Another 12v failure at 2000 miles… anyone else?

Discussion
1

2024 EV6 AWD Wind.
Pretty much what the title says.
Second time in three weeks this has happened.
Roadside assistance said the 12v battery is completely dead and recommended I drive straight to the dealer.

Two hours earlier, the app showed over 50% charge with no warnings. We did get a ‘12v battery low’ warning a few weeks ago, though.

This is costing time and money, plus my wife is really unhappy since she’s the one dealing with it.
Starting to feel some buyer’s remorse here.

Update:
Battery’s been replaced now, but my wife’s still annoyed since she had to take PTO to get it sorted… feeling the buyer’s remorse hanging around. Hopefully, both will fade with time :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the ideas and advice. For my previous Honda, I replaced the battery from Costco every couple of years (aftermarket radio setup), but now that I’m in a fully electric car, I hope it’s less of an issue with the new standard battery. Either way, I’m keeping a jump pack just in case.

2

Seems like certain cars have this issue. Have you checked if there’s an Ikon Technologies Tracker installed? This has come up as a problem for others with similar issues.

3

izael said:
Seems like certain cars have this issue. Have you checked if there’s an Ikon Technologies Tracker installed? This has come up as a problem for others with similar issues.

I connected through ABRP using enode initially but disconnected it after the failure, thinking it might have played a part.

4

@Thomas
I also removed ABRP from my phone. To be honest, Google Maps and a bit of math do the same job without needing another app.

5

@Thomas
Actually, they’re talking about a vehicle tracker that dealers often use to prevent theft. Sometimes they forget to remove them, or in some cases, they keep them on for repossessions or include them as a ‘perk’ in a dealer package.

Check if you have anything plugged into the OBD port.

Another cause for quick 12v battery drain can be allowing third-party services access to your car’s data through the Kia Access app. Especially common with some charging apps that rely on specific time-of-use rates.

6

Are you using any wireless dongle with it?

7

Michael said:
Are you using any wireless dongle with it?

Not the original poster, but I am using one. Do you think it could be a problem? Mine’s only two months old and has been fine so far.

8

@Howard
I’m wondering if that might be the issue. Mine keeps trying to connect while the car’s charging, so it could be draining power.

9

@Howard
I’ve had one connected for two years with no battery problems. Seems unlikely to be the cause, but you never know.

10

@Howard
Some dongles never shut down, and that constant drain could definitely be a factor.

11

olivia said:
@Howard
Some dongles never shut down, and that constant drain could definitely be a factor.

It’s not the dongle itself, really. Anything pulling power from the USB-A port can drain the 12v. I ended up getting a cable splitter from Amazon that separates power and data, so now the dongle only pulls power from a USB port that powers off when the car does, and it uses data from the USB-A port.

12

olivia said:
@Howard
Some dongles never shut down, and that constant drain could definitely be a factor.

Some OBD dongles don’t actually shut down, and that can be an issue. In my case, the USB port shuts off after a couple of minutes once the car’s off. The port can turn back on if the door’s opened, the fob is close by, or if I access the car via the app, but a quick minute of power draw doesn’t drain the 12v. I’ve had mine linked to Home Assistant with four-hour polling intervals and a USB AA dongle for two years without 12v issues.

It’s possible that the owner left the car in accessory mode for a while without realizing.

13

Michael said:
Are you using any wireless dongle with it?

Nope, not using one. After the first battery failure, I decided against it.

14

2 hours earlier >50% charge on app.

Do you use the app a lot? That can also put a drain on the battery.

15

olivia said:

2 hours earlier >50% charge on app.

Do you use the app a lot? That can also put a drain on the battery.

I only check it a couple of times daily to make sure the car’s locked. First failure, I got notified of <20% 12v charge, but second time, there was no warning.

16

@Thomas
Luckily, this time it was parked in the driveway.

17

Thomas said:
@Thomas
Luckily, this time it was parked in the driveway.

How close is the key usually to the car? If your living room is close to the driveway and the key’s nearby, it could be keeping the car active.

18

@Maria
Thanks for the tip; I’ll keep an eye on that, but I doubt it. My car only wakes up when I’m really close. And honestly, if that’s actually the problem, that would be a ridiculous design flaw. Something like that should have an option to turn it off or at least be easy to diagnose. If it’s really causing that much drain, it should be flagged in diagnostics, so people know to put their keys in a Faraday bag. I’m hoping it was just a bad battery.

19

I’ll post my whole experience later, but I’ve had a ton of 12v battery issues and made countless trips to two dealerships over eight months. Finally, a third dealership checked it this week and found that a ‘battery management’ update from January 2024 was never applied to my 2022 EV6.

They applied it Monday and are letting the car sit idle until Wednesday, planning to check the battery tomorrow to see if this missing update fixes it.

If this does the trick, I’ll be happy to have a fix but seriously frustrated it took this long. I’ll post more once I get the results.

20

@Gabriel
Makes sense. I’ve heard of recall updates showing as complete even when a step was missed. Could be what happened here.