Hyundai Motor Group has been sued in a federal class-action complaint by owners of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, Kia EV6, and Genesis GV60 EVs for alleged problems with the charging port overheating during Level 2 charge sessions.
According to Hyundai Motor Group, a Level 2 charger can enable a complete charge for its electric vehicles in five to seven hours. Owners implicated in the lawsuit, however, assert that the Level 2 charger overheats in as little as 30 minutes of charging due to a flaw in the charge connection itself.
Owners claim the charger becomes too hot to touch. When that occurs, the charging rate drastically drops to 28 amps, far lower than its advertised 48-amp maximum. In some cases, charging halts. Once the charger cools down, it will resume charging at its regular rate, but by that time, time and energy have already been expended.
Owners claim that when this overheating occurs, they experience substantially longer charging times or are completely unable to add further charge to the vehicle’s battery pack.
Addressing the problem
Hyundai Motor Group has been aware of an issue with its EV charging ports and Level 2 charging, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 has 133 owner complaints for the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (or NHTSA), 93 of them due to electric issues where the vehicle isn’t charging correctly.
In the complaints, owners explain they’re told by Hyundai dealers tell customers it’s an issue with the Integrated Control Charing Unit, or ICCU. Customers are told they need a new one, but the part is back-ordered.
Hyundai knows its ICCUs slow the vehicle’s charging rate as temperature increases. The company issued a software update, but it’s clearly not enough. Owners report that after the update, their vehicles reportedly take 10 or more hours to fully charge using the Level 2 charger. According to one owner, a 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 will only charge its battery up to 5% per hour, requiring 20 hours to fully recharge.
NHTSA steps in
On June 8, 2023, NHTSA opened an investigation into the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5’s electric system. The investigation currently covers 39,559 Ioniq 5 EVs sold from the 2022 model year.
“Many consumers report a loud pop noise followed by a warning displayed in their dashboard and immediately experience a loss of motive power that ranges from a reduction to a complete loss of motive power,” NHTSA states.
“The Office of Defects Investigation learned from Hyundai that the failure is related to the ICCU (Integrated Control Charing Unit) that is responsible for powering both the HV (Hybrid Vehicle) battery and the LV (low voltage) 12V battery. Preliminary review indicates over-current within the ICCU can damage transistors in the LDC (DC-to-DC converter) resulting in the inability to recharge the 12V battery.”
The ongoing investigation is too new to provide answers to frustrated owners.
This led a group of Hyundai Motor Group EV owners to file the class action lawsuit. Hagans Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is representing the plaintiffs in this complaint, which was filed on July 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
What’s alleged
The lawsuit covers those who leased or purchased a Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Genesis GV60 or Kia EV6, saying the vehicles violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, and state consumer protection laws. The EVs are built using Hyundai’s E-GMP EV architecture. All incoroporate the ICCU in question.
“Hyundai and Kia prominently advertised vehicle charging times between five to seven hours, depending on vehicle make, with use of a Level 2 home charger,” the law firm states on its website. “In reality, vehicle charging ports frequently overheat in as little as 30 minutes, causing the charging session to unexpectedly and repeatedly fail. Owners report a protracted and burdensome charging process.”
“Not only do Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis continue to sell vehicles that are clearly incapable of performing as advertised, they also issued a software patch which substantially worsens charging rates and widens the gap between what they promised and what they delivered,” said Steve Berman, managing partner at Hagens Berman and the attorney leading the case.
“Car owners rely on them to drive to work, drop off their kids at school and get to doctor’s appointments. Unexpectedly finding a car with an uncharged battery in the morning causes serious disruption to people’s lives and could have dire consequences in an emergency,” he added. “These aren’t hybrids. The battery charge is essential, and we believe the state of these EVs is simply unacceptable.”