Worldwide recall according to this 11 Oct news item.

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Ed C said:
Cobalt causes fires when exposed to oxygen. It is the most volatile, but it helps make a longer lasting battery. In addition, cobalt is very difficult to mine due to its scarcity and its toxicity during processing.
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Agreed.
 
Clamps said:
I know it’s isn’t helpful but I sure wish I would have picked the Model 3 now. I’ll take a few misaligned body panels over igniting batteries.

Having said that, I remain hopeful. I really don’t want a loss in range but if it’s minimal, five miles as is suggested I could deal with that.
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Clamps don't get to worried remember this is a forum and a lot Of what I'm reading is all hear say and conjecture. Just enjoy the feed back and wait for the end result of all of this. Never had any problems with my Kona yet....No range lost yet.. I'm happy
 
I found another article - this one written in English by a human and not translated by a computer. It re-iterates what was noted earlier - a discussion that the relatively small buffer on the Kona may be a contributing factor, but a cleaner translation makes it far clearer what was meant.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2020/10/129_297453.html

Professor Park Chul-wan of Seojeong University claimed the fire cases could be stemming from "progressive errors," in which the burnt battery cells were under severe stress due to operating at conditions nearing their tolerance and triggering unexpected errors.

"For example, LG Chem's batteries in GM Bolt EV produced until last year label that a cell holds 57 kilowatt-hours of rated energy, though its nominal pack energy is 60 kilowatt-hours. Its actual capacity remains at 55 kilowatt-hours, because carmakers and battery makers regulate a battery's state of charge with a battery management system in order to have a safety margin," Park said.
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If you google this professor, he has worked on batteries for quite a while - he had a bit to say about the Samsung Note 7 that had issues of catching fire.

The Kona Electric's nominal capacity is 64 kilowatt-hours. According to a National Forensic Service report on a Kona Electric fire, the EV's actual energy capacity reached 62 kilowatt-hours, meaning its safety margin was 3.2 percent. That of GM Bolt is 8.4 percent.
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I am still looking for the actual report - I believe this professor is one of the authors.

If the fires' causes are found to be progressive errors, industry officials said a large-scale battery replacement will be required, and this will raise the cost of the recalls too. Currently, Hyundai Motor plans to update the battery management system first and then replace batteries if necessary.
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And here is an image from the Korean press - you don't have to read Korean to get the implication. This can't make Hyundai happy.

cms_temp_article_11204819337488.jpg
 
ericy said:
I found another article - this one written in English by a human and not translated by a computer. It re-iterates what was noted earlier - a discussion that the relatively small buffer on the Kona may be a contributing factor, but a cleaner translation makes it far clearer what was meant.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2020/10/129_297453.html



If you google this professor, he has worked on batteries for quite a while - he had a bit to say about the Samsung Note 7 that had issues of catching fire.



I am still looking for the actual report - I believe this professor is one of the authors.
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I wonder why they used a Leaf for the header picture, otherwise a good report.
 
Here's the list of events at the right column, as best as I can determine using google translate and reformated in a text editor. The latest event is not included.

2018
May 19
① Hyundai Motors Ulsan Plant 1
② Production Line

August 16
① Hyundai Motors Ulsan Plant 1
② Production Line

2019
July 26
① Montreal, Canada
② Garage (uncharged)

July 28
① Gangneung, Gangwon-do
② Parking (charging)

August 9
① Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do
② Parking (not charging)

August 13
① Sejong Special Autonomy
② Parking (charging)

September 17
① Austria Leonstein
② Driving

2020
April 2
① Gyeonggi Ansan
② Parking (after full charge)

May 29
① Buk-gu, Daegu City
② Parking (after full charge)

August 7
① Parking in Buk-gu, Daegu City (charging)

August 24
① Jeongeup, Jeonbuk
② Parking (after full charge)

September 26
① Jeju Island
② Parking (charging)

October 4
① Dalseong-gun, Daegu
② No information
 
Genevamech said:
So the crux of the problem seems to be that aren't allowing enough headroom for cell-to-cell voltage deviation, potentially resulting in some cells being overcharged, which causes damage and eventually failure.

If that's the case then it's immediately clear why the BMS update tightened the cell voltage check by an order of magnitude: they want to be very certain that no cell is getting overcharged. If they detect that something is out of balance, then the only completely safe remedy is to rebuild the battery pack to remove any cells that may have experienced overvoltage.

This could be a significant problem for anyone who relies on 100% charge. If you only rarely charge to 100% then any potential damage is mitigated, since you would have extra buffer space for cells to be at a higher voltage than the others without going over the chemistry's limits. The BMS update would also be able to detect such issues before they became failures.
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I believe the part that is missing is the new BMS will detect cell to cell variation DURING charging. In that case the BMS will take action during the charge phase to prevent cell damage. I don’t see the BMS being able to detect previous cell damage, but maybe...


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Recoil45 said:
I believe the part that is missing is the new BMS will detect cell to cell variation DURING charging.
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I could be wrong but I'd expect that the primary purpose of a BMS is to monitor the cell voltage during charging, specifically to ensure that cells are not overcharged... I mean, if you're not monitoring things while they're changing there doesn't seem much point in monitoring anything at all.
 
I think that BMS is always monitoring the cell. When braking, some energy is transferred to the cell and when accelerating some energy is taken from them.
 
I doubt any cell balancing occurs under highly-dynamic charge or discharge situations, or even at any time other than at the end of a full charge event.

More practically and from appearances, when charging reaches about an indicated 98.5%, charging current is paused and passive balancing proceeds which dissipates charge from cell parallel groups with higher voltages than the others into local resistors. Alternatively, some current can be shunted past those groups with higher voltages while the others catch up.

Once all cell group measure voltage within an allowed tolerance, then the SoC increments directly to 100% and charging is effectively done. Some of us have seen this SoC jump suddenly when cells are already well-balanced.

The schematics show (5) CMS (assuming 'cell management unit') that individually handle two each of the total (10) packs and are located nearby. The CMS units appear to be centrally managed by the BMU (presumably 'battery management unit'). It's not totally clear but I suspect that 'BMS' refers to all those parts as a system.

upload_2020-10-20_10-53-37.webp

https://www.mpoweruk.com/balancing.htm
 
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My dealer said that the BMS update from May is the same recall. Anyone else getting this message from their dealers? They say the May update addresses it. Based on the fact that I show a recall on my VIN on the Hyundai Canada site, I'm not believing my dealer.
 
Called my dealer today and they said that it's a different recall, and to wait for the Hyundai letter before coming in for service. It was interesting that their internal system doesn't show a recall on my VIN, but the Hyundai Canada site does.
 
I just got a phone call from the NZ importer, on a Saturday no less. The rep said they are all working on the weekend to inform affected owners, I suspect at least 800 in NZ.
Also got a Dear John letter as a follow-up:
Dear John,
As per conversation, we are notifying you that Hyundai is conducting a safety recall globally to address a condition with the high-voltage battery system in certain Hyundai Kona Electric vehicles produced at its factory in Korea between 29 September 2017 and 20 March 2020. It has been identified that your Kona Electric is one of the affected vehicles that will need to be recalled.

We have been notified that there is a safety concern with this condition. An electrical short in the Li-ion battery could be a potential risk of a fire.

There have been no fires recorded in NZ attributable to this condition, however there have been 14 worldwide.

Our Customer Experience team will contact you to book in your vehicle at your nearest Hyundai dealership for inspection and replacement of the Li-ion battery, if necessary.

As an added level of protection, Hyundai is also planning on updating the Battery Management System software to allow for detection of abnormalities in the high-voltage battery system while parked. The remedy procedure will be performed at no charge.

We will book you into your local dealership as quickly as possible, however we recommend you take the following actions to reduce any risk.
  • Only charge your Kona EV to 80%.
  • Do not leave your vehicle on the charger overnight. Disconnect once completed.
  • If you notice any warning lamps or anything operationally of concern please call us on 0800 HYUNDAI or take your vehicle to your local dealership.
Your safety is paramount to us which is why we are working hard and having discussions with Hyundai Motor Company to rectify this issue as quickly as possible. And we will also follow up with an official recall letter.

We understand the inconvenience and/or anxiety this may cause for you. We are here to support you in any way so please reach out to our Customer Experience team at 0800 HYUNDAI (0800 498 632) should you have any questions or require assistance.

The team at Hyundai New Zealand
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KiwiME said:
I just got a phone call from the NZ importer, on a Saturday no less. The rep said they are all working on the weekend to inform affected owners, I suspect at least 800 in NZ.
Also got a Dear John letter as a follow-up:
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They advise unplugging but they don't caution against parking in a garage? Seems odd.
 
Wildeyed said:
They advise unplugging but they don't caution against parking in a garage? Seems odd.
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Does seem a bit clueless - there is no point at all in unplugging after charging as the EVSE will have disconnected the mains supply. the only time this would make any sense is if there was a fault with the AC onboard charger, and als the charge control system telling the EVSE to turn on the supply when it shouldn't.
 
Ya, it doesn't make any sense to me at all. I understand that there's a recall because of some fires but I also understand that neither Hyundai or LG knows the cause. So why do so many people on forums like this claim to have solutions? Plug, unplug, charge to 80%, charge to, 60%... It's all hogwash. The only sensible precaution I can see is to protect property from a potential fire hazard. Anything beyond that is just hocus-pocus at this point.
 
Wildeyed said:
Ya, it doesn't make any sense to me at all. I understand that there's a recall because of some fires but I also understand that neither Hyundai or LG knows the cause. So why do so many people on forums like this claim to have solutions? Plug, unplug, charge to 80%, charge to, 60%... It's all hogwash. The only sensible precaution I can see is to protect property from a potential fire hazard. Anything beyond that is just hocus-pocus at this point.
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They might not know the cause, but I think there is no doubt that these are battery fires. And it seems that most if not all of the fires took place while charging.
 
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