[tim_lotus]

I have been getting messages from the app recently that say: "Your FIAT New Electric MY22 12V battery's state-of-charge may be below the recommended level. Refer to info." However in the Info section of the app there are no warnings and everything is rated OK. The Charge Level says "All good" but it seems to be referring to the main car battery. There doesn't seem to be a section for the 12V battery state-of-charge. The car works as usual as far as I can tell (it's about 11 months old and has done just over 3000 miles).

Has anyone else had these warnings? Are they something to be concerned about? And how do you check the state of charge please?

Thanks
Tim

 

[MaryWhitehouse]

Is your car plugged in at night? It's possibly heading for a failed 12v battery, a bad thing. Probably best to book a dealer visit.

 

[AndyBowden]

I have been getting messages from the app recently that say: "Your FIAT New Electric MY22 12V battery's state-of-charge may be below the recommended level. Refer to info." However in the Info section of the app there are no warnings and everything is rated OK. The Charge Level says "All good" but it seems to be referring to the main car battery. There doesn't seem to be a section for the 12V battery state-of-charge. The car works as usual as far as I can tell (it's about 11 months old and has done just over 3000 miles).

Has anyone else had these warnings? Are they something to be concerned about? And how do you check the state of charge please?

Thanks
Tim

Several owners are reporting this on the facebook 500e page. I had the warning a single time late on Thursday on my iPhone without any warning given in the car. Never had it in the preceding near 2 years of ownership.
My iPhone app has not updated for 3 months so the app can't be the cause.
Perhaps the cars have had an OTA update this week. Perhaps some new software has been introduced at Fiat HQ. My guess is Fiat might be trying to prevent the issue of 500e 12V batteries going flat, making the car undriveable. Recall 6475, which is needed by all cars built before April 2022, is supposed to prevent the problem, but one or 2 owners are reporting they've had the problem on cars supposedly having had the recall done.
It would be a waste of time to take the car to a dealer, I feel.
I intend to report the matter to Customer Care by email, but perhaps I'll wait until I see the warning a second time.
I'm certainly assuming the warning is spurious, but will check the 12V battery from time to time.

 

[tim_lotus]

Thanks both and thanks for the detailed info Andy. I have only been getting the messages for the past few days, so I agree it may have something to do with new software. Nothing seems amiss with the car - i have been through all the screens.
I keep the car regularly charged up but I don't leave it on charge all the time it's at home. Is that generally advisable? If so it disadvantages those who don't have home charging. I did use to leave my Model Y on charge all the time but haven't bothered recently. I could do it with both cars as I have two linked chargers that share the load. What do you think?

p.s. my app is also the IOS version.

 

[23dash]

I have a Bluetooth battery monitor hooked up to my 12V battery. Voltage and SoC have been fine last few days, but I also received the alert in the app. It suggests to me they’ve got the parameters for triggering the message wrong, and messaging us when everything is fine. If you have any doubts get a diagnostic done by the dealer for reassurance. The voltage of the 12V battery degrades very slowly when the car is parked, so no need to have your car on charge all the time. Owners have reported having cars parked for three weeks, and have then started the car without issue. I think the issue (before recall 6475 or build date prior to Apr 22) was that the 12V battery charge was not well managed. I have noticed that when SoC drops to around 65% (when parked up) that the 12V battery receives charge for a couple of hours from the main battery. It even starts charging as soon as you open the driver’s door to ensure good voltage for starting.

 

[MikeT]

We had these same messages appear from Friday 23rd Feb 14:50 to Friday 24th Feb 09:04 and then they stopped appearing. They only appeared in the app as incoming messages. No "faults" indicated in the app Info section, OR on the vehicle dashboard, and indeed the monthly report sent by email on the 24th February stated all was well with the car. The annual service on the 10th January 23 didn't identify any faults associated to the battery, and it was then that the car software was updated to R17.101-PROD.

In discussion with the dealer, we were the first to report this to them on Friday 24th, and after initially suggesting we take the car in to have the 12v battery checked/charged over 2 days, we've agreed today to monitor it closely observing for a recurrence. Also, to see if others report the issue to the dealer. He asked that I report it to FIAT customer services myself, as he will do too.

The fact that others have reported the issue on this thread has been very helpful. Thank you!

 

[23dash]

I’ve reported to FIAT Lombardy and referred to the significant number of sudden occurrences of this message (reported also on Fiat 500 Electric group on Facebook)

 

[AndyBowden]

I've gone almost a week without seeing the 12V SOC warning for a second time. Reasonable to assume it was a transient problem either in the cars' software or at Fiat HQ, I believe. I'll not being bothering my dealer or Customer Care.

 

[mehakkj]

hi you are talking about FIAT New Electric MY22 12V battery's state-of-charge may be below the recommended level, for this search on google.

 

[MikeT]

Further to my entry #6 · Feb 27, 2023 above.
I spoke to Fiat Customer Services to ask them to check if it was a glitch in the alerting software. They informed that it could be a battery problem, but as the alert was not isolated to myself, it may be that the android app needed to be updated (it did not). It seemed to me that there was a reluctance to investigate if this was a FIAT alerting software error, and I had said that, in my view, that was the most likely cause. I let them know that if it were to repeat I would have the battery checked at a local non FIAT garage as my nearest FIAT dealer is quite a drive away. The Fiat CS rep said that FIAT would only get feedback if taken to a FIAT dealer, and I assured that if it was a physical issue with teh battery I would go to the dealer as it was under warranty. Anyway, then feeling that I hade better get it checked out at a dealer because of warranty, I booked in to our FIAT dealer who is about an hour's drive away. The check was undertaken two days ago while I waited, and the battery is reported to be in very good condition.
The dealer's view is still that it was most likely a FIAT alert software glitch.
It is time consuming to have the dealer check out these potential software glitches. For the dealer as well. In my opinion, it would be best if FIAT would actually engage and check out if these alerts were down to a software glitch, and subsequently let their customers know!