The nudl tool runs on Linux, Windows, macOS and can download firmware updates for cars from Huyndai, Kia, Genesis: https://github.com/chenxiaolong/nudl. As the HMG server does some GeoIP, you will get automatically the correct firmware image for your region from the HMG update server.
For my EU Kia EV6, I used:
./nudl list -b kia | grep EV6
As I have model year 2022, i.e. MY22 with the old Standard Gen5W Navigation, the entry EV6_MY_22_EU is relevant for me. The extra thorough can double-check via: ./nudl list -b kia -m EV6_MY_22_EU
which correctly printed MODEL NAME VERSION
EV6_MY_22_EU "2022-24 EV6" CV_E.EUR.S5W_L.001.001.260128
(In addition, you can also double-check by comparing to the latest update available on the European KIA update server.)
I created then a directory with that version name and did let nudl download into that directory using the -o parameter:
./nudl download -b kia -m EV6_MY_22_EU -o "CV_E.EUR.S5W_L.001.001.260128"
If your download was aborted and you can resume (by just re-running the above command). If you want then to verify the checksums, point nudl to the directory that was used for that version:
./nudl verify -d "CV_E.EUR.S5W_L.001.001.260128"
Typically, that verification step is not really needed as the car itself also checks file integrity before installation.
Finally, copy the downloaded files directly from the directory (but without the directory itself) to the root of the USB key:
USB Drive/
├── AppUpgrade
├── EV6_MY_22_EU.ver
└── HU/
Copying will take some time as this is 25 GB of data (so have at least a 32 GB USB key). If you use cp -a, use in addition the -v flag to see some sort of progress, i.e.: cp -av
The Problem: Battery capacity cannot be measured as the drive battery never gets fully emptied during driving
The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is a very reliable car, but as the drive battery is never fully emptied, model years up to 2022 cannot measure actual battery capacity (model years 2023 and later use the Nissan/Renault EV platform that measures actual battery capacity, e.g. by continuous coulomb-counting combined with Open-Circuit Voltage resting curves and Kalman filtering).
Instead, the Battery Management Unit (BMU) has to estimate the real battery capacity based on the calendar ("secular degradation") and on charging cycles. Typically, this estimate is too pessimistic and therefore, the BMU does not allow full use of the real battery capacity. As a result, the EV gets unnecessarily reduced.
(The BMU never drains the battery below roughly 30% because it must reserve sufficient energy to spin up the cold combustion engine within a fraction of a second when EV power runs out. Unlike a traditional 12 V starter motor, which can take a few seconds to crank an engine in a stationary car, the PHEV's engine must engage instantaneously to prevent any loss of power while driving. And for that, the high-voltage starter motor needs some energy reserve in the drive battery. While a pure BEV can simply run its battery pack down to a halt, a PHEV must seamlessly hand over propulsion to the combustion engine the moment the empty battery threshold is reached.)
The Solution: Fully drain the battery while not driving and then measure the capacity
While the battery will never be fully emptied during driving, you can enforce this if the Outlander PHEV is stationary: a so-called Drive Battery Capacity Automatic Measurement (DBCAM) procedure can be triggered for a parked Outlander PHEV to force the BMU to measure the real battery capacity. The DBCAM procedure will then drain the battery to the low-voltage cutoff (which corresponds to maybe 20% of energy left in the battery, because going lower would put unnecessarily high stress on the drive battery). To this aim, DBCAM switches on air conditioning and heating simultaneously which is a good way to consume significant energy without actually driving. After that, DBCAM fully charges the battery and while charging, the BMU actually measures how much energy flows into the battery. This measured value then replaces the estimated battery capacity, giving you some range back.
Diagnostic tool needed to trigger the DBCAM procedure
You need a diagnostic tool to trigger the DBCAM procedure. This can be the original Mitsubishi Multi Use Tester (M.U.T.-III) or a third-party tool (that reverse-engineered the protocol used by the Mitsubishi M.U.T. via the OBD port on the CAN bus).
The remainder describes using the Thinkcar Thinkscan 689 diagnostic tablet to do this. While the diagnostic tablet needs to be bought once, it pays for itself compared to paying your car dealer every year or two for the DBCAM.
If you want to buy one of the Thinkcar tools: their web page is terrible -- links are not working and while their web page has a coverage or compatibility section where you should be able to see that the chosen Thinkcar tool supports DBCAM, these features of their website rarely work. But should you (or they) get their vehicle coverage inquiry web page to work, select Mitsubishi, OUTLANDER-PHEV, then your model year, Battery Management Unit (BMU), Special Functions, Battery Auto Capacity Measured: this needs to be supported by the tool that you buy.
Be aware that the cheaper Thinkcar tools are subscription-based: when you run them for the very first time, you have to register them and get the updates (=supported cars and functionalities) for the tool from that year. If the subscription expires, you can still continue using the tool -- you just will not get support for new car types, unless you opt for paying again for the subscription (it is OK to have gaps in the subscription and the subscription is cheaper if you buy an update only for a particular brand). Unless you are an independent repair shop that needs to service all brands, it is perfectly fine to buy a subscription-based diagnostic tool: it can do the DBCAM and forever supports everything that it supported when you activated it, i.e. you can do the DBCAM in all future years without a subscription.
I nevertheless opted for the Thinkscan 689 diagnostic tablet as this diagnostic tablet has lifetime updates and I did not understand at that time that the subscription model would have worked fine for me. But the cheaper Thinkdiag / Thinkdiag 2 tools should be perfectly fine.
The Thinkscan 689 diagnostic tablet is in fact an Android tablet with an OBD connector, whereas the Thinkdiag tool is an advanced OBD dongle that connects via Bluetooth to a Thinkcar app on your smartphone.
PHEV Watchdog app to read battery data
Also, I use the app PHEV Watchdog lite (together with an OBD Bluetooth adapter that I already had to clear DTC errors) to read, store, and present BMU data in an easier-to-use way than the diagnostic tablet does. See the screenshots below:
Before the DBCAM: 27.9 Ah usable battery capacity, corresponding to a 69.8% State of Health (SoH) of the battery. The DBCAM procedure itself (as initiated by the diagnostic tablet) found 30.0 Ah usable battery capacity corresponding to a 75.0% SoH (yellow tile) and stored that value in the BMU. After the battery had settled, even 30.3 Ah usable battery capacity corresponding to a 75.8% SoH is reported.
Details from PHEV Watchdog lite when reading BMU data after the DBCAM: 99.0%=30.0 Ah State of Charge (SoC). As Mitsubishi communicated for my 2017 model both a 40.0 Ah and a 38.0 Ah usable battery capacity when the PHEV leaves the factory, it is not clear which of these two values is correct, so the PHEV Watchdog lite app displays a SoH percentage for both maximum usable battery capacity values communicated by Mitsubishi. The absolute real usable battery capacity is 30.3 Ah or 9.1 kWh. 78.3% of the distance was driven electrically. The battery is 2970 days old and the charging corresponds to 1172 full charging cycles (but in practice, these were rarely full charging cycles, so that value is accumulated and calculated). 12.49% of the battery capacity was lost to charging ("cycle deterioration") and 16.55% of the battery capacity was lost to aging ("secular deterioration"), i.e. would have happened anyway regardless of how many charging cycles the car had.
Cell Smoothing
The improvement in usable battery capacity after a DBCAM comes from the BMU measuring actual capacity rather than relying on its pessimistic degradation formula. However, if individual cells are out of balance, then while charging the battery pack, one cell will inevitably reach the upper voltage limit during charging before the others are full. This leaves some of the pack's potential capacity untapped because lagging cells never get topped up.
PHEV Watchdog lite can show this cell drift. If the delta between the minimum and maximum voltage is ca. 0.050V or more on a fully charged, rested battery, doing what Mitsubishi calls Cell Voltage Smoothing before a DBCAM is well worth the extra step.
Why doesn't regular charging with balancing fix large cell drift?
The Outlander PHEV already performs cell balancing at the end of every AC charge using tiny resistors across each cell to ensure that all cells have the same voltage at the end of charging. This means: while the wall charger is pumping in several Amps, the tiny bleeder resistors draw away a fraction of the charging current so that the cells that have a rather high voltage get less charged than the cells that need to be topped up. But as even the "bleeding" cells still gain charge, these cells might still hit their maximum voltage limit and therefore, the car has to stop charging entirely, leaving the lagging cells undercharged.
In most cases, this cell balancing is sufficient to keep the cell drift well below the delta of 0.050V. But sometimes, cell smoothing is needed.
How Cell Smoothing fixes large cell drift
Cell Voltage Smoothing takes extra time and is therefore not done during normal charging, but needs to be initiated via diagnostic tools (such as the Thinkcar tablet) on a fully charged pack:
The car is unplugged, meaning zero incoming charging current. The BMU switches on the bleed resistors only on the higher-voltage cells, slowly dissipating their excess energy as heat.
Without an active charger hitting upper voltage limits, the BMU can run this targeted bleed uninterrupted (but it will stop after a maximum of 2 hours) until the high cells drop down to match the rest of the pack.
After this smoothing, the cells are set to the same voltage (which the normal cell balancing might not have achieved).
Starting the DBCAM with smoothly leveled cells ensures that every single cell fills to its true maximum and drains to its true cutoff together, allowing the BMU to register the highest possible Amp-hour capacity.
Procedure for cell smoothing
Note: I never tried it myself, though, as my own cell drift was only 0.010V, namely minimum cell 0.004V below average, maximum 0.006V above, which is well within normal tolerance, so I skipped smoothing and the following text is not based on my experience, but AI-generated:
Connect: Plug your Thinkcar diagnostic tablet into the OBD port while the vehicle is fully OFF.
Ignition to READY: Turn the vehicle on to READY mode (foot on the brake, press power). (Note: This is different from DBCAM, which requires the vehicle to be turned fully OFF for the discharge and charging phases to begin.)
Navigate: Open the Thinkcar app, decode your VIN, and navigate to System Selection -> BMU.
Execute: Select Special Function -> Cell voltage smoothing.
Confirm: Press the button to execute the command.
Monitor: The Thinkcar screen will show an "Execution status." You simply wait until that status changes from "Active" to "Not Active" to confirm the balancing is completely finished.
Time: The process can take up to a maximum of 2 hours to complete.
Tablet Power: Your Thinkcar tablet must not go to sleep or turn off its screen during this process. If it does, the connection will drop, and the procedure will abort and throw an error. Plug your tablet into a charger and set its display settings to stay awake indefinitely.
DBCA procudure step-by-step
You may find on the web a Mitsubishi Service Bulletin MSB-17EXL54-501 (to avoid any copyright claim, I do not provide the link here, but you should be able to find it via a search engine, the filename is: MSB-17EXL54-501.pdf). This document describes the official procedure using the Mitsubishi M.U.T.-III diagnostic tablet. The following is for the Thinkcar tools based on this official procedure and on the forum post listing the steps for the Thinkdiag / Thinkdiag 2.
If you like, first use the PHEV Watchdog lite app in order to take a new reading of the current battery condition there (connect via Bluetooth to your generic OBD dongle, then via three dots: Battery Condition -- when connected via Bluetooth, it should immediately record a new reading. By tapping on it, you can delete a reading in case you made too many recordings of the same state).
But now, the steps to trigger the DBCAM procedure with the Thinkcar tools:
Drive the drive battery to empty (because DBCAM will measure how much energy it can charge into an empty battery -- but when the car displays the battery as empty, it still has 30% of energy stored and this 30% buffer will be emptied as part of the DBCAM)
Have car switched off
Connect charging cable: car will start charging (even though we want to have the battery empty: as it is slow AC charging anyway, it is no problem that this starts charging the car now)
Connect the diagnostic tablet (IIRC I had the car switched on, but in step 17, I later had to switch my car off for the DBCAM to start: try next time to leave it switched off! The Mitsubishi Service Bulletin MSB-17EXL54-501 also mentions that the car should be switched off before connecting their diagnostic tablet.)
Do the VIN scan: click the large VIN button
Click: Automatically Search. It will then show Vehicle information, click: OK
Click: System Selection
Scroll down to and click: BMU
Scroll down to and click: Special Function
Scroll down to and click: Battery Auto Capacity Measured, confirm with: Yes
As DBCAM is currently not running, but may have completed an earlier run, Execution Status should be either: Not run (if you never did a DBCAM) or Complete (from the previous DBCAM)
Scroll down: Auto Capa.Measured Result HIS.1 to 10 should show the history of previous DBCAM battery capacity measurements (or the original capacity, 40 in case of my MY 2017) and Auto Capa.Measured ODO HIS. 1 to 10 should show the odometer readings from previous DBCAMs, or 0.
You may want to note down what value is shown for Battery Current Capacity -- after DBCAM has completed, it should have changed and will hopefully be a higher number as it is using the measured instead of the too pessimistic value calculated by the BMU.
At the very bottom of the list, Capa. Measured Discharge Current should show NG/Not Performed
At the bottom right, click: Perform (to start the DBCAM) and confirm with: yes. It should then say: Successful Operation, press: OK
Execution Status should now be: Executing
As I still had my car switched on, at the very bottom of the list, Capa. Measured Discharge Current was still showing: NG/Not Performed
Finally, after switching off my car, the cabin fan, AC, and heater kicked on at full blast (activating high-draw consumers to discharge the pack below 30%). The diagnostic tablet was still running, and at the very bottom of the list, Capa. Measured Discharge Current was now showing: Ok
As the car was in my garage, I did not lock it, but it should be possible to lock the car now if you do this outdoors.
You now hear the fan and heater running to drain the battery: this means success. Emptying the drive battery to 0% will now take some hours (approx. 1-2 h). All documentation says that it is now possible to disconnect the diagnostic tablet (and reconnect later to check).
I left the diagnostic tablet connected, but after some time, the car put the OBD port to sleep anyway, so the diagnostic tablet disconnected. I left my car in my garage, i.e. I did not lock the car doors.
Sooner or later, the battery is empty and the fan, AC, etc. should go off. The car should now have automatically started a new charging session, i.e. charging the empty battery (and while doing that, it will measure how much it is able to charge the battery to determine the real capacity): the red charging symbol on the dashboard should be on then.
While it was charging, I reconnected my diagnostic tablet to the car:
I did the above VIN scan, but when selecting: Automatically Search, it returned an error and I had to manually enter the VIN (even though it had just displayed the VIN a few seconds before).
After that, I was able to select: System selection
BMU
Special Function
Battery Auto Capacity Measured
Execution Status should still show: Executing
Capa. Measured Discharge Current should show again: NG/Not Performed
When this measured charging session finished (which will take longer than a normal charge that would start at ca. 30%, as this time the charge starts with a lower SoC), the red charge light on the dashboard should go off.
I then connected the diagnostic tablet again and switched on the car.
I still had the charging cable connected and interestingly the 12 V battery light was on, i.e. the DC-DC converter was not charging the 12 V battery, but the car was in accessory mode (I am pretty sure that I had pressed the brake pedal while switching the car on, but I might be wrong). I then switched the car off, disconnected the charging cable, and then switched the car on: the 12 V light was gone.
I did the usual VIN scan, and Automatically Search worked again this time.
After that, I was able to select: System selection
BMU
Special Function
Battery Auto Capacity Measured
Execution Status should be: Complete
Error status should still be: No error
Capa. Measured Discharge Current should show again: NG/Not Performed
Battery Current Capacity should show a new value (hopefully higher than the old value that you noted down).
Also, the HIS.1 value should have been shifted to HIS.2 and so on.
The DBCAM is now finished and you can disconnect the diagnostic tablet. If you like, connect PHEV Watchdog lite. It should say that a new capacity measurement is available and via Battery Condition, the yellow tile for the DBCAM event (see screenshot at top) should be shown and the tile with the new (hopefully better) capacity should be shown.
If you do the DBCAM for the very first time, you may get a significant amount of range back. If you do the DBCAM yearly after that, the yearly gain will of course not be that large (but still worth it and while the history has space for 10 DBCAM results, you can do more than 10 DBCAMs: the older results then just get shifted out of the history).
TPMS Valve Programming
In case the TPMS sensors need to be exchanged: Thinkcar also has a device for reading TPMS sensors, transferring that via Bluetooth to the diagnostic tablet and then writing the valve ID via the diagnostic tablet to the Outlander's OBD port. For cloning an ID of an existing valve (i.e. writing an ID to a new valve), that will only work with Thinkcar valves (that you can buy). However, the Thinkcar TPMS tools should be able to read (and then write to the Outlander) almost all OEM and aftermarket 315 MHz / 433 MHz sensors, e.g. even the original Mitsubishi ones.
An Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) is the controller in a wallbox that checks how many Ampere the charging cable is able to transfer (as indicated by the PP resistor inside the cable) and communicates this via a PWM signal to the electric vehicle (EV) and when the EV signals that it wants to charge, then the EVSE finally closes the contactor inside the wallbox so that the charging current can flow to the onboard charger (OBC) inside the EV (the OBC then slowly ramps up the charging current and ramps it down at the end of charging, so contactor closing/connecting and opening/disconnecting does not involve an electric arc, so that contactor welding is not an issue).
After the Phoenix Contact EVSE in my Wallbe Eco 3.6 kW wallbox died, I replaced it with an EVSE-DIN (essentially the EVSE-WB in a DIN rail enclosure) from EV Racing. Note that there are types with a DC residual current monitoring and without. If you take the variant without, then you need to have a type B RCD in your fuse box.
I bought the version with Modbus from the seller OpenWB: that seller had Modbus already enabled (factory setting is disabled) and had the maximum current set to 13 A (more foolproof than the default 32 A), but had unfortunately also disabled PP detection, i.e. not measuring the PP resistor value.
I also bought an RS485 to USB converter so that I can access the EVSE-DIN's Modbus via USB.
The EVSE-DIN is very simple, but there exists a third party add-on that uses an ESP32 to add Wifi support, web server and other functionality: EVSE-WiFi. (And if you want to play around a lot with an EVSE: use an EV simulator to try out your EVSE, including checking error-handling: as any contactor, the contactors inside the EV have limited amount of open/close cycles, so using your car to test your EVSE may exhaust the cycles of the contactor inside your car).
Modbus is the protocol, RS485 is the physical layer (often, this is called RTU mode, but in fact, RTU mode means that each byte contains 8 bit of information instead of using ASCII character encoding where two ASCII characters would be needed for transmitting 8 bits) -- there exist also a TCP layer as lower layer for Modbus.
By default, 16 bit values are transmitted as values (when bit-level access is supported, then bits are called coils).
For EVSE-DIN with RS485, the baudrate is 9600 with 8N1, i.e. data bits are 8, parity is none, and stop bits is 1. The Modbus slave address of the EVSE-DIN is 1, but that can be changed via Modbus register 2001.
The registers that are accessible via Modbus can be found in the EVSE-DIN documentation.
On my Linux system, the RS485 to USB converter can be accessed via /dev/ttyUSB0 and that needs be accessed as super user.
To read the 10 registers from 1000 to 1009 via RS485, with addresses starting from 0 and a 1-time printout (using mbpoll's default slave address, i.e. 1): sudo mbpoll -m rtu -b 9600 -d 8 -P none -s 1 -0 -1 /dev/ttyUSB0 -r 1000 -c 10
When writing values, be aware that you need always to write at least two consecutive values (i.e. do a read to find out what the second value is and simply rewrite it). If you try to write only one single value to EVSE-DIN, you will get the following error: Write output (holding) register failed: Illegal function
The reason is that Modbus function code 06 for writing a single value is not supported by EVSE-DIN.
From the above EVSE-DIN PDF:
NOTE#3: Only functions 03 (Read Holding Registers) and 16 (Preset Multiple Registers)
are implemented. For more details please check: http://www.simplymodbus.ca/FAQ.htm
Therefore, to write values, take care to write at least two values to make mbpoll use the Modbus function 16 (Preset Multiple Registers).
Changes that I did:
Set default (maximum) charging current to 17 Ampere in order to reflect the cable and circuit breaker rating in my garage (which is 16 A, but my EV is careful and uses always a little bit less, i.e. 16 A when the EVSE allows to use 17 A):
Change register 2000 from 13 to 17.
As single values cannot be written to EVSE-DIN, I had to write multiple values and the above read shows that 2001 is 1, so I wrote starting from 2000 the two values 17 1: sudo mbpoll -m rtu -b 9600 -d 8 -P none -s 1 -0 /dev/ttyUSB0 -r 2000 17 1,
Make LED not quickly flashing when idle, but permanently on when idle (and slowly flashing when charging, i.e. contactor is on. Any remaining fast flashing is an indicator of an error):
Change bit 2 in register 2005 to gain constant LED ON while no EV is connected. Register 2005 had a value of 521, i.e. 0b1000001001 = (bit 1 set, i.e. button can be used to change charging current; bit 3 set, i.e. support to charge with ventilation for lead battery-based EVs; bit 9 set, i.e. pilot auto recover delay) and after setting bit 2, the new values is 525. Writing that value should work via
Enable PP detection (i.e. it takes the maximum charge current from the connected charging cable):
Change register 2007 from 32 to 0.
As single values cannot be written to EVSE-DIN, I wrote multiple values and the above read shows that 2006 is 0, so I wrote starting from 2005 the three values 525 0 0:
The LED is now on when idle (instead of nervously blinking). Also, after having enabled PP detection, register 1003 has then the value 5 with no cable attached and 20 with an 20 Ampere cable attached.
In future, I might try enabling a second LED (via pin AN) as a dedicated error LED (need to find out what the normal LED does then display). Currently, the single LED is on when the wallbox is idle, i.e. no EV connected, flashes two times quickly followed by a short pause when the EV is connected (PWM generated by EVSE), but does not charge (e.g. EV finished charging or EV is initiating charging), and flashes slowly while the EV is charging, i.e. the contactor is closed.
Another future work is to upgrade the wallbox to 20 Amps and 3 phases. I already added a 3L+N contactor and the charging port cabling supports 20 Amps as well as the Phoenix terminal blocks do. Just all internal wiring needs to be upgraded to 3 phase 20 Amps.
The HYUNDAI/KIA/GENESIS models have a "hidden" engineering mode that can be used to, e.g., find out manufacturing date or software versions (you can also reset settings -- which you probably want to avoid).
Entering engineering mode seems to differ from region to region and also from head unit firmware version, here are the instructions for European models up to (Dec 2022) 221223 versions:
Switch from air condition panel to navigation and radio panel
Switch radio on (probably to FM)
Turn the volume dial to 7
Press the other dial (marked "FILE")
Turn the volume dial to 3
Press the other dial (marked "FILE")
Turn the volume dial to 1
Press the other dial (marked "FILE")
Now, some number buttons are displayed to enter a secret number code
The number code varies from head unit (AKA center display) version to version. For the Nov 2022 (221129) and Dec 2022 (221223) versions, the number code is: 1950 0624
This info can be found, e.g., on YouTube:
For European models up to Dec 2022 (221223) versions:
https://youtu.be/kht_9Fv_dwo
I have yet to try how it works for the Jun 2023 (230601) version that does not seem to use the volume dial method anymore, but some very specific touch locations (and then, then number code 19450815)
For example, using the versions displayed in Engineering Mode, you can see that service action SA533 "VCU Software Upgrade for i-Pedal Operation" did update the VCU version from, e.g., 5.10 to 5.12, but none of the other ECUs firmwares get updated.
Using an OBD port adapter and the Car Scanner app for Android, you can even get further information use the Car Scanner feature for an ECU dump (ECU information from the main screen) which contains version numbers as well. After the ICCU software update, I should be able to see the version numbers changing. Update: after the Service Campaign SC271 ICCU update, I have exactly the version number of before and after as shown in this video (except that I have a 3 days younger ECU manufacturing date (HEX): 20210906). But I later read that the ICCU update does not really solve the ICCU issues, but mainly improves reporting the issue, so that the owner has more time before the car stops moving because of the dead ICCU; but at least also that software improvements will improve calibration values and preventing fuse from going burned.
Modern electric vehicles (EVs) are computers on wheels (anyone interested in research on this is welcome to contact me), e.g., they provide in their navigation system (live) data concerning EV chargers (location, power and plug type such as AC vs. DC, availability such as busy or not). Concerning Icelandic charging stations, these data bases need to be improved. My experience is that this EV charging station data displayed in the cars comes from the big map providers (i.e. TomTom and Here), but not from their maps, but from some extra data base. For example, TomTom has -- in addition to their map data -- a data base for EV services (it seems that Here does not have such an EV-specific service and even if your car has map data from Here, the EV services probably come from TomTom).
(Having as many DC chargers as possible known to the car is needed to make the car pre-heat the battery before charging, as in case of Kia/Hyundai, this requires the charger to be known to the car.)
The Icelandic Ísorka charging operator is using the Virta infrastructure and Virta is collaborating with TomTom and therefore, their stations are pretty complete and provide dynamic live data concerning availability in my TomTom-based car. But the data for the Icelandic Orka náttúrunnar (ON) chargers are often outdated (e.g. assuming everywhere only a 50 kW DC fast charger where ON nowadays has 150 kW or even 225 kW fast chargers) or in the worst case simply lacking on the map or do not exist anymore (e.g. the fast charger in Kirkjubæjarklaustur used to be operated by ON in the past and is therefore still listed in TomTom's EV service data base, even though it is now operated by N1 -- I anyway have the feeling that N1 chargers are not in the data base). Also, some ON stations (e.g. the two DC chargers on the two sides of Miklabraut at Kringlan) are listed as Charge and Drive and others as Orka náttúrunnar.
These ON Alpitronic chargers at one of the most important charging locations (Baulan) are 225 DC chargers (would be listed as High Power Charger as for the Porsche charger below), but is only listed as slower DC, i.e. 200 kW or less, charger. Also, no real-time availability info.
These ON Alpitronic chargers at one of the most important charging locations (Viðigerði) are 225 DC chargers that were initially completely lacking, but after I reported them via the TomTom Mapshare tool, they show up -- but only listed as slower DC charger and no real-time availability info.
This 300 kW charger is correctly listed as High Power Charger. Still, no real-time availability info: listed as unknown.
This Ísorka AC chargers have real-time info on availability (as they are part of the Virta network).
I was wondering how I can improve this. I reported electric vehicle charging POIs to the TomTom Mapshare tool. And indeed, it seems that after a couple of days, my reported POIs have been added to the map: at least in Viðigerði, I reported the missing ON charger and the N1 petrol station that has been moved. And now, these POIs are in the TomTom online map and my car displays it on the map (even though, I did not install manually a map update in my car). This means, my care got this updated information using TomTom's EV service data base that it accesses online. TomTom was really fast in adding the charger at Hof in Akureyri that I reported; both are now on the TomTom online map and in TomTom's EV service data base.
TomTom has this extra EV service's API that provides exactly this kind of data (but it does not mention how to get data into that system: bug POI reporting on the map helped to get a charger into that data base, however the power information is lacking). Also, my car displays live data for Ísorka stations (some listed as Virta, some as Ísorka -- so there is also some chaos there), but not for ON. This is all evidence that charging station information does not come from the TomTom map itself, but via their EV services that provide, e.g. static information (the example response contains charger locations, plug type, etc. -- this is information that is not on the map, but that is nevertheless listed by my car) and dynamic real-time (availability) information.
So, very likely even without any map updates installed in your car, just getting updates into this static EV services data is already enough to let a car know about charging stations.
I have asked ON to contact TomTom to get more up-to-date static ON charging station data (e.g. correct info on max. charging power) into the TomTom EV services (and preferably also the dynamic live data on availability). And ON answered me that they are working on it.
Update 25.4.2023ON kept me up-to-date: they partnered with some company to make real-time data available and Google maps lists now real-time data for ON (if you let Google maps display EV charging station). Later, the data should also be available via TomTom EV services.
Update 21.6.2023 There was new firmware for the headunit available that also has new map data. While some of the ON HPC chargers that were before listed as DC (i.e. =150 kW), I am not sure whether this comes from the map or from the live data (I forgot to check before I did the map update). But in addition to reporting updates for the chargers, I also reported updates for the map itself, i.e. changed roads, and none of them are contained in the updated map: this makes it more likely that the updates come rather from live data and not from the static map.
Update 22.10.2023 The ON charger live data on availability of chargers is now actually displayed in my car, so the information from 25.4.2023, that this info will sooner or later show up there, became reality. Currently, I have now for the same charger two entries shown in my car: one from the static map (using the Icelandic name Orka náttúrunnar) and another with availability status from the live data (using the English name "ON Power"). Currently, the information concerning DC vs. HPC is not up-to-date, i.e. the live data lists HPC chargers as DC (whereas the static map has them correctly listed as HPC).
Live data on availability of chargers (next to static map data for the same chargers)
Should I or you ever need to delete all registered devices for WiFi access to the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, I found a solution on some English forum (I hope, it is OK to copy it here):
WiFi Reset Procedure:
Get in the car and Fully close the Drivers door.
IMPORTANT - All steps below must be performed within a total of 30 seconds.
Without pressing the brake pedal, press the power button once so that it glows orange (ACC mode).
Turn on the Hazard lights.
Now quickly alternately press and release the LOCK and UNLOCK buttons on the key fob 5 times, i.e. 10 presses in total. This must be done within 10 seconds of pressing the Power button ON as in (1) above.
Listen for one BEEP, followed by 0, 1 or 2 more beeps.
Now quickly alternately press the LOCK and UNLOCK buttons on the key fob another 10 times each within 10 seconds, i.e. another 20 presses.
Listen for one BEEP, followed by 0 more beeps.
If you only hear a single BEEP, with no following BEEPs, you have successfully reset the WiFi. You can now register 2 new phones with the car again, using the standard procedure (but see Note below). If you hear more BEEPs after the first long BEEP, then its not worked and you should try again following the procedure correctly step by step and within the timings stated.
Switch off the Power button and Hazard lights.
Note: If you reset the WiFi, before you attempt to connect your phone to the car again, you should first remove the Mitsubishi APP from your phone completely.
Once the APP is removed you can then connect your phone with the car WiFi first and only then, after successfully connecting your phone (not the APP) to the car WiFi, should you download and install the APP again. Then of course you must go through the APP procedure.
On some Android phones (like mine) after you first connect to the car WiFi with your phone, a warning will pop up on your phone after about 10 or 15 seconds stating there is no internet connection with this WiFi and it will ask you if you still want to connect to this particular WiFi now and in the future. You MUST wait for this pop up on your phone and select Yes (of course!).
I addition, some German forum covers that as well.
After the terrible experience with my dealer (Bílaumboðið Askaj), I had to investigate whether they had at least installed all the firmware updates needed to make drive battery pre-conditioning work:
While the Kia (and Hyundai) EVs always had a "winter mode" where it heats the drive battery up to +5 °C when it is below -5 °C (and the battery has a low SoC, i.e. it can be anticipated that some charging might happen soon), recently heating to reach 20 °C has been added by selecting a High-Power Charger (HPC) with a power of 150 kW or more or a slower DC (i.e. <150 kW) charger. This can be annoying if outdated map data indicates no charger to select in the navigation system that you can set as destination or waypoint -- but in that case, just claim to navigate to the closest DC/HPC charger known in the map.
However, to make that work, you need
Navigation/infotainment system update for the head unit (HU), e.g. the one from Dec 2022 (you can do this update on your own)
Update of ECU firmware (BMS and VCU) -- only the dealer service can do that
You still have the old winter mode, if you see in your head unit in the "EV settings" section an entry "Winter mode". If you see rather instead "Battery conditioning mode", then you have the new battery heating mode:
Battery conditioning mode displayed if drive battery pre-heating works (if the needed firmware updates have not been made, you see just: winter mode)
Of course, the new "Battery conditioning mode" needs to be enabled
Navigating to an HPC/DC charger (note: it is often written that this needs to be an HPC charger, but I experienced that a DC charger also activates battery heating in cold condition), even as a waypoint -- but be aware that navigation only starts if the HPC/DC charger is the very next waypoint (in case you have multiple waypoints).
Drive battery temperature below 21 °C (heating will later stop once 21 °C or more have been reached, but will resume again once dropped to 19.5 °C or lower)
SoC is 24% or higher (heating will later stop once SoC is 20% or lower) -- somewhat stupid: optimal charging speed means to reach the charger with an SoC as low as, e.g., 10%, but battery heating is not possible with low SoC
It is not fully clear, when the preconditioning starts: it seems that it depends on the temperature of the battery (the colder, the earlier the preheating has to start). Also, it seems that preconditioning stops somewhat before reaching the charger (in order to spread or balance the heat inside the battery to prevent that some modules are too hot while others are too cold): a hypothesis is that the car estimates the SoC that it will have when it arrives at the charger and stops at a Soc that is 10 percentage points higher than the estimated SoC of arrival (this would fit to the fact that preconditioning stops at 20% SoC as the car estimates then to arrive with 10% SoC, i.e. leaves another 10% SoC as safety buffer).
It seems that 10 minutes of pre-conditioning increase the battery temperature by ca. 3 Kelvin (in -4°C, my car started heating 70 minutes in advance of reaching the HPC charger).
You will notice that the battery heating is active if a snow flake (model year 2022) or a heating spiral icon (model year 2023 -- this is related to the firmware used by the cluster unit (CLU) firmware that displays the main dashboard) is shown in the battery percentage bar on the very bottom left of the dashboard.
Also pre-conditioning (to +10 °C only, though) via app is possible by either simply starting climate control for the cabin or by setting a schedule for climate control (i.e. not only the cabin gets heated, but also the battery -- you can use this, e.g., if you have the car parked at home and want to fast charge at a charger very close to you: in this case, the pre-conditioning during driving would not be long enough; but if you do not intend to charge, but only want to pre-heat the cabin, heating the battery wastes of course energy):
Activated pre-conditioning via app
SoC at least 35% (this is what you read in the forums, I had the feeling that this percentage might be even higher)
Drive battery temperature 8 °C or lower
Every pre-conditioning as part of a 15 minute cabin pre-heating increases the battery temperature by ca. 5 Kelvin
The app indicates this (in the European app, next to the battery level bar, is a question mark icon: if you click on it, it shows how battery pre-conditioning will be shown in the app). Just be aware that the conditioning needs ca. 1 minute to start, so you will not see it immediately (e.g. in the app, you need the refresh the status after ca. 1 minute in order to see the changed battery icon).
In the charging curve below, you find a good overview on the charging power in relation to the battery temperature. Many forum posts support that there are 5 Kelvin steps (instead of a gradual curve) and of course, it depends on the state of charge:
Note also that both the coldest and the warmest battery module needs to be within that temperature range.
Update from 2026: Use the nudl tool to download the files from the Kia server natively on Linux.
My dealer (Bílaumboð Askja) had promised that all updates have been made when my new car was delivered. However, this proved to be partly wrong: it seems that at Kia, the head unit update is always left to the owner. So, I had to do the update on my own:
Updating the Hyundai/Kia/Genesis head unit/navigation infotainment system firmware needs to be done by the end user.
For European models, you can find the download here: https://update.kia.com/EU/E1/Main -- once you updated to a new enough firmware, future updates can even be done over-the-air (OTA) (but note that only two OTA updates might be available for free, so do not blindly agree to download and install an OTA update. But you can install the same updates via USB).
This update does not only give you new map data, but in fact, it controls many features not related to navigation (but even the salesperson of my car dealer is not aware of this), e.g. battery pre-conditioning.
A guide is available from Kia, but in principle it works by downloading an update tool to your computer that then downloads the right and latest firmware and writes it to a big enough USB storage device. You will need one with a type A connector, e.g., a USB stick (the 2022-12-07 update is 40 GB, so you need at least a 64 GB storage device: it will be formatted by the update tool) that you can then plug into your car's USB A port. A YouTube video of that procedure is here:
However, the Kia web page provides only downloads of an update tool for MS Windows and Apple Mac. Trying to download it via a web browser from Linux gives an error. I guess, some Javascript checks the operating system string in your web browser Id. I did not check the Javascript. Later I read that using Wine should work to run the update tool and then let that tool download the files and then use Linux to copy these files (all those files inside directory EV6_MY_22_EI) to the root of the USB key) -- but I did not yet try that.
I therefore decided to use a virtual machine running MS Windows. The steps are as follows (depending on your download speed, expect: 1 h for downloading the MS Windows image, 1 h for downloading the new firmware image, 1 h for writing the firmware image to the USB key, 1 h for the update in the car itself):
Download & install VirtualBox (via your Linux operating system's packet manager or by download from https://www.virtualbox.org/ )
Download & install (via packet manager or download) the VirtualBox extensions pack for making the USB port available in the Windows VM (typically requires to reboot your Linux system to make this work: I guess some kernel modules are involved that do not get automatically inserted during installation, but only after re-boot)
Import that VM image into VirtualBox: take care to have the virtual file system partition big enough for the download, i.e. have 40 to 64 GB free in addition to the MS Windows installation itself.
Plug your USB key in, don't mount it in Linux and configure VirtualBox to access it: see here
After starting the VM with MS Windows 10, log in via the password "Passw0rd!". In the File Explorer, you should see the USB key as drive letter D:
Starting from here, the steps are the same as for any MS Windows user:
Start the downloaded updater (I did start it as administrator to make sure that the access to the USB key works)
Select then your car type in order to download the right firmware (as this is a huge download, this will take time -- if you do not have enough space, the downloader will complain. The good thing about a VM is that you can easily increase the size of the VM file system)
Finally, the updater will write the downloaded firmware to the USB key (which will again take time -- note: it might be that you Windows VM shuts down automatically after writing to the USB key has finished)
Plug the USB key into your car (the "main" USB port, i.e. the USB A type one that you use also for Android Auto/Apple Car play -- all other ports, i.e. the USB type C ones, are typically no data ports, i.e. power only)
Typically, the car recognises that there is an update on the USB stick and open some prompt to start the update. If not, on the car screen, go to "Settings", "General", "Version info/update" and click "Update". Follow the prompt on the screen. The car will first check the download on the USB key (takes ca. 10 minutes): so you do not need to worry that anything with the download or writing to the USB could have gone wrong, because the car checks that anyway.
The update should now be running (either after switching off the car or you can choose to do this while the car is on -- but then, you cannot use the head unit while driving). It takes a while, so take care that the 12 V battery is full (some even recommend to have a 12 V charger connected for any firmware update) or leave the car's gear in P mode or enable the car's utility mode (which ensures to charge the 12 V battery even if the car is not in drive mode, but in fact if and only if not in drive, i.e. it also prevents that your car accidentally drives or roles away).
Firmware and map versions before the update (compare with the versions after the update, shown below)
Version numbers displayed after the Dec 2022 update
June 2023 (230517) update bringing charging planning as part of route planning.
October/November 2023 update that was supposed to bring state of charge percentage estimates for arrival at chargers -- while this happened for the IONIQ 5 and EV6 in America, this is not the case for the European EV6. But this seemed to be a server-side thing, so that is now available.
Applied firmware updates that only the dealer could do:
SA533 "VCU Software Upgrade for i-Pedal Operation" did update the VCU version from, e.g., 5.10 to 5.12.
Service Campaign SC271 ICCU update did update the firmware of "4WD #1 / OnBoard Charger (Hybrid/EV)" from Manufacturer ECU software number: ECV1E1-IES05R000 to Manufacturer ECU software number: ECV1E3-IES12R000
No need to have the firmware fix for the Kia recall SC236 for the parking brake applied (according to CarScanner OBD, my ECU GSM-GearShiftCtrl had already the Calibration ID: ECV1XXXXXAE19XS2 -- which means the fix has been applied).
While I did not find many tests on EV-specific tyres (EVs are heavier and have more torque and as EV are silent, EV tyres should be silent as well, and they claim to have reduced rolling resistance to increase range; I as a layman would think that they have less grip -- I found a test from 2019 (in German) that confirms this and also points to problems with aquaplaning), I found a very interesting video showing that winter-biased all seasons tyres might be not that bad for the Reykjavík area -- while Nordic winter tyres excel on ice and snow, they are really bad in wet and dry conditions (even when cold). This test confirms also claims that summer tyres are good even in cold conditions, but only as long as it is dry -- which you should of course not rely on in winter.
While a car with a combustion engine charges its 12 V battery via an alternator, electric vehicles (EVs) have a DC-DC converter to step down the 400 V or 800 V from the drive battery to charge the 12 V battery. This is done when the car is switched on (because then, a lot of electronic control units (ECUs) drain the 12 V battery), but also when the car is switched off while charging the drive battery (while only a few ECUs need to be active to control the charging, charging the drive battery can take many hours which could drain the 12 V battery even with the few active ECUs). Typically, even when the EV is completely switched off (which includes that the drive battery is disconnected for safety reasons), it wakes up occasionally and checks the voltage of the 12 V battery and charges it if necessary (by connecting the drive battery for the DC-DC converter). Problems can occur if the car is switched off, but you still do something that prevents the ECUs from sleeping, e.g. have the trunk door open for loading/unloading the car. So try to keep this short, otherwise the 12 V battery is dead after a few hours.
Also, when the drive battery is reaching a low (20% for the Kia EV6, 10% after the 2023 ICCU firmware update, at least for the ICCU in the US, not sure whether this applies globally) state of charge (SOC), the 12 V may not get charged anymore (to protect the expensive drive battery from getting deep-discharged -- it is cheaper to replace a 12 V battery than a drive battery. Anecdote: the early Tesla Roadsters had no 12 V battery but were constantly draining the drive battery by having the DC-DC converter on all the time, thus depleting the drive battery. Finally, Tesla added the 12 V battery.). So avoid, e.g., driving to the airport leaving only minimal juice in the drive battery, because if you park then the car while you are in vacation, the car will not charge the 12 V battery.
How can you find out when the DC-DC charging is going on: you may be tempted to use a voltmeter (you will measure 14 V during DC-DC charging), but some cars (this seems to be the case for Kia EV6) do not charge the 12 V battery while the bonnet is open (to avoid any interference of the 14 V DC-DC voltage with what you are doing, e.g. trickle charging the 12 V battery). Important: even for a simple thing such as exchanging a 12 V battery, you might want to disable the high-voltage drive battery. In the Kia EV6, this is very easy: in the fuse box below the bonnet, there is a fuse-like cut-off switch that you can easily pull.
To show that the drive battery is activated even though the car is off, some cars have a light (e.g. the Hyundai Kona or even the US version of the EV6), but the European EV6 seems not to have such an indicator (while there is a bulb in the middle of the dashboard where the US versions are reported to have a light, this seems to be unused in the European versions). For the IONIQ5, it is claimed that open front vents indicate DC-DC charging and I have the feeling that this is also the case as well for my EV6 (when charging a lead-acid battery, hydrogen can emerge and opening the front vents may help to dilute the hydrogen to reduce the danger of explosions).
But there are also defects that can drain the battery, e.g., for the Hyundai IONIQ 5, it is well documented that the charge door module has often defects that prevent some ECUs to go to sleep (or the charge door ECU itself is defect). As a result, you find many reports of people who encounter a dead car in the morning.
EV6
But the case here is different: the car is alive, but still does not charge the 12 V battery: while the 12 V battery voltage is low, it has not yet been fully drained, i.e. it is possible to start the car: the car should then notice that it has to charge the 12 V battery, but due to some defect, it does not do so.
Update: A year later, I know now that the Integrated Charging Control Unit (ICCU) and a related fuse were damaged. In some cases, only parts of the ICCU are damaged and it is not possible to charge the car via AC, but DC fast charging is still possible and the DC-DC 12 V charging still works as well. In my case, in addition some fuse was blown which leads then to the 12 V battery not being charged and drive-train issues. I has to be noted that the car was brand new, so no real wear can have occurred, yet. In my case, it seems that there was a coolant leakage inside the ICCU thus submerging the electronics in coolant resulting in high currents that make the fuse (that is external to the ICCU) blow.
This is from a brand new Kia EV6 (84 km driven, bought 3 days ago) that has a problem that manifests among others with a 12 V battery that is not charged by the drive battery via the DC-DC converter (and also warnings concerning the drive electrics and switching to turtle mode -- it is hard to say whether these warnings are a symptom of the 12 V battery low voltage or whether that fact that it does not DC-DC charge the 12 V battery voltage is a symptom of a more severe failure to which the drive electrics warning and turtle mode refer to). After switching the car on, everything was normal except a message popping up: "Check electric vehicle system", followed later by a "Stop vehicle and check power supply" (complaining about a low 12 V battery) and "Power limited" (turtle mode). But as the car is switched on (into ready mode), it should charge the 12 V battery using the DC-DC converter. I tried also AC charging the drive battery (which should also lead to charging the 12 V battery), but after one minute, the AC charging of the drive battery gets aborted by the car. I then switched the car off, hoping that it sooner or later periodically checks the 12 V battery and charges it -- but this did neither work (instead, the battery is dead now: following 7.5 V, it is now down to 3 to 4 V which means the 12 V battery is now deep-discharged, i.e. damaged and needs to be replaced -- but this of course only makes sense after the root cause of the problem has been fixed, e.g. a broken DC-DC converter or a broken ECU or simply some missing update of a buggy firmware -- but the car dealer promised me that all firmware updates have been applied when I pointed out that I am paying the model year 23 price for a model year 22 car that is shipped with ECUs firmwares that are not as new as the model year 23 firmwares).
I have documented this in a video where you see first how the AC charging gets aborted after one minute (no charging limit was active and the SOC was 67%, i.e. it should have charged up to 100%):
Another explanation for any erratic behaviour could be a special fuse that is used when shipping cars: it is pulled to make the car drain the 12 V battery as little as possible during transport. If it is then not properly pushed in by the receiving dealership, the car can behave very strange. But in fact, the EV6 did behave normal during the first two days, so this is not very likely (and I do not know whether the EV6 has such a fuse at all).
12 V battery: produced 27-06-2022, killed 3-12-2022 by a faulty KIA EV6.
Bílaumboðið Askja -- four days to come with a tow truck
3-12-2022 and 4-12-2022:
As it was a weekend, I wrote on 3-12-2022 my car dealer at the dealership Bílaumboðið Askja (official Kia importer in Iceland) an email about the problem. Also, I used on 4-12-2022 the web form that Bílaumboðið Askja suggests to use outside opening hours in those cases where the road-side service cannot help (the road-side service would come with a battery jump start booster pack, but it is clear that jump starting alone would not help) and I asked Askja to call back.
Let's hope, the Kia service can find the root cause of the problem (but: when they mounted winter wheels, they filled the tyres with a too low pressure: 29 PSI; also for these rims, the document of approval states that the vehicle owner needs to be notified to check after 50 km the torque of the wheel studs/bolts of the winter rims, which they did not do -- maybe they are not got at these basics, but very good in EV diagnostics).
Update 5-12-2022: I was too optimistic with the Kia service at Askja -- I should have written :"Let's hope that the Kia service reacts." My first contact was 3-12-2022 with the salesperson of Askja (as the seller is the one who is in charge (pun intended) of warranty and in fact the warranty conditions recommend to contact the seller). That salesperson at least answered 5-12-2022 and claimed that their service will contact me. (As written above, I had in fact already contacted Kia service in the way they recommend on their web page, namely via a web form, on 4-12-2022 and asked them to call back -- but as of 5-12-2022, Askja service did not even call back.) When I pointed out to that salesperson that the service did in fact not contact me, that salesperson simply stopped answering my emails. (From that point I assumed that any electronic communication with the Kia staff is hopeless.)
Update 6-12-2022: Still no answer from KIA service. So, I finally drove to the KIA dealership (luckily, I have a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV -- a very reliable car that never let me down -- and its 5 year old 360 degree camera is in fact better stitching the camera images together than the EV6 360 degree camera). I saw then there the salesperson who does not answer my emails sitting bored at his desk, so I considered it pointless to talk to that person and went instead to the service desk. When I pointed out, that they do not answer my service request, they claimed, I used the wrong web form (well, it was the one that they recommend to use on their web page, i.e. they do not know their own web page). But at least, they promised to fetch the car tomorrow (why not today?). I also handed them over a signed letter requesting free warranty service with a deadline to fix the problem within two weeks (I did send that one already as email to the salesperson from whom I bought the car, but he did not confirm having received it), maybe that helps. Ironically, I found in my email spam folder today an email where I was asked to evaluate the service of that salesperson. Update of update: Finally, they phoned me (after I have driven to Askja) and they excused for calling so late because there was a meeting in the morning -- but this does not explain why they did not call me already, e.g., the day before.
Update 7-12-2022: The tow truck now actually came (4 days after I reported the problem) after I have told on the phone that the 12 V battery is dead. But, well: to start a vehicle with a dead 12 V battery, you need a jump starter booster pack and guess what: the booster pack in the tow truck was not charged. As the DC-DC converter does not charge the 12 V battery, the booster pack needs to be permanently be connected to the dead EV6 12 V battery and while we were trying to drive the car on the ramp, the EV6 switched off as the booster pack did not have enough juice anymore. Also, as the EV6 is in turtle mode ("limited power"), the EV6 cannot even climb the tiny ramp of the tow truck, so it has to be winched up. But first, a new (=fully charged) booster pack is needed that the tow truck is fetching right now (at least: solution-oriented and some progress is made).
No juice in the jump start booster pack, no EV6 that can be put into "Neutral" to winch it up the tow truck -- tow truck drives home again to fetch a booster pack with juice
Once the tow truck came back with a charged booster pack and putting the EV6 gear setting into "Neutral", it was possible to winch up the car. Once the car had 12 V again, the DC-DC charging did still not work (despite the bonnet being closed), i.e. the reset due to the dead 12 V battery did not solve the issue (either there is some error set in the memory that needs to be cleared first or there is really a serious problem).
EV6 winched up on the tow truck -- 4 days after reporting
Let's hope the service finds the problem (and of course replaces the dead 12 V battery). Good news (finally): At least, the service seems to be working on the car: the car was fetched 14:15, and at 16:39, I received the first signs of life via the Kia Connect app.
Update 9-12-2022: After two days of repair (compare that to the four days of waiting for the tow truck), I got a call that some ECU needs to be replaced (a fuse inside that ECU has blown), but they could not tell me which ECU (maybe the Integrated Charging Control Unit (ICCU)). While they do not have it on stock, they took it from one of their EV6 that they have standing around (instead of needing to wait weeks for a replacement to be shipped) -- so that is finally good service. I have now fetched my car: it works, but they did not replace the 12 V battery, even though it can be expected that it is now damaged after having been deep discharged to 3 V -- that is bad service. (I hope when I leave the car a couple of days at, e.g., the airport, the battery is still OK once I return.)
I also had now time to check the versions of the head-unit firmware: this are old, very old (navigation app from 26-01-2022 and firmware from 07-04-2022) -- despite the Askja salesperson promising that all updates have been made. (When I bought the car, I did not know where to look up the firmware versions -- but the salesperson has to know the cars he sells, so he could have looked that up.) But as the head unit firmware can be updated by the owner, it seems to be Kia policy to update only those firmwares that only the dealer can update.
(At least, I was able to update the navigation/infotainment system firmware on my own.) At least, the firmware fix for the Kia recall SC236 for the parking brake was already applied (according to CarScanner OBD, my ECU GSM-GearShiftCtrl has the Calibration ID: ECV1XXXXXAE19XS2 -- which means the fix has been applied).
(While there is the Kia page https://eu-account.kia.com/auth/realms/eukiaidm/account/ for the Kia Connect account needed for the app, it does not list recalls. I tried also creating an account at https://www.mykia.de which knows my VIN (with a wrong warranty start, though), but assumes a German address and German dealer, so I aborted that.)
Update 15-12-2022: I was wondering what happened to my reservation deposit that I paid one year ago: Askja did not offset the reservation deposit against the buying price when I actually bought the car. Based on the above experience that Askja does not react to questions, I gave up trying to get an answer from them when and therefore rather asked in an Icelandic Facebook group other EV6 owners whether they got the deposit offset and guess what: Askja answered in the Facebook group within an hour. Also when I sent via email a complaint about the bad service to Askja, I got an answer that they want to look into this issue within a few hours. It seems that any way is better to contact Askja than the one that they recommend on their web page where they describe how to contact them in case of urgent problems. It seems, Askja really has a quality management problem.
Update 21-12-2022: I cheered to soon: concerning my 15-12-2022 email complaint about the bad service to Askja where I got within a few hours an answer that they want to look into this issue: I got on 16-12-2022 a short e-mail that they did not have time to look into the issue, but intend to do so. Since then, I did not hear anything from them.
Service mentality in Iceland
This terrible service mentality in Iceland (first, you try to contact via email: no answer, then you try to phone: they do not lift up the receiver, only after driving there and talking directly to them helps: they typically ask you then to write them an email with all the details, i.e. you go back to the first step) is due to a lack of competition: the country is so small that there are no competitors.
This terrible service mentality is also discussed in Icelandic car owners forums, and there it was claimed that this is in particular a problem with car dealers/service in the capital area and that I should next time go to some dealer and service on the country side. I regret therefore already that Bílaumboðið Askja got my money for the car. In fact, I did so far import all my cars on my own, and this was the first time that I used an Icelandic dealership -- which was obviously a mistake. But I should have known better: when I was considering buying my Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in Iceland (to avoid the hassle of self-import), the salesperson of the Icelandic dealership Hekla was so incompetent (i.e., I knew more about the car than he), that I thought: no, they will not get my money -- I did then rather import it on my own from a competent dealer in Germany that gave me even a better price.
For sure, this was the first and the last car that I bought from Askja and I will try to avoid their service and in future rather combine the scheduled warranty inspections with a trip the countryside. One would think that a good salesperson is aware that happy customers come back and buy the next car as well with them (and potentially an even more expensive car) -- but this service thinking does simply not exist in Iceland.
Apropos thinking: there is also no understanding concerning the revolution of Vehicle-to-load (V2L) and future Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G): while in future, V2G will help to deal with peak usage, V2L allows me already now to have electricity during camping, power my fridge when there is a power outage or use a hair dryer even the charging cable is frozen in the charge port. The importer Askja ordered the cars from Kia in Korea without a 230 V socket inside the cabin (I asked the salesmen about this and they said they consider it unnecessary -- but in winter, you would need that socket exactly to power a hair dryer in case if your charge port is frozen). Also, the GT line that comes elsewhere with the V2L adapter included, does not come with such an adapter when you buy it from Askja (and of course, I will not buy that adapter from them: you can get them for half of the price elswhere).
Update 1-3-2025:
Askja still does not answer questions: when I gave them my car for the Q1/2025 ICCU/VCU update (see below), I sent them an email because the 12 V battery was failing exactly after the European 2 years warranty of the 12 V battery had passed. I pointed out that in my opinion the ICCU failure had damaged the battery and which lead to the 12 V battery failing now. But they ignore my email and do not reply.
ICCU firmware updates to prevent future ICCU defects
Update 8-11-2023: My EV6 now got Service campaign SC271 applied, i.e. a firmware update of the ICCU that hopefully prevents this from happening again. Based on CarScanner OBD ECU readings, the version numbers ("Manufacturer ECU software number") for the ICCU changed as follows):
Before SC271:
4WD #1 / OnBoard Charger (Hybrid/EV)
SW Boot ver.: NEICCU51
SW ver.: NE1A024
ECU serial number: 123456789ABCDEF
ECU part. num.: 364011XFB0
Idents string: NE1A024
Manufacturer spare part number: 364011XFB0
Manufacturer ECU software number: ECV1E1-IES05R000
ECU manufacturing date (ASCII): !
System supplier ECU hardware version: 364011XFB0
ECU manufacturing date (HEX): 20210906
Programming date (HEX): 33363430313158464230
After SC271:
4WD #1 / OnBoard Charger (Hybrid/EV)
SW Boot ver.: NEICCU51
SW ver.: NE1A037
ECU serial number: 123456789ABCDEF
ECU part. num.: 364011XFB0
Idents string: NE1A037
Manufacturer spare part number: 364011XFB0
Manufacturer ECU software number: ECV1E3-IES12R000
ECU manufacturing date (ASCII): !
System supplier ECU hardware version: 364011XFB0
ECU manufacturing date (HEX): 20210906
Programming date (HEX): 33363430313158464230
However, that software update seems to have mainly been about warning earlier about the ICCU failure after it occurred (so that you have more time to leave a busy road and drive your car to a safe spot), but not preventing it. The video below shows a paper that says in the first 10-22 minutes of ICCU failure detection, full motor power will be available and only after 21-45 minutes, some fail-safe mode (vehicle stops).
Update 21-05-2024: My EV6 now got a further ICCU firmware update (namely SC302) that aims at actually preventing ICCU failure: avoiding spikes at the end of charging (there have indeed been many reports about RCDs tripping at the end of charging due to these spikes), better cooling, also the 12 V battery charging pattern might have changed.
4WD #1 / OnBoard Charger (Hybrid/EV)
SW Boot ver.: NEICCU51
SW ver.: NE1A038
ECU serial number: 123456789ABCDEF
ECU part. num.: 364011XFB0
Idents string: NE1A038
Manufacturer spare part number: 364011XFB0
Manufacturer ECU software number: ECV1E3-IES13R000
ECU manufacturing date (ASCII): !
System supplier ECU hardware version: 364011XFB0
ECU manufacturing date (HEX): 20210906
Programming date (HEX): 33363430313158464230
Gear shifter Control (which also includes the "P" mode, e.g. I had an earlier update on engaging the parking break) SW version changed from CV1A-E0-SB4-V400 to CV1A-E0-SB8-V400 and SW data id from CVE21228 to CVE40611:
ECU name: GSM-GearShiftCtrl ECU name: GSM-GearShiftCtrl
Calibration Verification Numbers: 01BC4450BC Calibration Verification Numbers: 01BC4450BC
Calibration ID: ECV1XXXXXAE19XS2 Calibration ID: ECV1XXXXXAE19XS2
Vehicle Motor control unit Vehicle Motor control unit
SW ver.: CV1A-E0-SB4-V400 | SW ver.: CV1A-E0-SB8-V400
SW data id.: CVE21228 | SW data id.: CVE40611
Update 22-04-2025: New AGM 12 V battery Finally, my OEM 12 V battery died. Luckily, I had a powerbank-style jump starter (Buture BR300 that however revived the EV6 only if it is fully charged). I replaced the 12 V battery by a Varta AGM Silver Dynamic AGM (on forums, people claim that AGM fits better the charging pattern that the ICCU uses for charging the 12 V battery and the facelift IONIQ5/EV6 models come now with OEM AGMs as well). For the record, the Varta short code is D52. The size is: 242x175x190, i.e. DIN H5 / EN55 L2 / Group 47, bottom hold down type: B13. Also, take care to have the correct the terminal polarity orientation scheme, i.e. type 0. While the shop, I ordered the battery from, listed the battery as "L2R" which would be type 1, the Varta Silver Dynamic AGM comes only in type 0, so that must have been a typo). Of course, the OEM battery died just as few months after Kia's 2 year warranty on the 12 V battery had expired. As I wrote already further above, I am convinced that the ICCU failure that did lead to deep discharge of the 12 V battery, did in fact kill it and Kia should have replaced that battery together with the ICCU -- but they refused.
Replacing the battery is explained here:
While I did not need to remove the frunk as in the above video, some wiggling was still needed because both the OEM and the aftermarket battery where slightly larger than the frunk opening. While I did also disconnect the high-voltage battery using the yellow piece in the fuse box, I am not sure whether it is really needed: as soon as you open the bonnet, the 12 V battery does not get charged anymore. In addition, there are also instructions floating on forums that after battery replacement, the car needs be turned on, then turned off, locked, left undisturbed for 4 hours. I guess the idea is that the car checks the 12 V battery every 4 hours and by this would learn that it has now a new battery. Not sure, whether this is needed, but it does not harm. If you have a torque wrench: the appropriate torque for the battery terminal is ca. 4 Nm and for the fastening clamp, it is ca. 15 Nm. In my experience, this is anyway the torque that I used intuitively with a normal ratchet. Battery terminal grease was in the past applied as coating after(!) everything has been connected to prevent that acidic gases that evaporate from the battery lead to corrosion. But modern batteries are sealed, so such degassing is minimal (still, I am happy that my Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV that has its 12 V battery inside the cabin has a pipe that leads any gases to the outside of the passenger cabin).
Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering
Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Iceland
Department of Computer Science
Gróska building, 3rd floor (stairway A or B), room 306
Kristínargata 1
102 Reykjavik
Iceland
E-Mail: helmut at hi. is
(Encrypted e-mail welcome: my public PGP key, also available at key servers -- X.509 based S/MIME encryption possible on request.)
