Kia Replaces ICCU on Carens Clavis EV, Owner Thanks EV Community

Harsh Asher’s Kia Carens Clavis EV, which lost AC charging after an ICCU failure, is back on the road with a replacement unit. Harsh got the car back on September 29, 2026, and says it has been working fine over the last month.

ElecTree had exclusively covered Harsh’s case earlier, when the replacement ICCU, requisitioned by Kia’s dealer on September 11, was reported unavailable anywhere in India. The issue now stands resolved.

What Happened

Harsh, a Mumbai-based owner of the year-old car, first noticed the problem on a long weekend trip to Goa. At a Jio-bp AC charger in Candolim, the car charged at 1.5 kW. An OBD check at a local service station found nothing. Back in Mumbai, he handed the car over for its 20,000 km service and was told everything was fine.

At home, the charging rate on his 7.4 kW charger dropped to 1.5 kW within three to five minutes of starting. He found a temporary workaround by setting the charger to 24A, which got him 5 kW, but public 7.4 kW AC chargers capped out at 1.5 kW over the next two months. The car later stopped AC charging entirely.

Harsh left the car at his authorized service center in Mumbai, which confirmed the fault and ordered the replacement part, but gave no timeline. He says neither the dealer nor Kia India could answer basic questions, and that Kia India’s customer service felt like “a post office,” passing messages back and forth.

What Is an ICCU

The Integrated Charging Control Unit combines what would otherwise be separate AC-DC and DC-DC converter units into a single assembly. It manages the flow of power into an EV’s high-voltage battery when charging, and it also keeps the car’s 12V electronics, lighting, infotainment and control units running off the main battery. A failing ICCU typically shows up first as reduced AC charging speed, since the unit can no longer convert power at its rated capacity, before progressing to a complete inability to charge.

Hyundai and Kia, which are sister companies, have reported ICCU failure issues worldwide.

How It Was Resolved

Harsh decided to flag the issue to the EV community on X. He reached out to Ankush Gugnani, Suhail and Dr. Farooqi. The resulting buzz, he says, caught Kia’s attention.

According to Harsh, the replacement part was then dispatched from Kia’s manufacturing plant to Bengaluru, and flown directly to Mumbai, all in less than 72 hours. The service centre replaced the ICCU, ran tests and captured the logs. Harsh got his car back on September 29, 2026.

Harsh’s Takeaways

Looking back at the ordeal, Harsh lists five takeaways:

1. Passion beats payroll. The true EV community, he says, is built on authentic passion, not paid social media handles or brand influencers.
2. Real solidarity. The community stands up for its people when the chips are down.
3. Strangers have your back. Community leaders stood firmly by his side.
4. Knowledge is armor. Understanding his vehicle’s issue let him hold his ground during technical conference calls with company engineers.
5. Altruism still exists. There is genuine goodness in the digital world.

The experience hasn’t soured Harsh on electric mobility. He says the comfort, driving finesse, ride quality for his passengers and running economics mean his next vehicle will be an EV. “Only next time, I know exactly who has my back if things go wrong.”

Harsh’s Thanks

Harsh thanks the people he says made the difference. Ankush Gugnani was the first to identify and flag ICCU failures in Kia and Hyundai vehicles, and joined technical calls with service centre advisors.

Suhail, he says, has been an unwavering pillar of support since day one of ownership, from troubleshooting tyre and TPMS issues on long journeys to reinforcing technical claims, with meticulous emails and documentation of every detail.

Dr. Farooqi, according to Harsh, broke through corporate inertia by engaging the Kia team directly and alerting their PR department.