[GCC]

I'm wondering if the OTA update a couple of weeks ago was an attempt to fix the ICCU issue, or just designed to prevent it happening to cars that hadn't already gone faulty?

Could have been? But we will never know!

 

[PStewart61]

I took my car into the dealer this morning, had a chat with the service manager and explained what was happening - charge rate dropping to 1.4KW after an hour or two.

He said that, rather than using one of their 11KW chargers, he'd get them to try it on their normal 7KW unit.

I got a notification about an hour ago to say that the car was charging.

I just checked a couple of minutes ago, and it was showing a charge rate of 1.4KW in the Kia app.
Now showing "not plugged in".

Charge state has risen by 4%, range increased by less than 20 miles, since I dropped it off.

Assuming that the Kia app is giving me real-time data, it seems that the fault is showing up for the dealer

Bizarrely I'm relieved by this. My dealer had accepted my zappi screen shots as evidence the ICCU is faulty. Kia UK would not so I'm in on Thursday for them to try their 7kw charger. Mine had charged OK on their 11kw charger.

 

[ashpole]

I'm wondering if the OTA update a couple of weeks ago was an attempt to fix the ICCU issue, or just designed to prevent it happening to cars that hadn't already gone faulty?

I did a 70% charge at the weekend which gave me enough time to do some testing. With the update, the ICCU is less aggressive at protecting itself when noise appears on the mains feed, ie it now takes more noise to trigger a temporary reduction in charge rate.

 

[clockworks]

Having failed to charge at the Dealer's yesterday, I got home with 59% battery.
I plugged the car in, set the charge rate in the Kia app to 90%, with a 90% limit on AC.

Octopus gave me 2 extra, short, slots, then a long slot from midnight to 4am.

Car was at 90% this morning, and looking at the graphs, all 3 slots were at the full 6.8KW - no drop-off at all.

Looking at the "whole house" HA graph, there were nine 1KW spikes during the 3.5 hour midnight onwards charging stint, presumably caused by the fridge and freezers kicking in.
Heatpump was also running overnight (Mitsubishi unit, so it runs on 20 minute cycles because it can't modulate down low enough in warmer weather), as well as 'er indoors getting up and making coffee a couple of times.
A lot of "noise" on the supply, but no ill effects.

 

[ashpole]

Having failed to charge at the Dealer's yesterday, I got home with 59% battery.
I plugged the car in, set the charge rate in the Kia app to 90%, with a 90% limit on AC.

Octopus gave me 2 extra, short, slots, then a long slot from midnight to 4am.

Car was at 90% this morning, and looking at the graphs, all 3 slots were at the full 6.8KW - no drop-off at all.

Looking at the "whole house" HA graph, there were nine 1KW spikes during the 3.5 hour midnight onwards charging stint, presumably caused by the fridge and freezers kicking in.
Heatpump was also running overnight (Mitsubishi unit, so it runs on 20 minute cycles because it can't modulate down low enough in warmer weather), as well as 'er indoors getting up and making coffee a couple of times.
A lot of "noise" on the supply, but no ill effects.

Interesting. I wonder if dropping the charge rate to 90% is giving the ICCU a bit more headroom against noise.

 

[GCC]

Interesting. I wonder if dropping the charge rate to 90% is giving the ICCU a bit more headroom against noise.

We are new to EV’s, and our first experience has not been a good one! Regarding the charging problems we have experienced with our EV3 (albeit I hope we have crossed the finish line now, with the car swap) this all seems to be a lot to take in, just to get a car charged? Is this problem just isolated to Kia and indeed the EV3 and EV6 etc, or do all EV’s have their issues while charging. We do have a lot to learn, as we just thought it would be a matter of plug it in and it charges.

 

[clockworks]

Interesting. I wonder if dropping the charge rate to 90% is giving the ICCU a bit more headroom against noise.

Quite possibly.

I'm also wondering if the type of charger used has a bearing. The service manager said he would try my car on their basic untethered 7KW workshop charger with "no name" cable. Presumably a "worst case" simulation of a domestic charger.

They have several 11KW chargers around the carpark areas, for demos and courtesy cars. I'm guessing that these are commercial-grade 3 phase chargers, with better noise filtering?
Is 3 phase also inherently "cleaner" than single phase?

 

[ashpole]

Quite possibly.

I'm also wondering if the type of charger used has a bearing. The service manager said he would try my car on their basic untethered 7KW workshop charger with "no name" cable. Presumably a "worst case" simulation of a domestic charger.

They have several 11KW chargers around the carpark areas, for demos and courtesy cars. I'm guessing that these are commercial-grade 3 phase chargers, with better noise filtering?
Is 3 phase also inherently "cleaner" than single phase?

Also, the ICCU would reconfigure itself when connected to a 3 phase supply so not always a good test.

 

[ashpole]

We are new to EV’s, and our first experience has not been a good one! Regarding the charging problems we have experienced with our EV3 (albeit I hope we have crossed the finish line now, with the car swap) this all seems to be a lot to take in, just to get a car charged? Is this problem just isolated to Kia and indeed the EV3 and EV6 etc, or do all EV’s have their issues while charging. We do have a lot to learn, as we just thought it would be a matter of plug it in and it charges.

Don't let the charging issue put you off. If you hadn't joined this forum then you would be none the wiser: you'd know you had a charging problem, the dealer fixed it, end of story - enjoy your EV!

All cars have issues, not just EVs. Some issues will affect one owner and not another, it's part of building and owning cars. No doubt Kia have had some issues with charging, what the actual problem is only Kia knows, none of us are privy to that information. Therefore, when we have a problem we flock to forums like this and come up with possible solutions. This might and might not help others.

Don't let these discussions about issues put you off a beautiful car like the EV3, instead enjoy it.

 

[Ken Gillam]

Had my E-Niro for over four years and have never had any problems charging, I am on the simple Octopus Go though, so it's not swapping charge periods in and out.

 

[MangoNo5]

My car goes in tomorrow, I found a post regarding the EV6 with ICCU issues last year:

"Some insight into the ICCU issue. Talked to my Kia dealer EV tech, who happens to own a 2023 EV6 GT. The main cause of the ICCU failure is due to cheap level 2 chargers not ramping up the current when starting to charge. This can cause the overload and eventual failure of the ICCU.
Evidently, there is a software update to prevent this overload from happening, by instructing the ICCU to determine the needed current and not the charger.
So my 2024 EV6 GTL manufactured in August 2023, now has the software update. And yes, my car is part of the recall. Hopefully, this is the real solution to our ICCU issue."

It looks like the update we recently had may prevent more of these from going wrong, but if they have already, they need a replacement.

 

[RobinB]

Like @Ken Gillam my reply is that I've had my Soul since May 2021 and had no AC charging problems.

Besides the difference that 11kW is using the in-built charger configured for 3-phases (so that's a significant difference), each phase is only carrying 16 amps when on 11kW, whereas 7kW charging is one phase carrying 32A. Both types of charging might have problems for different reasons. If a garage were to stick the car on an 11kW charger it's going to exercise a different process.

I don't believe the charging difficulties of the EV3 are at all typical of EVs in general. Quite a few of us with Kia EVs will have also been on other EV forums. Both here on Kia and elsewhere the main common thread has been 12V batteries. Of course each manufacturer (seen on other EV forums) seems also to have it's main gripes: automated behaviours, navigation, noises etc.

On the whole, in 4 years so far of watching these forums it seems that the Kia brand has been doing quite well. Our Kia Soul has never experienced any 7kW charging difficulty. It is a car which can only charge at 7kW AC, so the charging tech will be simpler. I also can't charge at home, so there's the added factor that I've used quite a few more variations in AC and rapid charging than many home-charging owners. Never had a problem at 7kW.

It's in the nature of so many early owners of EVs that they do have home charging and quite a few are on systems which include PV and/or battery storage and/or smart tariffs... all this sometimes clouds the picture as people have problems which can involve schedules in the car for charging and schedules on the wallbox and schedules from their electricity supplier.
If there was one thing that I've noticed a history of gripes over on pre-EV3 models it was apparent irrational behaviour of people's in-car charging schedules - possible conflict of what the car was set to or what the apps in the hands of two users was set to?

The other thing is that whilst forums are excellent for putting us owners in contact and spotting common problems, there is a tendency for it to look like problems are more common than they actually are. 12V battery being a case in point. People make a point of looking and posting if they have a problem, but not if they don't.

We don't know how many people have never had a 12V problem - I haven't and my car sits on the street for days, possibly weeks on end and may only get charged 1-3 times a month.
Clearly the EV3 has suffered some fairly common problem, maybe a design, but more likely a design tolerance or component tolerance or manufacturing batch problem. There are probably a significant majority experiencing no problems or your dealers would be a lot more clued-up (unless they are lying!)

The great thing about forums like this and speakev is that they bring owners together and we spot common issues. It tends to show-up the dealerships lack of knowledge but, in fairness, a Kia dealership isn't like Tesla with a sole focus on EVs - if a dealership shifts 30 EV3s in month and the problem is something like a 1 in 50 or 100 they won't have the same clarity that seems evident on here. Of course Kia UK and globally has a duty to be straight with dealerships about problems that are getting reported... That's where I think things are falling down. It's all very well to have something like a "knowledge base" of faults, but you also need some way to join dots with problems being reported which don't have known solutions. The problem is that so many organisations prefer the "nobody else is having problems" approach over the honestly of saying "new to us, but head-office is observing a pattern of what look like similar problems and looking into it".

 

[iooi]

We are new to EV’s, and our first experience has not been a good one! Regarding the charging problems we have experienced with our EV3 (albeit I hope we have crossed the finish line now, with the car swap) this all seems to be a lot to take in, just to get a car charged? Is this problem just isolated to Kia and indeed the EV3 and EV6 etc, or do all EV’s have their issues while charging. We do have a lot to learn, as we just thought it would be a matter of plug it in and it charges.

Certainly not heard of any older Kia's having this issue. Seems to be limited to E-GMP platform.
No issues at all with my E-Niro.
Same with other marque of EV.

One of the biggest issue is that dealers are franchises & many of the staff have little interest in cars & keeping up to date with the Kia knowledge base system & service actions on there. Hence despite a lot of posts over forums & social media groups. They will totally deny that there is a known issue.
Even when people have got a print out of a service action. Dealers still try to deny any knowledge of it.

 

[RobinB]

It definitely looks like the cables are not a factor with the EV3 problem, because charging can sometimes be normal or change after a time, but I wanted to add this for completeness, for anyone who comes to this thread one day, with "slower than expected" AC charging problems... the cable can sometimes be a factor.

Our cars which can only charge at 7kW will likely be supplied with a cable suitable for only one phase of 32A.
Any car which can charge at 22kW should be supplied with a charging cable with the extra conductors required for 3-phase power and each conductor has to be capable of 32A
A car of any model which can charge at 11kW is doing that with 3 phases (extra conductors in the cable), each needing to carry 16A.
A cheapskate 11kW cable would mean that when the car is plugged to a "7kW" (single phase) charge point, a typical home, the cable only allows 16A, not the 32A required for 7kW - hence someone might experience ~3.5kW charging with that cable.

The upshot is this:

• A 22kW cable can supply 7, 11 or 22kW charging from a charge-point capable of those powers
• A 7kW cable will always only work at 7kW obviously, regardless of what the AC charge point shows
• A cable sold as 11kW may be fine for 11kW, but, for a single-phase outlet, can only deliver half what a 7kW cable would do

In reality, the car maker is likely to provide cables for cars which advertise 11kW AC charging with cables which have 22kW specifications... it's the only way the driver would get 7kW at their home.

I wouldn't expect a delivered car to have an inappropriate cable, but people might be lured on websites to buy spare, or longer, or different coloured cables and the 11kW cable can be a pit-fall.

 

[MangoNo5]

Like @Ken Gillam my reply is that I've had my Soul since May 2021 and had no AC charging problems.

Besides the difference that 11kW is using the in-built charger configured for 3-phases (so that's a significant difference), each phase is only carrying 16 amps when on 11kW, whereas 7kW charging is one phase carrying 32A. Both types of charging might have problems for different reasons. If a garage were to stick the car on an 11kW charger it's going to exercise a different process.

I don't believe the charging difficulties of the EV3 are at all typical of EVs in general. Quite a few of us with Kia EVs will have also been on other EV forums. Both here on Kia and elsewhere the main common thread has been 12V batteries. Of course each manufacturer (seen on other EV forums) seems also to have it's main gripes: automated behaviours, navigation, noises etc.

On the whole, in 4 years so far of watching these forums it seems that the Kia brand has been doing quite well. Our Kia Soul has never experienced any 7kW charging difficulty. It is a car which can only charge at 7kW AC, so the charging tech will be simpler. I also can't charge at home, so there's the added factor that I've used quite a few more variations in AC and rapid charging than many home-charging owners. Never had a problem at 7kW.

It's in the nature of so many early owners of EVs that they do have home charging and quite a few are on systems which include PV and/or battery storage and/or smart tariffs... all this sometimes clouds the picture as people have problems which can involve schedules in the car for charging and schedules on the wallbox and schedules from their electricity supplier.
If there was one thing that I've noticed a history of gripes over on pre-EV3 models it was apparent irrational behaviour of people's in-car charging schedules - possible conflict of what the car was set to or what the apps in the hands of two users was set to?

The other thing is that whilst forums are excellent for putting us owners in contact and spotting common problems, there is a tendency for it to look like problems are more common than they actually are. 12V battery being a case in point. People make a point of looking and posting if they have a problem, but not if they don't.

We don't know how many people have never had a 12V problem - I haven't and my car sits on the street for days, possibly weeks on end and may only get charged 1-3 times a month.
Clearly the EV3 has suffered some fairly common problem, maybe a design, but more likely a design tolerance or component tolerance or manufacturing batch problem. There are probably a significant majority experiencing no problems or your dealers would be a lot more clued-up (unless they are lying!)

The great thing about forums like this and speakev is that they bring owners together and we spot common issues. It tends to show-up the dealerships lack of knowledge but, in fairness, a Kia dealership isn't like Tesla with a sole focus on EVs - if a dealership shifts 30 EV3s in month and the problem is something like a 1 in 50 or 100 they won't have the same clarity that seems evident on here. Of course Kia UK and globally has a duty to be straight with dealerships about problems that are getting reported... That's where I think things are falling down. It's all very well to have something like a "knowledge base" of faults, but you also need some way to join dots with problems being reported which don't have known solutions. The problem is that so many organisations prefer the "nobody else is having problems" approach over the honestly of saying "new to us, but head-office is observing a pattern of what look like similar problems and looking into it".

Hi Robin, I agree that people will less likely post the positives in forums like this. I have a 4 year Fiat 500e that has had no issues, while others have had 12v battery issues etc. This is a good place to pool our experience especially if some dealers are denying a problem exists. I really like the car, bar this issue it's a great drive loaded with a lot of kit for the money.

 

[Soula]

My car goes in tomorrow, I found a post regarding the EV6 with ICCU issues last year:

"Some insight into the ICCU issue. Talked to my Kia dealer EV tech, who happens to own a 2023 EV6 GT. The main cause of the ICCU failure is due to cheap level 2 chargers not ramping up the current when starting to charge. This can cause the overload and eventual failure of the ICCU.
Evidently, there is a software update to prevent this overload from happening, by instructing the ICCU to determine the needed current and not the charger.
So my 2024 EV6 GTL manufactured in August 2023, now has the software update. And yes, my car is part of the recall. Hopefully, this is the real solution to our ICCU issue."

It looks like the update we recently had may prevent more of these from going wrong, but if they have already, they need a replacement.

As far as I am aware, with a/c, it is always the car that controls the charging. A charge point is in essence a switch that tells the car the maximum power that is available. The charger is in the car not the charge point.

 

[Soula]

Had my E-Niro for over four years and have never had any problems charging, I am on the simple Octopus Go though, so it's not swapping charge periods in and out.

Our Soul charged perfectly on our Zappi charger for 4 years. Including stop/start solar, scheduled charges and Octopus controlled stop/start IOG.

Not so the EV3. Charging at 90% rate does appear to work on the couple of times I have tried it but, at best, this is a temporary work around not a fix.

 

[MangoNo5]

Update, as metioned before my car went in on the 30th, I presented my dealership with screenshots of the low charge. After a day they agreed and have recommended a new ICCU. I just have to wait and decided to take my car back and return the courtesy car.

 

[RobinB]

I had my suspicions about local thermal problems with components.
This article, mostly about Hyundai/Genesis E-GMP issues in USA, mentions their sibling Kia EV6.
It seems that software may be altering the cooling behaviour and electronic behaviour to reduce start-up surges which were affecting 12V charging.
Relevant here?
https://insideevs.com/features/752768/hyundai-kia-genesis-iccu-failure/

 

[howarddasilva]

Some members will remember that I had issues with charging my EV3 which I collected in December. The car is currently in the garage and I have a courtesy car to give them a chance to resolve it. Having tried charging on other chargers away from home (both fast charge on DC and slower charges on 7 kw, 22kw using AC) I have been able to confirm to the garage that when fast charging there is no problem, but anything using the AC port causes issues. E.g. on a 22kw it was only charging at 3.4 kw, on a 42 kw AC only it was charging at 10.3 kw. I have saved all of the screenshots from the App and provided them. I am also now charging the replacement courtesy car on my home charger with no issues. Just wonder if anyone else has had this issue since I last posted? Thanks in advance

Did you get an outcome from Kia - I have same issue - charge drops off to 1.4KW after 5 minutes on my 7KW Hypervolt home charger - and I had exactly the same on 3 other 7KW AC chargers (a Zappi and 2 Tesla Type 2's) - works fine on Super DC chargers. Must be ICCU given AC vs DC difference. I am booked into the local dealer on Tuesday but they said no other EV3 has reported this issue?