2014 won't charge AC or Chademo

[Gemsin]

Any guesses why my 2014 Soul EV (out of warranty) suddenly won't charge at home (UK) with my home charge point, or my granny lead, or on the one working Chademo charger near by?

My home charge point has power to it, and acts like it's going to start charging (clunks, and lights on charger change colour) but no charging screen appears on the car behind the steering wheel, and the charging lights on the dashboard do nothing. Zero reaction visible by the car to being plugged in. About 30 seconds later, the charger clunks again and turns off.

Ditto when I tried the granny cable (that plugs into a normal power outlet). Light on the unit for power is on, plug it into the car, charge light on the unit comes on, and then goes off again after about 30 seconds. The fault light on the unit never comes on.

Next time I turn the car on, I get "external charger error" on the screen.

Now I've just had a similar experience at a public Chademo charger, which has taken me aback. It got part way through its initial checks, and told me that my car was 62% charged (which is close to the 58% the car thinks it is) so must've communicated with the car... then the charger powers back off without delivering any charge. The charger screen reads "disconnection" and "vehicle not detected".

 

[IanL]

Since it happens with ac and dc charging, it sounds like it is a fault in the OBC or the BMS. The OBC is supposedly only concerned with ac charging, so the BMS may be the one. I fear a costly replacement. May be better to trade it in.

 

[EVDee]

The early model years seem to have an issue with the OBC which eventually requires replacement. Sorry it's out of warranty, get ready for a sticker shock when you take it into the dealer.. Had to do mine this winter. $4000 when everything was all said and done.

 

[Gemsin]

Oh dear. What did the $4k get you? A new OBC only, or other things?

I'm booked into a local garage for Monday. (Not the Kia garage, but we can always take it there if need be.)

Someone posted a link to an American service bulletin https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10119118-9999.pdf about a batch of OBCs that was deemed to be faulty, but if my car has its original OBC (the car is second hand, so I don't know) then mine must predate this. My car was first registered/taxed in the UK in October 2014, and this bulletin (if it can even be applied to UK cars) refers to MY 2016, manufactured in 2015.

I'm going to hope for a miracle, that some software/firmware/cheap part will sort it! We'll see.

 

[Gemsin]

The garage confirmed it's the OBC. Total cost is £3587. I'm going ahead with it as it's still a lot cheaper than a new (second hand) electric car.