Safety system failure

[Harlimb]

Morning all, new here so please be kind....
Thought I would share my experience earlier this week on the off chance someone may know the problem,
My partner has the zs ev exclusive which was delivered in December 2019, it currently has 3,500 miles on the clock and has been a good car apart from the inconsistency of the Rolec charger and the constant gongs (which should cease after software upgrade)
On Tuesday my partner was setting out in the MG but was greeted with a blank infotainment panel accompanied with no gongs and several warnings on the driver info panel (attached) the car would go into gear and move forward and backwards but we decided to heed the warning and call MG Assistance AA, they duly arrived and attempted a diagnostic check but had no feedback whatsoever, they contacted Toomey's of Basildon as the closest dealer who had no availability followed by a call to the supplying dealer, Glyn Hopkins East London before arranging recovery to them, they then arranged a two day complimentary car loan through Enterprise, the car is now with the dealer and we are awaiting the results of which I will post on here, has anyone else had this experience?

 

[Mark Holmes]

I maybe wrong that I’ve seen these types of failures with other electric vehicles reported on YouTube and it sometimes comes back to the 12 volt battery not having sufficient power to service the car, the latest one I saw was on the ID3 where it shut down and had loads of errors which after getting the battery charged began to clear...I maybe wrong, but thank you for sharing and please let us know the outcome. Sorry you’ve had this experience.
Just as a note I bought mine from GH East London in March. You must get the Comfort 2 updates applied, what a difference it makes.

 

[Chrispydoc]

I suspect Mark is right. You have done very few miles since you have had it....I don't use mine that much, but have done twice as many miles as you. Do you ever trickle charge your 12 Volt?

I suspect like most computers, switching it on and off again, providing the 12 volt is up to charge would sort it out.

With my other Classic Cars, they all have either battery isolating switches, or are on permanent "smart" trickle charges.

 

[Mark Holmes]

I hope that I am right as if it is it’s a simple fix, but this does seem to be an issue with lots of electric cars from what I can see as it’s the constant pull on power even if switched off, the car goes in to like a standby mode a bit like your TV etc and therefore yes it’s pulling power. As I said before do please let us know what’s said when you collect the car once sorted..

 

[shikoku14]

If it is the 12V I can provide a tip for anyone who is not doing many / limited miles because of COVID. When we had the first lockdown my Kia Soul EV went off lease but the lease company couldn’t arrange collection. So it sat on the drive for 3 months before it was collected. What I did to make sure the 12V didn’t die, was to work in the car for 30 minutes every 12-14 days. To make sure the traction battery charges the 12V you need to turn the car on like you are going for a drive (so foot on brake and start) and then just leave it in on mode for the 30 minutes while you do some work / listen to music / watch a tv show (delete as appropriate). This worked fine till I got a little cocky with my system and left it three weeks and the week before collection I went into the car and had similar warnings as above. I have a cheap battery booster that I had charged and put that on the 12V and in a couple of seconds the car powered up correctly. I then left the car powered on for an hour to fully charge the battery.

what I will say is once this happens a couple of times the 12V battery is compromised and will be more prone to failure. The main takeaway from this is if you are doing anything in the car, don’t have it on in accessory mode (one/two presses of the start button, without pressing the brake) to listen to music for example as the 12V drains really quickly. Unless you are fully powered on the traction battery will not provide any power to the car systems and the weak 12V is powering your infotainment etc. It’s a great thing about an EV that you can idle the car with no emissions and even running the heating will only loose around 1-2% of traction battery per hour (while also keeping the 12V topped up).

 

[Phil Hayward]

Fit a voltmeter to the accessory socket, makes it easy to see the state of the 12v battery

 

[Srp111]

Does the small 12v battery not get charged up when the vehicle is plugged in to charge the main larger battery?

 

[Mark Holmes]

Does the small 12v battery not get charged up when the vehicle is plugged in to charge the main larger battery?

Yes it does, but it needs to be in regular use to require the charging facility.

 

[Srp111]

Cheers Mark,

I thought it would charge via the cable at the same time as main batter and therefore would never go flat.

 

[Harlimb]

Cars ready so going to collect it now and will update as soon as I know more, can't see it being the 12v battery as it did a 150 mile round trip to cliveden house on the Friday and was fully recharged on the Monday but failed on the Tuesday..... Sounds a bit like a Craig David song!

 

[Mark Holmes]

Look forward to hearing what’s happened and how it’s been resolved.

 

[Srp111]

Yeah fingers crossed

 

[Severnless]

Hope they tell you what happened, we had an issue a bit like yours.
Our first problem with meg

Not happened since, but we put it down to low voltage in the 12volt system

 

[CDR]

Does the small 12v battery not get charged up when the vehicle is plugged in to charge the main larger battery?

It does yes

 

[Harlimb]

Ok we're back from the dealer with the car and all's well, infotainment display working and bonging like a good un, no safety warnings present but when asked what was the issue with the car the dealer seemed almost MI5 like with their underwhelming response, it's as if I were a spy from Kia or Hyundai attempting to steal top secret information and after pressing them, the reluctant reply was "it's a software issue and we have reprogrammed it" and asking for the paperwork was met with silence before the reply "we don't give paperwork" but give it they did, although not very informative as you can see, so to cut a long story short it was the BMS update that was carried out, we will have the other updates carried out in December during its first service.

 

[Mark Holmes]

Ok we're back from the dealer with the car and all's well, infotainment display working and bonging like a good un, no safety warnings present but when asked what was the issue with the car the dealer seemed almost MI5 like with their underwhelming response, it's as if I were a spy from Kia or Hyundai attempting to steal top secret information and after pressing them, the reluctant reply was "it's a software issue and we have reprogrammed it" and asking for the paperwork was met with silence before the reply "we don't give paperwork" but give it they did, although not very informative as you can see, so to cut a long story short it was the BMS update that was carried out, we will have the other updates carried out in December during its first service.

Yes we gather that all the records are kept online and that you can request copies if needed; like if you intend to sell.
Shame that you need to prise the information from them, but at least it’s shorted for you, that’s the main thing.
Regards

 

[Mgkev]

Thanks Harlimb for the update, it’s good know for future reference.

 

[Tango130]

Interesting to see that the mechanic has written on the paper work:

"Carried out BMS update to prevent battery fuse blowing"

As its SA0017 'DCDC and TC Module' update that prevents the HVB Fuse blowing?

Out of interest, does your car allow you to do either or both of the following(which relate to a BMS update):

• delay charge your car
• AC charge your car whilst doors are unlocked

 

[Harlimb]

Interesting to see that the mechanic has written on the paper work:

"Carried out BMS update to prevent battery fuse blowing"

As its SA0017 'DCDC and TC Module' update that prevents the HVB Fuse blowing?

Out of interest, does your car allow you to do either or both of the following(which relate to a BMS update):

• delay charge your car
• AC charge your car whilst doors are unlocked

Trying first delay charge since update, Rolec charger lost connection to network so had to reboot charging point, tbh Rolec has never worked on scheduled charge since installed so fingers crossed,
Can confirm charges unlocked as soon as lead is plugged in whereas previously would need to lock door to activate charging, when unlocking it deactivates charging but unplugging and plugging back in activates again.

 

[ARealHuman]

Have you set up everything in the ev.energy app? E.g. energy supplier, tariff, car etc? Also, I guess you know you need to select boost in the app to start an immediate charge. Also try contacting ev.energy support, I've found them helpful with regards to queries relating to the charger.