Cannot do fast charging as keeps saying “car needs to be turned off”

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sunilarjun

New member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Messages
2
It seems my battery ran out and the gas engine turned on. When I and to do fast DC ( Level 3) charging, I keep getting “Error: Car must be turned off”.
The car IS turned off. I can do Level 1 charging without a problem but every time I plug the Levwl 3 charger I get the same message and the charging is stopped.

Any ideas on how to fix this ?
 
Is it at an EvGO charge station???

Some people have reported similar at EvGO's - something to do with a very heavy cable pulling down the connection when first plugged into the car, to the point it is not firmly/fully connected properly. A fix is:

1. Support the cable when connecting for a minute or so, while it negotiates with the car - once charging, you can let go.

2. If #1 doesn't work, check with your dealer on replacing the charge port locking mechanism, as it may not be fully seating the fast-charge plug.

3. If #1 and #2 don't work, your not alone - EvGo's apparently have issues - and the flaw is with the EvGO not the i3. Some users report trying 4 and 5 times, unplugging/plugging, unplugging, starting car/stopping car, re-plugging, re-swiping card 4 or 5 times, with about a 50% success rate.
 
@MKH Sorry for the late response, I was out of the country and just got back. I went back and tried again--same exact result. It doesn't feel like a cabling issue--I moved the car right next to the charging station so there was no tension in the hose. Tried plugging/unplugging 4/5 times. It feels like some computer setting has been tripped (maybe because it switched to gas when my battery ran out? eg I noticed it turned off my GPS tracking automatically when my car switched to gas, and I had to manually fix it).
Again, Level 1 charging is working fine--but only the DC Level 3 seems to be affected.
 
Level 1 charging is working fine--but only the DC Level 3 seems to be affected.

Any error codes on the DC charger screen, other than "car must be turned off"?

Try this advice by a i3 owner who had similar issues, and had this work:

"lift up the handle as it tries to engage the lock... ccs won't start unless it locks.. the evgo handles are heavy and the lip that the lock goes over is just a little too high for the lock to engage if its just resting in the socket. just lift up the handle until you see the white plastic thing engage and you're good to go".

Failing that, might be time to have the Dealership check the fast-charge port to see if it is defective, and see if the car has recorded any internal error codes for the issue..
 
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