Problem charging!

[jratzlaf]

I’m driving a ‘21 Leaf and almost never charge it away from home. But I decided to go out on a limb and take it for a few days about an hour and a half away from home. There was an L3 charger (Shell Recharge Network) about 14 miles (Walhalla, SC) from where we were staying, so I downloaded their app and set up an account. When I got there I found it blocked by a traveling fair that was just setting up, but they finally let me drive in to the chargers. I plugged in the CHAdeMO and the app worked and the thing started charging (it got up to about 48kw). But then after a minute or so it quit. I unplugged and tried again, same result. I called the tech support number and the person reset both machines and initiated the next attempt from her end, using a different credit card, with the same result. Finally she said I should just go to a different location. (I also had made sure that the charging timer was off.) It was actually charging because it took the car up from 28% to 30% between all 3 attempts. It’s now a major inconvenience because there are no other L3 chargers anywhere near here, so I’m having to leave the car overnight at a nearby (notoriously slow) L2 charger.

Any theories as to what was going on?

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Guessing the issue is on the charger side. I have had chargers initiate charging and then quickly fail.

 

[GerryAZ]

I have been meaning to post a description of a similar DCQC charge failure that I had recently using an EVgo charging station (ABB unit with dual cables that I have used before without incident). My car started charging fine for maybe a minute then charging stopped with the station showing charging error with car. Charging stopped soon after I turned on the A/C so I thought maybe that caused a communication error with the charger. I unplugged, plugged in, and started another charging session. It again stopped maybe a minute or two later with the same error. I had LEAF Spy running (like I always do) and saw that the car did gain a little charge. I really needed a charge to get home so I turned off everything in the car (lights, etc.), unplugged the OBDII Bluetooth adapter (so LEAF Spy could not interfere), closed all of the doors, plugged in the charging connector and started another charging session. The car then charged for 60 minutes without issue (EVgo automatically ends the charging session at 60 minutes). I believe something was interfering with CAN Bus communication and hence the communication between the car and charger. Apparently, getting everything possible turned off or disabled allowed the car to communicate with the charger and the car charged OK. I have not tried another DCQC station, but intend to soon because I need to know if something is wrong with the car.

Your description of your charging sessions lasting a minute are similar to mine so I suspect a communication problem between the car and charger. If there are no other chargers available, try that one again, but make sure there are no accessories on in the car. Don't open/close doors and don't try to run air conditioning while charging at that station.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

The issues GerryAZ is describing on ABB chargers seem pretty common for me at least. Usually a call to the charge point provider to remotely reboot the charger does the trick, though that of course requires there to be some customer support.

 

[GerryAZ]

The issues GerryAZ is describing on ABB chargers seem pretty common for me at least. Usually a call to the charge point provider to remotely reboot the charger does the trick, though that of course requires there to be some customer support.

That was actually the first time I had that issue where the car started to charge and then stopped twice. I have probably used ABB chargers 15 times with this car and this was the first time to have this problem. I have had problems with the RFID readers and needed to call customer service to activate remotely and once or twice reboot to get one working. I just mentioned it because stopping after a minute or so was similar to what jratzlaf noted with a 2021.

 

[goldbrick]

FWIW, I've had trouble several times at the local Nissan dealer's CHAdeMO station. The station reports 'communications failure' a minute or two after starting the charge. Often just re-starting it works. I have no idea if this is related though.