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Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:09 pm
by tonybkent
I've only had my PHEV Niro for less than six weeks and until this morning was really happy with it. However, it's now completely unable to charge and I have a warning saying "Check Hybrid system" on the dashboard every time I turn the key to start up.

I charged it successfully at work yesterday, drove home and had 18 miles left on the battery. I drove it a mile this morning, then two half mile trips with no issue. I plugged in at home and heard the usual "click" from my charging point, but then about 15-20 seconds later there was a further "click" as the charging stopped.

I checked the RCD in the house (dedicated to the charger off a sub-board) and the one on the charging unit itself, and called the installer. No issue with that, and I confirmed it by driving to a nearby free charging point that I knew worked. Same issue.

It's not set to only charge at specific times of the day (I've not used that feature yet).

I drove it around for a while and confirmed that the hybrid, EV and sport modes were all working as expected by watching the energy flow on the dashboard. Sport mode took the battery from 42% to 48%, at which point I switch back to electric.

I've got it booked in with a dealer (two week wait...) for investigation.

Has anyone else had this issue? (Photo in the URL below).

[media]https://1drv.ms/u/s!AhZNvVUAnqGOxnG69FKfY6wQIEUw[/media]

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 4:27 pm
by tonybkent
Following some advice in another forum, I pulled the Emergency Cable Release a few times. It's located under the bonnet at the front right - a small orange "button". I tried yesterday, but no luck. I pulled it a few more times today - quickly and firmly, and it "clicked". PHEV is now charging again! Woohoo! :D

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:24 am
by chindley
Humphhh....
I've had the same issue this morning. everything works fine with the system but wont take charge.
I will give pulling the cable a try ;)

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 3:16 pm
by chindley
Just checked and it worked 😁
Thanks. Saves me a trip to Kia.

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 6:57 am
by niroal
Mine has done it a couple of times too. Although as a ex owner of a full BEV (Renault Zoe) it is nothing new to me.

The one thing with the car I am disappointed with is the apparent flimsiness of the charging port compared to the over-engineered fuel filler cap. Especially as i use the charging port about 20 times more often.

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 11:52 am
by h2onorth
Hi all. Just commenting on the charge port construction quality . From reading reviews on the Phev as well as the EV Kona and Niiro EV it's disappointing , not to say shameful that it's not far more robust considering how often it's to be used! The traditional fuel cover , as on the golf EV and others seem far better. I am not keen on front placement either, not so much dirt which will be a problem but damage. The first minor front collision may mean, broken charge point and no way to charge EV , tow job.
Any one agree, h2onorth

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:14 pm
by tonybkent
Yup - I tend to agree that the charging port isn't the best. I've had the "Charging door open" warning on the dash a few times, had a look and found it was completely flush - so I hadn't forgotten. I open and close it and generally it's OK after that. Once I've had it still report as "open", so pushed the small black button inside the port a couple of times then closed it again.

Not brilliant, but the only issue I currently have with my PHEV. Other than that, I absolutely love this car :D , especially not having had to put fuel in for two months now. Just turned over 1,300 miles on this tank and have 115 miles left. Accumulated journey data is showing 619MPG(!!!) and 56 hrs 40 minutes of driving. Unfortunately a journey across the UK next week is going to wipe all that good work out. :(

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:10 pm
by jerrytaff
I have hit the problem today. Initially failing to acknowledge that I've plugged in. After engaging the emergency release, I get the click on the wall charger and the blue "connected to car" light, but no green light on the dash. After a few more seconds, there is a 2nd click, and the dash light flashes red. On turning the ignition it did its usual start-up tests and the check Hybrid System came on, and stayed on. After I left it for a couple of hours, it passed the start-up diagnostics, but still fails to charge in the same way as before.
Have booked it into Kia for tomorrow morning.

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:05 am
by jerrytaff
Problem sorted - it took them less than 30 minutes - apparently its a common problem. The charging door was not activating the sensor properly. After a few failures, even the orange emergency release may not clear the problem. The mechanic filed some of the metal work away to enlarge the hole in the part of the door that activates the sensor, and now everything is working fine.

I was chatting to him afterwards about the 13A charger. He told me that they had queried with Kia as to why it is described as for emergency use only, and the response was that it was fine for everyday use, and the wording was as a result of some creative translation from the Korean. Apparently they have to grapple with lots of baffling mis-translations every time a new model is brought out.

Re: Unable to charge and Check Hybrid System warning

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2018 6:07 pm
by niroal
h2onorth wrote: Thu Oct 18, 2018 11:52 am Hi all. Just commenting on the charge port construction quality . From reading reviews on the Phev as well as the EV Kona and Niiro EV it's disappointing , not to say shameful that it's not far more robust considering how often it's to be used! The traditional fuel cover , as on the golf EV and others seem far better. I am not keen on front placement either, not so much dirt which will be a problem but damage. The first minor front collision may mean, broken charge point and no way to charge EV , tow job.
Any one agree, h2onorth
For a PHEV there needs to be an extra cover as the fuel filler is still needed. Cutting extra holes in structural metal like the rear panel is very complex & may need extra crash testing. Fitting in a bolt on wing or a bumper / grille would have non of these issues.

At first I too was surprised that the Niro EV does not use the existing fuel filler too. However one reason for them not wanting a rear charging point is that rapid chargers usually have quite short leads & some people (my wife included) do not like reversing into a parking spaces & if the socket was at the back there would be no option to drive forwards in a space facing the charger.