Why are motorway services fast chargers so unreliable?

[dgs99]

Stopped off at Gloucetser services yesterday for a top up at 40% to complete my journey. There were only two stations available, however, after trying to connect it was apparent that both were unusable despite telephoning the helpline, who said I had to wait until the left hand charger had completed its charge before they could reset it.
Gave up and carried on to Michael Woods services, again a problem with the Applegreen Electric charger, this time it would read and accept my card and connect but would not initiate charging process. So tried a Tesla charger, having had a software up grade last week. That woud connect but also would not charge. Went back to Applegreen Electric but by now there were at least two other cars having problems connecting. Tried a different one and at last it worked. Why are there so many problems with these car chargers, it now seems endemic and I seldom get a straightforward connection, but luckily most of my charging is done at home.

 

[jgpev]

Did you lock the doors of the car before attempting the charge? I find especially Ionity will NOT work if the doors of my MG5 LR PFL are NOT locked. Tesla normally works for me either way (I have the software update).

 

[dgs99]

Yes tried, locking/unlocking. I think my point is that my home charger is 100% reliable, I have never had any charging issues with it at any time, but there is always some issue with a motorway charger.
Either the card reader wont work, or the car connects or wont start charging, or finishes charging but wont release the charger. You would have thought by now all the charging issues would have been resolved.

 

[maskull]

Tried the ones at Strensham services a couple of weeks ago , charge wouldn't start at all . Tried locking unlocking all the usual tricks ..no dice.
BP at Birmingham NEC if a little slower than expected

 

[MickeySw]

Yes tried, locking/unlocking. I think my point is that my home charger is 100% reliable, I have never had any charging issues with it at any time, but there is always some issue with a motorway charger.

Your ‘home charger’ isn’t actually a charger but an EVSE. It just provides mains to the car’s internal charger (CCU) using simple analog technology.

Rapid DC CCS charging relies on a sophisticated two way communication protocol where a lot more can go wrong…

 

[dgs99]

Why therefore can’t analogue home charger technology be used at motorway services? Just need to link card reader technology to a home charging device.

 

[MickeySw]

Why therefore can’t analogue home charger technology be used at motorway services? Just need to link card reader technology to a home charging device.

Charging speed is the key, on a good day in summer the Rapid CCS charger will outperform your wall box by a factor 10 or more..

 

[xblackwolf90]

My MG5 in particular seems to be particularly temperamental.

Historically, if I started a rapid charge with the charging port unlocked, the charge failed and no amount of effort would get a subsequent charge to start. Powering off for 5 mins seemed to reset it.

I have updated the EVCC and CCU recently and have noticed a significant improvement in reliability regarding rapid charging.

 

[MickeySw]

Historically, if I started a rapid charge with the charging port unlocked, the charge failed and no amount of effort would get a subsequent charge to start.

I assume you mean having the doors unlocked as the charging port itself always locks during a session?

 

[jgpev]

I assume you mean having the doors unlocked as the charging port itself always locks during a session?

Actually, on that note... I've discovered you can actually confuse the car on a type 2 ac charger... if your child decides to rapidly lock/unlock/lock/unlock the car when it's plugged in.

No combination worked until I unplugged the charger, locked the car, waited for it to calm down, and then unlocked it, plugged it in again, etc.

I now make sure the mirrors are done moving before doing the opposite action if, for example, I realise I've managed to forget something in the car when I've just locked it.

 

[xblackwolf90]

I assume you mean having the doors unlocked as the charging port itself always locks during a session?

Pre update, my charging port would not always automatically lock on rapid chargers.

When starting a charging session before manually locking it, charging would often fail to start. Once one session failed, I could never get the charging to start without leaving the car powered off for several minutes.

On facelift models, you can lock the charging port whilst leaving the doors unlocked.

If someone is sat in the car, it's a case of plugging in, tapping "Lock" on the infotainment screen, then starting. This resulted in a 100% success rate on public chargers.

 

[kevin ellard]

Pre update, my charging port would not always automatically lock on rapid chargers.

When starting a charging session before manually locking it, charging would often fail to start. Once one session failed, I could never get the charging to start without leaving the car powered off for several minutes.

On facelift models, you can lock the charging port whilst leaving the doors unlocked.

If someone is sat in the car, it's a case of plugging in, tapping "Lock" on the infotainment screen, then starting. This resulted in a 100% success rate on public chargers.

I've had my FL since Jan 23 and I'd never noticed that. You learn something every day.