NHTSA Complaint #11569149 — 2023 KIA NIRO EV

The vehicle is usually charged on a level 2 system set to 40 amps or 9 KW/hr. In October of 2023, I received the following message from the Kia connect application, "Charge Interrupted". The car disconnected electrically from the wall unit/charger because the connector unit in the car where the cable plugs into or internal charging unit was getting hot. This "charging interrupted" is a known issue with Kia and Hyundai electric cars so much so that they have issued a Technical Service Bulletin SB, ELE288 which reprograms the car charging logic for level 2 charging. The TSB dramatically slows down the charge rate (from 9 KW/hr to 5 KW/hr when the connector or charging unit gets hot through normal charging. The net effect of this TSB, work around has doubled the time required to charge at the level 2 rate indicated in the owners manual (Page 1-17). Kia needs to address this problems via a hardware fix rather than covering it with a software work-around which doubles level 2 charging times by reducing the charging rate. I bought this electric car under the impression from the manufacture that it could charge to its battery 0-80% in 6-7 hours. The new reality of the TSB fix for overheated charging components is a 12 plus hour recharge to 80%. The TSB fix for overheating components is reducing the value and the utility of my new car. Please investigate this issue as it also shows up in the Kia EV6, Hyundai Ionic 5 and 6, as all cars are probably using the same connector design or sharing parts.