Renault Zoe died
Discussion
My wife's car (a 2021 Renault Zoe) died this morning.
Essentially the car hadn't been used much in the last 2 months and while it hadn't lost any juice from the "driven" batteries, it transpires that the 12v was almost flat. We drove about two miles, parked the car but when we came back had various electrical warnings plus the car would not start despite having about two-thirds charge remaining in the drive batteries. Essentially it was behving like it had no charge.
RAC came along, diagnosed the flat battery and cleared all the faults in the ECU.
Couple of questions:
1. Has anyone else has this problem?
2. As the car will not be used that often could I/Should I keep the 12v battery on a trickle charger?
3. If this happens again I guess there is no way to clear the faults in the ECU, that would need to be done by Renault?
Essentially the car hadn't been used much in the last 2 months and while it hadn't lost any juice from the "driven" batteries, it transpires that the 12v was almost flat. We drove about two miles, parked the car but when we came back had various electrical warnings plus the car would not start despite having about two-thirds charge remaining in the drive batteries. Essentially it was behving like it had no charge.
RAC came along, diagnosed the flat battery and cleared all the faults in the ECU.
Couple of questions:
1. Has anyone else has this problem?
2. As the car will not be used that often could I/Should I keep the 12v battery on a trickle charger?
3. If this happens again I guess there is no way to clear the faults in the ECU, that would need to be done by Renault?
It's a common problem with the hybrids I've owned - you have a big main battery but can't use it unless the small 12V powers up the systems.
Many people leave their 12V on trickle charge, you can also keep a small jump starter to power up the car.
Hyundai hybrids used to have a virtual 12V battery, so if it was flat you pushed a button and it just allocated a new part of the main battery to be the 12V until it recharged. Not sure if they do this on their EV's?
Resetting fault codes should be easy with a OBD plug and a phone app, they only cost £30-£100 for decent ones.
Many people leave their 12V on trickle charge, you can also keep a small jump starter to power up the car.
Hyundai hybrids used to have a virtual 12V battery, so if it was flat you pushed a button and it just allocated a new part of the main battery to be the 12V until it recharged. Not sure if they do this on their EV's?
Resetting fault codes should be easy with a OBD plug and a phone app, they only cost £30-£100 for decent ones.
Its funny, and from what I understand, only a few EV's and hybrids resolve it. I remember watching a review of the new McLaren hybrid - keeps the 12v topped from the EV battery pack. Neat. Even gives you a percentage of life left in the batter - its almost as if they know their owners wont use the car for extended periods of time!
From what I understand, different markets around the world have differing legal requirements. Here in the US, you must have a 12v system, even in your 100kwh battery powered luxo-barge! Needs to be present for running other systems etc. Dont use the car, 12v goes dead, even if the battery pack is 100% charged.
I am sure it will change and I am sure that there are some vehicles that get around this. But a lot dont. Used to have an i3 and this was a common issue on cars older than 5 years. 12v would go dead and cause untold issues with the car. Replace the battery and it would return to normal. The only problem was that BMW did the whole encoding to specific cars thing with the 12v - soooo many pissed owners of i3's.... thankfully the 'fix' is nice and simple these days, but imagine that? 12v battery dies and you MUST get your i3 taken to the dealer to get a new battery?
From what I understand, different markets around the world have differing legal requirements. Here in the US, you must have a 12v system, even in your 100kwh battery powered luxo-barge! Needs to be present for running other systems etc. Dont use the car, 12v goes dead, even if the battery pack is 100% charged.
I am sure it will change and I am sure that there are some vehicles that get around this. But a lot dont. Used to have an i3 and this was a common issue on cars older than 5 years. 12v would go dead and cause untold issues with the car. Replace the battery and it would return to normal. The only problem was that BMW did the whole encoding to specific cars thing with the 12v - soooo many pissed owners of i3's.... thankfully the 'fix' is nice and simple these days, but imagine that? 12v battery dies and you MUST get your i3 taken to the dealer to get a new battery?
It's common with all cars with multiple sensors on when stationary. My wife's EV had it last winter having been idle for two weeks. When the AA chap fixed it, he told me of how he's done so many cars (all power types!) that sit there "hunting" for the key for keyless entry systems. Most batteries are fairly small, so run down quickly. He mentioned that Land Rovers and the like have larger batteries, thus take longer for the run-down to occur.
somouk said:
Why they aren't doing more to report on the status of the battery and keep it topped up or indicate when it needs replacing is beyond me.
That would be the logical thing to do - after all most (all?) EVs have an app that reports on charging status. It can't be that big a leap to include the 12v.Anyway, have put it on a trickle charger now so we'll see how that works.
PF62 said:
I believe the Renault Service schedule for the Zoe has a recommended 12v battery replacement at two years to avoid this issue.
Was that done?
its a November 2021 and was serviced in Nov 22 so no not yet.Was that done?
I've charged it so we'll see how it goes. If it happens again, I'll take it back under warranty
CapScarlet said:
somouk said:
Why they aren't doing more to report on the status of the battery and keep it topped up or indicate when it needs replacing is beyond me.
That would be the logical thing to do - after all most (all?) EVs have an app that reports on charging status. It can't be that big a leap to include the 12v.Anyway, have put it on a trickle charger now so we'll see how that works.
My old company car - Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid - had this little emergency jump start button for exactly this purpose. I had to use it once after the car had sat idle for weeks on end during the first COVID lockdown. Worked a charm - but it does trigger the alarm which scared the bejesus out of me.
People need to understand that the majority of systems on their car run off of a conventional 12V battery. Lots of ill-informed like to joke that you should 'turn off the heated seats and radio' if you want to make it to your destination. The reality is that it would make no (or very discernible) difference.
People need to understand that the majority of systems on their car run off of a conventional 12V battery. Lots of ill-informed like to joke that you should 'turn off the heated seats and radio' if you want to make it to your destination. The reality is that it would make no (or very discernible) difference.
From what I can remember of the discussions on the forums, the Zoe will not maintain the 12v battery when powered off, and there was no conclusive proof charging topped it up either. Having said that, I've gone 4 weeks without any issues (though I did start the car after that to avoid a dead battery). I've now got this USB charged jump starter (plenty of similar) when I was considering an Ioniq 5, as that had the same reputation as the eNero and eKona for flat batteries, however it appears before I got my Genesis that problem was addressed (I believe as long as I have at least 35% traction battery it will keep the 12v battery topped up). I have used the jump starter once, but not on my car, but an uncle's Lexus that has a power drain issue (resulting in a battery being drained in under a day if the car is not started).
tr7v8 said:
My Outlander PHEV wakes up at 02:00 and if the 12V is low then it charges it up. So it needs some charge in the main 300V battery to do this.
My Ioniq does similar, it flashes one of the charging lights on the dash to show it is recharging the 12V. Apparently the first gen Ioniq didn't do that so they went flat all the time. Quite an ironic breakdown really.annodomini2 said:
deja.vu said:
James May had the same problem with his Telsa, it’s on YouTube if you look.
It was an issue with the old Model S, newer ones don't suffer from it.Did they fix the battery charge issue, or the getting issue of getting to the battery if it did go flat ?
I finally took the car to Renault on Tuesday who have said it is a traction battery problem.
My main dealer says they are not qualified to deal with the issue so it is going to be collected by Renault and taken to their Wolverhampton branch. Feels like I am not getting my car back for some time.
So much for electric cars having fewer issues
My main dealer says they are not qualified to deal with the issue so it is going to be collected by Renault and taken to their Wolverhampton branch. Feels like I am not getting my car back for some time.
So much for electric cars having fewer issues
CapScarlet said:
I finally took the car to Renault on Tuesday who have said it is a traction battery problem.
My main dealer says they are not qualified to deal with the issue so it is going to be collected by Renault and taken to their Wolverhampton branch. Feels like I am not getting my car back for some time.
So much for electric cars having fewer issues
We had a ZOE which went to Wolverhampton in October, it came back 2 weeks ago.My main dealer says they are not qualified to deal with the issue so it is going to be collected by Renault and taken to their Wolverhampton branch. Feels like I am not getting my car back for some time.
So much for electric cars having fewer issues
You will get a courtesy car.
CapScarlet said:
I finally took the car to Renault on Tuesday who have said it is a traction battery problem.
My main dealer says they are not qualified to deal with the issue so it is going to be collected by Renault and taken to their Wolverhampton branch. Feels like I am not getting my car back for some time.
So much for electric cars having fewer issues
A terrifying thought for anyone running an ev out of warranty (like me)...you'd just have to lube up.My main dealer says they are not qualified to deal with the issue so it is going to be collected by Renault and taken to their Wolverhampton branch. Feels like I am not getting my car back for some time.
So much for electric cars having fewer issues
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