[basicbill]

I was wondering about the ICE starter in the Niro. It has to start dozens or even hundreds of times a day; from standstill and also at speed. Does the car use a regular 12 volt starter motor or does the synchronous motor do the job? Maybe both?

 

[PAULRIDES]

Don't know what it uses, but I get your jest --- I hope it is durable start procedure.

 

[Jay]

The starter/generator starts the ICE via a belt. Neither Hyundai nor Kia have any white papers or animated videos showing the operation of their hybrid drive for the Ioniq/Niro unfortunately. The Sonata hybrid uses the same P2-style hybrid drive system (except that the Niro/Ioniq use a DCT), however, and there is a good animated video showing operation:

 

[PAULRIDES]

Thanks. Seems better than an old type starter.

IF I UNDERSTAND what I just saw. Wonder if one weak point is the belt that appears to drive the engine for a start.

 

[Jay]

The belt has to be inspected and replaced periodically. It's not that maintenance intensive IMO.

 

[Alex]

At most replacing a belt like this at the dealer should take about an hours worth of labor. Not that much of a cost to us. Given all the other great things Hyundai/Kia has to offer its what i'm personally willing to deal with. Can't say the same for General Motors
ac

 

[basicbill]

Thanks for all the replies. I had a look at the video and I looked
under the hood, and sure enough there's a generator there.
I still find it curious that there is need for a generator when the big Li ion battery is charged by the sync motor.
There is no lead-acid 12 volt battery used as far as i know. I've heard that they have taken a little slice of the big battery to do the 12 volt work. Also, I've listened to radio while the ignition is in 'acc' mode and a notice comes up almost immediately suggesting that I run the engine so not to discharge the battery.
I wonder what the watt-hour rating of the 12 volt slice is??

Just one more thing, the generator appears to be liquid cooled! There are a couple of hoses connected to the body of the generator (even shown in the video). That should be a very high output device if it needs liquid cooling.

 

[Scrutch76]

If you look under the hood on the drivers side, there is a small 12 volt battery. I believe if the big battery should go down, this one is to start the car back up.

 

[Jay]

If you look under the hood on the drivers side, there is a small 12 volt battery. I believe if the big battery should go down, this one is to start the car back up.

North American versions of the Niro have no pb-acid 12-v battery. Instead, they use a lithium-polymer 12-v (that's covered by the traction battery warranty.). The 12-v lipo battery is located in the traction battery enclosure but separate from the traction battery.

 

[basicbill]

Thanks for that diagram! Perhaps we can draw an estimate from it....
Physically it looks to be about 1/5 the size overall. Specs say it's a 1.56kwh battery. One fifth of that would be 312kwh. If it is kept at 50 - 75% charge .... then around 152 to 234 kwh.
I wonder what a regular lead acid car battery has using kwh?

 

[hybrid angel]

The Ioniq has the same battery set up as the Niro, as it should since the two cars are mechanically similar. The Prius has had the hybrid start/stop mechanism for years and no major issues. This gives me some comfort that this shouldn't be a worry.