2013 stuck to public charging station

Hi all,

I’m in a pretty rough spot. My 2013 SV is currently stuck to a public ChargePoint fast charger. I do not have the lock switch engaged. The red light on the charger handle is lit.

I began charging and about 10-15 minutes in, the station went down. “This station is not available”, to be specific. My car is at about 50%, and no longer charging. This was yesterday.

I’ve been on the phone with ChargePoint multiple times and it ends with “sorry, tried to help, but not our problem as your car is locked onto our charger and not the other way around.” And they transfer me to Nissan Roadside Assistance. Nissan Roadside Assistance is utterly confused when I tell them the problem and the call ends because they say they can’t help. They just keep asking if I need a tow, which, I guess if someone can figure out how to tow the thing then at least half the problem of my car being stuck in public is gone

Next last ditch effort for reaching out to Nissan is to call Customer Service when they open on Monday.

The two Nissan dealerships here were very nice but had no help to offer, not even someone they could recommend to come look at it.

Things I’ve tried:
ChargePoint rebooted the station multiple times
Multiple variations of rapidly unlocking
Variations of locking and unlocking
My lock switch inside is not engaged, or if I toggle it it does nothing
Plugging my level 2 plug in
Another nice EV owner who showed up to charge helped me remove the cover under the hood to have better access to the plug area- and we tried to use the solve in this diagram, but turning the screw clockwise is
a: very difficult and I’m worried I’ll strip it,
b: does nothing
Thinking this fix might only be for the J1772 port...?

Only remaining things I can think to try:
Unplug 12v
Figure out how to set charging auto stop to a % lower than what my battery currently is. Any steps I can find of how to do this aren't getting me to the actual menu, possibly I'm using instructions from different years or it won't allow this to be set while plugged in.

I have a report in to the local energy company that manages the stations, but that was given with a 2-3 day response time. Not sure what they’ll do, but I suppose eventually they’re going to need to remove my car somehow to repair their station...

Anyone experience this and have suggestions?

Or hell, anyone in Austin experience this or know of a local mechanic or avenue for help? I’ll keep calling mechanics today, but any leads would be amazing.

This thing is 10 years old and honestly I was just waiting for it to get to the point of death. I’d hoped not in such a stressful way, though.

Thanks - will at least update with what ends up happening for the next poor soul in this predicament.

The first thing I would do is have ChargePoint (or the electric company) cut power to the station.
Then you can start thinking about how to physically disconnect/remove the connector (one end or the other) from the car. Worst case you head to a Nissan dealer (with connector in tow) for removal.
Oh: and never use that charger again! Good luck.

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=630161#p630161

Another post regard a stuck plug.

WAG- could this be a low 12V battery problem or blown fuse in the car?

How old is the 12v battery? If it's the factory unit it's on borrowed time.

91040 said:

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=630161#p630161

Another post regard a stuck plug.

WAG- could this be a low 12V battery problem or blown fuse in the car?

Click to expand...

Wow. I am incredibly jealous EVgo sent someone out for them. Good to know when comparing ChargePoint and EVgo in the future, I guess. I explicitly asked ChargePoint for an option to have a tech come out and they continued to say they simply don't have that option. Possibly need to call them and raise more hell.

R1200RT said:

How old is the 12v battery? If it's the factory unit it's on borrowed time.

Click to expand...

12V is about 3 years old, I believe. Someone else did suggest I disconnect the 12V to see if that would kill the power to whatever locking mechanism is in place and allow it to release, but sounds like perhaps low life on the 12V could have caused the issue in the first place? Thank you for the suggestion!

Stanton said:

The first thing I would do is have ChargePoint (or the electric company) cut power to the station.
Then you can start thinking about how to physically disconnect/remove the connector (one end or the other) from the car. Worst case you head to a Nissan dealer (with connector in tow) for removal.
Oh: and never use that charger again! Good luck.

Click to expand...

Thank you! Yeah, its a group of about 8 ChargePoint fast chargers and for about a week I've noticed they're all on the fritz and cycle between unavailable/offline and available at their whim. Unfortunately the cable is the ChargePoint cable attached to the unit, so not sure I could flee the scene with everything, but the idea of how and if that would end up being the case has crossed my mind, lol.

nela said:

R1200RT said:

How old is the 12v battery? If it's the factory unit it's on borrowed time.

Click to expand...

12V is about 3 years old, I believe. Someone else did suggest I disconnect the 12V to see if that would kill the power to whatever locking mechanism is in place and allow it to release, but sounds like perhaps low life on the 12V could have caused the issue in the first place? Thank you for the suggestion!

Click to expand...

In hot states: TX, AZ, NM, etc.. 3 years is considered borrowed time for 12v battery, due to heat.

Yes, 12v is the cause of a lot of problems. In my post I said:

Sure enough, about 2 hours laster the service tech showed up. Nice guy named Paul. He got out a flash light and held it in his hand. He was also holding a large wrench in the same hand. Several taps with the wrench on the Chademo plug and with us pressing the lock release button on our fob, the release button on the Chademo plug popped up and Paul could pull the Chademo plug free.

Click to expand...

In my case, I don't think the 12v was to blame.

Just a general update...

Still stuck.

I found this reddit thread and suggestion which felt like a massive win and a super easy solve:

Popped the hood (a little difficult with charge door up) and on a lark pulled the fuse labeled F/S CHG in the skinny fuse box left of the 12v battery. I immediately heard the contactors clunk, charge indicators went away, and I could pull the CHAdeMO out without issue. Replaced the fuse, started car with no issue, no warning lights and no DTC codes found by LEAFspy.
After poking around the 2014 shop manual I found this description of this fuse and what it controls in section EVC-18
The F/S CHG (fail-safe charge) relay supplies the driving power for the quick charge relay inside the PDM (Power Delivery Module). When VCM recognizes a quick charge start, VCM activates the F/S CHG relay to make the quick charge relay operable. During driving, F/S CHG relay remains OFF so that the quick charge relay is not activated.
After reading this description and checking a few diagrams I feel pretty confident that this is likely the safest option that can be employed from the car side to disengage from a stuck CHAdeMO system. It is, of course, possible that a charger could have mechanical or electrical issue severe enough that deliberately failing-safe the vehicle does nothing and you will remain stuck but it seems a safe/simple thing to try. BTW in the interior fuse box there is a fuse puller designed for removing this exact size fuse, no knife needed.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately this did nothing for my situation, and the ChargePoint handle remains plugged into my car with its angry red light and the station being down.

It is a really really great find of info though should anyone else need it and this knowledge hasn't made its way to being dumped here yet.

Pulling that fuse is leaving me wondering if the issue actually is the ChargePoint station itself, and not my car.

I haven't tried to unhook/rehook or replace the 12v because the fuse trick not working seems to indicate 12v isn't the issue. Otherwise it's a AAA request for $200 for a battery I'm not even sure needs replaced... but if its looking like that is my next option while I wait for the city or ChargePoint to help, guess I have no choice! Well, also reaching out to an EV mechanic tomorrow when they open, so fingers are crossed there too.

Welp. General update for anyone that comes across this - very anticlimactic.

In the end, ChargePoint had the power to unstuck me all along. Really wish I hadn't believed the support line folks I talked to for hours when they told me it was no longer their issue and the problem was my car.

But in the end, someone from the Station Owner support line (877-850-4562) tossed me on hold for all of 15ish minutes, came back, and whatever they did to the station to reset it (rather than whatever reboot the other support people tried) worked and it let me go.

My life lesson: be less of a pushover and insist on help instead of trying to fix things I don't understand myself.

Next: figure out if this very minor headache deterred me enough from getting a new EV, or just go ahead and dive back in lol

That was not the end I expected...although I'm glad you didn't have to spend any $ on it.
To your "pushover" point--if it were me--I would have insisted Chargepoint issue me a big fat credit for my troubles.
I think you chalk this one up to experience as this is not a typical occurance.

nela said:

Welp. General update for anyone that comes across this - very anticlimactic.

In the end, ChargePoint had the power to unstuck me all along. Really wish I hadn't believed the support line folks I talked to for hours when they told me it was no longer their issue and the problem was my car.

But in the end, someone from the Station Owner support line (877-850-4562) tossed me on hold for all of 15ish minutes, came back, and whatever they did to the station to reset it (rather than whatever reboot the other support people tried) worked and it let me go.

My life lesson: be less of a pushover and insist on help instead of trying to fix things I don't understand myself.

Next: figure out if this very minor headache deterred me enough from getting a new EV, or just go ahead and dive back in lol

Click to expand...

Don't give up on EVs. 3 months ago we went to a 2023 Tesla Model Y after owning multiple Leafs since 2015. The main reason was the charging infrastructure. In fact we are picking up an additional 2023 Model Y this Thursday for wife as her own car.

If we could have found a 2019-2021 Leaf SL Plus for $25k or less we would have bought it since it would qualify for the $4000 used EV credit. That car would be charged exclusively at home as were our other Leafs.