Dead Kona EV!

Wildeyed

Wildeyed

Well-Known Member
My car is dead. Won't open,start, respond in any way. I need to have it towed. Does anybody know how to switch this thing into neutral when it's dead?! I've got the owners manual in my lap but haven't found any override yet.
 
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Can you use the mechanical key to open the drivers door (see page 3-6 in the owners manual) Once inside you should be able to open the hood and check to see if the 12 volt battery is dead.
 
The mechanical key is hidden in side the key fob. Section 3-6 shows how to release the mechanical key from the fob. If the 12 volt battery is dead none of the switches will work. Charging or jumping the 12 volt battery should bring operations back online
 
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Fastnf said:
The mechanical key is hidden in side the key fob. Section 3-6 shows how to release the mechanical key from the fob.
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Well, I don't carry a voltage meter on me so that's easier said than done! ;)

I'm waiting for a tow truck and we'll try a jump. If it works, great, if not it's going to need to be given a four wheel lift.

Just what I want from a 7 month old $62 000 car! Not impressed. Especially when I have it set up to use the battery saver function. Shouldn't happen.
 
According to the manual you can tow with just the front wheels off the ground using a wheel lift but not a sling lift . See section 6-21. (left hand side.) There is also a section on jumping the battery section 6-5

Here a handy little voltmeter that plugs into a 12 volt socket. I keep one in my glove box for instances like this.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0773BYS6P?aaxitk=CthodqUOeNl6058xWkEywg&pd_rd_i=B0773BYS6P&pf_rd_p=44fc3e0f-4b9e-4ed8-b33b-363a7257163d&hsa_cr_id=9447485730301&sb-ci-n=productDescription&sb-ci-v=Palumma 24W/4.8A Dual USB Car Charger, 12V to USB Outlet with Cigarette Lighter Voltage Meter LED/LCD Display Battery Low Voltage Warning (Black)
 
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Wildeyed said:
Well, I don't carry a voltage meter on me so that's easier said than done! ;)

I'm waiting for a tow truck and we'll try a jump. If it works, great, if not it's going to need to be given a four wheel lift.

Just what I want from a 7 month old $62 000 car! Not impressed. Especially when I have it set up to use the battery saver function. Shouldn't happen.
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Not sure if Hyundai makes the 12 Volt battery.. if it is the 12 Volt battery, it's not a big deal..
I once had a US$55k Corvette and after 200 miles the battery went dead.. Luckily, the car was a 6-speed and I had someone push me to start. Drove directly to the closest Chevy dealer for a new battery.
I have 9k miles on my Kona with no issues..
 
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It was the 12 volt battery. WTF!? Not only is it 7 months old but it has a 64kw back-up. The question I have is: why did you all jump to that (correct) conclusion so quickly? It was literally the last thing I thought of until I troubleshot everything else. Thanks for the help.

I forgot to add that it's also torentially raining while we do this troubleshooting, jump and flat bed tow. Superfun happy good times!
 
Wildeyed said:
It was the 12 volt battery. WTF!? Not only is it 7 months old but it has a 64kw back-up. The question I have is: why did you all jump to that (correct) conclusion so quickly? It was literally the last thing I thought of until I troubleshot everything else. Thanks for the help.

I forgot to add that it's also torentially raining while we do this troubleshooting, jump and flat bed tow. Superfun happy good times!
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I figured it was the battery because all of the standard components ( window, door locks, shift switches, windshield wipers, head lights, dash board, are all 12 volt components. Only the drive system is high voltage, So if you couldn't open doors or change gears it had to be a 12 volt problem. First step check battery.
 
Fastnf said:
I figured it was the battery because all of the standard components ( window, door locks, shift switches, windshield wipers, head lights, dash board, are all 12 volt components. Only the drive system is high voltage, So if you couldn't open doors or change gears it had to be a 12 volt problem. First step check battery.
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And if it were an ICE car I probably would have. But why would the battery be dead when it has the big time backup? And it was plugged in.
 
Dead 12 volt batteries are a pretty common issue for EV's that are dead. It's better the 12 volt battery then the traction battery. So it's good the traction battery it protected.

Now you just need to figure out why the 12 volt battery died so soon.
 
One would think the battery saver would have saved your 12 volt from dying, but in my experience with a PHEV and our two electric vehicles now the unexplained happens. I had a dead 12 volt in my brand new PHEV and the tow truck guy knew how to use the manual key and jump started and was gone within 5 minutes of arriving and it never happened again. He said he didn't have a clue why the battery had died and he didn't care. lol I didn't even bother to have dealership check as I figured I could do that if it happened twice which it never did. Sorry for your rotten morning!
 
marshall said:
Dead 12 volt batteries are a pretty common issue for EV's that are dead. It's better the 12 volt battery then the traction battery. So it's good the traction battery it protected.

Now you just need to figure out why the 12 volt battery died so soon.
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I literally have never heard anyone mention a dead battery before. I'm getting the impression that everyone, except me, is completely unsurprised with it happening. I still don't understand how it could die when it's constantly trickle charged. It must mean the battery is dead and won't hold a charge, right?
 
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Wildeyed said:
And if it were an ICE car I probably would have. But why would the battery be dead when it has the big time backup? And it was plugged in.
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The manual has more on this but it is my understanding that the battery is recharged based on time not on voltage level. so if you were using a lot of 12 volt components (windshield wiper, heated seats, steering wheel etc. it could drain the battery faster. There should have been a low voltage warning on the dash (sec 3-48). It could also be a bad cell in the battery which caused the battery to fail.
 
There is an auxiliary battery saver which charges the battery when it's low but it has to be turned on for it to work. See sec H57 for how to turn it on and how it works
 
Fastnf said:
There is an auxiliary battery saver which charges the battery when it's low but it has to be turned on for it to work. See sec H57 for how to turn it on and how it works
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On from day one. I've seen the front LED indicator on a few times.
 
Fastnf said:
T

The manual has more on this but it is my understanding that the battery is recharged based on time not on voltage level. so if you were using a lot of 12 volt components (windshield wiper, heated seats, steering wheel etc. it could drain the battery faster. There should have been a low voltage warning on the dash (sec 3-48). It could also be a bad cell in the battery which caused the battery to fail.
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The car was last used 2 days ago. Nothing unusual happened. Didn't use any unusual accessories. It was plugged in and charged without incident when I came home.

Now, two days before that I did use a DC fast charger for the first time. But it drove 300km over two days after that, again, with no unusual behaviour.
 
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