Help: Rapid chargers nightmare

[sagar0gadre]

I want to seek help understanding what could have gone wrong.
I travelled to Dorset for work using my MG5 EV Long Range and on the way I stopped at Solstice services, A303 westbound between Andover and Amesbury.
The facilities here are great, McDonalds, KFC, Harvester, Holiday-inn, Costa. All fantastic. Total 6 Chargers at the place (4 new InstaVolt and 2 BP-Polar)
On arrival, I tried the InstaVolt. I did what was written on the charger. i.e.
1) Tap the payment card (£15 deducted). Approved.
2) Select type of charger CCS2 / CHADAMO: CCS2 selected
3) Lift the hose and connect to your car. Done
4) Wait.
The charger connected, locked, momentarily started charging, but stopped immediately. The receipt showed £0, no charge at all.
In the next bay, Polstar 2 owner could start the charge, He then helped me in the 2nd try, but no success.
Then I moved to another InstaVolt Charger, same problem. I thought I shall try with their application. I tried the application, but no success on this another charger.
The same experience I had with GeniePoint at two different places. All were eager to take the money, but none succeeded in actually charging the car.
Finally, A GRIDSERVE Electric Highway on Sutton Scotney services A34 north of Winchester, came to my rescue. Tapped the card and the charging started.
But can anyone help me here what could be going wrong.
So far, I have been successful only on the BP Polar Charger and Gridserve charger.
Is it my car that could be causing problem? Or Should I have called someone? There were no errors on the chargers, they all connected, were in uncharged states, Changed to Charging state for a split second only to disconnect.
Thank you in advance
SG

 

[mj224]

Can't help, but it is a nightmare. If I have the similar problem, I do usually ring up the provider, their phone number is usually/always on the charger, and see what the problem is. My last failure was when I had changed a Debit card, my fault as I had not updated the app. There are too many pitfalls with these out of home chargers....

Just to add, I used a Gridserve charger last week-end, it worked perfectly..

 

[sido]

Well it’s probably not the charger as it works for others, connects and starts to charge but then stops. It could be the card you are using I have occasionally had to use a second card when first one could not be read. Have you got any security activated on your card or card account? If all else fails best to use the phone number on the charger and seek help to get your charge. Perhaps you could try this at a local InstaVolt charger at the weekend when you are not pushed for time.
Please post the answer if you get a solution.

 

[EWD]

If you are having charging problems make sure you switch the car off and lock the doors before you start charging.

With InstaVolt I've always just plugged the CCS cable into the car, then tapped my payment card. I have had problems if I didn't switch the car off first. You can switch it back on once it starts charging.

You can also hold the CCS connector in place while its starting the charge. Sometimes a poor comms connection can cause the CCS handshake to fail. It can happen with some connectors with heavy cables. Once it starts charging you can let go.

 

[staarek]

If you are having charging problems make sure you switch the car off and lock the doors before you start charging.

With InstaVolt I've always just plugged the CCS cable into the car, then tapped my payment card. I have had problems if I didn't switch the car off first. You can switch it back on once it starts charging.

You can also hold the CCS connector in place while its starting the charge. Sometimes a poor comms connection can cause the CCS handshake to fail. It can happen with some connectors with heavy cables. Once it starts charging you can let go.

From my experience I will agree with this. I travelled through France recently and I was struggling with some rapid chargers, locking the car before connecting did the trick.

 

[ensmith007]

I reckon this is not locking the car. I'd try turning off and locking. Seems to be the car saying "No Thanks" to the charger during the handshake.
At MOTO in Rugby this week I opened the car and the charging session just stopped! It then restarted again. Never had that happen anywhere so I asume the software in these things is being updated all the time.

 

[Petriix]

There's a bit of a dark art to rapid charging and you soon get used to spotting when it's going wrong in the initial handshake. Car off, plug in, lock doors, initiate charge, listen for the right noises, hold the charging cable firmly in place, hope... If it fails then try again, and don't worry about the pre-auth charge on your card.

 

[5teep]

Re the car doors etc, you DO need to have the car off and the doors shut, but there's no need to lock the car. The doors don't need to be shut when you flash your card and plug in but soon after. I do the connect routine and get back in the car, some chargers can take a minute (doing their safety checks) to start actually charging.

 

[Mundiz]

I have had this problem 3 times in the last 6 months. Each time I have phoned the chargers support number on the side of the charger. Each time the support rep has remotely started the charger and I wasn’t charged for the electricity used.

 

[Kithmo]

I have had this problem 3 times in the last 6 months. Each time I have phoned the chargers support number on the side of the charger. Each time the support rep has remotely started the charger and I wasn’t charged for the electricity used.

Excellent free charge hack.

 

[Eckat]

Having similar issues with mg4 - have tried all sorts of combinations - osprey tried a remote start too - dealer has supposedly applied an update but no change. Any suggestions?