End of life? options for iOn

Hi everyone. It seems the on-board charger of our 2012 Peugeot iOn has given up and died. Have had some intermittent troubles with charging over the last few years but suddenly got some warning lights (12V battery, and main electrical system), accompanied by not being able to charge the car at all, and also finding that the 12V battery is not being charged with the car in ready mode.

After charging the 12V battery with an external charger, we used most of the remaining range to take it to our nearest Peugeot dealership, where it remains for now. They found that the fuse to the OBC had blown. They have replaced this but still no joy, and advised that the cost for a new OBC is around £8,000, which is officially ‘beyond economic repair’.

We have entertained the possibility of trying to obtain a used OBC and asking them to fit that, though I’m not sure one would be easy to obtain, and I think the total cost would still be over £1,000, and the dealership has stressed that the OBC may not be the only problem. Replacing the OBC will allow them to continue diagnostic work, and possibly fix the car, possibly not.

We still have a few weeks remaining before the warranty on the main battery expires, and the dealership has contacted Peugeot to ask if they would pay for a new OBC out of some kind of goodwill, since it relates to the main battery not charging. It’s taking a while for Peugeot to respond but I’m not very optimistic on that front.

I’d be grateful for anyone’s advice. We’d be happy to spend £1,000 or more IF it actually meant the car had some life left in it - anyone been in this situation or have knowledge of what else might be broken besides the OBC?

We’re half expecting that it’s the end of the road for this particular car. Mileage is about 66,000. Seems a shame since the car is still good in other respects. I don’t feel that the main battery is dying - at least not in terms of capacity/range. Even after the charging failed completely, we were still getting the expected range (about 60 miles from full, in favourable conditions). I guess the battery management or some other electronics could possibly have failed. I’m far from an expert on what’s inside.

Anyone know about EV specialist scrap/salvage businesses in the UK? I got an offer from scrapcarcomparison.co.uk for £700 including collection, but they stated this was on the assumption that the main battery isn’t good. What’s the deal with static second-life applications for car batteries, is it something I can look into? Would they use the existing battery management bits from the car?

Any wisdom on any of this much appreciated.

Hi there, sorry to hear about your troubles, but unfortunately it’s quite common for the OBC to fail after a few years. Luckily there is a lot of DYI fix information available on this forum if tinkering is your thing.

It is still possible to charge the main battery using the DC CHAdeMo port or with the universal charging cable (aka tow rope)

Finding a working second hand OBC might not be easy (Norway seem to be the best place to look for them) but there is a guy (Elektozitrone) on goingelectric.de that is able to repair and test them.


If you decide on selling then doing it privately should give you a much better return in comparison to a breaker, especially as the pack seems to be in a decent condition.

Contacting www.secondlife-evbatteries.com might also be worth a shot.


Mickey

I feel like this car is bound to be a collector's item one day (arguably the first EV model of the current era, relatively few around). But that day does not appear to be yet. I wonder if mine can hold on until then.

MickeyS70 said:

Hi there, sorry to hear about your troubles, but unfortunately it’s quite common for the OBC to fail after a few years. Luckily there is a lot of DYI fix information available on this forum if tinkering is your thing.

It is still possible to charge the main battery using the DC CHAdeMo port or with the universal charging cable (aka tow rope)

Finding a working second hand OBC might not be easy (Norway seem to be the best place to look for them) but there is a guy (Elektozitrone) on goingelectric.de that is able to repair and test them.

If you decide on selling then doing it privately should give you a much better return in comparison to a breaker, especially as the pack seems to be in a decent condition.

Contacting www.secondlife-evbatteries.com might also be worth a shot.

Mickey

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Many thanks for your tips. I'm not someone who'd be able to fix it myself, but I will certainly try the contacts you suggested. I wonder if I could get Peugeot to post the faulty OBC to the repair guy.

The nearest Chademo place is about 7 miles from the Peugeot garage where the car is, and I suspect the remaining range wouldn't get there... I will try asking Peugeot in case they have a sneaky one on site that isn't listed on Zap-Map. Otherwise I think a bit of towing assistance would be required to get there, which isn't something I feel very confident about!

Thought I would update here with the outcome in case it's helpful for anyone else.

Peugeot were about as helpful as you'd expect (not very) and weren't willing to remove the OBC so that I could have it repaired elsewhere. They also didn't have a Chademo charger on site.

For anyone who is able to remove theirs (it seemed too difficult for me to attempt) I was quoted 300 Euros for repair from 'Elektozitrone' on the goingelectric.de forum which seemed pretty reasonable. Though the postage over to Germany and back might have been a bit of a faff.

I was able to successfully rapid charge at a nearby Chademo station even though the AC charging wasn't working, so I did that in order to get the car home, where I could manually top up the 12V battery. I've heard that some OBC failures will still rapid charge, and some will not (depending on exactly what fails inside) so it's definitely worth a try but maybe not something to rely on.

I then took it to Turner Mechatronics in Hemel Hempstead who repaired the existing OBC like Peugeot should have done! It cost just over £1000 so not cheap, but having looked at what's involved I don't feel particularly ripped off - especially compared to the amount I paid Peugeot for their 'diagnostic work'. So if you're in the area I would recommend Turners. The guy said he's certified to replace dodgy cells in a main battery pack as well as all kinds of electric repairs so definitely a useful place to have on your radar. Hopefully more of these independent places will pop up over time, and costs will fall as it becomes more routine work.

I did try contacting www.secondlife-evbatteries.com but they informed me they no longer work with the type of cells in these cars, which was pretty disappointing.

I recall some one on this forum, may have been Joes and someone, worked around a bad OBC with an external home Chamedo (10kw) charger plus a 12-v charger (for the aux battery)

pbui19 said:

I recall some one on this forum, may have been Joes and someone, worked around a bad OBC with an external home Chamedo (10kw) charger plus a 12-v charger (for the aux battery)

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Yeah but that home CHAdeMO costs like $3000+.

@mbnvcxz, a belated thank you for following up and telling us about your happy ending. Delighted you were able to get your i-MiEV back on the road! The alternative of buying one's own Setec CHAdeMO charger in the US is nowadays prohibitively expensive, in no small measure due to shipping/handling and import duties from China.