77,000 Konas to be recalled due to fire risk!

[Glan gluaisne]

It might be something related to the BMS, if Hyundai are using something like an active cell balancer. Active cell balancers work whilst the battery is sat idle, by shuttling current from the cells with the highest state of charge to those with the lowest state of charge. This is in contrast to the more common passive cell balancing method, that balances the cell terminal voltages during the latter stage of a relatively low current charge.

I don't know enough about the Hyundai pack to say with confidence one way or the other, but it's another possible cause for a fire that started with the car just sat, presumably with the main contactor off.

 

[Watts_Up]

what about the N-Niro? Doesn't that share a common battery design with the Kona?

... and the GM Bolt ?

 

[Elsig]

The Ford KUGA PHEV has also been recalled. 33,000 units. The Escape PHEV (US Version) has been pushed to Q1 2021.
In Europe they've stopped producing the Kuga Phev alltogether until they can figure out a fix.

I know, becuase I had one on order....and then I cancelled and bought a Model 3 instead

Ford is still trying to keep it quiet though..it's been going on since late July.

Ford compensates Kuga plug-in hybrid owners over battery recall

 

[Jason71]

Not surprising. Two major constraints: not really wanting to sell it until 2020, and battery supply.

I suspect there was also an element of not knowing how well it would sell since this was uncharted territory so they probably were not geared for very high volumes initially

 

[Jason71]

... and the GM Bolt ?

The Ford KUGA PHEV has also been recalled. 33,000 units. The Escape PHEV (US Version) has been pushed to Q1 2021.
In Europe they've stopped producing the Kuga Phev alltogether until they can figure out a fix.

I know, becuase I had one on order....and then I cancelled and bought a Model 3 instead

Ford is still trying to keep it quiet though..it's been going on since late July.

Ford compensates Kuga plug-in hybrid owners over battery recall

And I thought I was a beta tester having a model 3.
I suddenly feel bad for moaning about the windscreen wipers.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

With Ford and Hyundai both seemingly have similar battery related problems, then that tends to point towards the battery supplier for both, LG Chem. Ford have admitted that the Kuga issue is heat dissipation/thermal management, related, whereas Hyundai haven't made it clear what they think the cause may be. I'm not sure how big a part LG Chem have played in the battery pack, and associated management systems design. We know they are the cell supplier to both companies, and if I had to guess I'd say they were probably involved in much of the battery management systems design, including thermal and mechanical packaging related areas.

LG Chem are a very big player in the lithium cell business, covering an even wider area of the market than Tesla. LG make cells for everything from small devices through to grid storage systems that rival the largest that Tesla make, so they have a great deal of expertise and experience. LG Chem also produce battery packs for home storage, that are intended to be installed in a similar way to the Tesla Powerwall, inside homes. If the problems that Hyundai and Ford have found relate to the pouch cell manufacturing process, then it raises a question mark about the safety of LG Chem home storage solutions, as I believe these, like the Powerwall, use similar cells to those used in EV packs.

 

[Neilio]

Well crap. We've been testing BEVs*. Bolt, Kona and Niro. Kona was the leader, having the best combination of seat comfort** and driving. Bolt lost on seat comfort, Niro behind on driving.

* Not Tesla. They don't make a compact hatchback. Yet.
** For wife. I'm fine with any of them.

Isn't the e-niro the same platform as the Kona? Or maybe its the ioniq that's the same as the e niro?

 

[Roy W.]

Isn't the e-niro the same platform as the Kona? Or maybe its the ioniq that's the same as the e niro?

You’re quite right. The Kona electric and e-Niro are basically the same car, as far as the BEV platform is concerned.

The drive problem that plagued my Kona is also a problem on the e-Niro.

 

[Redbrick]

This was particularly worrying
"Motor President Seo Bo-shin, who is in charge of quality control, said the company “admits the defects in vehicles” and “has found a solution” to fix the defects, “though it is not perfect.””

I know this is a Tesla forum but Tesla does not exist in a bubble
This is definitely bad for anyone with a Kona and the reputation of EV's as a whole
But could it actually be GOOD for Tesla since it plays in to them being the "Established Experts" narrative?
or will it just put new focus on ALL EV fires including Tesla ones?
discuss

(yes I know Konas should not have an apostrophe but I can't edit the title)

Yeah saw this....this is crazy considering this was my preferred choice (until my wife played interference...).

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Because many lithium battery manufacturers are a bit sensitive about battery fires, given that this tended to happen a fair bit in the early days of high power lithium cells a couple of decades or so ago, they seem to have universally adopted the term "rapid disassembly" to refer to battery fire/explosion events. So, if we hear Ford, Hyundai, Kia etc refer to a "rapid disassembly" event then we'll now all know that what they really meant was the battery caught fire and perhaps exploded.

 

[MP3Mike]

Tesla knobbled loads of 85 batteries because of a fire risk rather than recall them and fix the problem.

People assume that, but their is no evidence that that update was related to fires. (WK057 says that it is not.)

 

[Js1977]

This was particularly worrying
"Motor President Seo Bo-shin, who is in charge of quality control, said the company “admits the defects in vehicles” and “has found a solution” to fix the defects, “though it is not perfect.””

I know this is a Tesla forum but Tesla does not exist in a bubble
This is definitely bad for anyone with a Kona and the reputation of EV's as a whole
But could it actually be GOOD for Tesla since it plays in to them being the "Established Experts" narrative?
or will it just put new focus on ALL EV fires including Tesla ones?
discuss

(yes I know Konas should not have an apostrophe but I can't edit the title)

Maybe im missing something but did not go further than the initial post.

What defects are you on a bout? and do you have a link to your source?

 

[Roy W.]

Maybe im missing something but did not go further than the initial post.

What defects are you on a bout? and do you have a link to your source?

Here’s one source:

Hyundai to recall 77,000 Kona electric cars over risk of battery fire, fights LG Chem over cause - Electrek

 

[Roy W.]

Also interesting to note that the fix “is not perfect”.

So if it’s fixed you’ll only get a little battery fire...

 

[Exy1]

so either 23K not affected or in countries with really weak consumer protection laws

Or they sell the large capacity to small capacity battery versions 3 to 1 and the small capacity version doesn't suffer from the issue.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

With Ford and Hyundai both seemingly have similar battery related problems, then that tends to point towards the battery supplier for both, LG Chem. Ford have admitted that the Kuga issue is heat dissipation/thermal management, related, whereas Hyundai haven't made it clear what they think the cause may be. I'm not sure how big a part LG Chem have played in the battery pack, and associated management systems design. We know they are the cell supplier to both companies, and if I had to guess I'd say they were probably involved in much of the battery management systems design, including thermal and mechanical packaging related areas.

LG Chem are a very big player in the lithium cell business, covering an even wider area of the market than Tesla. LG make cells for everything from small devices through to grid storage systems that rival the largest that Tesla make, so they have a great deal of expertise and experience. LG Chem also produce battery packs for home storage, that are intended to be installed in a similar way to the Tesla Powerwall, inside homes. If the problems that Hyundai and Ford have found relate to the pouch cell manufacturing process, then it raises a question mark about the safety of LG Chem home storage solutions, as I believe these, like the Powerwall, use similar cells to those used in EV packs.

GM, Hyundai, Ford, and Porsche have all had "unexplained" fires. LG Chem is the common link among all of them.

I mean, if it looks like a 오리, swims like a 오리...

 

[MP3Mike]

GM, Hyundai, Ford, and Porsche have all had "unexplained" fires. LG Chem is the common link among all of them.

I mean, if it looks like a 오리, swims like a 오리...

Sort of like way back when Sony had huge recalls with their Li-ion batteries that they supplied lots of people...