Did you ever experience having a dead 12V battery in your electric car? Share your stories below...would love to know how many people have a similar experience.

@Joe-lb8qn

2 ай бұрын

Funnily enough yes, twice, in my Kia Soul ! Both times because i left the interior light on. Once because i left it on, once because i left a door open which in turn caused the interior light to stay on. I fixed it both times with a one hour battery charge and then overnight trickle charge. I did however lose confidence in the 12v when my internal battery monitor (cheap thing off ebay plugs into the cigarette lighter) showed around 12.1- 12.2 volts so got a new 12v after 3 years. Luckily both times i was somewhere i could get access to a power socket to plug a battery trickle charger in. GIven the size of the main traction battery it is pathetic that there isnt better internal monitoring to check the 12v state and charge it when it drops too low. Its there but its not good enough.

The thing with 12V EV batteries is they have smaller charge capacities compared to 12V batteries for ICE cars. The 12V battery for my 2020 Kia Niro died after about two years. The thing that did it for me was I didn't know about Utility Mode where I would have the car's HVAC run off the 12V as I waited in my car to pickup my kids from school and soccer games, etc. Another thing to keep in mind are people with dash cams that have their cameras hard wired to the car. If you have "parking mode" or motion sensors enabled on your dash cam, it'll slowly drain your 12V over time while its off. One thing to consider if you want to play it safe is to buy a battery pack for your dash cam (usually more prominent dash cam companies will have these battery pack accessories). These battery packs essentially power your dashcam while your car is off and will charge itself once your car is running.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the info, very informative. I want to get a dash cam so will need to look for one with external power.

Thanks for the video, always nice to see we are not alone. Had the same issue on Hyundai 2019, dried the car doors open for 2h after cleaning it and 12V died. Though, mine booted (I say booted cause it's a computer:-)) off my old Motomaster charger directly set at only 2A, and that works. I noticed the positive is attached to a 10A heat fuse, that would prevent charging at a decent pace while the battery is connected. Manual so recommend pulling it out for external charging. I did get the 5y old battery replaced, it's not lithium, 5y is a great life time for traditional batteries.

@LeftCoastEV

2 ай бұрын

I have since learned that I would need to remove the battery for charging. Kia and Hyundai really need to sort this out. I’ve read that even owners of the brand new EV9 have 12v issues. I’ve since taken the car to the dealer and they replaced the 12v under warranty (I only paid a portion of the cost). It was just in the nick of time as I almost hit 3 years of ownership when it was replaced.

I ended up replacing the OEM battery and bought a replacement AGM battery from Canadian Tire with a full replacement warranty. The Kia battery is prorated and you'd get the same 'weaker' battery back and have to fuss with the dealer to get it claimed. On my 2022 EV6 GT-LINE 2 with the OEM Battery I used the lithium booster a few times and saved a tow. Well worth it to have one.

Hey thanks for sharing this. I've been searching for a compact jump starter able to possibly start my Bolt EV if it were to happen and this device looks good. Keep up the nice videos and the channel 👍

Did not happen to me yet but now I know what to do when it does.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Now I carry that NOCO unit in the back of my car just in case.

I have the same car. When the car is not used for 2 or 3 weeks.. It charges the 12 volt battery itself. From a larger battery. This can be seen on the indicator under the windshield. The third blue indicator is flashing. Far right. If you are standing in front of a car. This is also stated in the manual.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Then it means that my 12v is not utilizing its optimal performance since I’ve had low 12v warnings for a while now. Will have to investigate this further. Thanks for the info!

@narinderchander

8 ай бұрын

Surely the optimising system should keep the 12v battery charged up, otherwise it's no good. I have the same car and the 12v battery ran low to 6v and I had the same symptoms. Had to jump the car with a battery jumper and all was OK then. Just seems stupid to me. 😡

@LeftCoastEV

8 ай бұрын

The 12v battery management system on Kia and Hyundai cars is terrible. Hope the figure out a fix in the future, but I am not hopeful since even the newest cars have this issue.

Not just EV problem. I had a 22 Tiguan that would do the same. If I didn’t drive it for 3 days the battery would be so low it wouldn’t open the locks with the fob. Had the battery replaced and it seemed to fix the problem for a while but the same thing started happening again. I had to hardwire a battery maintainer charger in the car and use it every couple of days. Sold that Lemon back to the dealer. Luckily got most of my money back.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Great that you managed to sell it back to the dealer!

@Lorwildrose

9 ай бұрын

@@LeftCoastEV yes the VW dealer was great. The VW corporate not so much.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

VW is still not announcing a change to NACS and I am not really sure why. It’s them and Stellantis as the only holdouts. I wonder what is keeping them for jumping ship from CCS (investment in Electrify America maybe).

@Lorwildrose

9 ай бұрын

@@LeftCoastEV VW I don’t think has a clue what to do. I don’t think it’s EA or EC that is stopping it they haven’t put in enough charging stations, that work, to make it a big deal. They didn’t invest in a good operating system in their vehicles and thats the main reason they’re floundering.

Same problem for my Kia Soul EV 2018. I keep a 12 V battery in the car, to be able to jump start, if the batery goes dead... I'm switching the battery soon, since it seems to loose charge much quicker now, and the winter is coming... I will use this battery: "Exide Excell EB504 50 Ah".

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Winter is coming where I live as well so I am thinking that I will need to change mine as well. Jump starting if each time is not a good long term solution. Will check out the battery you mentioned.

Noco's are great! I've had a GB 40 for many years and use it regularly. Boosts my V8 F-150 no problem, even at -20C. The only issue is they have a temp sensor in them and won't function in the cold. The specs say -20C is the limit. So unfortunately you can't leave them in a vehicle in the Canadian winter. I've used mine well below that, but you have to be quick. Tesla's new lithium low voltage battery still has issues. It's supposed to last much longer, but due to another issue(damaged headlight) mine died on a 4 month old 2022 M3LR. Although you can turn on the car by boosting it with 12v you can't drive it. The new battery has a higher nominal voltage than the lead acid, so the car is not derivable by simply jumping it. Seeing as this is a proprietary battery you also can't source one at your local auto parts store. Tesla had to tow my car 430km just to install a new low voltage battery. To me this was a ridiculous situation. I also don't quite understand how the low voltage battery could die while the car was in my garage plugged into the wall charger. The high voltage battery was charged to 90% for a trip. 🤔

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Interesting that your Tesla had 12v issues even with the new battery. This must then be a problem with the BMS and it not working correctly. I think there should be improvements managed to battery management systems especially in electric cars. We carry around a high voltage battery, charge it constantly and somehow it’s not able to provide enough power to make sure the 12v is maintained and kept charged. And I agree, huge fan of the NOCO.

@DarrenDaoust

9 ай бұрын

@@LeftCoastEV The left headlight was out due to a deer incident. Tesla claimed that was the cause of the 12v failure. Therefore I had to pay for the diagnostic and the battery replacement. I was skeptical, but I replaced the headlight as soon as I got home that night and it's been fine ever since. That was January of this year. BTW, the deer incident was Sept 2022 and the car still hasn't been repaired. It's a combined body shop/insurance issue. 🙄 I bought that headlight used off eBay. I wasn't going to wait around for this insurance cluster to get solved.

My Soul EV 2020 Limited was good for the last 3.5 years until 1 month ago. I wasn't able to initiate a charging session. I have tried all level 1, 2, and 3, but no luck. So I dropped it off at KIA Downtown Service Center. Finally, I got the inspection done 5 days later, technician said the onboard charger is malfunctioning. Initially, estimate on parts arrival will take from 4 to 8 weeks. :O Thank god, they were able to find parts 1 week later, so ya, not very confidence in KIA's reliability after this incident.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

I am glad they managed to find the parts that quickly. You got truly lucky. Plus I’m with you on not being overly confident with Kia quality and reliability after experiencing a few issues myself. Too bad…they are starting to build some amazing EVs.

Did you have the battery load tested? If it's a bad cell you have to replace the battery. No trickle charger will fix a dead battery.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Not yet. Have a service appointment end of this month at Kia and they will have a look at it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Electric vehicles only need a pocket sized 12 V battery booster to start. However there is always the chance that your 12V battery voltage dropped to the point that it is permanently damaged. I don’t know how old your battery is but anything older than three years may well need replacing. Sometimes they don’t even last that long. BTW you shouldn’t need to trickle charge the 12V if everything is working properly. The main battery should be doing that periodically.

@LeftCoastEV

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for all the useful info. My battery is older than 3 years and I’ve made an appointment to have it replaced.

@JohnRoss1

Ай бұрын

​@@LeftCoastEV I bought a AGM (glass mat) type battery with full replacement warranty from CTC . a bit more $ but good so far.

Having a jump starter even in an EV is a great idea. Better to safe than sorry.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Indeed. And if the NOCO is too expensive then there are plenty of other alternatives on Amazon. It doesn’t have to be the most beefy unit anyway for an EV.

The manual says to disconnect the battery from the car before charging. This was not done here

That was a drop the ball moment on the dealership when they wanted you to trickle charge. That should have keyed them into doing a charge check including the battery. Is your KIA just 2 years old? I could set my watch on my old CRV battery, after 5 years it would fail. One nice thing your 12 volt battery is accessible.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

My Kia is a 2021 model year so yes about 2 years old. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with Kia service. Next time I am in for service I will tell them to put in a new 12v. Thanks for your feedback!

@dougabbott8261

9 ай бұрын

I would not leave until they replaced that battery. Also, have them check out the onboard charger for the 12 volt battery.@@LeftCoastEV

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

For sure, will do! Thanks again for the info much appreciated.

Have 2019 smart eq with No dash cam or other devices operating when parked. My 12v vehicle battery will randomly die. Have Parked at the airport for 5 days and co.e back and is fine, while other times, it dies in the middle of the nite with horn and flashers going nuts. Dealer says all is well, so I am forced to carry a jump.pack and plug in trickle charger while at home. Definitely not the future. Should not have this issue with a daily driver.

@LeftCoastEV

5 ай бұрын

Seems like Kia cars are not the only ones that suffer from this. Thanks for your feedback!

Cześć, nie bądź zły na KIA, słabe baterie o małej pojemności to troska o ekologię i niestety dotyka wszystkich producentów. W moich autach Toyota HEV gdzie pod baterię 12V jest podłączony system GPS, alarm i zabezpieczenia antykradzieżowe to auto umiera w ciągu 5 dni! Ale jest na to rozwiązanie: jak planujesz dłuższy postój auta wystarczy wyjąć mały bezpiecznik o nazwie DC Cut i wtedy samochód na postoju nie pobiera prądu na utrzymanie systemów w gotowości. Pozdrawiam!

@LeftCoastEV

8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the information! Very useful!

@marcin.sulikowski

8 ай бұрын

@@LeftCoastEV kzread.infoQ7I8NRHRxjE?si=9Twk-CY2Urwgjw7P

All electric vehicles totally electric vehicles have a problem with the 12 V battery

Make sure your main battery is above 20%, if not it will drain the 12v.

@LeftCoastEV

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the info, but this would be pretty unrealistic for me to always keep my battery above 20%. EVs like this charge better if they are at lower SOC and I road trip a lot, meaning I arrive at destinations way below 20% and it will take some time for me to find a charger. What needs to be done is to address the problem with better 12v management like other manufacturers are able to do. Not sure why Kia/Hyndai have problems doing the same.

Get a cigarette socket volt meter. I suspect kia dont charge the 12 volt battery to 14.7-15 volt which is required to maintain a working 12 volt battery.

@LeftCoastEV

7 ай бұрын

Good idea. Thanks!

when they go to 48V structure this will not happen. 12v battery is a yesteryear transfer from 100 years ago.

@LeftCoastEV

7 ай бұрын

That’s how I feel. Driving an electric car with an ancient 12v battery. Hope 48v structure arrives sooner rather than later!

I had my 2016 Kia Soul EV haul to a charging station tonight. The tow company had to hook up a battery pack to allow me to release the brakes and I was then able to drive onto and off the tow truck. I noticed that the car said there was 65 KM left in the high voltage battery. But everytime the tow truck driver disconnected the battery pack the car would die. Do I need to replace my 8 year old battery or will one of these jumpers work for me?

@RandomTorok

2 ай бұрын

I should mention that my car sat for the last week because I blew a tire and had to wait for a replacement tire to come in. Got the tire mounted and balanced then installed it on my car and that's when I noticed it wouldn't start.\

@LeftCoastEV

2 ай бұрын

I think you have a 12v battery issue. These jumpers are a temporary fix. Better go and have the 12v tested and you will probably need to replace it.

@LeftCoastEV

2 ай бұрын

Yeah when Kia or Hyundai cars sit idle the 12v still depletes for some reason. I doubt you have a high voltage battery issue but definitely the 12v needs to be looked at.

Why would you need a jump starter? It is not like an ice car that needs a lot of current to start.

@LeftCoastEV

7 ай бұрын

Because EVs still need to rely on 12v for basic functions including starting the vehicle. Relying on ancient ICE tech will hopefully be obsolete when manufacturers figure out how to use the high voltage battery for all functions.

@gerhardk98

7 ай бұрын

@@LeftCoastEV I understand why there is a 12v battery but all it needs to do is boot the computer and engage a few contactors to connect the high voltage battery, no cranking of a cold engine. It is for safety reasons that the high voltage battery is isolated when the car is off so until the computer sees the car has booted it won’t connect to high voltage. I would have thought a few minutes on a trickle charger would have been enough to start the car. I would look for a different dealership as this could have happened 100 km from home then it would have been more than an inconvenience for you. I have a 2019 LEAF and when we went on a month long motorcycle trip to Newfoundland in 2022 I kept the car connected to a trickle charger to prevent the 12v battery from being drained. So far I haven’t experienced any issues with the car other than the deer that ran into the passenger side about 3 months ago. Hope they replace your battery and give you more than platitudes. I will watch some more of your content when I have the chance, always good to find a Canadian KZreadr to watch.

@LeftCoastEV

7 ай бұрын

I believe it to be a safety issue just like you mentioned. 12v is there to engage the systems, do a check and if all good the high voltage takes over. The issue with Kia/Hyundai is that their BMS system is horrible. The high voltage battery is meant to manage the 12v and if it’s low on power it should trickle charge it. It only happens sometimes. This is why there are so many complains about Kia/Hyundai owners and the 12v battery. I’m going to the dealership this week to change the 12v and will make an update video. Thanks for the subscription! Much appreciated!

My 12v dies every so often if I don't use my soul. It's ridiculous. I don't know if I buy a new 12v will it solve the problem or is it just a vehicle problem

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

That’s terrible. I would say it’s a vehicle problem from everything I have read. It’s also not only limited to the Soul EV but also other EVs from Kia/Hyundai. Will need to investigate if more and do a follow up video if I find out more.

@Joe-lb8qn

4 ай бұрын

Ive left my Soul for a month and no issues. I have flattemed the battery three times by leaving an internal light on one way or another. I replaced the battery once, last time i had a flat battery I used a charger that has a "repair" function as the battery was only a year old, and it seems (fingers crossed) to be OK now.

@mylesg802

4 ай бұрын

@Joe-lb8qn i eventually bought a new battery and my problems went away

@LeftCoastEV

4 ай бұрын

I have finally managed to get a service appointment at my local Kia dealer and hope they change the battery for me this coming Tuesday. However they said they will need to test it first since my old battery is still under warranty so I guess they might try and say it works perfectly fine and not replace it. We shall see on Tuesday.

Second time I drove a Kia Soul, second time driving an EV the 12 volt battery died, EVs kinda suck, suck the juice!!! 😅 No I think this is a KIA problem

@LeftCoastEV

8 ай бұрын

Haha indeed they do. I’ve looked deeper into this and many Kia/Hyundai cars suffer from 12v issues.

@ArneSaeboe

8 ай бұрын

@@LeftCoastEV 🤙 stay awesome dude!

This is a known problem for all EVs - Watch is video and get one of the battery monitors he demonstrates: kzread.info/dash/bejne/nqZnvMGzYaaWhc4.html

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Watching all the videos online when this happened, I already ordered the battery monitor, but thanks for mentioning it so other know about it too.

@jeffmpvd7689

9 ай бұрын

Auto reliability seems to be going down because of all the added complexity in modern vehicles. Kia in particular are problematic. My 2020 Soul ICE needed a new engine after 9K miles. Kia has had many major recalls in the past few years. Not sure how Kia is profitable.

@LeftCoastEV

9 ай бұрын

Agree. I’ve had my fair share of issues with my Soul EV and as of right now I have very little trust in the brand.

Toyota Yaris cross the same, cannot rely on them. PATHETIC

Kia services are horrible!! I definitely want to sell my car because of their horrible customer service

@LeftCoastEV

6 ай бұрын

100% agree with you. Customer service at Kia is the worst I’ve ever experienced.

Tesla may have tech, but pretty much same as all EVs, 1 thing Tesla don’t have and that’s style, and they carnt even come up with a decent name for various cars, like wtf is “Modal 3” or “Modal Y” all about pmpl carnt even think of a decent modal name, plus the cars are plain and ugly

Don't buy electric

@LeftCoastEV

6 ай бұрын

Your ICE car also has a 12v so what the point of this comment?