towed to the wrong dealership.

Maybe this is just a Western PA thing where the dealers see EVs as more of a nuisance because they're not selling them yet. Or maybe they're worried about job security since the lack of an engine means a lot of routine maintenance isn't necessary. Anyway, really bad experience as a first time Kia owner, and Kia Roadside has no idea which dealers can service EVs, so I had to find one myself. Quite a learning experience.
 
My 2019 Niro EV also had a flat 12V battery out of the blue yesterday. Had to jump it. Checked to make sure it was in 12V maintenance mode -- it was. When my drive motor was replaced the dealership for some reason also stated that they replaced the 12V battery a little suspicious. I did notice once or twice that the car said an external drain was detected on the battery, but I just figured that the HV battery would charge the 12V battery as needed. Apparently not? Anyway I popped a new, bigger 12V in there and will see if I get any warnings, etc. I also sprung for a Lithium-Ion jump starter -- because now everyone I know thinks EVs are unreliable and I can't really disagree from my experiences thus far.
 
It might be worth your while to invest in the $13 dongle and app to see if there really is a power drain before you accuse all EV's of being unreliable. This is my 3rd EV and never had a 12v battery problem.

You may indeed have an electrical issue, although the maintenance mode should normally cover it, but it can "give up" I believe under certain circumstances.

The app should also let you verify the maintenance mode is actually running.

greg
 
So far so good on the new battery. I have to speculate that the E711 motor swap work probably allowed the 12V to drain too low and it lost its integrity. I really hope the next gen BEVs do away with the 12V battery.
 
my 12v battery on 2019 Kia Niro EV drained completely overnight and I had to jump it to get to work this morning. I called the Kia dealer to find out it was covered by 36k miles battery warranty but what concerns me too is that recently in couple of occassions when I start the ar, it displayed '12v battery draining due to external devices' or something like that when I don't have anything running.
 
This happened to me when my Niro EV was about a month old. It was sitting in the garage getting trickle charged at the time. I jump started it and it hasn't happened since. Reading around on the inter-webs, it appears this is a software issue that causes the 12V to drain.
 
I read 5 kia forums, have not found where it has been resolved to a software issue. Of course the charging system is controlled by software.

Can you point me (links please) where it has been identified as a software issue on the Kia Niro?

Thanks, Greg
 
First time draining our 12V battery. Simply started the vehicle while plugged in to warm, then unplugged. A little while later the vehicle started freaking out when we were ready to leave. Simply amazing this lack of foresight exists with the e-Niro, even more amazing knowing all previous Niro models were either hybrid or PHEV (larger battery storage available).

We popped the hood, verified battery voltage was below 12V. Didn't have time to charge it parked, instead relied on the DC/DC converter after a few ignition resets. Vehicle was showing a whopping 1 kW for all electronic consumption during our 40 mile journey, about 500 watts over nominal with the heated accessories. I'm assuming the excess is for 12V charging?

Bottom line, amazing I can intentionally and mistakenly drain the 12V battery with 50+ kWh of available stored energy! Inexcusable.

It's fitting, I guess, for the "EV" software to show us this message (picture) on the first drive following this fiasco.
 

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Zim said:
Bottom line, amazing I can intentionally and mistakenly drain the 12V battery with 50+ kWh of available stored energy! Inexcusable.
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It makes sense to me; I think of them as two separate units - the 12V to run the same things as in an ICE car, and the large battery to run the motor. So when my 12V died because I left the headlights on, I just boosted it and went about my day. At least in that case, I didn't have the worry about wondering why the 12V ran dry.
 
Calliope said:
It makes sense to me; I think of them as two separate units - the 12V to run the same things as in an ICE car, and the large battery to run the motor. So when my 12V died because I left the headlights on, I just boosted it and went about my day. At least in that case, I didn't have the worry about wondering why the 12V ran dry.
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I guess I fell comfortable with GM's approach. I can't imagine a scenario where GM's software would allow the 12 V battery to die with energy available in the HV battery under normal conditions. Plugged in or unplugged, and with accessory mode or ignition on, the DC-DC converter will keep the vehicle operating, and charged, in the Volt.

I'd imagine Tesla's approach is similar to GM's, as I haven't heard of this scenario over yonder.
 
About a month ago, I went out to find my e-Niro 12V battery dead. Called KIA roadside assistance to help get it started and I drove it to the dealer. They, of course, could find nothing amiss and had no suggestions.
I immediately ordered a Li-ion starting battery, as well as a trickle charger, just in case.
Anyway, one night I noticed that the right-hand green charging light (right-hand when viewing through the windshield) was blinking. I never had seen that.
I checked the manual and it states that it blinks when charging the 12V battery. The lamp was out the next time I looked.
The car was just sitting, not charging at the time.
Interesting. Hope this helps. Although, it would be nice to know the conditions that this happens in.
 
Since I replaced my 12V battery after it failed on me, my car has had no more battery related issues since. That is both good and yet actually quite confusing. I did put in a somewhat larger capacity 12V when I swapped it out.
 
Greg Elmassian said:
I read 5 kia forums, have not found where it has been resolved to a software issue. Of course the charging system is controlled by software.

Can you point me (links please) where it has been identified as a software issue on the Kia Niro?

Thanks, Greg
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I don't think this has been positively identified as a software fault. I believe someone on this or another forum deduced it to be a software problem where the system checking various systems drained the 12V battery. In my case, the 12V died when my car was being charged.

I too bought a Li-Ion jump starter for such occasions but I haven't had the 12V battery die on me since the one time it happened.
 
I've wondered if it was a s/w issue and when the dealer said that all was well did they actually update something?
It would be great to know, but if I continue to have no more problems I'll be mostly satisfied. I guess.
 
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