Fast charging headache

[OldieBaldie]

Hi, I am new to the world of EV driving and, well in all honesty, it's been a real headache so far.
My main problem is fast charging. So far I have had more unsuccessful attempts than success at fast charging and I wanted to ask the community if this is a common problem.
Faulty charge points aside, I tend to have issues with contact payments or communication between car and charger.
It also, only seems to want to fast charge when battery levels are above 10%.
I'm hoping it is just a case of me being a bit of a plonker, which it could well be..

 

[Jomarkh]

Hi, when you say Fast charging do you mean type2 AC?
Rapid DC CCS charging is quite different and ideally you go from 20%-80%.
You should be able to use both from a low SOC.

 

[OldieBaldie]

Hi, when you say Fast charging do you mean type2 AC?
Rapid DC CCS charging is quite different and ideally you go from 20%-80%.
You should be able to use both from a low SOC.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I do indeed mean Rapid DC CCS. I just seem to be finding it quite challenging. Perhaps it's just bad luck. Thanks for confirming that you should be able to charge from a low state.

 

[jackois]

Your contactless problems with a card may just be down to your bank wanting a pin input, which very few chargers have the facilities for.

Of the rest, Osprey, Gridserve, Ionity and MER have given little problems. I avoid Geniepoint like the plague. Can't comment on others as I've never used them.

On the charging front, I've found that plugging in before doing anything else is generally fine. Once plugged in, using the contactless on the card generally starts the charge.

Rate of charging is controlled by the car, usually. I've seen up to 60Kw/hr charge rate on my 5LR pre-facelift, but mostly settles around 45 to 48kw/hr rate and tails back as it gets nearer 80 -85% battery level.

Hope this gives you a starting point to work out whats going wrong.

 

[smokie]

On the charging front, I've found that plugging in before doing anything else is generally fine. Once plugged in, using the contactless on the card generally starts the charge.

Yes but I learnt early days that they aren't all the same, and sequences do vary sometimes, so, unusually for me, I do make a point of reading the instructions (if there any) before I start. Not least as each failed attempt on one brand resulted in multiple £30s being held on my credit card for best part of a week.

 

[Gomev]

Hi, I am new to the world of EV driving and, well in all honesty, it's been a real headache so far.
My main problem is fast charging. So far I have had more unsuccessful attempts than success at fast charging and I wanted to ask the community if this is a common problem.
Faulty charge points aside, I tend to have issues with contact payments or communication between car and charger.
It also, only seems to want to fast charge when battery levels are above 10%.
I'm hoping it is just a case of me being a bit of a plonker, which it could well be..

Silly question but you have turned the car off before trying to start the charge ? You wouldn't be the first if that is the case. Easily forgotten as no engine noise.

 

[EWD]

Hi, I am new to the world of EV driving and, well in all honesty, it's been a real headache so far.
My main problem is fast charging. So far I have had more unsuccessful attempts than success at fast charging and I wanted to ask the community if this is a common problem.
Faulty charge points aside, I tend to have issues with contact payments or communication between car and charger.
It also, only seems to want to fast charge when battery levels are above 10%.
I'm hoping it is just a case of me being a bit of a plonker, which it could well be..

Make sure the car's off and the doors are shut when you start the charge.

I'd recommend signing up to RFID cards like Elecroverse as they don't pre-authorise your credit card.

If the charger is being funny you could try holding the connector in place while it initiates. Once it's started charging, it's usually OK. I tend to find the older 50kw chargers are more problematic.

 

[OldieBaldie]

Your contactless problems with a card may just be down to your bank wanting a pin input, which very few chargers have the facilities for.

Of the rest, Osprey, Gridserve, Ionity and MER have given little problems. I avoid Geniepoint like the plague. Can't comment on others as I've never used them.

On the charging front, I've found that plugging in before doing anything else is generally fine. Once plugged in, using the contactless on the card generally starts the charge.

Rate of charging is controlled by the car, usually. I've seen up to 60Kw/hr charge rate on my 5LR pre-facelift, but mostly settles around 45 to 48kw/hr rate and tails back as it gets nearer 80 -85% battery level.

Hope this gives you a starting point to work out whats going wrong.

Thanks, I'm sure it's just been a run of bad luck with charging. Most of the rapid chargers that I have used (or tried to) ar BP Pulse, Instavolt or Geniepoint.

 

[OldieBaldie]

Yes but I learnt early days that they aren't all the same, and sequences do vary sometimes, so, unusually for me, I do make a point of reading the instructions (if there any) before I start. Not least as each failed attempt on one brand resulted in multiple £30s being held on my credit card for best part of a week.

Have just experienced this little gem.. multiple £15s held due to not reading the instructions.

Silly question but you have turned the car off before trying to start the charge ? You wouldn't be the first if that is the case. Easily forgotten as no engine noise.

Almost got caught by this.

 

[maskull]

I've had no problems at all with BP Pulse or Instavolt . I had a few problems with my nearest Pod Point , though that I believe was a faulty charger and is resolved now . No problems with the Electroverse card on Osprey chargers but EV Project and EV Box ones don't seem to work at all with the Electroverse card

 

[OldieBaldie]

Thankyou all for your help. Appreciate all of your comments.

 

[Geoffers]

I'm fortunate that I very rarely need to use rapid chargers, the problem with this is that I haven't developed the 'skills' to handle these beasts. I have tried to use BP Pulse on four occasions on three different chargers using a credit card. These three machines were all different in their layout with different touch screens and card systems. The results were - failed completely once due to card instruction screen covered internally with moisture. The next time the unit failed to 'see' my card initially but after a number of attempts got it going but then wouldn't stop, it got to 95% before I finaly shut it down! A third time the unit touch screen was frozen (not in the icy sense) and I had to call the help line and they did a reboot after which it was ok. And a trouble free fourth charge. Not a great success rate (especially considering the price) and wouldn't be tolerated if petrol pumps behaved so inconsistently.

To be fair I haven't tried using the BP Pulse app instead of tap and go.

I have used Instavolt completely successfully

 

[dragon2611]

BP pulse used to have a reputation as being one of the least reliable networks, although I think Geniepoint saw it as a challange and have since taken that crown.

Instavolt are usually quite reliable, same with Osprey.

Charge place scotland chargers worked last time I was there but I had the RFID card for those, I hear it's a lot more problematic using the App/Contactless (if they even have the reader for contactless).

Gridserve has been rather hit and miss for me.

 

[cwsutherland]

Thanks, I'm sure it's just been a run of bad luck with charging. Most of the rapid chargers that I have used (or tried to) ar BP Pulse, Instavolt or Geniepoint.

I've found BP and Geniepoint frustrating to the point of despair. In the rare occasion I need to use a public charger these days, I fire up the ZAP Map app first, check the status of the charger before I head for it. Can't tell you the number of times I've driven to a charger in the past to find it vandalised, offline, or no CCS available.

 

[Mikey]

I have a shell fast charge at the end of my road and it never accepts my contactless card despite my never having any problems elsewhere with the card. Luckily I have a key fob from them and that works every time (tapping the same contactless reader).

 

[OldieBaldie]

I've found BP and Geniepoint frustrating to the point of despair. In the rare occasion I need to use a public charger these days, I fire up the ZAP Map app first, check the status of the charger before I head for it. Can't tell you the number of times I've driven to a charger in the past to find it vandalised, offline, or no CCS available.

Thanks, have started to use Zap Map. I realise now that I need to re-educate myself on long distance journey planning with an EV

 

[smokie]

I was just browsing the hundreds (well, tens) of EV apps I've downloaded over the months and re-discovered Electroverse (the Octopus one).

Do any of those who do more public charging than me have an opinion on how it stacks up against ZapMap, my usual go-to app for finding chargers? I mean reliability of finding working chargers etc rather than using it for paying.

 

[BarryH]

Your contactless problems with a card may just be down to your bank wanting a pin input, which very few chargers have the facilities for.

Of the rest, Osprey, Gridserve, Ionity and MER have given little problems. I avoid Geniepoint like the plague. Can't comment on others as I've never used them.

On the charging front, I've found that plugging in before doing anything else is generally fine. Once plugged in, using the contactless on the card generally starts the charge.

Rate of charging is controlled by the car, usually. I've seen up to 60Kw/hr charge rate on my 5LR pre-facelift, but mostly settles around 45 to 48kw/hr rate and tails back as it gets nearer 80 -85% battery level.

Hope this gives you a starting point to work out whats going wrong.

I never had a need to use Geni Point with my ZS, but my daughter I know had no end of issues with charging her ZS from Geni Point and only with them.

 

[Robf]

I was just browsing the hundreds (well, tens) of EV apps I've downloaded over the months and re-discovered Electroverse (the Octopus one).

Do any of those who do more public charging than me have an opinion on how it stacks up against ZapMap, my usual go-to app for finding chargers? I mean reliability of finding working chargers etc rather than using it for paying.

I posted my findings here

Best apps to find commercial chargers on a journey

I won't often need commercial chargers, but when I do for an occasional road trip, what apps do people use to plan ahead, see if the chargers are available, see if they are fast DC chargers, and the prices etc? I have an SE so it doesn't have the in-built Trophy Nav which looks (from the...

www.mgevs.com

 

[BarryH]

Yes but I learnt early days that they aren't all the same, and sequences do vary sometimes, so, unusually for me, I do make a point of reading the instructions (if there any) before I start. Not least as each failed attempt on one brand resulted in multiple £30s being held on my credit card for best part of a week.

Absolutely don't assume that every Rapid charger has the same sequence of plugging in, swiping credit card or RFID and payment authorisation. It shouldn't be like that but it just is. Also, sign up for one of the cards/apps that give a single monthly billing such as Electroverse (ie Octopus Electroverse )if you're going to rely on Public Charging a lot as they often help avoid that annoying Pre-Authorisation Charge on your card. I signed up for Electoverse (ElectricJuice as it then was called) so I could use IONITY without them taking a £69 Pre-Authoriseation charge each time. It avoids Pre-Authorisation because you are charging the use of their network back to a partner account and they are assured of getting paid.