While driving on the highway, my 2018 Hyundai Ioniq Electric (Classic) suddenly shut down completely. The vehicle displayed the warning message “Check EV System” and could not be restarted.
The failure occurred without prior warning and resulted in a complete loss of propulsion, which is a serious safety concern.
A Hyundai dealership diagnosed faults related to the coolant pump and inverter overheating. After about one week of diagnostics, the Electric Power Control Unit (EPCU, part number 36601-0E250) was declared defective.
The EPCU replacement cost quoted by Hyundai was approximately €5,000 for the part alone, with a total repair estimate of around €6,800 including diagnostics.
There are known recalls and technical service bulletins for earlier Ioniq EV models involving coolant leaks into the EPCU, which can lead to inverter overheating and sudden power loss. Although my vehicle VIN appears to be outside the official recall range, the failure mode is very similar.
( https://car-recalls.co.uk/recall/hyundai-ioniq-coolant-may-leak-into-electric-power-control-unit/ )
( https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2017/RCRIT-17V532-3620.pdf )
Used units can be found for approx 800€ (940$).
For example from norway: https://finndel.no/bildeler.aspx?bk=313001&dk=0192
BUT according to forums, the dealerships can not use these units as they are unable to adapt the VIN to match the car!
I had it towed to the "EV-Clinic" in berlin. They had never worked on this model. It took 2 weeks to diagnose, order parts and repair the problem.
It came down to a burned power transistor in the inverter. They replaced the small daughter board with the transistors, instead of the whole EPCU. They believe the cause might have been a faulty temperature sensor, so the transistor got overheated.
It did cost 2500€ (~3000$) to fix, which is a lot, but way better than the dealer.
Thanks to the auto-makers you now need a team of engineers (EV-Clinic, love you guys, but it shouldn't be necessary) and connections to the original factories in china to actually fix anything!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
click to see larger images
While driving on the highway, my 2018 Hyundai Ioniq Electric (Classic) suddenly shut down completely. The vehicle displayed the warning message “Check EV System” and could not be restarted.
The failure occurred without prior warning and resulted in a complete loss of propulsion, which is a serious safety concern.
A Hyundai dealership diagnosed faults related to the coolant pump and inverter overheating. After about one week of diagnostics, the Electric Power Control Unit (EPCU, part number 36601-0E250) was declared defective.
The EPCU replacement cost quoted by Hyundai was approximately €5,000 for the part alone, with a total repair estimate of around €6,800 including diagnostics.
There are known recalls and technical service bulletins for earlier Ioniq EV models involving coolant leaks into the EPCU, which can lead to inverter overheating and sudden power loss. Although my vehicle VIN appears to be outside the official recall range, the failure mode is very similar. ( https://car-recalls.co.uk/recall/hyundai-ioniq-coolant-may-leak-into-electric-power-control-unit/ ) ( https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2017/RCRIT-17V532-3620.pdf )
Used units can be found for approx 800€ (940$). For example from norway: https://finndel.no/bildeler.aspx?bk=313001&dk=0192 BUT according to forums, the dealerships can not use these units as they are unable to adapt the VIN to match the car!
I had it towed to the "EV-Clinic" in berlin. They had never worked on this model. It took 2 weeks to diagnose, order parts and repair the problem. It came down to a burned power transistor in the inverter. They replaced the small daughter board with the transistors, instead of the whole EPCU. They believe the cause might have been a faulty temperature sensor, so the transistor got overheated. It did cost 2500€ (~3000$) to fix, which is a lot, but way better than the dealer.
Thanks to the auto-makers you now need a team of engineers (EV-Clinic, love you guys, but it shouldn't be necessary) and connections to the original factories in china to actually fix anything!
- mpx10l, Trebbin, Brandenburg, Germany