Hello, I just went out on a limb and purchased a 2017 E2 48v. The car has 80% battery but runs/powers up intermittently. It was owned by someone with way too much money and would charge it with a 100’ lightweight cord etc. and never listened to his mechanic who said he’d already replaced the charger once on the car. So couple of questions, I bought it right so I’m confident I can get this thing going even if I have to go into parts swap mode. The mechanic claimed that he spoke with a dealer and the charger does more than just charge the batteries, it monitors some other functions and that’s why the car is being intermittent. Does this check out? Does the chargers burning up because of cord selection check out? I checked the search function before posting. Thank you.
Since it sounds like you are the second owner, How did you get this info? Do you know the PO or the mechanic?
I doubt that the 100 ft lightweight cord is the primary failure here, but it is definitely not a good idea. It makes for a low power charging condition and may fault the charger into a shut down, but also could heat up the cord to scary temps enough to melt the cord and even cause a fire.
runs/powers up intermittently.
Can you describe this with a bit more detail?
What do you do or what are the conditions that makes it go, and not go?
Are there any error codes on the display when it is being stubborn?
When you say this car has 80% battery are you observing this on the display?
Dealer says the charger does more than just charge the batteries, it monitors some other functions and that’s why the car is being intermittent.
Yes and no. On a 2017 car the charger does three things -
- Charge the batteries
- Shuts down the ability to drive the car when plugged in so you don’t drive away with the cord plugged in.
- Generates 12v for some of the ancillary accessories the car needs to function. (Lights, wipers, horn, and some lower voltage KeyON functions).
- Also important is that your car may have a small 12v battery under the dash to “boot” the car from it’s fully OFF state. The charger will keep that topped off while driving but not when parked and OFF.
Well all very good info. The information came from the mechanic. The PO is a very rich man in Mass that used it to drive 1000 ft. occasionally. Mechanic seemed straight up for sure, and no he’s not a GEM mechanic, but he’d talked with support obviously.
I got the car late last night so I personally will play with the intermittent issue. It looked like he’d turn the key on, release the parking brake, it would move some then shut off. Another time turned the key on, display came up showing 80% battery, then he released the parking brake and it went blank Idk. if he was pressing any other pedals etc. I will look for the 12v battery under the dash right after work. Make sure everything is plugged in tight. New charger is already on order and was part of the deal so… we’ll see. I just thought it odd the charger would cause what he was telling me.
Probably not the charger.
- Car will run without charger.
- These cars are easily serviced but swapping parts not a good approach.
- Yes look for auxiliary battery health if installed.
- Dc-dc is not needed it aux 12v is good.
@Inwo - I might have seen that there were some Gen 3 cars ('17) that did NOT have that little accessory battery?
(That’s why I thought I’d mention the Charger/DC converter function)
The symptoms almost sound like it could be a loose ground.
Whenever you see a cluster of wires (probably black) going to a screw to the frame, Give that a wiggle, maybe even a good inspect and a little tweak with a wrench.
I will look for that battery and report and take pictures. I will clean everything up, grounds are a great idea. get out the dielectric grease etc. Inwo I found it odd myself looking at what comes off of the charger but it was a quick go over in the parking lot. I got it with 670 miles for 4k with the new charger coming so I figure I can’t get hurt, and wanted to run down and grab it. Even if I DO have to put some money into it I think I’m OK. Thanks for the help!
4k is a steal. You could dump another 5k into it and still be ok.
Besides eM1400’s? They never got the auxiliary battery.
Not in my 2018. At first only in ps and lithium cars.
Most likely Aux battery. (In Case it has one)
So no aux. Battery. Put in the. New charger everything powered up great, drove downhill backwards off my trailer no problem. But when trying to go forward or reverse it would go abour 2 feet , die, and then you hear an audible click from what i bielieve is the motor controller and you can go 2 feet again. Battery showed 80%.
It said on the gauge PEH Fault?
So i pushed it in the garage and one of the 4 batteries tested bad at 8.9volts. I assume thats the issue.