NRG EvGo SAE Combo chargers DO NOT WORK!

[Tdk408]

I have pointlessly visited NRG evGO SAE combo chargers six times. All six times I got an error, and not one drop of juice. NRG's combo SAE charger has never worked properly for me, not once. I tried the Mountain View location on Grant five times. Last night, I gambled on the Milpitas location in the Great Mall parking structure. A complete failure each time. By comparison, the non-NRG fast charger at Volkswagen on Clipper Drive in Belmont works perfectly, easily, and reliably. 20 minutes and you're fully charged. But with NRG EVgo, nothing.

Each time I called NRG multiple times. The NRG people seem clueless. They always have me go through some dumb sequence (always different) which does nothing. In the end, they tell me they will have it fixed. Never once did the NRG charger work, at all. Several times I was down to 2 or 3 miles, and was stranded. Chademo users come, fully charge and leave. I have wasted hours of time standing in front of a NRG combo charger.

Twice, NRG people have directed me to what they repeatedly assured me was a SAE combo charger, but which turned out to be Chademo. They are that dumb. Talking to the manager several times was a waste.

Resetting the NRG EVgo charger remotely does nothing. Pressing the big red button does nothing. Jiggling the handle, nothing. Car on or off, makes no difference. NRG's fast chargers just don't work! How can they not be fixed after four months and repeated complaints? They claim the repairman has been sent, multiple times. Nothing.

Last night, another SAE combo charger user came while I was there, and I watched as he went through the same nonsense. He had a BMW, I have a Spark. (I was there 90 minutes on the level 2 charger to get enough juice to limp home.) His key fob wouldn't work, same as me. The charger screen made no sense, same as me. The NRG person on the phone had a different magic sequence, but equally useless as the one they told me. He tried resetting the machine, remote starting the charge, connect and disconnect, same as me. It was freezing cold, but we chatted briefly about how crazy it is for these machines to not work for months on end. Nissan Chademo users happily came and went.

This is crazy-making. Can anyone get the Chevy Spark to charge on an NRG evGO SAE combo charger?

 

[GeekEV]

They were just mandated by the state to install them. Nobody ever said they had to work. :roll:

 

[Chocula]

My experience with NRG has been similar. I have never gotten one to work. Last week I again spent just over 45 minutes on the phone, resetting everything to no avail. I always have them put in an incident and request follow up contact. Never has any follow up contact been attempted.

About 2 months ago I call Chevrolet and put in a support request. I had written off expecting any followup, but was surprised when I received a voice message today. No solution, just someone following up on the incident I submitted. When I called back, the automated attendant indicated their office was closed. My hope is that NRG will care more if Chevrolet pesters them more than they do when I pester them. Some BMW's seem to have better luck with the Quick chargers than I do, so this may be related to the Spark.

Chocula

 

[cwerdna]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Besides contacting the provider, also share your experiences on Plugshare for that location, even if it seems like you're a broken record (e.g. other similar problems reported).

I think you folks are discovering the "joys" of DC FCs, made even worse by the fact there aren't many of the SAE Combo (Combo1) variety...

 

[Sparkler]

Same here @ Whole Foods in San Jose. Hour on the phone getting rained on, "Trouble Ticket" issued, etc.
I tried one in Pleasanton (Fresh and Easy) that did work, but have not been back that way in a month. Oh, and the one in Mt. View worked several months ago after calling in.

Belmont, no problem. Huh, that one is Greenlots...

 

[TonyWilliams]

Last Saturday, when we range tested a 2015 Spark EV, BMW i3 and VW eGolf, all three successfully charged on the NRG / eVgo CCS Combo1 station in Santa An, California.

The VW, and my Toyota RAV4 EV (CHAdeMO) would not charge on the BTC dual standard machine at Quail Hill in Irvine, CA. The Spark and BMW i3 both were successful at that station, too.

The problem with any limited production car (Spark @ 50-ish per month) and tiny dispersement of several dozen chargers means that this has never gotten to the point of even knowing what all the bugs are.

 

[Chocula]

I was able to successfully quick charger my Spark for the first time tonight using the NRG dual standard charger in Woodland Hills, CA.

What seemed to be the key to getting this to work is making sure the yellow light on the dash is lit and no errors are showing on either the car or the charger. For this particular charger, once I plugged it in, I then had to try and pull it out without pressing the unlock button. It slid out about 2mm before being caught by the latch. At this point, the yellow light on my dash illuminated indicating communication between the car and charger. Then and only then should the charger be activated. Previous attempts had failed even with the yellow light on if either car or charger had any type of error. Unplugging and re-plugging seemed to clear errors on the Spark, and waiting a few moments seemed to clear the errors on the charger.

The NRG rep also indicated that the car should be off, and the doors locked before attempting to start the charge. Once the charge started, I was able to unlock and lock the doors as well as open and close the doors without interrupting the charge.

I stopped at the charger in Thousand Oaks to see if I could replicate getting the yellow light to illuminate. I was able to by pulling up on the handle after plugging it in, having not touched anything on the charger except plug itself. I did not wish to pay another $10 for the charge and my battery was mostly full anyway so I did not confirm I could charge at that location.

Chocula

 

[xylhim]

One unusual glitch I've noticed is that when I have a bluetooth connection with my phone, even when the car is completely off, the audio still wants to transmit to the car, and not to my earpiece. Once, at an NRG station, I plugged in using the SAE combo port and the yellow light on the dash wouldn't come on. I turned the car on, disabled bluetooth, then plugged in again and this time the yellow light clicked on, but we (me and the rep on the phone) still could not get the charger to start. I think there may be electronics in the Spark that are still active even when you turn the car off. I wonder if in a pinch, the best thing to do is disconnect the 12volt battery and plug it back in to really make sure all electronic systems are off.

So far I've only gotten 1 out of 3 Terra 53 NRG quick charging stations to work.

 

[Tdk408]

One unusual glitch I've noticed is that when I have a bluetooth connection with my phone, even when the car is completely off, the audio still wants to transmit to the car, and not to my earpiece.

Yes, but it is SO much more worse than that. When I am trying to use an NRG charger, I am almost always outside the car on the phone with NRG. The car often steals the connection with no warning, so that the audio is inside the car instead of outside on my phone. Most of the time I don't realize it, I just think the other party has paused. It has happened to me a dozen times; I'm a slow learner. Even more amazing, is when I am inside the car, trying to change settings, the phone connection still routes through the car! I dial directly from my phone, but the car inserts itself inbetween. Then the radio becomes frozen, so you can't change settings, because who would want to control the car stereo when you are on the phone. Again, I am not using the handsfree; I dialed on the phone, and I am talking on the phone. The car shouldn't be involved, but the Spark inserts itself anyway.

When you are actually in the car, it takes forever for the car to connect you to bluetooth, but if you are outside the car and couldn't possibly want bluetooth, it's lightning quick. Genius. I actually believe the car works better with the radio fuse pulled out. I could live without the radio entirely if the car stopped switching back to 8 amp charging every damned time.

Sorry for the rant. I will try shutting off the bluetooth the next time I am unfortunate enough to need an NRG charger. (I will also try to jiggle the handle until the yellow light comes on, and then initiate the charge session.) Thanks for the tip.

 

[cwerdna]

The NRG rep also indicated that the car should be off, and the doors locked before attempting to start the charge. Once the charge started, I was able to unlock and lock the doors as well as open and close the doors without interrupting the charge.

Car being off makes sense.

Doors being locked makes no sense. I suspect the rep doesn't know what they're talking about. I see nothing in the Spark EV manual in the DC charging section about that aspect.

 

[Dwood]

The NRG SAE charger in Hermosa Beach was working today. New i3 hooked up to it happily taking a charge. Those chargers don't get a ton of use. Hartley ever see s car hooked up to it. Although that could be because it's broken all the time. Really got a nice look inside the i3. Looks pretty high tech.

 

[agdodgerfan]

I am really starting to think this is a Chevy issue I didn't see this room until after I posted one about level 3 charging. I usually have to go back and forth with changing my charge from immediately to departure time before it will work. I have tried to charge with no luck a BMW pulls up charges and leaves without any problems. the Bluetooth makes a lot of sense because I usually use it with Bringo to find the Level 3 charger. So to try to change the departure time make sure your departure time is about 30 to 40 minutes in the future and try that see if that works for anyone. I will try disconnecting bluetooth before i turn the car off and slightly pulling back on the plug as well. The one in Westminster Ca always seems to work for me. Same with Santa Ana when it is not displaying error about the CCS conector not working.

 

[Nashco]

I heard that the Efacec chargers (which are spread around Portland) had to have the SAE Combo plug replaced because the original cable assemblies were not built to specification. Efacec and GM worked through this and finally addressed the problem recently (which was due to a cable supplier issue, not a GM or Efacec part). This problem was causing the "yellow light" to occasionally not come on unless you jiggled the handle after plugging in. If you try to start charging before the yellow light comes on, it will not charge. It's possible these NRG chargers got their cable assemblies from the same provider as Efacec, which means they could be out of spec as well.

I have my car set to always charge immediately, so I only need to plug in, see the yellow light on the dash, then start the charge at the station.

If you DO NOT have your car set to charge immediately (for those of you with time of use settings, for example), remember, that to charge immediately you need to plug in, see the yellow light on the dash, unplug, and plug in again (so you see the yellow light on the dash twice). THEN, start the billing/charging as necessary at the charge station control. I honestly haven't tried this with my car on the DC charger, so it is entirely possible that this is only required with the AC charger. If anybody tries this, please report back to confirm the operation is the same for DC and AC charging!

If you don't see the yellow light on the dash, you will NOT be able to start charging. Next time you don't see a yellow light, try (gently) pushing then pulling on the connector without depressing the button. If this push-pull routine causes the light to come on, I suggest notifying NRG immediately that they have a connector issue.

You absolutely need to turn the car off before starting a charge. You do not need to lock the doors or wear an aluminum foil hat or similar. Just turn the car off before plugging in. In case you forgot, you can refer to section 9 of the owner's manual for information related to charging the car:

http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam/Chevrolet/northamerica/usa/nscwebsite/en/Home/Ownership/Manuals%20and%20Videos/02_pdf/2k14spark_ev.pdf

Bryce

 

[agdodgerfan]

I just tried pushing it in pulling it back slightly and now my yellow light comes on so that portions working now just gotta figure out the issue of when it tells me the battery is full but now I can use at least the one in Tustin California.

 

[agdodgerfan]

I posted the information on plugshare I will try the efacac charger in Anaheim in the morning and report back if that works i also had my bluetooth off just in case

 

[agdodgerfan]

I tried the Anaheim charger (EFACEC) it worked fine just make sure you hear the click when you pull back on the cable. Thanks everyone for the feedback. One more station to try in Mission Viejo. That is the last one that was giving me a problem.

 

[genosensor]

I've only tried one level 3 station, but have charged there 7 or 8 times in the past year.
They've repeatedly "fixed" the station. When it's working properly
there is *no* requirement that the Spark's doors be locked or the car be off.
In fact, you can monitor how much juice the charger is delivering by pressing the start button for five+ seconds to put the car in accessory mode. Dial up the appropriate display and you should see 45-50 kw of "regen"

 

[Nashco]

No need to start the car in accessory/service mode after charging starts. You can literally turn the car on like normal and have full functionality, the only thing the car won't let you do is shift out of park. Heater, lights, even power steering are all normal...just not allowed to drive for obvious reasons. If you unplug the car, you can shift into drive and go like normal. No power cycle or anything required. Very intuitive, IMO!

Note that if the car is charging at full power (~50 kW) at a station rated for the same amount, and you turn on the heat/AC, the few kW being used by the HVAC will slightly reduce your charging rate into the battery (so only ~45 kW into the battery). It's minor, but interesting.

Bryce

 

[cwerdna]

I heard that the Efacec chargers (which are spread around Portland) had to have the SAE Combo plug replaced because the original cable assemblies were not built to specification. Efacec and GM worked through this and finally addressed the problem recently (which was due to a cable supplier issue, not a GM or Efacec part).

Out of curiosity, who makes the handle?

I plugged in an i3 at CES 2015 at BMW's area just to try Combo1. They had a couple of their 24 kW BMW/Bosch DC FCs set up to charge their cars. The handle was dismayingly made by Rema, supplier of the crap handles to Blink (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=10749, http://insideevs.com/under-threat-from-oems-ecotality-turns-down-the-output-on-chargers-to-avoid-failures/).

 

[bzublin]

I picked up my new 2015 Spark EV on February 15th and was able to DC fast charge at the NRG station at 1025 Westminster Mall, Westminster, CA, 92683. However, it required a few tries with NRG rep on the phone to enable the charging station as I had not received my card yet. At one point, I was able to wiggle the plug and see the dash light illuminate yellow briefly. So this appears to be a connector issue.

A few hours later I tried to DC fast charge using the NRG station at 5620 Paseo Del Norte, Carlsbad, CA 92008. The station was able to communicate with the Spark but would terminate the session early with the message "charge complete" or something similar to "vehicle is requesting more power than available." I reverted to the level 2 charger which worked.

About 10 miles later the car stopped completely and would not take any charge. It has been at the local Chevy dealer for the past 2 weeks for a main battery replacement. I don't know if the battery failure is related to the charging issues listed above. This is a new 2015 model with less than 200 miles.