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Why is Ioniq EV charging only 3.4 kw?

17K views 45 replies 14 participants last post by  HandyAndy 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

I just bought an Ioniq from September 2020 as my first EV. Happy that the charger points will charge 7.5 or 11 or 22 kw, I thought that I would have an easy charging experience.
Today for the very first charge I went to some stations in my town and to my extreme shock I saw that the car is charging only 3.4 kw. Why is that? Honestly, if I knew that, I would have never bought the car. The normal home plug charges at 2.4 kw. Why would I buy something that can only move 280 km with over 10 hours of charging???

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Hi there, and welcome! I saw your question in another thread, but here you gave more details. The charger points you mention are all AC chargers, from which the Ioniq only uses 1 phase. In short, you get one third of 11 and 22 kW respectively. Don't know about the 7.5 charger, if it's single phase, you may get 7 kW there. For faster charging, you need a DC charger, marked typically CCS 50 kW or higher. From what I've heard, the 2020 Ioniq is not very fast charging even there, expect up to 45 kW in summer and 35 kW or less in winter. Worse if battery is cold. Also it tapers down at higher %, getting really slow at the end to keep voltage within safe limits.

BEV owners will know more and certainly step in to help. I just answered a bit as I was awake anyway, lol. I'm pondering whether to trade in my PHEV for a 2020 BEV (or another brand), so I keep an eye on what everybody has to say about the charging speeds. Cheers!
 
#4 ·
It's sad to see someone taking the plunge and purchase a car without knowing the full story.

I had an Ioniq PHEV for a year and a half, and since I followed this forum all the time, I knew everything about the 2020 EV's slow charging speed. I still had no hesitation to trade in my car for the EV, which I'm driving now.

I don't find the charging speed to be such a limiting factor as you may think. I have a wall-box (charger) installed at my home. I simply plug the car in at night, and the next day it will be ready for all the driving I could possibly want. I rarely drive more than 250 kilometers on any single day, so I have no need to top up at public chargers. For those few longer trips (not very common now in "corona days"), I just make sure that I know where to find the DC chargers along the way. 30-45 minutes at a DC charger will make the car ready for the next leg. I would have needed a pause anyway for coffee, lunch, going to the bathroom, or just to stretch my legs.

The Ioniq EV has many advantages as well. It uses very little electricity per kilometer compared to most other EVs. It may even be the most efficient EV on the market in terms of energy use.

Thanks siggesnok 😊
As you mentioned one third of the 22 kW should at least give 7 kW, but it stayed again at 3.4 kW 😰
You should get up to 7.2 kW at a 22 kW charger, but I can think of some reasons why you would not:
1) You're using a cable that's not rated at the full 32A.
2) Even if the charger is labeled 22 kW, it may be set to a lower rate, particularly if it's a free charger at a shop or mall. The owners don't want to give away more free electricity than absolutely necessary. :)
3) The charger has two outlets, and there's another car charging at the other outlet. Some chargers will split the available power if both outlets are in use.
 
#5 · (Edited)
You should get up to 7.2 kW at a 22 kW charger, but I can think of some reasons why you would not:
1) You're using a cable that's not rated at the full 32A.
2) Even if the charger is labeled 22 kW, it may be set to a lower rate, particularly if it's a free charger at a shop or mall. The owners don't want to give away more free electricity than absolutely necessary. :)
3) The charger has two outlets, and there's another car charging at the other outlet. Some chargers will split the available power if both outlets are in use.
There is another one too. The OP didn't mention his current state of charge (SoC) when charging. My home charger only gives me 4.5kW anyway (local supplier restriction) but once it gets up to 75-80%, the rate drops fairly significantly. This is common with EVs.
 
#11 ·
Did you solve the problem?
On my Ioniq 28 I get 6,6 kW charge when using Clever 22kW chargers, but some chargers only allow 3,7 kW - and AFAIK all chargers will adapt to the cable, so unless you have a 32 A certified Type2 cable you will never get more than just under 3,7 kW.

When in need of charging en route I usually opt for "Powered by E.On and Clever" DC fast chargers or Ionity 150 kW chargers. Ionity charges my car from 10 to 94% in 24 minutes - in other words well above 60kW average speed.
That usually works flawlessly and is a little faster than your Ioniq 38, but you should still get decent speeds when using DC chargers. The slow AC chargers are not really useful - even if I could charge at 11 kW I would still charge at home (at 0,89 DKK/kWh ;-)) and use the Ionity DC chargers when in need and Clever when available at Føtex, Bilka etc.

We drive 25 to 30.000 km/year and 95% of those are covered by charging at home - the occasional longer trips requires some planning and I rely on Ionity, Clever, Sperto as some of the other brands have been less reliable.
 
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#13 ·
Welcome to the forum, @Pig Diddy ! Please fill in your location and vehicle details in your profile.

When you don't get the full 7.2 kW (or 6.6 kW for model year 2019 or older) from an AC-charger, it's usually due to one of three things:
  • The charger has been capped at a lower rate (quite common, especially for free chargers at shopping malls etc.)
  • The charger has two outlets with a shared capacity, and another car is charging at the other outlet
  • Your cable is of the wrong type (not rated for 32A)
If you let us know your approximate location (city etc.) perhaps some other member can give you a hint of which chargers in your area to go to for charging at the full power, and which to avoid.

And while you're at it, why not put a pin in the member map as well?
 
#14 ·
Low charging rate can also be due to low grid voltage! USA suffers here, as their 110V domestic supply running at the lowest-allowed 6A can mean they may charge at as little as 660W !!!
An EVSE set to 16A on a 110V supply will give you only 1.7 kW, or a 32A one at 110V = 3.4 kW, but hopefully that's not the case here!
 
#15 ·
Low charging rate can also be due to low grid voltage! USA suffers here, as their 110V domestic supply running at the lowest-allowed 6A can mean they may charge at as little as 660W !!!
An EVSE set to 16A on a 110V supply will give you only 1.7 kW, or a 32A one at 110V = 3.4 kW, but hopefully that's not the case here!
The Swedish grid is pretty stable at 230 volts, so that shouldn't be a problem here.

However, since @Pig Diddy hasn't given any details about his car in his profile, I wonder if he might have a plug-in hybrid, not an EV? The PHEV is limited to 3.7 kW or thereabouts.
 
#16 ·
Ok. So I got the full electric - EV 2020.
Installed a wall box this week and its limited to 16A. It also has a ampere guard/balance thingy.

Im wondering if the given kw has to do with the current charge stage the car is in. Today the battery is above 75% and it charged at 3.2kw.
Could the ioniq have some programmed stages for the normal charging as well? Quick charging is very strangled above 50%. Could it be the same here?

Im going to run the battery way below 50% and then charge it at home to see if the kw then raises to the maximum for 16A.
 
#17 ·
Ok. So I got the full electric - EV 2020.
Installed a wall box this week and its limited to 16A. It also has a ampere guard/balance thingy.

Im wondering if the given kw has to do with the current charge stage the car is in. Today the battery is above 75% and it charged at 3.2kw.
Could the ioniq have some programmed stages for the normal charging as well? Quick charging is very strangled above 50%. Could it be the same here?

Im going to run the battery way below 50% and then charge it at home to see if the kw then raises to the maximum for 16A.
I think that it's your wall box that limits the charging rate, not the car. Just a few days ago, I charged to 90% at a public AC charger, and got 7.2 kW all the way up to 90%. (I'm currently limited to 90% due to the battery recall.)

What's the rating of your main fuses? 16A? 20A? 25A? 35A? If you only have 16A main fuses (as do I), it may be impossible to charge at the full 16A, since that would leave nothing for other appliances in the house.

I think you should ask the electrician who installed the wallbox. You may also want to try some public AC-chargers for comparison.
 
#18 ·
It shouldn't matter on the state of charge, on AC at 7kW it only starts tapering back at around 96/97%, on mine anyway.
It's likely the cable. What happens if you plug into the AC on a rapid charger (not the CCS)? Rapids will have a tethered cable, so if you get 7kW on that then it is clearly a problem with either your cable, or possibly the charge point.
Did you buy the car new? If second hand from a dealer it isn't beyond the realms of possibly that they've provided you with the incorrect cable, ie one from a PHEV they may have had lying about.
 
#19 ·
It related to the "load balancer" or box itself.The box with balancer is supposed to give 0.1% less than 16A to safe guard. In reality the car would believe this to be 3.6kw.
But it appears the balancer or charging box is set up to hard - on of them are strangling way to much. Like 0.7-0.8A for some reason. It's a ongoing process right now and I'll update the thread later on.
 
#25 ·
@SAL65 It's just possible the cable's been assembled wrongly, or mis-labelled. Get hold of a multimeter and use the Ohms scale to measure the resistance at both ends. The Earth pin is the big one in the very middle. The PP pin is one of the smaller ones. Usually these are labelled. Each end has a resistor fitted between PP and Earth. The Car plug tells the car what the cable rating is, and the EVSE end tells the EVSE what the cable rating is, obviously these should be the same!

The PP pins are not connected through the long cable, they are local to the plug & that's it. All the other wires go the whole way through.

For a 32A cable, you should see 220 Ohms between Earth & PP.
For a 16A cable (actually 20A, but used for 16A systems) you should see 680 Ohms.

If you see Millions of Ohms, you've probably measured between Earth & the CP pin, which is the other small pin close to the PP pin you need to check.

So if you see 680 at both ends, what you have is probably a 16A Cable that's been mis-labelled.
If you see 680 at one end and 220 at the other, it's had the wrong resistor fitted and is totally wrong!

But either of these mistakes will work safely, as the current is getting restricted to the 16A amount, either by the car not taking more than what it thinks is the cable's max, or by the EVSE not offering more than what it thinks the cable can take.
 
#28 ·
@SAL65, I don't know if you have any chargers like this in your area, but if you do, it won't hurt to try.

This charger has three tethered cables, two for DC-charging and one for AC-charging. Try the AC-cable. Since it's a 50 kW fast charger, you can be pretty sure that the AC-output has not been crippled, but can deliver whatever your car can accept.

 
#29 ·
@andersmo It would be a good idea. Thanks for that. Unfortunately, the electric charging infrastructure in Denmark is very limited, especially in the west. I have only tried a CCS DC charger and that worked well (charging at about 40 kw). But I have not tried an AC fast charger. I found one on the map in one of the towns nearby. I will go and check it and let you know.
 
#31 ·
Another possible way to confirm or reject a charge cable problem would be to go to a dealer and see if you can borrow, or they can charge at the dealership, a different cable, preferably one that has been proved to work correctly on another car.
 
#35 ·
Hi all!
My organization has the Ioniq Electric 2017.
I wanted to charge it at CCS charging station, but realized that I can't do that!
The CCS part is covered and it is not possible to remove it unless the screws are taken out.
The diller said that they cant do anything - the car was like that from the factory.
What would be your advice?
34994
 
#37 ·
I assume that CCS was an option in your country, seems odd, unless there has been a fault and the dealer has just blanked it off!
I believe AC should charge at 7kW though if you charge it at a suitable AC post which would be faster (but still 4 hours for a full charge) unless 7kW was also an option in your market of course?
 
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#39 ·
CCS is an option here, so it is a shame to have an electric car, 50 kW chargers, and no possibility to charge the car.

Dillers have no idea what is CCS and why I came to them. explained to them in a simple way how CCS works and that I need this option. Will see what they can propose.
An option is to go to Romania and fix the car there, but again, need to know if it is possible technically.

Maybe there is a way to ask a factory about this?
 
#42 ·
Its not the cord or the state of charge in your battery (slow charging is not affected by state of charge) Your car is using only one fase AC and if the charger is limited tog 16 amp you only get 3,6 kWh. If charger use 32 amp you get 7 kWh. If you install a home charger and put it to 3 *16 amp (total 11 kWh) your car take only 3,6 kWh, because it use only one fase, so if you want to get more than 3,6 kWh you need a special charger, it combine two fases to one (400 v) and you get 6kWh. Here is one option (only in finnish) https://wallelaturit.fi/tuote/walle-sahkoauton-latauslaite-25a-6-kw-type-2/
 
#43 ·
Hi All,

Sorry for reviving an old thread but I am having the same issue in the UK

A month ago bought Ioniq EV 2021

Cable rated 32A

The car will only charge up to 3.6kwh

I haven't tried DC yet but all AC chargers including my freshly installed at home (Ohme epod) does that.
Ohme's app showing me an error that car charges slower than expected

I've tried different 32A Type 2 cable

3 Pin socket charge at 2.1kwh

Charging management in the car settings is set up for maximum for both DC and AC.


No matter what I am doing and what is current SoC...when plugged in car will briefly go 7kwh and than immediately lower speed to 3.6kwh



Any idea what might be causing this?
 
#44 ·
AFAIK the internal AC charging modules come in units of 3.4 kW each, so e.g. EVs with option for 11 kW charging get 3 units fitted, one per phase, and if single phase then 2 units parallel themselves up for 7 kW charging.
Phevs often have just the one unit, and the 38s have 2 units. Sounds to me that one of your 2 units is faulty, and shuts itself down immed after starting a charge.
If you've deffo tried a genuine 7 kW AC EVSE, e.g.Rapid with a 44 kW Type-2 socket, then has to be the car. Some supermarket 22 Kw EVSEs might be restricted to 3.3 Kw, unlikely but possible.
Need to eliminatethe EVSE as possible cause, sounds to me like you've already done that, & it's not the cable.
 
#45 ·
Actually, the fastest charger I've tried was only 11kwh but I didn't check the actual speed car was charging at that time.

And I literally just now checked it with 7kwh public Pod Point AC charger and it managed to charge car at exactly this speed so neither car or cable I use causing the issue.



I'm did some research and have more clues.

Everything indicates my house has single phase supply.
Wallbox states charging at 7.4kwh 32A Single phase

My brother's ioniq ev 2022 also charge at only 3.6kwh on this charger - both of our cables are rated 32A






I was messing around with all of the options and at some point managed to make car to hover around 4.5kwh before going back to 3.6 however, now it is stack on 2.2kwh max so that indicates this is software related and maybe I messed up some settings




I will contact Ohme customer service once I'm back home and let you all know what they said.
 
#46 ·
Sounds like your Ohme is un-tethered? So you're able to use different cables in it, and all fail to charge at 32A.

By chance, I tried a 20A Type-2 cable in my 38er this morning, as sun was shining well on my 4kW panels, and I was curious to see precisely what current the car took. It displayed 4.5 kW & a couple of hours to go. This could be 20A at 225V, or more likely, 19A at 240V, but there will be some rounding errors, so it's all in the correct ballpark.

This suggests to me that your Ohme is seeing all Type-2 cables plugged in as being 20A rated! There's a resistor inside the Type-2 plug between PP and Ground pins, and the Ohme is supposed to check this. Depending on Resistor value, EVSE should choose between 13A, 20A & 32A rate. We've seen wall-mounted EVSEs ignore the 13A resistor, basically no-one makes untethered cables rated that low, why should they? so it then comes down to a simple test "is there a 32A resistor value present? If not, if there's a cable rated to 16A, that's ok, but if cable <16A give up & ignore it".
Or something similar. Resistor measuring circuit could be a bit inaccurate, = mfr fault.

You could check inside the Ohme that there's continuity of wires/circuit etc from PP on the Socket pin back to the circuitry. But DON'T do this if it breaks some warranty-seal, or if you;re not competent doing mains electrical testing. EVSE MUST be isolated before you go poking around inside!

Resistor values are 1500 Ohms for 13A, 680 Ohms for 20A, 220 Ohms for 32A, 100 Ohms for 63/70A but N/a here.
If you plug your type 2 in, withe EVSE ISOLATED, you should see 220 Ohms appear between Gnd & the wire from PP socket pin.
 
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