Is it normal for an Aiways U5 to lose range, and how fast should that happen?

A lithium-ion pack loses capacity over its life, so some loss is normal, and the manufacturer's documentation for the U5 does not publish a degradation limit, a yearly allowance or a state-of-health threshold. That absence is important: nobody can honestly tell you your car has failed a manufacturer figure, because there is no published figure to fail. What you can compare against is the pack build sheet, which quotes 48 minutes from 0% to 80% state of charge on the 53 kWh and 63 kWh packs, 56 minutes on the 72 kWh pack, standard charging at 8.5, 10 and 12 hours, and self-discharge at no more than 3%.

Can I check the state of health myself without an Aiways dealer?

Partly. The car computes state of charge and state of health itself: the battery management system runs an estimation algorithm, records history and fault data, and monitors cell voltages, cell temperatures, pack voltage, pack current and the insulation resistance between the pack and its enclosure. What the manual documents is the workshop route to those values, not a public readout, and it does not publish a state-of-health limit to compare against. In the owner community, an OBD Bluetooth dongle paired with a battery data app is used to look at cell-level data, which is enough to have an informed conversation with a battery specialist. That method comes from owners, not from the manual, and it is not a substitute for a workshop reading.

DC fast charging has stopped working. Does that mean my battery is failing?

Not necessarily, and this is the most common misreading we see. The battery management system stores a specific fault for the DC fast-charging main relay failing to close; in that condition fast charging is unavailable while driving and AC charging are usually unaffected. That is a relay or its circuit, not a worn-out pack. The same applies to the DC-charging communication faults. If a car drives normally and charges on AC, treat it as a charging-path fault and have the codes read rather than assuming the worst about the pack.

Will you sell me a replacement traction battery?

No, and we would be wary of anyone who will ship you one by post. A traction battery pack is a regulated dangerous good: it needs UN38.3 transport certification, proper handling equipment, and someone qualified to commission it in the car. Beyond the legal side, a pack that has been dropped or stored badly is a safety risk. This is the one area where buying locally, even at a higher price, is the right call. We will happily point you at the checks a specialist should be able to demonstrate.

My U5 shows warnings and no range at all. Is the pack dead?

That combination is far more often a low-voltage problem than a dead traction battery. When the 12V battery falls far enough, several control units drop out together and the dashboard lights up, while the high-voltage system may refuse to come up at all. Check the 12V side before anyone diagnoses the pack, because the symptoms overlap almost completely from the driver's seat.

Aiways U5: battery health and SOH

Your U5 has lost range and you want to know one thing: is this normal, or is something broken? The car already answers half of that itself — its battery management system estimates state of health and stores fault data. Range that falls slowly, with no fault code, is ageing, and the manufacturer publishes no limit that says when ageing becomes unacceptable. A range or charging problem that arrives with warnings and stored codes is a fault, and that is a different job entirely. This page covers how to tell the two apart, what a workshop can actually read, and when the car has to go to a high-voltage qualified workshop. It deliberately contains no procedure for working on the high-voltage system — not because we are being coy, but because this is the one area where the correct advice is "hand it to someone qualified".

1. Which pack you have, and what it was built to do

The U5 was sold with three traction battery capacities — 53, 63 and 72 kWh. All three are ternary lithium-ion, prismatic aluminium-case packs with liquid cooling and an IP67 enclosure. The manufacturer's own parameter sheets give the figures below, and they matter for this topic because they are the only objective yardstick you have for "my battery is getting weaker".

Figure from the build sheet	53 kWh	63 kWh	72 kWh
Rated voltage	350 V	351 V	351 V
Rated capacity	150 Ah	174 Ah	199 Ah
Operating voltage range	268.8–412.8 V	268.8–417.6 V	268.8–417.6 V
Cell voltage range	2.8–4.3 V	2.8–4.35 V	2.35–4.40 V
Fast charge requirement	0–80% SOC in 48 min	0–80% SOC in 48 min	0–80% SOC in 56 min
Standard charge time	8.5 h or less	10 h or less	12 h or less
Self-discharge	3% or less	3% or less	3% or less
Operating ambient temperature	-30 to +55 °C	-30 to +55 °C	-30 to +55 °C
Storage temperature	-10 to +35 °C	-10 to +35 °C	-10 to +35 °C
Pack weight	365 kg	—	408 ± 12 kg

Inside, the pack is 24 modules in series with two cell monitoring units, one battery management unit and one distribution unit. That architecture is the reason a state of health figure exists at all: the car is continuously measuring individual cell voltages, cell temperatures, total pack voltage, total pack current, and the insulation resistance between the pack and its enclosure, and judging all of it against thresholds held in the battery management unit.

2. The car is already computing an SOH — you are not blind

This is the most useful thing to understand about the U5 before you panic. The battery management system's documented functions include acquiring every series cell's real-time voltage and temperature, the system total voltage and the total charge and discharge current, and then estimating state of charge and state of health by algorithm. It also records history data and fault data, balances cells during charging, discharging and while parked, manages pack temperature, monitors insulation, and exchanges data with the charger to manage charging.

So the number you want exists inside the car. The problem is not the existence of the data, it is access: the manual documents the workshop route to it, and there is no public menu on the dashboard that prints your state of health.

Two things the car also shows you for free, and which owners rarely watch: the instrument cluster lights a charging-cable connected indicator, and the battery management system reports a remaining charge time in real time, on the charging screen and in the app. Charge time is the cheapest proxy indicator of battery condition you own — which is where section 3 starts.

3. Ageing, or a fault? Four tests that separate them

Test 1: charge time against the figure the pack was built to

The pack sheet quotes a fast-charge requirement of 0 to 80% state of charge in 48 minutes for the 53 and 63 kWh packs and 56 minutes for the 72 kWh pack, with standard charging quoted at 8.5, 10 and 12 hours. These are requirements the pack had to meet when new, not a guarantee for a five-year-old car — but they are objective. If your 0–80% time is now far beyond your pack's figure, repeatedly, on the same type of charger and in the same season, that is a measured change rather than an impression.

Test 2: does it come back when the weather does?

The pack is quoted for operation between -30 °C and +55 °C, and the system includes both a heater for low-temperature charging and discharging and a cooling circuit for over-temperature conditions. Cold weather reduces usable energy and increases charge time; that behaviour reverses when it warms up. Permanent degradation does not reverse. Compare like with like — same route, same season, similar state of charge window — before you conclude anything.

Test 3: a fault throws a code. Ageing does not

This is the cleanest dividing line available, and it is worth stating plainly. In the fault code index we publish for the U5 there are 116 codes, 16 of them from the battery management system — and not one of them is "the battery is old". Degradation is a measured value, not a fault. The battery codes that do exist describe things breaking, and they group like this:

Insulation faults — the pack detected a leakage path during DC charging or at rest. There are four of these, and two of them shut the high-voltage system down in a controlled way so the car cannot be driven. An insulation fault is a fault, never an ageing symptom.
Thermal faults — an over-heated cell, typically after repeated fast charging or when the cooling circuit is not doing its job, and faults reporting an invalid temperature signal from inside the pack, which means the pack is no longer fully monitored.
Measurement and contactor faults — a lost pack voltage measurement, a pack voltage below the limit the system allows at the current temperature, and a failed pre-charge that leaves the car unable to power up.
Charging-path faults — including the DC fast-charging main relay failing to close. Fast charging is then unavailable while driving and AC charging usually carry on as normal. Owners read this as a dying battery; it is not.

The full Aiways U5 fault code index lists every code with what it means and whether the car can be driven.

Test 4: is it even the traction battery?

Before any pack diagnosis, rule out the low-voltage side. A 12V battery that has gone flat makes the dashboard light up, makes the car refuse to power up, and makes several control units misreport at once. It is also the fault the car itself warns about. If your car shows a warning storm rather than a gradual loss of range, start with the 12V battery page and come back here only if the traction battery still looks suspect. Note that the manufacturer's own European service plan checks the 12V battery wiring at every interval.

4. How a workshop reads SOH — and the honest limits of that

The workshop route is documented and short: connect the diagnostic tester, switch the car on, enter system diagnostics, select the battery management system, open the measurement values, and check the parameters are within range. The instrument cluster is read the same way under its own module.

What the manual does not give is the number. There is no published state of health threshold, no allowed annual degradation rate and no capacity guarantee anywhere in the U5 documentation we hold. If a workshop tells you your car has failed a manufacturer figure, ask to see it, because we cannot find one — and we would rather tell you that than invent one.

What a workshop can do without touching the inside of the pack is broader than most owners expect, and it comes straight out of the manufacturer's European service plan. At every service interval the schedule includes a check of the high-voltage cable connections and their wear, the security and surface condition of the chassis high-voltage connectors, chafing or damage on the chassis high-voltage harness, the coolant pipes and their clamps, the chassis fastener markings, and the high-voltage battery pack earth lead (checked, and replaced where needed). Every interval also includes a diagnostic read of fault codes, software version and a functional road test. Separately, any time the car comes in, the workshop is told to look at the underbody protection under the pack for deformation or damage, check the traction battery assembly for leaks, and check the chassis harness for damage.

That set of checks verifies that your pack is electrically connected, cooled, earthed, protected and dry. It is a condition inspection of the installation, not a capacity test — and for most owners it is the answer to "is my battery actually a problem or just getting older?". Practical advice: ask for the state of health reading in writing, with the date and mileage. A single figure proves little; two readings a year apart are what a specialist, a buyer or an insurer can actually act on.

5. When this has to go to a high-voltage qualified workshop

Not every battery-related job is equal, and the manufacturer's own technician grading draws the line explicitly. There are three tiers, and the important part is what sits at the top.

Work	Who may do it
Everything not electrical, and ordinary maintenance on the car	The entry technician level (with the vehicle's high-voltage system isolated where the work is near it)
Work on the high-voltage system with the system isolated: replacing high-voltage components or wiring, measuring at exposed high-voltage terminals	The middle level — in the European scheme, the second of the three high-voltage stages
Live work on the high-voltage system, and anything inside the battery pack — cell modules, the battery management boards, the pack's internal distribution unit	The top level only

In the Chinese-market grading, every technician grade must hold a national electrician qualification, and work on high-voltage parts additionally requires the electrical special-operation certificate, insulating gloves, and no metal objects on the person. In the European scheme the same split comes from the standard three-stage high-voltage qualification model, where the middle stage covers working on a de-energised high-voltage system and the top stage is live work. Both schemes agree on the essential point: opening the pack is the top tier.

The physical reasons are all manufacturer-stated facts, and they are worth knowing so you can judge whether a workshop is equipped:

The pack bus runs at about 400 V. The manual is explicit that the service switch does not make the pack safe: it only disconnects the pack from its high-voltage consumers, and the pack itself is still live. The same document requires the pack to be moved on a dedicated lifting fixture, never lifted by hand.
The pack weighs 365 kg (53 kWh) or 408 kg (72 kWh). Removing it calls for a dedicated battery lifting platform or a battery and motor hoisting kit, ten fixing bolts, two technicians, and fasteners that are single-use and must be replaced every time.
Verifying the high-voltage system requires instruments, not judgement: insulation resistance from the pack cables, the load, the motor controller and both charge ports to the body must exceed 1.5 megohms at a 500 V test (the heater is held to a much higher 120 megohms), the equipotential bond between the pack and the body must measure 5 milliohms or less, and the pack enclosure's air-tightness is checked with a dedicated pressure rig at 3.5 kPa held for three minutes, passing only if the drop stays under 50 Pa.
A workshop equipped for this work has insulating mats of at least 6 mm, insulating tools, a battery workbench, high-voltage warning signage, barrier tape, a fire box, a water supply and an earthed dedicated bay.

The one question to ask any workshop quoting you a battery job: which of those can you show me, and which tier of high-voltage qualification does the person doing it hold? A shop that answers "we open it up and look at the cells" without being able to describe the pack-level qualification is not a shop to hand the car to.

6. We will not sell you the pack, and why that is the honest answer

A traction battery is the one part of this car we decline outright. It is a regulated dangerous good: a pack needs UN38.3 transport certification, handling equipment, and someone qualified to commission it into the car, and beyond the legal side a pack that has been dropped or stored badly is a safety risk to whoever ends up in the car. Even at a higher price, buying a pack locally, from someone who can stand behind the installation, is the right call. Lithium parts more generally already carry shipping restrictions, which we spell out on the shipping restrictions page.

What we would suggest instead, if you want more than a workshop reading: owners in the community read cell-level data with an OBD Bluetooth dongle paired with a battery data app. That is enough to see whether cells are consistent and to have an informed conversation with a battery specialist about your car. Be clear about what it is — an owner-side method, not something the manual describes, and not a substitute for a properly equipped workshop reading.

7. The warranty question, answered honestly

We cannot confirm any traction battery warranty position, and we will not invent one. The U5 workshop documentation we hold contains no warranty terms for the traction battery: no duration, no mileage limit, no capacity retention guarantee, and nothing addressing what happens to a car whose maker has left the market. If you were given a warranty booklet when you bought the car, that document — not this page — is what governs, and the seller or importer is who you ask.

What has changed in practice is the service landscape rather than the hardware: Aiways withdrew from the European market and the official channel went with it, which is covered on the discontinued parts page. In that situation, the practical protection for an owner is documentation: a dated state of health reading with the mileage, repeated periodically, so that if you ever need to talk to a specialist, a buyer or an insurer, you have a trend rather than an impression. It is also worth being blunt about the economics: a pack replacement competes against the value of the car, and for many owners the rational answer is to keep driving with reduced range rather than replace the pack. That is a decision to make with numbers in front of you, which is another reason to get the reading written down.

8. Short answers

Range is down but the car drives fine and stores no codes. Am I in trouble?: You are probably watching normal ageing. Some capacity loss over a pack's life is expected, and no manufacturer limit is published for the U5, so there is no figure for your car to have failed. Track charge time and range over seasons, and get a dated state of health reading so you can see the trend instead of guessing.
The car has warnings, the range estimate looks wrong, and it will not come on.: Check the low-voltage side first. That combination is far more often a 12V battery problem than a traction battery problem, and it costs nothing to rule out.
Charging takes much longer than it used to, or DC charging has stopped altogether.: Two different questions. Longer charging can be capacity loss, cold weather or a charger-side limit, which is why the manual quotes charge times and a temperature window. DC charging that has stopped while AC and driving are fine points at the DC charging path, including a specific stored code for the fast-charging relay, not at a worn-out pack.
Can I have the pack repaired rather than replaced?: Anything inside the pack sits at the top tier of the manufacturer's technician grading and calls for the pack-level qualification, the lifting fixture, the single-use fasteners and the verification instruments listed above. If you are being offered internal pack work, ask which of those the workshop has. Whether it is worth doing is a separate, economic question.
What should I send you?: The VIN, the pack capacity if you know it, the symptom in your own words, and any fault code you have. If you are chasing a part around the pack — covers, carrier and protection panels, earth and high-voltage harnesses — the VIN is what confirms which version your car takes.

Where this comes from. The pack specifications, the battery management system functions, the charging conditions and temperature thresholds, the technician grading and high-voltage qualification rules, the insulation, equipotential and enclosure air-tightness acceptance values, the European service schedule items and the incoming-vehicle inspection items are all drawn from the Aiways U5 workshop manual — the battery pack parameter sheets, the battery and charge/discharge system description and operation, the traction battery assembly and servicing documents, the technician level and scope of work documents, the European maintenance information, and the battery management system and instrument cluster diagnostic pages. The battery fault codes quoted are from the Aiways U5 fault code index we publish, which is cross-checked against the manufacturer's electrical diagnostic material, and the observation that no published code covers pack ageing is a statement about that index. The OBD dongle and battery app method, and the position that a traction battery should be bought locally from someone who can commission it, come from the Aiways owner and parts community rather than the manual. Where the manual does not give something — a state of health threshold, a degradation allowance, any battery warranty term, a commissioning procedure for a replacement pack, or a standard capacity test — we say so rather than filling the gap. Wording is our own; we do not reproduce manual pages or figures.

Important — please read before you act on anything here

This page is general information only. It is not a repair instruction, not a diagnosis of your particular vehicle, and not a substitute for professional advice. Have any work carried out by a qualified workshop or an authorised service centre. Do not attempt a repair yourself unless you are trained and equipped to do it.

High-voltage safety. This is an electric vehicle. Its high-voltage system can cause fatal injury. Never open, disconnect, cut or work on high-voltage components, cables or connectors unless you are qualified to do so, and always follow the manufacturer's own safety procedure.

Vehicles differ. Equipment, hardware versions and part numbers change between model years, markets and individual VINs. Confirm what applies to your vehicle before ordering or repairing anything. The manufacturer's documentation is the authoritative source for your car — where anything here differs from it, follow the manufacturer.

Consumables and specifications change without notice. Torque figures, fluids and procedures given here are for orientation only.

No liability. This information is published in good faith and to the best of our knowledge, but we accept no liability for any loss, damage or injury arising from reliance on it. Use it at your own risk, and verify anything safety-critical before you rely on it.

Who we are. GNSGO is an independent supplier of parts. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or acting as an authorised agent of any vehicle manufacturer. References to a vehicle or model describe compatibility only.

9. Related

Need a part for this? Send the VIN and we will confirm the version that fits — get in touch.