RECALL: Charging System Malfunction in Freezing Temperatures

It appears we have another minor firmware update coming down the pike. When charging and your battery temp goes down around freezing, the Arcimoto battery management software stops charging and disables the KERS regenerative braking. This is normal in order to protect the battery. But what isn’t normal is that it won’t allow charging or regen braking even when the battery warms up.

I’ve had this happen twice and fixed it with a right side soft reset (I press the button then put the flag back up). Takes 1 minute if you have a screw driver handy (and flashlight in my case). 

The firmware update will be made available in early May, in time for our warmer spring weather.

You can find the recall under April 6th, 2022 “Charging System Malfunction.”  The Defect Notice 573 Report listed on the previous link, indicates:

Beginning in January, the service team began receiving complaints from customers whose vehicles would not charge after being exposed to freezing temperatures (>0°C.) On January 13th a problem communication meeting was called to evaluate the serenity of the situation and determine the next steps for establishing a root cause. It was determined that this was a serious enough problem to place a hold on shipping any more vehicles until a root cause and remedy could be established. The electrical engineering team and the service department began investigating the defect. On February 17th it was confirmed that the VCU was disabling the CER when the temperature was below 0°C to prevent an unsafe charging situation. Once the temperature went back above 0°C the VCU enabled the CER. The defect is that if the temperature is fluctuating at 0°C it is possible for the CER to be disabled twice in a minute. The firmware was programmed to permanently disable the CER when this happens as an extra safety precaution until a hard reset could be done on the vehicle.

Owners will be notified by mail and instructed to contact Arcimoto to schedule a service appointment to have their firmware updated to prevent the defect from happening. There will be no charge to vehicle owners for this service. To the best of our knowledge, no owners have incurred any costs resulting from this defect. The new firmware will still allow the VCU to disable the CER and will prevent charging if the temperature falls below 0°C The difference is that the amount of times that the temperature goes below and above freezing during a minute will be increased and make it mathematically impossible to have the CER latch out again during fluctuating temperatures around the 0°C mark.

On March 11th the new firmware was confirmed and released to both was Corrected in Production : service and production teams. The production department is now able to continue manufacturing the vehicles with the new firmware in place.