AeroVironment Level 3 charging issues

[GizmoEV]

I have not had very reliable charging at AV Level 3 (DCFC) charge stations. Typically at about 0.25kWh the charger faults out. Once in a while I get a successful charge. I have not had the issue with Blink Level 3 chargers. AeroVironment is aware of the issue and is working with Kia on a resolution.

Is anyone else having issues with the AV Level 3 charge stations?

I sure hope they find a resolution soon since the AV chargers are what are most common in my area.

 

[EV2016]

That's disappointing since I was hoping to take my Soul EV to Leavenworth from Snohomish and I believe the level 3 chargers available along the route are AV. I guess I'd better plan on driving to the first one and checking it out with a back-up plan to return home if necessary. What locations in your area have you tried?

 

[GizmoEV]

Ridgefield, Castle Rock, Centralia, and Tumwater, WA. The strange thing is that I have successfully charged at the Ridgefield, Castle Rock, Centralia stations. I don't know what the differences are between when they work and when they don't. On my last trip to SeaTac I successfully charged at the Centralia station twice (up and back) but couldn't at the Tumwater station. On my way home I decided to test out Tumwater since I had the time and only could get 0.25kWh charged. Have had no trouble with the Blink station at the Tahoma Market in Fife.

 

[GizmoEV]

Hopefully my level 3 charging issues are resolved. I had the blinking segments in the battery meter issue and Broadway KIA in Portland, OR called to have us take the car in to have instrument cluster replaced. Unfortunately, this means that the car has to stay at the dealer while the old and new clusters are sent out to be programmed since the odometer reading is part of the cluster. A week and a half later we finally get the car back.

A couple of days prior to taking it in we got the check EV light again so I told the tech when it happened and to be sure to check the codes. KIA was already aware of my intermittent Level 3 charging issues happening with AV chargers (Blink works fine and I haven't tried any other chargers). The invoice lists the following:

CAUSE: F

[some line item things left out here]

914 T2996302 Scanned vehicle for codes, found code P1AB1 Battery fan fault. Performed actuation test with KDS, found battery fan to not turn on. Checked Power going to connector F45 pin #1 and found 13.4 volts. this is normal. Checked the ground at connector F45 pin #2 and found high resistance 18.66k ohms. Removed left inner side panel and inspected the wiring harness. Found ground GF06 blot [sic] to be lose. Tightened the bolt and tested fan operation with the KDS, fan now works.

On the way home my wife tested Level 3 charging at the Ridgfield, WA AV charger and things charged normally to 83% adding 4.93kWh. Not a long charge but more than the 0.25kWh we usually got. Given the bad ground contact it might just be that the times I had a successful level 3 charge the ground connection happened to be OK.

It seems like I remember someone else having a similar fan issue, maybe due to the same wiring issue.

I'll report back after I've had several successful AV Level 3 charging sessions.

 

[GizmoEV]

So far so good! I have now charged at all the AV charge stations which gave me issues in the past and had no issues whatsoever. Too bad the car/charger didn't report what side had the error. All seems well now. Hope the Blink stations I used didn't just ignore the error and over heat my battery when I used them.

 

[MacGuffin]

I charged our 16 Soul at AV level 3 chargers successfully a few times last week on a trip, and unsuccessfully at one location as well. It was a location that had other complaints non-Soul related, so if there was, I don't think there is still a particular issue with AV chargers and Souls.