Major issues on our new EV9!

[xponents]

From the past week or so, our stopgap EV9 was doing great, and we all liked it. For the past 2 days, we did not use it as we did not need to go anywhere. When we had to go somewhere today, we pressed the unlock button on the fob, and *nothing* happens.

Turns out, the 12v battery completely sh*t itself because of Kia's piss poor engineering and lack of common sense in this regard. As it turns out, many owners are having the same 12v battery issues with the EV9 and other E-GMP cars as the car has a limit on recharging the 12v from the high voltage after multiple recharges have occurred(and it uses the 12v battery for EVERY function. when you turn the car on, it runs on the 12v battery, only when you press the start button again it is "ready to drive" and uses the HV battery). At this momeny, we are waiting on a tow yet again facilitated by Kia's below average customer service that called a locksmith but not somebody to actually... jump start it?

Say what you will about Lucid's reliability and drive system faults, but at least these dedicated EV companies have an actual clue about EVs and the issues arent caused by stupid decisions with zero common sense. When there is a issue, Lucid in particular has exceptional customer service. The EV9 is a GREAT car in multiple aspects, but they must rethink this aspect of the car and many others(why the hell is there a start button? its an ev.., etc).

 

[hydbob]

From the past week or so, our stopgap EV9 was doing great, and we all liked it. For the past 2 days, we did not use it as we did not need to go anywhere. When we had to go somewhere today, we pressed the unlock button on the fob, and *nothing* happens.

Turns out, the 12v battery completely sh*t itself because of Kia's piss poor engineering and lack of common sense in this regard. As it turns out, many owners are having the same 12v battery issues with the EV9 and other E-GMP cars as the car has a limit on recharging the 12v from the high voltage after multiple recharges have occurred(and it uses the 12v battery for EVERY function. when you turn the car on, it runs on the 12v battery, only when you press the start button again it is "ready to drive" and uses the HV battery). At this momeny, we are waiting on a tow yet again facilitated by Kia's below average customer service that called a locksmith but not somebody to actually... jump start it?

Say what you will about Lucid's reliability and drive system faults, but at least these dedicated EV companies have an actual clue about EVs and the issues arent caused by stupid decisions with zero common sense. When there is a issue, Lucid in particular has exceptional customer service. The EV9 is a GREAT car in multiple aspects, but they must rethink this aspect of the car and many others(why the hell is there a start button? its an ev.., etc).

That sucks, but I'm surprised with all your research into cars you did not know this was an issue. All eGMP cars have issues with 12v when the car gets under 20% SOC.

 

[xponents]

That sucks, but I'm surprised with all your research into cars you did not know this was an issue. All eGMP cars have issues with 12v when the car gets under 20% SOC.

I did do research on the EV9 forums and reddit, and thats the part that shocked me considering it was at a 74 percent SOC. I would have expected no issues, considering that it was not under the usual "issue criteria". As of now, the car is being jump started, as the incompetent customer service finally called somebody to deal with it instead of a locksmith.

 

[Unmutual]

Waiting for the CLASS ACTION usual suspects to weigh in ....

 

[xponents]

Waiting for the CLASS ACTION usual suspects to weigh in ....

My neighbors actually said to do that, and I just had to laugh remembering this forum

 

[hydbob]

I did do research on the EV9 forums and reddit, and thats the part that shocked me, considering it was at a 74 percent SOC. I would have expected no issues, considering that it was not under the usual "issue criteria". As of now, the car is being jump started, as the incompetent customer service finally called somebody to deal with it instead of a locksmith.

The fact that still 4 years after this known issue is still an issue makes me never want to deal with Hyundai Group.

 

[xponents]

The fact that still 4 years after this known issue is still an issue makes me never want to deal with Hyundai Group.

Justified, although I'll say the rest of the car is simply EXEMPLARY, beating even the Lucid on 3-4 fronts(namely rear seat ventilation and toe space, which i value! granted, the i5/ev6 arent that special..)! I would say it is worth it to get the car, especially when the solution is just replacing the battery/jump starting. Other people might have different tolerances regarding issues, though. I do not care about the issue itself, seeing as to how it is easy to fix. The bigger problem for me is that they have had no official communication on this and that the customer service is not good. It's what the company does AFTER the issue that seals it, not the issue alone.

I wonder if @borski and @Steveinarizona have had issues regarding this with a I5 and GV60 respectively?

 

[SaratogaLefty]

So another suggestion if you aren't already doing it. Don't leave the car unlocked; make sure you always lock it even in your garage. Then it will charge the 12V battery as needed.

 

[borski]

Justified, although I'll say the rest of the car is simply EXEMPLARY, beating even the Lucid on 3-4 fronts(namely rear seat ventilation and toe space, which i value! granted, the i5/ev6 arent that special..)! I would say it is worth it to get the car, especially when the solution is just replacing the battery/jump starting. Other people might have different tolerances regarding issues, though. I do not care about the issue itself, seeing as to how it is easy to fix. The bigger problem for me is that they have had no official communication on this and that the customer service is not good. It's what the company does AFTER the issue that seals it, not the issue alone.

I wonder if @borski and @Steveinarizona have had issues regarding this with a I5 and GV60 respectively?

Yes. We had our entire charging port and subsystem replaced, as well as the 12v issues. The latter was resolved by me setting up a Home Assistant automation to ensure the car is locked if it is sitting idle for 15 min, as my wife constantly forgets to lock her car.

(The locking is honestly a UX problem. It unlocks via proximity, but doesn’t lock via proximity, so you have to remember to lock it. Given that our other car, the Air, uses proximity for both, it’s really easy to forget)

 

[xponents]

Yes. We had our entire charging port and subsystem replaced, as well as the 12v issues. The latter was resolved by me setting up a Home Assistant automation to ensure the car is locked if it is sitting idle for 15 min, as my wife constantly forgets to lock her car.

(The locking is honestly a UX problem. It unlocks via proximity, but doesn’t lock via proximity, so you have to remember to lock it. Given that our other car, the Air, uses proximity for both, it’s really easy to forget)

So another suggestion if you aren't already doing it. Don't leave the car unlocked; make sure you always lock it even in your garage. Then it will charge the 12V battery as needed.

We do know the proximity locking isnt a problem, as we don't use that or mobile key (just got used to the previous 18 years of owning a car without it, i guess). We ALWAYS manually lock and unlock the car right after we get out of it, and it was locked when the battery died. We will be trying to use HA for monitoring the 12v battery, though. It seems that EV9's got the issues worse than the other E-GMP cars, as the forums(useless compared to this one, lol) are littered with people reporting failures. A poll on reddit showed that 1/3rd of EV9 owners have 12v issues!

 

[scal_air]

Is it an issue with the 12V battery health or just that it wasn't recharged?

 

[Steveinarizona]

Justified, although I'll say the rest of the car is simply EXEMPLARY, beating even the Lucid on 3-4 fronts(namely rear seat ventilation and toe space, which i value! granted, the i5/ev6 arent that special..)! I would say it is worth it to get the car, especially when the solution is just replacing the battery/jump starting. Other people might have different tolerances regarding issues, though. I do not care about the issue itself, seeing as to how it is easy to fix. The bigger problem for me is that they have had no official communication on this and that the customer service is not good. It's what the company does AFTER the issue that seals it, not the issue alone.

I wonder if @borski and @Steveinarizona have had issues regarding this with a I5 and GV60 respectively?

My Genesis GV60 is now about 16 months old. I have not had a 12 volt battery failure. I do garage my car and generally leave it unlocked in the garage. The GV60 has an orange button the dash that lights up when the battery pack is charging the 12 volt battery. I see that frequently. But I do charge my GV60P every night to 80% and it is rarely below 50% when I start charging. Maybe my car likes the fact that I drive it like I stole it. I don't think it makes any difference whether I am plugged into the EVSE nor whether I am actually charging the battery pack.

Some questions for the OP:
Does the EV9 have a light similar to that of my GV60 showing that the 12 volt battery is being charged?
Is your car garaged?
If the latter, do you see the light?

If your charging system is similar to mine (and I assume it is), and you have the light but are not seeing it, you probably need service...either a failure somewhere in the charging system or a defective 12 volt battery.

One other thought: is there any chance that the battery in the fob failed?

 

[xponents]

Is it an issue with the 12V battery health or just that it wasn't recharged?

It was that the car just gave up on recharging the 12v from the HV, leaving it empty.

My Genesis GV60 is now about 16 months old. I have not had a 12 volt battery failure. I do garage my car and generally leave it unlocked in the garage. The GV60 has an orange button the dash that lights up when the battery pack is charging the 12 volt battery. I see that frequently. But I do charge my GV60P every night to 80% and it is rarely below 50% when I start charging. Maybe my car likes the fact that I drive it like I stole it. I don't think it makes any difference whether I am plugged into the EVSE nor whether I am actually charging the battery pack.

Some questions for the OP:
Does the EV9 have a light similar to that of my GV60 showing that the 12 volt battery is being charged?
Is your car garaged?
If the latter, do you see the light?

If your charging system is similar to mine (and I assume it is), and you have the light but are not seeing it, you probably need service...either a failure somewhere in the charging system or a defective 12 volt battery.

One other thought: is there any chance that the battery in the fob failed?

Yes, we too see the orange light frequently. We just got the car, and are waiting on a permit to install an EVSE. We could not charge it therefore, but it was still at a 74 percent SOC. There is no chance that the key failed, as not only was the green light on it turning on to indicate the signal, but when I tried unlocking it from the phone it gave a “12v battery below 40 percent, remote commands will not work” error.

 

[Steveinarizona]

It was that the car just gave up on recharging the 12v from the HV, leaving it empty.

Yes, we too see the orange light frequently. We just got the car, and are waiting on a permit to install an EVSE. We could not charge it therefore, but it was still at a 74 percent SOC. There is no chance that the key failed, as not only was the green light on it turning on to indicate the signal, but when I tried unlocking it from the phone it gave a “12v battery below 40 percent, remote commands will not work” error.

So you need service. It is likely then one of the two other like reasons that I have set forth. Either way it should be a warranty item (while 12 volt batteries are not usually covered, one failing this early would likely be covered).

 

[xponents]

So you need service. It is likely then one of the two other like reasons that I have set forth. Either way it should be a warranty item (while 12 volt batteries are not usually covered, one failing this early would likely be covered).

Yup, right now it is in for diagnostics at the dealership. We did get an extended warranty, if that plays a part. Kia (hopefully) recognizes that this is a issue, leading me to hope it is covered.

 

[scal_air]

Sucks because you probably can't get to the battery to hook up a battery jump charger...

 

[xponents]

Sucks because you probably can't get to the battery to hook up a battery jump charger...

Actually, we could last night (although i had to take off the frunk cover which was jammed against another plastic piece). This is what enabled us to drive it to the dealership.

 

[borski]

My Genesis GV60 is now about 16 months old. I have not had a 12 volt battery failure. I do garage my car and generally leave it unlocked in the garage. The GV60 has an orange button the dash that lights up when the battery pack is charging the 12 volt battery. I see that frequently. But I do charge my GV60P every night to 80% and it is rarely below 50% when I start charging. Maybe my car likes the fact that I drive it like I stole it. I don't think it makes any difference whether I am plugged into the EVSE nor whether I am actually charging the battery pack.

Some questions for the OP:
Does the EV9 have a light similar to that of my GV60 showing that the 12 volt battery is being charged?
Is your car garaged?
If the latter, do you see the light?

If your charging system is similar to mine (and I assume it is), and you have the light but are not seeing it, you probably need service...either a failure somewhere in the charging system or a defective 12 volt battery.

One other thought: is there any chance that the battery in the fob failed?

Your leaving it unlocked has been fine because you charge it every night. I track the 12v charge for the Ioniq 5 via Home Assistant, and when unlocked and not plugged in the 12v drains *fast* and regularly. Service has looked at it multiple times and has said that is intentional; an unlocked car drains the 12v. So be it.

Hence the automation to lock the car.

 

[xponents]

An update on this; they have issued a recall for 12v battery failures on all E-GMP products.... EXCEPT FOR THE EV9!! Wtf? Its literally the same exact issue we had... if they think they fixed it on the EV9, they are very wrong.

Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis Recall over 147K EVs for Potential Power Loss — Car and Driver

The issue stems from a damaged charging unit that can cut drive power, and it affects the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Genesis GV60, and others.

apple.news