Electric motor issues?

[FrozenSoul]

Our Canadian spec 2020 Premium has been a joy to drive so far (a little over 2.000km). The app is horrendous but the car is great.

However, it has developed a "clacking" noise that can be heard best between 10 and 25km/h. The noise speeds up / slows down with increasing / decreasing speed. The dealer had it twice and ended up sending a recording to Kia Canada (and HQ?) resulting in the decision to replace the electric motor - not a cheap call, I'm sure. I've been wondering if others are running into the same issue. The motor is back ordered (good thing it's still drivable...) and the service folks have advised us that we can drive it "as usual".

Update March 19th: The electric motor has been replaced (10k CAD, good thing it's warranty...) and the noise has disappeared for now. Not driving much due to COVID-19 but will update after the next 2k km.

 

[1979mini]

I think I have the same issue as you did.

I get a slow clicking noise when just letting off the brake, which gets faster. And at around 50-60km/h, the noise is like a whining.

Is there a chance you have a recording of the noise?

 

[FrozenSoul]

Sorry about the late reply - I must not have set the platform to send emails to notify of responses.

I unfortunately do not have a recording - the dealer made one that they submitted to the factory / HQ engineers before they decided to replace the motor but I did not make one. What you are describing does sound very much like the issue we had and I believe I've heard our dealer's shuttle start doing the same thing when they gave us a courtesy ride.

 

[1979mini]

The problem was the transmission, not the motor.

It was replaced under warranty.