I thought Kia Soul and Niro shared the same power train as the one Kona uses. If so, have any Kias burned up ?
TBH, it is too early to know. The Kia eNiro came out like last year. The Soul came out a few months ago. I don't think they sold as many as the Kona EV....well, no where to the tune of 100,000. We do not even know for sure if it is the battery that is the problem (LG Chem is vehemently denying it). It could be the BMS or on board charger. No one knows. So far, Hyundai is making the presumption that it is the battery, and is placing a recall.
Here is an article about the recall. The Niro and Kona use different batteries so it's not included in the recall. Green Car Reports: Fire concern prompts stop-sale, US recall for 2019-2020 Hyundai Kona Electric. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1129993_fire-concern-prompts-stop-sale-us-recall-for-2019-2020-hyundai-kona-electric
The recall is currently for the Kona EV.....but, the heart of the issue is the lower than usual battery buffer capacity that Hyundai has set to protect the battery. Tesla and Bolt had set their buffer capacity at 7-8%, but Hyundai chose 3%. They did this intentionally so that the extra 4-5% will be available for an increase in range. So the question is: Did Kia used the same buffer capacity of 3% for its batteries??? One may argue they use different chemistries....but both Kia and Hyundai uses the same ingredients for its batteries....just at different percentages. Does using only 80% Nickel, 10% Cobalt, 10% Manganese allow Kia to use just 3% buffer and still be safe (compared to the Kona EV with 60% Nickel, 20% Cobalt, 20% Manganese)??? Or do they still need a higher buffer??? What is the current buffer capacity for the eNiro or Soul EV??? Unknown....
The battery additives may be completely different in the SK Innovation batteries. The difference may be enough to prevent this issue. However, let's no lose sight that there hasn't been that many fires. The percentage of vehicles with this issue is very, very, very, tiny.
In case anyone was unaware, not all Kona batteries are made by LG. They also use SK Innovation and CATL. Maybe that's why not all cars are part of the recall. All 14 fires reported so far used LG batteries. Some more information about SKI's batteries at this link. From what I recall, only Chinese Konas were reported to use CATL packs.
Certainly in NZ, but I'll freely admit I'm surprised as we are normally 10 years behind in everything else. A phone call and a follow-up email from the importer. There are about 700 examples here and I think most if not all have been notified yesterday on Oct 24th. One owner seems to already have a full day booking this week. I'd be surprised if my dealer doesn't get me in as well as there are only a few in this town.
I don’t think this is the cause of the issue. If it was , all batteries in the Kona would be recalled. I’m pretty sure this not a design flaw. Charging is controlled by the BMS and it likely treats all of them equally. I don’t believe one manufacturer’s battery would fail and one not if the flaw was how the batteries or BMS were designed. All batteries receive the same buffer, charge rate and discharge rate. I don’t know if Hyundai has specified the flaw. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Equally puzzling is that post March 2020 builds are not (currently) part of the recall, suggesting something changed. I think perhaps those latter cars are assured to have the Campaign 960 update and it's been said that none with that update have failed. They may still be updated once the higher-priority earlier units have been assessed.
To answer the original thread starter's question directly (in case it wasn't clear from my last post), current KIA vehicles should not be subject to recall as they don't use LG batteries. According to an interview I remember when Hyundai opened their Czech Republic Kona factory deliveries last March, those cars use SKI batteries so should also be safe. KIA Niro's battery supplier SKI, claims they've never had a fire according to a recent article posted on this site.
