Dead Kona EV!

Just got a call from my dealer. Apparently the part I need, this Hybrid control unit, is available but is in Korea. He estimates it will be several weeks. I asked why Hyundai apparently had never heard of overnight shipping. That got no real response. It seems that Korea is accessible only by boat. Slow boats.

They say that they will pick up the tab for a rental. I'm not happy about the timetable nor about having to pay for gas for "a few weeks".
 
Wildeyed said:
So, a question for you: did you immediately jump to the conclusion it was the 12 volt battery? If so, why? It was literally the last thing that I thought of. I just never would have fathomed that I would have a dead battery on an electric car. Now, had it been an ICE car it would have been the first thing I thought of.
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I leaned towards it rather quickly. I try to read a lot of the threads in this forum and had recalled reading about this problem a few months ago. So...I quickly re-read all of the posts on this thread, got out my volt meter and 12v charger and got down to business.

This morning the battery is still showing 12.6 volts. I turned the car on and read it again, 14.4v as it should. I read in the manual (H3) that the aux battery charges while the traction battery is charging but I just checked and it is not. Anybody care to comment on this last discrepancy?
 
Funny, I thought I had read this forum exhaustively for the past year and I had zero recollection of 12 volt battery discussions. I don't frequent Facebook or other EV groups so I'm in the dark about those.

Now I wish I knew what a "hybrid control unit" is. Anybody?
* Should have googled before asking. Black box brain for controlling power. Could explain why the battery died. Could even explain why the battery itself was not necessarily the lone problem.
 
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Wildeyed said:
Just got a call from my dealer. Apparently the part I need, this Hybrid control unit, is available but is in Korea. He estimates it will be several weeks. I asked why Hyundai apparently had never heard of overnight shipping. That got no real response. It seems that Korea is accessible only by boat. Slow boats.

They say that they will pick up the tab for a rental. I'm not happy about the timetable nor about having to pay for gas for "a few weeks".
Click to expand...
Seems to me it would behoove Hyundai to ship to the US and store a minimal set of inventory of all major parts for cases like this.
 
Jamas said:
Seems to me it would behoove Hyundai to ship to the US and store a minimal set of inventory of all major parts for cases like this.
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I guess in Hyundai's defense when you have only sold less than 1000 Kona electrics is the past 10 months in the entire of the US having a uncommon parts stockpile is probably low on your priority list.
 
apu said:
I guess in Hyundai's defense when you have only sold less than 1000 Kona electrics is the past 10 months in the entire of the US having a uncommon parts stockpile is probably low on your priority list.
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I'm in Canada. They've sold more here and for a longer period.
 
apu said:
I guess in Hyundai's defense when you have only sold less than 1000 Kona electrics is the past 10 months in the entire of the US having a uncommon parts stockpile is probably low on your priority list.
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Is that really all they sold in the US?
 
I've done a little research on resting 12V drain. With everything shut down
and closed, 12V current for various memory keepalive gets down to
about 16 mA. But it takes like 20 minutes for enough stuff to finally
go to sleep and reach that point. If you do *anything* to wake the
systems up [use the clicker, open a door, etc] you're up over 3 amps
feeding various electronics, before you even think of powering up
for real.

I don't run the "saver", and the car is *not* on the cell network, so
that may be an advantage in my case. I'm just putting together
some webpages that cover a lot of this in greater depth and hope
to have them up soon.

I don't expect to have 12V trouble any time soon, but if I do you
can bet a Yellowtop is going right in...

_H*
 
hobbit said:
I've done a little research on resting 12V drain. With everything shut down
and closed, 12V current for various memory keepalive gets down to
about 16 mA. But it takes like 20 minutes for enough stuff to finally
go to sleep and reach that point. If you do *anything* to wake the
systems up [use the clicker, open a door, etc] you're up over 3 amps
feeding various electronics, before you even think of powering up
for real.

I don't run the "saver", and the car is *not* on the cell network, so
that may be an advantage in my case. I'm just putting together
some webpages that cover a lot of this in greater depth and hope
to have them up soon.

I don't expect to have 12V trouble any time soon, but if I do you
can bet a Yellowtop is going right in...

_H*
Click to expand...

Here is a thought. On the day my aux battery went dead. The blue link commands I was issuing kept failing. It kept telling me there was a process that hadn't finished and that I could not issue another one. Is it possible that this kept the aux battery in a high use state because of the blue link command that would not complete?

and...what is a Yellowtop?
 
Wildeyed said:
Funny, I thought I had read this forum exhaustively for the past year and I had zero recollection of 12 volt battery discussions. I don't frequent Facebook or other EV groups so I'm in the dark about those.

Now I wish I knew what a "hybrid control unit" is. Anybody?
* Should have googled before asking. Black box brain for controlling power. Could explain why the battery died. Could even explain why the battery itself was not necessarily the lone problem.
Click to expand...
Kind of an odd name for a part in an exclusive electric car. My thoughts were that the HV battery charges the 12 V thru a converter built into the pack junction box, but we once again need someone with a service manual copy to confirm.
 
Devhead said:
Here is a thought. On the day my aux battery went dead. The blue link commands I was issuing kept failing. It kept telling me there was a process that hadn't finished and that I could not issue another one. Is it possible that this kept the aux battery in a high use state because of the blue link command that would not complete?

and...what is a Yellowtop?
Click to expand...
My BlueLink did this when my battery was dead. Bluelink can't talk to the car when it can't talk back. 12volt powers the modem. It's a chicken and egg situation.
 
Wildeyed said:
My BlueLink did this when my battery was dead. Bluelink can't talk to the car when it can't talk back. 12volt powers the modem. It's a chicken and egg situation.
Click to expand...

I issued my blue link commands within an hour of driving the car and didn't get a response. So...seems to me the blue link might have been the cause rather than the victim in this case. Not sure if that is chicken or egg.
 
BlueKonaEV said:
WOW, looks like in Canada, they sold about 2 times that number of Kona Electric than the entire US in just the first quarter.

https://electrek.co/2019/06/04/tesla-model-3-hyundai-kona-ev-electric-cars-canada/
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I'm still shocked at the low sales figures for the US. Granted, they are only sold in a handful of states, but from what I was told by my dealer, they were selling like crazy in California, to the point where they were sending some local inventory back out there.
 
@Wildeyed Have your dealer pay for gas or have them provide you with an IONIQ as a rental.
I was told a few weeks when they ordered my lower gear assembly from Korea. It took 3 months.
That would be a huge expense if you had to pay for gas for potentially 3 months.

I'm sorry you had to go through this.

Side story: I took my vehicle camping back in July and was charging a few back up battery units for cell phones etc. I didn't put the vehicle in utility mode and as a result - it killed the 12v battery. I was in the same boat as you - the car wouldn't turn on, lock, unlock nothing at all! I simply hooked up a portable battery booster to the 12V battery, pressed the start button and off it went like nothing had ever happened. I haven't read this whole thread but it sounds like they've identified an actual part as being the issue.

Good luck!
 
Brennan Raposo said:
@Wildeyed Have your dealer pay for gas or have them provide you with an IONIQ as a rental.
I was told a few weeks when they ordered my lower gear assembly from Korea. It took 3 months.
That would be a huge expense if you had to pay for gas for potentially 3 months.

I'm sorry you had to go through this.

Side story: I took my vehicle camping back in July and was charging a few back up battery units for cell phones etc. I didn't put the vehicle in utility mode and as a result - it killed the 12v battery. I was in the same boat as you - the car wouldn't turn on, lock, unlock nothing at all! I simply hooked up a portable battery booster to the 12V battery, pressed the start button and off it went like nothing had ever happened. I haven't read this whole thread but it sounds like they've identified an actual part as being the issue.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you. Yes, I'm peeved to be back at the pumps, believe me. They gave me a 2020 Elantra. Not electric but at least it gets decent mileage. My sister just got a loaner and it was a Crown Vic!! So it could be worse. I just can't figure out how paying for my rental for weeks is cheaper than expedited shipping from Korea.

Now, they SAY it's this part that's at fault but who knows if they actually know or if they're guessing? It's completely possible that, after the jump start, I could have driven it just fine but I really don't like the uncertainty of not knowing. I like to at least try to get to the bottom of things. I'm hoping that's what'll happen here. Eventually.

And what is it with you people?!! Amp meters, back-up batteries, dongles all at the ready! It's like I'm the lone hold-out in a forum populated by nerdy boy scouts! ;)
 
Wildeyed said:
Thank you. Yes, I'm peeved to be back at the pumps, believe me. They gave me a 2020 Elantra. Not electric but at least it gets decent mileage. My sister just got a loaner and it was a Crown Vic!! So it could be worse. I just can't figure out how paying for my rental for weeks is cheaper than expedited shipping from Korea.

Now, they SAY it's this part that's at fault but who knows if they actually know or if they're guessing? It's completely possible that, after the jump start, I could have driven it just fine but I really don't like the uncertainty of not knowing. I like to at least try to get to the bottom of things. I'm hoping that's what'll happen here. Eventually.

And what is it with you people?!! Amp meters, back-up batteries, dongles all at the ready! It's like I'm the lone hold-out in a forum populated by nerdy boy scouts! ;)
Click to expand...
With all this talk of dead batteries, I just purchased one of these. It will supposedly provide some sort of warning if the 12v battery charge is not up to par. Worst case, I get two extra USB ports.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0795CNWZ9/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_L8ILDbYVBE8D9
 
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Jamas said:
I'm still shocked at the low sales figures for the US. Granted, they are only sold in a handful of states, but from what I was told by my dealer, they were selling like crazy in California, to the point where they were sending some local inventory back out there.
Click to expand...
Konas are selling fast but Hyundai has not allocated enough of them for the US Market. It appears that Canada is receiving a lot more Konas than the entire US.
The dealer from which I bought my Kona currently only has 1 and they had 8 when I bought mine.. They can't get them fast enough.
 
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