DCFC: Difficult "handshake" to initiate charge

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plj

Active member
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
39
Location
Davis, California
A couple times I've now had difficulty starting a DCFC (Level 3) fast charge. Talking to technical support from both Recharge and Electrify America, I learned to lift up the cable (close to the car port) to help make that connection. So far, the lifting enabled the 'handshake' to occur. I gather from the tech support people that this difficulty is relatively common in Bolts, especially early production models (which mine is).

I will be taking the car in for service and I plan to bring the difficulty up with Chevy. Has anyone had experience with Chevy on this issue? Is there a fix? Is this a warranty item?
 
It's a known issue. The high power EVSE's (aka "chargers") are heavy due to insulation and built in cooling to handle all the power and heat generated by that power. Since they are heavy they don't lock well when connecting to your car. EA is aware of this and, I think, is redesigning the cords. It's really not Chevy's fault so I imagine the dealer doesn't have a "fix".
 
theothertom said:
It's a known issue. The high power EVSE's (aka "chargers") are heavy due to insulation and built in cooling to handle all the power and heat generated by that power. Since they are heavy they don't lock well when connecting to your car. EA is aware of this and, I think, is redesigning the cords. It's really not Chevy's fault so I imagine the dealer doesn't have a "fix".

Eric Way has written about this on the other Bolt forum and it does appear it was an early defect in the Bolt's port. There is a problem with EA's heavy and short cables that Eric describes. Later Bolts seemed to have less of an issue.

I've never had an issue with it, but I am also aware of the problem so try to avoid it.

I've written about my Canadian colleague who was stranded overnight because he couldn't get his port lock to release. He thinks it was related to tension on the lock not allowing it to release. The article is on here somewhere and on my web site.

Paul
 
Thank you Paul. Do you mean chevybolt.org? I looked there, and see yours and others references to him, but not his posts. If it's easy for you, could you point me towards the post you're thinking of? Thanks a million.
Peter
 
I learned that Eric Way goes by News Coulomb. I found he has some discussion of the "handshake" issue on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5tYyyPs7Sc&list=PL97TZj0rhz2DiGu-29EFE3QucpLxxROvp&index=19&t=0s

My question remains. Does GM have a fix? Is it a warranty issue?
 
plj said:
My question remains. Does GM have a fix? Is it a warranty issue?
Sounds like Eric may have contacted GM about this. You can email him and ask what he found out. Check the "about" section of his YouTube channel for his contact info.
Let us know what you find out.
 
I'm under the impression that the CCS standard just isn't as robust as the big stupid CHADEMO connectors with their CAN bus interface, at least as popularly implemented. The weight of the cable seems a bit excessive for the mechanical size of the plug and the plastic. Maybe they need to water cool the 50kW cables just to save weight? I've had protocol problems with my SparkEV, my Bolt, and our eGolf. Maybe the connector vendors are just sucking at the specifications? But yeah, CCS seems to go down a lot compared to ChadeMo. Maybe it's because it's getting used more nowadays. I'm confident they'll figure it out, I just don't want to have to drive around with a special stick in the trunk to hold the charging cable up.
 
Pigwich said:
I'm under the impression that the CCS standard just isn't as robust as the big stupid CHADEMO connectors with their CAN bus interface, at least as popularly implemented. The weight of the cable seems a bit excessive for the mechanical size of the plug and the plastic. Maybe they need to water cool the 50kW cables just to save weight? I've had protocol problems with my SparkEV, my Bolt, and our eGolf. Maybe the connector vendors are just sucking at the specifications? But yeah, CCS seems to go down a lot compared to ChadeMo. Maybe it's because it's getting used more nowadays. I'm confident they'll figure it out, I just don't want to have to drive around with a special stick in the trunk to hold the charging cable up.

You don't need a stick to hold up the cable. Once the car latches the cable, you're good to go. Eric has an early Bolt. I haven't had this issue--but I haven't charged at any EA stations yet. They have kiosks all over this part of California, but no transformers. . .

Paul
 
Pigwich said:
I'm under the impression that the CCS standard just isn't as robust as the big stupid CHADEMO connectors with their CAN bus interface, at least as popularly implemented. The weight of the cable seems a bit excessive for the mechanical size of the plug and the plastic. Maybe they need to water cool the 50kW cables just to save weight? I've had protocol problems with my SparkEV, my Bolt, and our eGolf. Maybe the connector vendors are just sucking at the specifications? But yeah, CCS seems to go down a lot compared to ChadeMo. Maybe it's because it's getting used more nowadays. I'm confident they'll figure it out, I just don't want to have to drive around with a special stick in the trunk to hold the charging cable up.
The “hold up the cable” issue with the Bolt is a mechanical issue with the motorized clamp at the top of the car inlet trying to grip onto the top of the cable plug. If the plug sags down at an angle then the lock mechanism isn’t able to grab ahold of the plug. The car notices this and reports an error back to the charger.

There is no need to support the cable after the car’s clamp successfully locks on. You only need to hold up the cable for a few seconds at the very beginning of the charge initiation after the payment has been authenticated.

I have heard some Spark owners report charging problems at some (but not all) new Electrify America chargers but I don’t know what the exact underlying issue is.

What problems have you experienced with the eGolf and what model year was the car?

As for CHAdeMO, we don’t have a liquid-cooled CHAdeMO plug yet so who knows what issues it could have.
 
JeffN said:
I have heard some Spark owners report charging problems at some (but not all) new Electrify America chargers but I don’t know what the exact underlying issue is.

Spark EVs seem to be able to successfully charge at EA locations where BTCP chargers are installed. However, Spark EVs are having ABB charging problems across the US. (the charge routinely fails during the "initializing" stage.)

On Monday, July 15, a Spark EV owner met with reps of both EA and ABB to demonstrate the problem. ABB was able to isolate the problem after churning through the data they collected. No fix (or timeline) has been announced.
 
JeffN said:
The “hold up the cable” issue with the Bolt is a mechanical issue with the motorized clamp at the top of the car inlet trying to grip onto the top of the cable plug. If the plug sags down at an angle then the lock mechanism isn’t able to grab ahold of the plug. The car notices this and reports an error back to the charger.

There is no need to support the cable after the car’s clamp successfully locks on. You only need to hold up the cable for a few seconds at the very beginning of the charge initiation after the payment has been authenticated.


This discussion, especially JeffN's comment and the article by Eric Way, https://www.torquenews.com/8861/chevrolet-bolt-ev-and-spark-ev-charging-port-issues-and-corrections bailed me out of a terrible bind! I experienced this on my 2019 Bolt whileI was at an EA charging station half way into a 600 mile trip to see family. The symptoms I saw, the diagnostic error code thrown, and the advice from Chevy Technical Assistance were all red herrings, and it turned into a long, troublesome affair.

The trip was supposed to include four EA charging stops, and the first one went perfectly, but when I stopped for the second charge, I ran into an issue where the charger said it was unable to initiate a session. I was 300 miles from home and 300 miles from my destination. It was an EA station, a was the one I had used only hours earlier on the same trip. I saw people successfully using the chargers when I arrived, and I saw people charge even after I had failed. I tried each of the 5 connectors at the station, and none of them could start a session.

In order to determine what was wrong, I also tried charging using my OEM level 1 charging cord. The status light turned green when plugged into the wall outlet, but turned red when I connected to the Bolt. So it wouldn't charge either Level 1 or Level 3 (which still mystifies me)! I also had OnStar perform an "on demand diagnostics" check, and sure enough, it reported error P3013 in the VIC - VEHICLE INTEGRATION CONTROL, saying
"The Lithium-Ion Battery is not performing as expected. An issue has been detected in the Onboard Charging System which manages your vehicle's battery pack charge level. Service within 7 days."

I couldn't put any charge into the car, so I used the 50 miles of range that I still had to drive to a Chevy dealer, who gave me a loaner to finish the trip (it was a family emergency). I was lucky to find a dealer open a Saturday, and just before closing time too! Had I hesitated for a few minutes, I would have been totally stranded for 3 whole days, since it was Labor day weekend.

When the dealership finally looked at the car on Tuesday, they had no problem using a Level 2 charger with it! Chevy Tech Assistance recommended that the dealer put in a new charge port receptacle, although they also said that there was only 1 such part available in the entire country and that was already spoken for, so they could do nothing. The service record reads "Receptacle not locking the plug properly.... vehicle will charge ac, but not dc due to codes."

When looking to see if others had needed to replace the charge port, I came across this thread! Soon after reading it, I made the 300 mile trip back to the dealer, picked up my car, and drove about 50 miles it to an EA station. Sure enough, if I held up the handle until the latch engaged, everything went well! I did two charges on the way home, both at EA stations with those huge, heavy cables, and had no problem as long as I used that workaround.

Thinking back, when I had the problem, I could a funny sound inside the charging receptacle (on the car). It might have been the latch trying repeatedly to engage.

Bottom line: On EA stations with heavy hoses, hold that handle up until the handshake is over and charging actually begins.
 
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