[TopJimmy5150]

I still have around 110 miles of charge remaining (so I can get home), but I tried all four of the Clipper Creek HCS-40R chargers at my office and all of them caused my car to display "Unable to Charge" in the gauge cluster area. Very frustrated this morning. I called the dealer and am waiting on a call back.

Is this a common issue?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TopJimmy5150]

Also there is usually a Mitsubishi Plug-in Hybrid and a Nissan Leaf at two of the 4 stations and they don't seem to favor any specific chargers. I gotta think something's up with the car.

 

[GJETSON]

Do you have the factory EVSE in the car? You could try plugging that into a 120 volt outlet. If that doesn't work, then the problem is definitely with the car's onboard charger, and not some EVSE incompatibility.

 

[TopJimmy5150]

No fault codes on the charge station either. Just the Power Light is on.

 

[TopJimmy5150]

Do you have the factory EVSE in the car? You could try plugging that into a 120 volt outlet. If that doesn't work, then the problem is definitely with the car's onboard charger, and not some EVSE incompatibility.

I'll have to see if I can find an outlet on my lunch.

 

[GJETSON]

You might go into the center screen charging settings, and make sure that charging is set to immediate, and not to some particular time/place.

 

[GJETSON]

I am imagining someone at the dealer charging your Bolt to 100%, and then setting the charge level to 40%. Or setting it to charge on Thursday at 7 am.

 

[TopJimmy5150]

You might go into the center screen charging settings, and make sure that charging is set to immediate, and not to some particular time/place.

Thanks for the advice. Checked that already.

 

[TopJimmy5150]

I also tried the charge limit 8 amp/12 amp....tried both. Put it back to 8 amp.

 

[Jim Fallston Md.]

I also tried the charge limit 8 amp/12 amp....tried both. Put it back to 8 amp.

That is only for 110 volt charging, the 240 volt ones at your work you can't change the amps.

 

[XJ12]

Is this a common issue?

Not common, but a handful have had issues on their maiden charge adventure.
google '"Unable to Charge" site:chevybolt.org' and you will see several.
some are on DCFC. some are on L2. some are due to operator error. some are due to bad onboard charger. some are due to bent pins. some are due to low voltage on one 240 leg that the Bolt seems to be sensitive to.

 

[GJETSON]

Sounds like you checked the energy>charging screen. Also check the energy>energy settings screen.

 

[TopJimmy5150]

Ok, after many calls it turns out the chargers are locked down. I have to get a key from the building manager. Thanks to all who replied!

 

[PhilBo]

Thanks for letting us know the outcome. Glad it wasn't a problem with the car.

 

[Curt]

It would be nice if the car could give a better message than an alarming "Unable to charge", at least giving confidence that the car is not broken. It just seems to indicate the EVSE is not delivering current. I get that message when I plug into my JuiceBox if it's not within the hour range I've programmed on the JuiceBox.

 

[Openair]

Sounds like you checked the energy>charging screen. Also check the energy>energy settings screen.

I am imagining someone at the dealer charging your Bolt to 100%, and then setting the charge level to 40%. Or setting it to charge on Thursday at 7 am.

This or any other setting within the vehicle should not result in a displayed "unable to charge" message on the gauge cluster as the OP is reporting. Either a departure time or charge target level will simply have the vehicle wait or stop charging with no displayed error message like the OP is getting. Since in those cases there is no error.

Op: only thing you can do is process of elimination. Try one or two other charges to confirm if the issue is with the vehicle. If the supplied L1 works try a different public L2.

 

[GJETSON]

This or any other setting within the vehicle should not result in a displayed "unable to charge" message on the gauge cluster as the OP is reporting. Either a departure time or charge target level will simply have the vehicle wait or stop charging with no displayed error message like the OP is getting. Since in those cases there is no error.

Op: only thing you can do is process of elimination. Try one or two other charges to confirm if the issue is with the vehicle. If the supplied L1 works try a different public L2.

Good info. Thanks. I have never had any of the charging options set, so had no idea what, if anything, would be displayed if one was set.

 

[wonderbolt]

In defense of the message displayed in the vehicle, the Bolt has no way to know why the EVSE is not delivering power, not activated, no account, out of funds if a pay station, credit card not authorized, or in this case some master key to enable it, etc... IMHO the correct question to be asking is "why were charging instructions not posted at the public chargers?" Most of us try to add important details like that to plugshare when we add a site. To the OP, if you have not already done so, add the app plugshare to your phone and see what is listed for site details, hopefully it will help out the next person.

 

[Curt]

In defense of the message displayed in the vehicle, the Bolt has no way to know why the EVSE is not delivering power

"Unable to charge" may be true, but it's unnecessarily alarming and one immediately envisions a dealer visit.
Perhaps something like "Ready and waiting for charge", or "Waiting for charge delivery" would alleviate that.