At University of Iceland, all are equal, but some are more equal. So much more equal that they think rules do not apply for them. Last week, Siðfræðistofnun HÍ, the Centre for Ethics at the University of Iceland, was using for some event the teaching room GR-321 Ada (named after Ada Lovelace) at the Computer Science department in the Gróska building. The rules for using teaching rooms are common-sense and pretty simple (English translations added by me):
1. gr. Almennt
Skylt er að ganga vel um húsakynni Háskóla Íslands, umhverfi hans, tæki og búnað á hverjum stað. Enginn má skilja eftir sig rusl, hvorki innan dyra né utan. Notum ruslafötur!
Deal well with the premises and equipment. No one may leave trash behind. We use trash cans!
2. gr. Tillitssemi
Hverjum og einum ber að sýna tillitssemi og valda ekki öðrum truflun eða óþægindum.
Everyone is responsible to show consideration and does not disturb others or cause inconvenience.
5. gr. Neysla matar
Neysla matar er óheimil í kennslustofum og tölvuverum.
Consuming food is forbidden in teaching rooms and computer rooms.
8. gr. Brot á húsreglum
Brot á húsreglum, tjón og hvers konar spjöll geta leitt til bótaskyldu og/eða brottvísunar.
Breaking rules, damage or any kind of harm can lead to liability and/or expulsion.
How the Centre of Ethics left the teaching room behind: tables re-arranged, nothing cleaned up
Coffee stains left behind by the Centre of Ethics become visible after I started to clean up
I was the first one to teach in Ada on Monday morning and was quite surprised that I cannot use the room for teaching as intended. To put the room into a state usable for teaching, it would have been necessary to:
put the tables and chairs again in the position needed for teaching -- the Centre for Ethics re-arranged the tables without reverting that.
collect the trash (single-use coffee cups distributed over the room, including where the teacher's computer is) and throw them into the trash can -- the Centre for Ethics had left behind coffee cups that they did not throw away.
collect water glasses from the tables and put them into our dish washer -- the Centre for Ethics had taken water glasses from our kitchen, but did not put them back to the kitchen from where they had taken them.
wipe away huge coffee stains -- in their ivory tower, the people from the Centre for Ethics do not even know how to operate a coffee dispenser, so they messed around on the tables of the teaching room.
move all kind of stuff (coffee dispenser, napkins, tea) into a tray and move the tray outside the teaching room -- the Centre for Ethics had ordered this stuff but did not consider it necessary to move them out of the teaching room after the meeting so that teaching would not be disturbed when the stuff is fetched.
I therefore wrote emails to four persons of the Centre for Ethics asking them to clean up there mess before my teaching starts in that room: first, no one replied, but then, the head of the board replied that this is not their fault, but that this is fault of the service from where they ordered the coffee as that service was supposed to tidy the room (How can that coffee service re-arrange the tables if they do not know how they were before? How can that coffee service find all the single-use coffee cups that were partly well hidden behind the teacher's computer screen? How can that coffee service put the water glasses back into the kitchen if they do not know how from where they have been taken? How can that coffee service clean all the coffee stains if a coffee service was ordered and not a cleaning service?)
Because the board members of the Centre of Ethics refused to clean up their mess, I had to do that on my own in the time that I had planned for preparation of the class. This all was then crowned with my teaching was later being disturbed by a coffee service employee trying to get back the coffee dispensers because the Centre of Ethics had told them to fetch it from the teaching room (instead from the kitchen that is just next to the teaching room).
I do not know why they do not follow my request to clean up their mess, but some hypotheses come into my mind:
Hopefully, this was not the usual discrimination that probably every foreigner experiences in Iceland. (While I am -- as a professor from Germany -- privileged in comparison to other foreigners, even I experience discrimination.) -- so far, I experienced the university as a foreigner-friendly space (except that some scholars are maniac about enforcing a language policy of requiring to use the Icelandic language, because the university tries to solve the dilemma of being an Icelandic-speaking university and an international university at the same time).
Cultural issues: If you have a look at the names of the members of the board of Centre for Ethics, then these are all patronymic: Elínborg Sturludóttir, Henrý Alexander Henrýsson, Kolbrún Pálsdóttir, Páll Rafnar Þorsteinsson, Sólveig Anna Bóasdóttir, Vilhjálmur Árnason. While the gender diversity is balanced at the board, the university committed to diversity in all fields. And in fact, cultural diversity is non-existing at the board of Centre for Ethics: they all have very likely a socialisation in an Icelandic culture: I once was told about a survey among Icelanders that showed that a huge majority thinks that rules are important for the Icelandic society, but that rules do not apply to yourself, because you consider yourself as so important that exceptions are justified for you (unfortunately, I do not have the source -- a social scientist reported about this at an introductory event on the Icelandic society for foreign staff at the University of Iceland). If you look how people in Iceland park their cars (one car parking in the middle of two parking slots, i.e. occupying space for two), this is no surprise.
Maybe, this is not a cultural issue, but just personality of the head of the board of the Centre of Ethics -- but: I wrote to four members of the board and the other board members even preferred to remain silent.
If you are in the board of the Centre of Ethics, there is the danger of developing the attitude that you are the authority on concepts of what is right and wrong behaviour. And if you are then convinced that your behaviour is right (and the head of the board of the Centre of Ethics obviously is convinced), then you make your own rules and therefore behave like as you are above the rules.
I also tried to build the head of the board of the Centre for Ethics a bridge by offering him to apologise, but the head of the board answered that he will not, because leaving the teaching room in that state was not their fault, but rather the fault of the coffee service not cleaning up. So, even saying sorry seems not to be part of the culture of the Centre for Ethics.
While I am not a lawyer, I would be surprised if their arguing would hold the Icelandic law system: they rented the teaching room, so they have to adhere to the rules of using the teaching room. Just the fact that they outsourced some service, does not mean that they themselves do not need to adhere to the rules anymore and are not liable anymore (even if they would have ordered a service to clean up the room who then failed to do that).
Does the Centre for Ethics think, they are above the law? (And what does it means for ethics in Iceland if such people run the Centre for Ethics?)
In fact, they did break all of the above rules, even the above 8th rule: they refused to take liability for their mess -- après moi, le déluge!
O tempora, o mores!
P.S.: I have no problem with holding an event with food and drinks, but for that, the computer science department has a kitchen/coffee room just next to the teaching room: just serve the food and drinks there, instead of using a teaching room for that. (When, e.g., the rector holds a meeting in the aula, the food is simply served after the meeting and outside of the aula.) Or a pragmatic approach: if you think you need to break the rules: do it in a way that no one notices it, i.e. clean up your mess.
The list of proposals that got funded. We are on place 4.
University of Iceland and Reykjavik University applied together for funding in order to start a joint study Masters's programme in Cybersecurity. Today, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation announced (including video recording) that the two universities will together get for the project Nytt meistaranám í netöryggi 90 million ISK funding over 2 years from the university collaboration fund (Samstarf háskóla). This is a great collaboration between the professors of computer science interested in cybersecurity at both universities (facilitated by EDIH-IS, the European Digital Innovation Hub in Iceland, where both universities are as well involved in digital innovation, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or High-Performance Computing (HPC)).
The new cybersecurity programme funding is announced (ignore the HA and Bifröst -- that's a typo)
While the schedule is tight, the plan is to offer as a start a Cybersecurity specialisation of the Computer Science Master's programme at each university already this autumn, i.e. 2023. Students can then apply at their preferred university, but take as well courses at the other university. (There is another project that got 35 m.kr. funding to enable technically, i.e. on the IT and learning management system side, but also administratively, i.e. collaboration contracts, taking master's courses at other universities. But I doubt that this is ready when we would need it already in autumn 2023.)
Later, this Computer Science specialisation in Cybersecurity is supposed to become a study programme on its own.
The funding will be used to hire professors, but also to import distance teaching courses from abroad and to purchase equipment needed to set up a cybersecurity lab.
A presentation covers more details: Powerpoint / PDF.
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 did 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.
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).
ICCU firmware updates to prevent future ICCU defects
Update 8-11-2023: I 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 sport), 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: I now got a further ICCU firmware update (namely SC302) that aims at actually preventing ICCU failure (avoiding spikes at the end of charging, better cooling, also the 12 V battery charging pattern might have changed).
I still need to read the new SW version info via OBD.
We just established the Icelandic National Coordination Centre (NCC-IS) for Cybersecurity. It is is a common platform for cooperation in cybersecurity issues, composed of the following public entities: the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannis), the Electronic Communications Office (ECOI/Fjarskiptastofa), the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IS), the University of Iceland (UoI), Reykjavík University (RU), and the Technology Transfer Office (TTO/Auðna tæknitorg) Iceland.
Monitor and support actions: Monitoring and contributing to progress on national cybersecurity strategy activities regarding education, research, and development.
Provide expertise and link to ECCC and NCC-Network: Ensuring contribution to and coordination with the ECCC and the Network and supporting their strategic tasks.
Manage and coordinate funding: Managing and coordinating funding from the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe for cybersecurity-related projects. Encouraging and assisting civil society, industry, SMEs, and academia in participating in cybersecurity actions (e.g., cascade funding, national funding contributions, etc.).
Raise awareness and build a cybersecurity Community: Acting as a central point for the national and European cybersecurity community, disseminating relevant outcomes of the work of the NCC-IS and NCC-Network, the Community, and the ECCC at the national level.
Develop and disseminate educational programmes: Coordinating, implementing and sharing educational activities and fostering cybersecurity skill building and training (e.g. gap analysis, competence mapping).
Support research and innovation: Identifying relevant research partners, promoting and strengthening dialogue in cybersecurity research and innovation fields.
To prevent any misunderstandings: NCC-IS will not take over the job of CERT-IS (or any other party) nor is NCC-IS a Security Operation Center (SOC). NCC-IS is rather an add-on to existing activities in order to raise awareness, co-ordinate actions, and improve education and research related to Cybersecurity on national and European level.
University of Iceland is in charge of developing and disseminate educational programmes, i.e. coordinating, implementing and sharing educational activities and fostering cybersecurity skill building and training. You are welcome to contact me if you are offering, e.g., training course or are interesting in getting updates on available training.
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.)
