Can’t unplug car without opening door

[MrFusion]

Is there a way to have the car not lock the charging cable when at home or certain locations? I find it kind of clunky to have to open my car door first whenever I want to remove the charging cable at home as it seems the “proper” order is to unplug the car and then open the door to get in.

 

[NowIsGood]

If I press the rear passenger door handle in just 1/4" or so, it wakes up my car to allow unplugging the charging cable, without actually opening the door. Not sure why it's necessary, but not quite as clunky as actually opening the door.

 

[Mrcarcrazy]

Opening the app will also wake the car up so it will sense your phone is in range and unlock the charger

 

[earthwormjim]

Make sure your phone app is running and given background refresh permission.

 

[Rockster]

It's funny but I have this behavior at home (can't unlock the charger without opening a door or the trunk etc.) but at work, where we have a bank of the exact same Tesla wall chargers, the plug unlocks without any additional steps.

 

[mtndrew1]

This is one of the few things I really dislike about this car.

Can’t unplug without unlocking the door and can’t open a door without the HVAC firing up. This then engages the EVSE.

The car knows it’s at home and I don’t need HVAC or the charging lock in my garage.

 

[DickBlonov]

This is one of the few things I really dislike about this car.

Can’t unplug without unlocking the door and can’t open a door without the HVAC firing up. This then engages the EVSE.

The car knows it’s at home and I don’t need HVAC or the charging lock in my garage.

As long as I have my authenticated phone one me, I just press and hold the button on the
connector handle (either the Tesla or a standard J1772 charge cable with the adapter).
No need to open a door.

Phil

 

[mtndrew1]

Thi

As long as I have my authenticated phone one me, I just press and hold the button on the
connector handle (either the Tesla or a standard J1772 charge cable with the adapter).
No need to open a door.

Phil

This is not how my car behaves. For love or money I cannot get the J1772 out of my car without first opening a door.

 

[Runt8]

As long as I have my authenticated phone one me, I just press and hold the button on the
connector handle (either the Tesla or a standard J1772 charge cable with the adapter).
No need to open a door.

Phil

This only works if the car is awake. Once it falls asleep the button on the handle won't wake it up and allow it to release. There are several things that can prevent the car from sleeping (ie, sentry mode) so you might be seeing this behavior if your car never sleeps.

 

[DickBlonov]

This only works if the car is awake. Once it falls asleep the button on the handle won't wake it up and allow it to release. There are several things that can prevent the car from sleeping (ie, sentry mode) so you might be seeing this behavior if your car never sleeps.

My post was not clear. I open the app before I walk to my car. So yes, it is awake.

Phil

 

[crackers8199]

Is there a way to have the car not lock the charging cable when at home or certain locations? I find it kind of clunky to have to open my car door first whenever I want to remove the charging cable at home as it seems the “proper” order is to unplug the car and then open the door to get in.

you don't have to open a door - just press the handle on the rear door very slightly (as if you're opening the door, but then changed your mind) and that will wake the car and allow you to pull the cord without actually opening the door. when i say slightly, i mean SLIGHTLY. it just needs a little tap...if you push it too far, the door will open and that defeats the whole purpose.

it took me about 2 weeks to figure out how gently to push it to wake the car but not open the door...but once you figure it out, it's insanely easy. it's still annoying that it won't unlock just by pressing the button on the charge cord, but now that i've gotten the hang of how gently to tap the back door handle it's NBD really.

 

[davewill]

... it's still annoying that it won't unlock just by pressing the button on the charge cord, but now that i've gotten the hang of how gently to tap the back door handle it's NBD really.

That's where I am at this point. It's annoying that the button on the plug doesn't wake the car, but this solution is adequate.

 

[KenC]

As @NowIsGood says, just press the rear door handle in a ¼". Don't open the door, just press it in a little and the car will release the charge handle.

 

[crackers8199]

the way to know it worked (without the door opening, of course) is you'll see the tesla logo on the charge port light up.

 

[FielderJones]

I wake the car up with the phone app, then unlock the charging cable with the phone app.

 

[MrFusion]

Thanks for the replies. I definitely like that the cable locks into place for use away from home... just seems like there would be a setting to not even lock the car for specific GPS points. Besides the daily frustration with removing the charge cable I also run into instances where I need to go grab something out of the car in the garage only to realize I don’t have my phone on me and thus can’t open the car door since it locked when I walked away.

 

[toolman335]

If this is keeping you up at night I'd say your life is going pretty good.

 

[ralph142]

I almost always put something in the trunk, so end up opening that, which wakes the car up, but even otherwise this is not a major frustration in my life.