In Norway, the Kia/Hyundai importer now has such angry customers that they feel compelled to warn against using electric cars for certain trips in the winter.
Ditch the heated seats and steering wheel and the shorter trips in winter. And especially in combination with each other.
This is the warning from the Norwegian Kia/Hyundai importer, after many of their customers have struggled for years with 12-volt batteries that suddenly go flat.
This is what Motor writes.
The fault that drains the battery lies in the so-called ICCU unit, which controls and monitors the functions in an electric car that use electricity.
– It's actually a huge scandal. I've been told that in Norway alone there are over 400 Kia cars waiting to have the unit replaced, a Kia owner tells Motor.
The Kia owner, who drives around in an EV6, tells the media that he himself is standing in line to get to the workshop with the car, which also needs to have the ICCU unit replaced.
In an attempt to eliminate excessive power consumption in electric cars, Kia in Norway has asked electric car owners to follow a number of points very carefully.
Kia says, among other things, that drivers should use their electric cars for very light driving, especially in winter, as using seat heating, steering wheel heating and heating pipes can lead to higher power consumption than the battery can charge.
Do not connect non-original accessories such as charging equipment, dashcams and GPS tracking.
– This applies to everything that is connected to the car and draws power when the car is turned off, or that can wake up the car's systems at regular or irregular intervals, communications manager Christian Lagaard tells the media.
Kia believes that Norwegian electric car owners should do the following to keep the 12-volt battery healthy:
Don't often walk past the car with the key in your pocket.
Don't leave doors open.
Do not leave lights on inside the car.
Do not use the included app excessively when the car is not running.
Do not use third-party programs, i.e. apps that Kia/Hyundai has not developed themselves, that can be connected to the car.
The association NAF, which corresponds to FDM in Denmark, believes that it is possible to see a strong irony in the fact that Kia/Hyundai has problems with the 12-volt batteries.
Audun Bergerud and Benny Christensen, who are technical consultants in the member association, think it is completely wrong that it is the small batteries that are working overtime, when the battery pack itself in the cars weighs several hundred kilograms and actually has enough power.
This is not the first time that Kia/Hyundai has had problems with their electric cars. The problems have also been in Denmark, where it has led to recalls. Read more about it here .
