Interesting Plug & Charge failure

[PrudentOcean]

I had been using Plug & Charge successfully at Electrify America since taking delivery in February, but about two weeks ago I started having problems. The EVSE would connect to the car, successfully authenticate, and shortly thereafter display an error that the charging could not be started. The EVSE would then go back to a screen where you could pay for the charging session using a credit card or as a member.

Consequently I wound up paying for my charging twice, once at Electrify America and once at a L2 ChargePoint where the rates were substantially lower.

This morning I tried Electrify America again and ran into the same issue, but with extra time on my hands and no line of waiting cars behind me I called Electrify America to troubleshoot the problem.

After checking the certificate and trying another charger unsuccessfully the woman I spoke with suggested trying to start the charging from the My Porsche app, which I had never done before — it contravenes the idea of Plug & Charge.

Interestingly when I did that, instead of displaying a “Start Charging” button the app showed a “Stop Charging” button. I tapped on that, disconnected the plug from the car, plugged in again, and Plug & Charge successfully authenticated and started charging.

I then remembered that one of my successful Electrify America charging sessions weeks earlier at this same station also did not show up in my charging history. I had noticed that but gave it no further thought. I believe what happened is that somehow the end of that session never got recorded, and as far as Electrify America was concerned I was still charging and could therefore not start a new Plug & Charge session.

This is probably a very rare occurrence, but I hope this helps someone in the future if they run into the same problem.

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[Dragon Tourniquet]

Hopefully it doesn't try to charge you for an multi-week idle time.

 

[ColdCase]

Similar quirks have been reported by drivers of other brands at certain locations.. In my case it just would not start a session and timed out. It would not work with the Porsche app. I called EA support and they reset the station. Plug and charge would not work but was successful using the app.

A few days later at a different location, everything worked as usual.

 

[Fun TC Driving]

I had an issue my first Plug-n-Charge attempt; it would not work. Called Porsche tech line and he walked me through solely using my Porshe mobile app. It worked. Since then I have not needed to do anything more than pull up, open the charge door, insert handle, and charging perfection.

Clearly however, there are times when using the mobile app uniquely makes the P-n-C session work.

 

[Paris92]

Plug and Charge has worked without issue at the four different locations I have used it so far during my two weeks of ownership. Fingers crossed.

 

[dbsb3233]

We just bought our new Macan Monday out of state (AZ), and drove it 1000 miles home to CO. P&C failed every attempt (payment failure) at EA. But it worked fine starting it from the app. I guess we'll just have to call Porsche support, unless anyone has any ideas?

 

[dbsb3233]

Also, the guest app won't work for charging. I get the follow message. Any ideas?

 

[alxman]

In the My Porsche app check Vehicle details > Functions > Charging and click on wheel (upper right corner) to see if Plug and Charge certificate is installed. If not, request it. Once installed, Plug and Charge should work. It may take a while for it to get installed. If you are unable or it doesn’t work, call Porsche support. They are good at answering calls and will be able to assist you with it. Don’t bother emailing support as you get an automated response and takes forever to answer your questions.

 

[dbsb3233]

In the My Porsche app check Vehicle details > Functions > Charging and click on wheel (upper right corner) to see if Plug and Charge certificate is installed. If not, request it. Once installed, Plug and Charge should work. It may take a while for it to get installed. If you are unable or it doesn’t work, call Porsche support. They are good at answering calls and will be able to assist you with it. Don’t bother emailing support as you get an automated response and takes forever to answer your questions.

Thanks. Yes, certificate says it's there, and P&C is on. Shows on in the car too. I even tried turning it off then back on a few minutes later. Still get a payment failure on the EA charger screen.

I wondered if maybe it's just too soon for the right database to update? We just bought the car the day before trying to P&C. Then again today (bought it Monday).

Looks like a call to Porche support is in order.

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Could well be that Porsche’s computers batch updates new input and an additional 24 hours might be needed.

 

[sor]

This is a good tip.

Honestly, with plug and charge being kind of a mess over the years I am starting to think it’s overrated. It would be nice if everything eventually just works across all brands and networks, but it isn’t like it’s hard to just tap my phone when I plug in to start a session, whether that’s just a plain credit card transaction or a digital pass.

 

[dbsb3233]

This is a good tip.

Honestly, with plug and charge being kind of a mess over the years I am starting to think it’s overrated. It would be nice if everything eventually just works across all brands and networks, but it isn’t like it’s hard to just tap my phone when I plug in to start a session, whether that’s just a plain credit card transaction or a digital pass.

I used to think that with our Mach-E (which we road tripped a lot, over 50k miles just for road trips). I used to just use the EA app. But then when P&C started working, I realized how nice it was and how many potential problems it bypasses. Like for instance, when you get to a station where your phone can't get a cell signal, or it locks up, or the battery dies. Also if there's any communications glitches between the app, Porche, and the station. Having done 100's of DCFC charges over the last 4 years, I've encountered all sorts of issues like that. When all is working as it should, activating with the app is fine. But when there's any of those issues, the ability to just plug in and have it automatically activate can be huge.

There's also the convenience factor of not having to juggle the charging cable and the cell phone. EA cables are big and heavy and don't twist easily. Often takes 2 hands. The power charge port on the Macan doesn't stay open very long either. Minor inconveniences, but it adds up. P&C just makes it all so quick and easy.

The downside is not being able to get the EA membership 25% discount though (after the free year of charging). Or at least I couldn't with the Mach-E. I assume it's the same with the Macan, unless they have some special arrangement since both EA and Porche are owned by the VW umbrella?

 

[sor]

Yeah, if you have the digital wallet passes you don’t need cell signal, and no need to open an app, but I get it. There’s a lot of potential.

I think it isn’t enough for P&C to function, it has to be reliable enough that you can have the faith to plug and just walk away. Otherwise you’re standing there for 2-3 minutes waiting to confirm the charge is actually working, at that point you might as well have just tapped a credit card.

 

[dbsb3233]

Yeah, if you have the digital wallet passes you don’t need cell signal, and no need to open an app, but I get it. There’s a lot of potential.

I think it isn’t enough for P&C to function, it has to be reliable enough that you can have the faith to plug and just walk away. Otherwise you’re standing there for 2-3 minutes waiting to confirm the charge is actually working, at that point you might as well have just tapped a credit card.

When we P&C our Mach-E, I still stand there to see the kW I'm getting on the EA screen (since the car doesn't show it), and that takes like 2 minutes for that screen to roll around. Some EA chargers have issues and only deliver like 31kW, in which case I'd move to another one.

But in the Macan, the kW power displays on the dash, and rather quickly. Once I hear the EA fans firing up, I can see the kW there and then move on pretty quickly.

But yeah, 90 seconds saved is not a huge deal. Same with the high power charging capability of this car. It's only a few minutes difference here and there. But when buying a $100k car, those little conveniences are kinda what we're paying big bucks for.

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