I first realized there was a difficulty with Kia’s flagship EV9 after I tried to unlock my automobile final yr. The hulking three-row SUV was sitting on my driveway utterly lifeless. The important thing didn’t work, the app connection to the automobile was gone, and I used to be already late to an appointment. Fortunately, I had ready for such a situation, after studying about widespread 12-volt battery points with the EV9.
I managed to open the automobile with the guide key that Kia provides and entry the frunk to achieve the 12V battery and use a booster I had bought to jolt it again to life. Like many ICE automobiles, a 12V battery powers many of the low-voltage electrical programs in a car, so when it dies, the car is rendered ineffective. I known as my native Kia dealership to report the issue. I used to be ready for the 12V battery points, however I wasn’t ready for what occurred subsequent.
A couple of weeks after Kia had run software program updates to handle the 12V battery challenge, I began to note bizarre charging points with my EV9. Each time I attempted to cost previous 80 p.c, the automobile would soar from 82 p.c to 100% on my house AC charger, as if it had miraculously immediately charged that final 18 p.c. I additionally observed the vary of the automobile had gone down considerably at 100% cost, making it troublesome to finish some longer journeys with out having to cost once more.
It appeared like a battery drawback, the kind of challenge I’ve learn so many individuals posting about on EV9 proprietor teams on Fb. I reported the issue to Kia and so they weren’t capable of initially replicate it till I used to be capable of file the problem on my telephone whereas charging on a quick DC charger. The automobile would drop to a 0kW cost fee at 82 p.c and take about 10 minutes to pretend its solution to 100% with out the estimated vary of the automobile ever altering.
After watching quite a lot of YouTube movies, I bought an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) scanner to plug into the automobile to retrieve extra details about the battery. OBD II scanners allow you to see the quantity of remaining power in a battery pack at its present state of cost, in addition to learn the voltage ranges throughout particular person cells of an EV battery.
The EV9 has a modular battery pack that has been highly praised by engineering consulting agency Munro & Associates. It has 38 particular person modules that may be changed, making it simpler for technicians to finish repairs. With the OBD II scanner, I might see that at 100% cost I solely had 71kWh, whereas I ought to have had round 96kWh usable of the 99.8kWh battery. That meant I used to be lacking 25 p.c of the battery and in flip 25 p.c of vary. I might additionally see that some battery cells have been lifeless and never holding a cost, however the automobile was nonetheless working and there have been no errors or issues charging as much as 82 p.c.
After a few diagnostic classes, my native Kia seller finally got here to the conclusion that the primary high-voltage battery pack was defective and would have to be changed. As a substitute of leaving it on the storage for every week or two, I entered into Kia’s battery restore program, which has no ETA and is a part of the eight-year guarantee cowl that Kia supplies for EV batteries within the UK.
The look forward to a brand new battery could be so long as 9 months
I quickly discovered after speaking to greater than a dozen EV9 homeowners within the UK that the wait may very well be so long as 9 months for a battery repair, the period of time it takes to create one other future passenger for the again seats. Not like some EV9 homeowners I’ve been talking to, I’ve been capable of proceed utilizing my automobile till Kia was prepared to repair it. Some EV9 homeowners have had related points to mine, the place the automobile stops charging at a sure proportion and the vary nosedives. Others have had the battery pack completely fail or seen the vary plummet to solely 30 miles, making their automobiles unusable.
Kasem Saowijit described his EV9 battery failure points as a “nightmare” in messages to The Verge. His EV9 failed in January and his native storage has offered a smaller EV6 as a courtesy automobile whereas he waits an undetermined period of time for his automobile’s return. “Kia are completely pathetic, no replace with a chase, and after I do get an replace it’s a pointless replace,” says Saowijit. His EV9 is simply a yr outdated, and he says he’s now losing a whole lot of kilos a month on a automobile lease he can’t use.
Saowijit isn’t alone with the frustrations over Kia customer support. “My automobile has stayed on the dealership and it’s not moved in 5 months,” explains EV9 proprietor Helen Crawforth in a message. Crawforth has additionally been offered a courtesy automobile, however it’s an ICE automobile that she says is “costing me a fortune.”
Blair Ogilvie first began having points along with his EV9 in September 2024. “The primary challenge was a 12V battery challenge,” he says in a message. Months later, similar to me, he began having issues with the primary high-voltage battery not charging correctly and the vary of his EV9 dropping dramatically. The battery finally failed additional in December and dropped to round 80 miles of vary, inflicting “different programs to fail together with the crash avoidance system.” Ogilvie tells me Kia mentioned the automobile was unsafe to drive, and his EV9 has been off the street since December with no ETA on a repair.
The tales of the greater than a dozen EV9 homeowners I’ve spoken to are all very related and level to a Kia that’s battling battery replacements on its flagship EV. However the issues for Kia and Hyundai EVs go even deeper. The sibling manufacturers, working beneath the Hyundai Motor Group, have every suffered quite a lot of points with Built-in Charging Management Unit (ICCU) failures lately throughout the Ioniq 5, EV6, and different fashions. An ICCU failure could cause a automobile to lose energy whereas driving, which is an extremely harmful drawback to have.
Hyundai and Kia have each began to challenge guarantee extensions world wide for affected autos in latest weeks, after remaining largely silent on the problems for years. The change of coronary heart got here months after Consumer Reports highlighted in February that as much as 10 p.c of Hyundai and Kia EV homeowners skilled ICCU-related points, relying on the mannequin and mannequin yr.
Corbin, who runs The Ioniq Guy YouTube channel and goes by a singular title, has been masking the ICCU failures intently earlier than his personal Ioniq 5 had a battery issue last fall. “What you’re experiencing along with your automobile is precisely what I skilled with my Ioniq 5,” says Corbin in an electronic mail to The Verge. “They changed the battery inside two weeks, which gave the impression to be resulting from preferential therapy as others have been ready many months.” Hyundai then loaned Corbin an Ioniq 5 press automobile whereas his private car was being fastened, and it suffered the same failure. ”Hyundai knew concerning the challenge with the cells early in 2025 and launched a technical service bulletin instructing sellers to exchange the failed packs that confirmed the associated bother code,” says Corbin. Kia hasn’t launched an analogous bulletin for the EV9 but, and my native seller struggled to seek out an apparent error code for the issues I’ve been experiencing.
EV9 homeowners within the US are additionally dealing with related battery points, however messages on Fb proprietor teams counsel that wait instances are barely higher than throughout the Atlantic. “Wait instances might need decreased however not less than anecdotally I’ve heard it may well nonetheless be months,” says Corbin.
I reached out to Kia PR within the UK concerning the battery points with the EV9 and basic ICCU issues in late March. After initially responding in March a few potential assertion, Kia UK PR ignored my repeated requests for remark earlier this month.
Two days after chasing Kia UK PR for the primary time since March, my native seller phoned to say my automobile was instantly able to be repaired. My EV9 is now sitting in an industrial unit almost 100 miles away, and I’m nonetheless unsure after I’ll get it again. Kia has loaned me a a lot smaller EV3 for my rising household within the meantime, a car that has additionally been plagued with ICCU points over the previous 18 months.
Earlier than Kia’s ICCU points, the model was additionally hit by a pandemic-era automobile theft drawback. Thieves calling themselves “the Kia boys” posted videos on TikTok and different social media platforms with directions on how one can steal Kia automobiles, typically with only a USB cable. The absence of digital immobilizers on many Hyundai and Kia autos manufactured between 2015 and 2019 led to each manufacturers rolling out software updates to forestall thefts. It’s not clear if Kia and Hyundai can tackle its ICCU and battery issues with software program this time, although.
If you happen to’re experiencing related points along with your Hyundai or Kia EV — whether or not it’s an unexplained lack of vary, charging issues, or unusual battery conduct — it’s price taking the time to scan your car with an OBD II reader and examine the well being of the high-voltage battery your self. There are many easy-to-follow guides out there, and the information can reveal issues lengthy earlier than a dealership acknowledges them. The extra homeowners who doc these failures, the more durable it turns into for Hyundai Motor Group to disregard what appears to be like like a rising battery failure challenge.
