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Hybrid battery not showing full charge?

12K views 43 replies 13 participants last post by  infinkc 
#1 · (Edited)
Hybrid battery not showing full range?

Anyone know what's going on? After charging the car only says it can go like 7 miles, batt gauge seems ok.


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#2 ·
More information please. How long did it charge before you saw this? I see you were in hybrid mode and "d" mode. Did it say 7 miles of range as soon as you turned it on? Any additional info you can provide the better to see how everyone can help.
 
#4 ·
Weird. I would take it to the dealer. That is the only advice I have for you my friend.
 
#6 ·
That has to be a software issue. I can't see it being anything else.
 
#7 ·
I'm thinking it might be the battery, I can only get 10 miles out in pure mode driving normally. Would think if a software issue, it would adjust back up with less spirited driving, not completely hinder the range. It's a major emissions issue if it's not meeting their published ratings.

I see other posts that in the winter it drops more since the heater eats up power, but this is a much more drastic drop in range.

I check my charge logs on my charger and it's charging a full 8kw still. Just seems the battery has lost its output capacity.

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#9 ·
Well xc is back in the shop again, after they reset everything the last time and got the range back to 19-20, it’s now back down again to around 14. Been there for over a week now, no word on what they are doing this time.


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#10 ·
Well xc is back in the shop again, after they reset everything the last time and got the range back to 19-20, it's now back down again to around 14. Been there for over a week now, no word on what they are doing this time.

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The estimated range number is probably related to how long you drive for daily trips. If you drive 20 miles each trip it should show normal range about 18.
 
#13 ·
My records show for 35F driving I've gotten 16.8 pure EV miles before the 2019 battery was depleted. I'm definitely curious what you find.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I can confirm that my MY16 XC T8 has been in for service two weeks now with the similar set of issues.

Volvo and my dealer continue to investigate and hopefully there will be a resolution soon.


All the best from Minnesota USA,
A fine MY16 XC90 T8
 
#18 · (Edited)
I can confirm that my MY16 XC T8 has been in for service two weeks now with the similar set of issues.

Volvo and my dealer continue to investigate and hopefully there will be a resolution soon.

All the best from Minnesota USA,
A fine MY16 XC90 T8
Well got the car back, looked at the service notes, all they did was back date the BECM software (31483293)! wow and that took them a month to do! No modules replaced. did charge it and showed 18 for the range, 20 in pure. took it for a drive and it did get that range. hopefully it stays this time.
 
#19 · (Edited)
My car is back from service. Volvo and Borton Volvo both did a fine job diagnosing and resolving the hybrid and VCM/BECM issues. It turned out that the HVCH had an isolation fault, the electric A/C Compressor was intermittently shorting out, and there was a high resistance on the ground circuit on the BECM which inhibited communications within the hybrid system. Also, BECM and VCM software was reloaded. As a precaution and to verify, the hybrid battery sells were discharged, and deep / triple-charged. All of the 96 cells came back at 100%. The tech told me that the Hybrid Battery State of Health (longevity) and the Hybrid Battery State of Charge (remaining charge) were all at 100%. That was really great news for a MY16.

On the drive home, all seems to be working fine for a MY16 (that has the smaller hybrid battery). Although it took 4 weeks, I appreciate that extra effort and time that Borton's service dept and Volvo Tech Support took to diagnose and address the issue. Having a MY20 XC40 loaner was fun. My wife liked it for its size and agility for around town. That is another story, though.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Glad it is sorted out. So are the HVCH and A/C compressor replaced or fixed?

Does this mean the A/C was used intermittently to maintain coolant temperature due to HVCH heating up too much? Nice double drain of battery for nothing but extra heat under the hood. So any other symptom could help detect such issue? Was there extended run of cooling fans?

A battery coolant temperature reading will be very helpful.

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#21 · (Edited)
Glad it is sorted out. So are the HVCH and A/C compressor replaced or fixed?

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Updated: Cores were replaced
1 31694788 608761 Heater
1 36012837 508743 A/C Compressor

Cores were returned/exchanged
-1 36012837 508743 Heater Core Return
-1 36013556 003981 A/C Compressor Core Return

I should have mentioned that Tech Support took remote control for software update but I did not get those details if new or a reversion.

All the best from Minnesota USA,
A fine MY16 XC90 T8
 
#25 ·
Thank you for the helpful report. I noticed the cooling fan running when I plug it in. So maybe it is normal. Really wish they show some health monitoring sensor readings in the Car Status app.

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#26 ·
^ I agree. A numerical State of Charge and State of Health would be useful on VOC. The hybrid battery coolant temp. in Status on Sensus and OBD2 would be awesome - maybe right beside the desired engine coolant temp and engine oil temp.[emoji1696]

All the best from Minnesota USA,
A fine MY16 XC90 T8
 
#28 ·
Well, car is back in the shop again, range dropped back to around 12 now on a full charge in pure mode. Augh how frustrating, they are saying they are doing a SW update again. 3rd time now for the same issue that keeps coming back! Now its been close to a full month that the car has been in the shop for this one issue.
 
#33 ·
I've been battling decreased mileage shown on 2018 T8 battery range for some time. Originally, range showed 20/18 (hybrid/pure) first year. Then at year two dropped to 19/17, then months later 18/16 was the norm. Now sometimes shows 17/15. Also if I am doing highway driving, I put the batteries in hold, and yet it drops range shown. I just had it in for year 3 service and asked them to look into it. My 2018 has 16,000 miles on it so it seems excessive to have this sort of drop (IMO). I do use Pure mode mostly. While I have had Volvo look into this issue with previous annual scheduled services, no progress.

This time, they 'found an issue' and were communicating with Sweden. I was later told they found a permanent fault with HVCH and part was ordered. Dealership contacted me pick my vehicle up, but paperwork shows part is on order, so appears I will going back when it comes in. Today is Saturday and both my service manager and tech who worked on it are out. No clue why they had me pick up my vehicle, only to return back soon. Maybe part takes longer to come in, or simply some confusion at dealership. No big deal either way. I prefer driving my T8 to the loaner.

I am optimistic the replacement of HVCH will resolve the issue. I will update this thread after HVCH is replaced.

I am also charging up my T8 so unknown right now what range will show after a charge. My mobile app did show they did drive it during the service. Showed a 22 mile trip. So was glad to see they were digging into it.

Dealership did all the software updates. I have not driven it enough to notice many enhancements. I did notice some improved traffic indicators on my HUD which I have not seen before. On freeway returning home, HUD had posted speed limit sign (which I always see). But at times, also had Do Not Pass sign under it. I was in regular freeway traffic. When I noticed it, vehicles were beside me. Maybe it comes on if BLIS picks up a vehicle to the sides? Not sure yet. But I was not in a Do Not Pass zone. I was in the middle lane on a 5 lane freeway (my side).

Sidenote: I was given a 2021 T5 XC90 loaner while they did my year 3 scheduled service and also troubleshoot the above issue. Really like my T8 so much better, although not a fair comparison in many ways. The 2021 was fairly stock. One cool enhancement was the 2021 had a wireless charger on the center console. I didn't use it but it was there. I use a USB stick for my music in T8 but when I went to use it in 2021, no go. Maybe USB is only used for USB updates on 2021? I didn't dig into settings on the 2021 but USB was not shown as option on the center screen as a media option as it is on my T8. Also, the 2021 cameras were dramatically crisper looking than on my 2018. Not that 2018 is bad, just that 2021 was noticeably improved to me. 2021 also had stock radio system. I have the B&O in my T8. No comparison to me. B&O blows it away. B&O was a pricy add, but for me, definitely glad I did.

T8 is a seriously nice vehicle. I really notice the difference when I have a Volvo loaner. I tend to take it for granted otherwise.
 
#34 ·
I have the same appreciation when I get back into my MY16 T8.

As far as your hybrid concerns, I will share that that my circumstances involved more than the fault in the HVCH.

My circumstance, which I have described in a past thread or post, involved a shorted fault in the A/C compressor which is used in conjunction with the HVCH to keep the battery cooled or warmed up depend on OAT.

It was reported that Volvo Sweden had to take remote control of the software update presumably to revert back to a prior version of the software and apply updates forward. I do not understand this but I would bet that others here do.

Finally, like what you are describing, the battery cells were fully discharged, recharged, balanced, et al.

In my case, there were a series of discoveries and one-by-one problem-solving to finally resolve the issue.

The techs said there were zero error codes initially at the start. Once they got into it, one tech told he was surprised that the hybrid worked at all based on the faults.

Hopefully, my situation was unique to me but my recommendation are: (1) to be inquisitive and engaging, and (2) to trust but monitor with a healthy reserve of optimism and skepticism. Also, ask your service consultant to have one of the master techs speak with you directly once it is all done. My service consultant offered that option to me and I took. They were both empathetic and forthcoming. Couldn’t ask for more.


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#35 ·
Well, Volvo gave up on me, offered to buy the car back now. I really wanted to keep the car, but they kept giving me false promises and the service advisor I had just didn’t care.

Was sad they didn’t want to try and fix it instead of buying it back, but that was their choice.

I tried to find another T8 with all the options like mine (R design, air sus , HU, B/O, carbon int,22”), but none out here, and the wait to order another is just crazy. So will be jumping ship to something else.

It was truly one of the most enjoyable suvs I’ve owned, thought I’d have it for at least a few more years.


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#37 ·
Well, Volvo gave up on me, offered to buy the car back now. I really wanted to keep the car, but they kept giving me false promises and the service advisor I had just didn't care.

Was sad they didn't want to try and fix it instead of buying it back, but that was their choice.

I tried to find another T8 with all the options like mine (R design, air sus , HU, B/O, carbon int,22"), but none out here, and the wait to order another is just crazy. So will be jumping ship to something else.

It was truly one of the most enjoyable suvs I've owned, thought I'd have it for at least a few more years.

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Wow. They must be selling well on the used market...doesn't make any fiscal sense on Volvo's part unless the difference in cost to buy out rather than fix is nominal. Are they buying back at full price?
 
#38 · (Edited)
Follow up to my previous post. Volvo has HVCH on order. Stated they found a permanent fault. Unknown ETA so I have my T-8 back. They stated my range was in acceptable tolerance.

Range still shows 18/16 (Pure/Hybrid).

I did a test drive on Sunday. 71 degrees. I picked a stretch of road which is very long and straight (maybe 6-7 miles long, with minimal lights). Speed limit is 45 mph for most of it. I live 4 miles or so from this road. So no freeway or highway driving to it.

On a full charge (started with 18 on Pure) from my house. Drove 35mph with minimal traffic lights, but did hit a few. Then I reached the long straight drive. Went up and back it, with minimal stops at intersections. Tried to keep speed around 40 mph.

Then back roads toward home. I watched for battery gauge on outer right gauge to drop from normal. As soon as it did, I pulled over and stopped the vehicle so it would log just the pure driving in Volvo On Call mobile app.

Trip showed:
00:40 hours
20.8 miles
Fuel consumption- < 0.1 gal (2,628.0 mpg)
Electric consumption- 8.5 kWh
Electric regeneration- 1.5 kWh

So to me, appears my battery range in Pure is great. It is the gauge reading which is off, with start of 18. When the gauge dropped, indicating battery depletion for Pure driving, it had been showing '0' miles for about 1 mile. And odometer matched what Volvo On Call mileage showed.

It was about as optimum conditions for maximum battery range possible, IMO.

So I feel better about my range not being a battery issue but an issue with the reading. But could be Volvo actually did fix something while they had it. Previously, I could not round trip to my work, which is shade over 9 miles away. I felt I could have on Sunday.

But it does seem weird that first year my T-8 shows 20/18 range, then dropped to 19/17, now mostly shows 18/16 (and occasionally 17/15). But from Sunday test, I'm satisfied issue is not the actual battery range decreasing (at least since picking the vehicle up from Volvo service Saturday morning and next day doing my Sunday drive).

I'll ask about mileage indications when I return for the HVCH replacement. I am less concerned about it though, given results of my drive. I do think range was worse before since I could not round trip a slightly over 18 mile trip before on a single charge. And first year I had the vehicle I could. I did seem like range was dropping. Maybe their reloading and updating software improved something.

I'll provide update when I know more, likely after HVCH replacement.
 
#41 ·
@arochowski

I cannot tell you precisely - but @Tech or other Volvo techs might explain it best.
My understanding is that the HVCH error shows up differently than through OBDII, but take that with a grain of salt.

I could ask my service manager for some insight if others do not chime in.

I know that I was persistent and I kept reporting the issue. Two different shorts or ground faults in the HVCH and in the AC compressor were my primary issue, plus there was a VCM issue.

Are you seeing the performance data in VOC - assuming that you are subscribed to VOC?
 
#43 ·
I pm’d you with the details of my scenario.

I learned from my dealer’s service manager that Volvo’s new or reinstated service procedure is to scan the whole vehicle in VIDA rather than just scan the customer’s symptoms. Apparently my BECM error code only showed up when the whole vehicle scan was performed.

I can share or post the details with others if there is interest.

As far as the performance details in VOC app, you must have the trip logging turned on. You can click on a trip and then tap the map that displays starting point A and destination point B. You should see graphs at the bottom and then tap on the data point(s) that interest you. Hopefully, that is working and being display.


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