Model Y won’t charge on supercharger

[StephanieLT123]

On a road trip from Austin to Houston, I learned my Tesla Model Y would not charge at a supercharger, bad timing! I was able to get it into a service center but they weren’t able to fix it in time, so I had to leave it in Houston and will need to make the trip back once it’s fixed (6 hour round trip!) The rep at Tesla told me this can happen if you don’t use a supercharger regularly. I always charge at home with my Tesla wall charger, I’ve used a supercharger a handful of times the 3 years I’ve had the car. If this is a true statement, I would think the car would notify me that I needed to use a supercharger.

So…. Has anyone else had this problem?

Makes me never want to drive a Tesla on a road trip ever again.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

We've taken our various Teslas on many road trips since 2016 and have never had an issue Supercharging. However, back at the end of 2017, there was a batch of Model S charge ports that were slightly out of spec. While wall chargers worked fine, the Supercharger plug was just slightly too big to be inserted fully so the cars couldn't be Supercharged. We tested our S70D out before a road trip and confirmed we had the issue. For those who were affected, Tesla was initially swapping out the charge ports and replacing them. Eventually, they found the charge ports could be "shaved" slightly and they would work fine.

As for your Model Y Supercharging problem, I would hope it's not a similar issue. What kind of problems did you have when you tried plugging in? What color was the light by the charge port and what error messages did you receive?

 

[maus92]

On a road trip from Austin to Houston, I learned my Tesla Model Y would not charge at a supercharger, bad timing! I was able to get it into a service center but they weren’t able to fix it in time, so I had to leave it in Houston and will need to make the trip back once it’s fixed (6 hour round trip!) The rep at Tesla told me this can happen if you don’t use a supercharger regularly. I always charge at home with my Tesla wall charger, I’ve used a supercharger a handful of times the 3 years I’ve had the car. If this is a true statement, I would think the car would notify me that I needed to use a supercharger.

So…. Has anyone else had this problem?

Makes me never want to drive a Tesla on a road trip ever again.

I have never experienced a Supercharger failure to charge except the few times an individual charging station is broken. Simply moving to another station at the same location solved the issue. I do regularly charge at Superchargers. Your issue seems to be an isolated occurrence - it almost seems like a Tesla account problem.

 

[StephanieLT123]

I have never experienced a Supercharger failure to charge except the few times an individual charging station is broken. Simply moving to another station at the same location solved the issue. I do regularly charge at Superchargers. Your issue seems to be an isolated occurrence - it almost seems like a Tesla account problem.

It's been at the Tesla shop since last Friday in Houston. They still don't know what is wrong with it - it will charge on the slower wall chargers, but will not charge at a super charger. Makes it useless for a roadtrip. Very frustrating.

 

[StephanieLT123]

We've taken our various Teslas on many road trips since 2016 and have never had an issue Supercharging. However, back at the end of 2017, there was a batch of Model S charge ports that were slightly out of spec. While wall chargers worked fine, the Supercharger plug was just slightly too big to be inserted fully so the cars couldn't be Supercharged. We tested our S70D out before a road trip and confirmed we had the issue. For those who were affected, Tesla was initially swapping out the charge ports and replacing them. Eventually, they found the charge ports could be "shaved" slightly and they would work fine.

As for your Model Y Supercharging problem, I would hope it's not a similar issue. What kind of problems did you have when you tried plugging in? What color was the light by the charge port and what error messages did you receive?

Thank you for the reply. No error message, when plugged in - it would do nothing and about 1 minute later you would here a loud click sound. The Tesla super center is still trying to figure out what is happening. I've charged it at a super charger before so it did work at one time.

 

[240vPlug]

Yeah I don't think you did anything wrong here. You had supercharged before and had no reason to believe it would fail to supercharge when you went on your trip.

Stupid question I know but did you try multiple supercharger locations or different stalls?

Man this sucks and I'm sorry your going through it.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Thank you for the reply. No error message, when plugged in - it would do nothing and about 1 minute later you would here a loud click sound. The Tesla super center is still trying to figure out what is happening. I've charged it at a super charger before so it did work at one time.

The only time we've had that happen was when we were trying out new Supercharger locations before they'd been turned on. Do you know if the Supercharger location was active? Were there any other cars charging? Did you try multiple stalls?

 

[GOVA]

Any error codes/information when you are at SC? Charging port light color(s)?

There is a charging port ECU which can get damaged. Once it happens, SC charging is not possible.

 

[Rocky_H]

The rep at Tesla told me this can happen if you don’t use a supercharger regularly.

That person is an idiot, and that is a ridiculous lie and just another thing to be thrown on the pile of insane wrong things Tesla employees have told people. This just happened to be something in the car that broke and needs to be repaired and happened to occur at a very inconvenient time. People use their cars for long road tripping frequently or infrequently, and you should always expect it to work, no matter how "regularly" or not you use them. This is just a one off thing.

And sorry if I'm sounding snippy, but it's not at you. I just get angry when Tesla employees mislead people like that.

 

[Mateo83]

I've seen a charger work for one car and then not for the next. I assumed it was an issue with the car itself or the billing account.

 

[GOVA]

@StephanieLT123

What's the official word from Tesla Service?

 

[StephanieLT123]

@StephanieLT123

What's the official word from Tesla Service?

Hi there, the Tesla service center replaced 2 parts (ASY,CHARGE PORT CONTROLLER GEN4 & ASY,FC CONTACTOR,HVBAT,MDL3). The rep told me that I need to use a supercharger every few months or this could happen again b/c the connectors need to be exercised. That explanation does not make sense to me - I don't see a supercharging recommendation in any of the documentation. Has anyone else had this happen?

I love my Tesla - we are a 2 Tesla family... but this experience really makes me question going on a road trip. Luckily, I ended up in a large city with a Tesla service center, but what if I hadn't?

 

[StephanieLT123]

Yeah I don't think you did anything wrong here. You had supercharged before and had no reason to believe it would fail to supercharge when you went on your trip.

Stupid question I know but did you try multiple supercharger locations or different stalls?

Man this sucks and I'm sorry your going through it.

Hi there, yes, tried multiple stalls and even multiple locations. Luckily, I made it to a large service center in Houston - they ended up replacing 2 charging parts - gave me a loaner, but it was a pain as I had to make the 6 hour roundtrip to pickup my car once it was ready.

 

[StephanieLT123]

That person is an idiot, and that is a ridiculous lie and just another thing to be thrown on the pile of insane wrong things Tesla employees have told people. This just happened to be something in the car that broke and needs to be repaired and happened to occur at a very inconvenient time. People use their cars for long road tripping frequently or infrequently, and you should always expect it to work, no matter how "regularly" or not you use them. This is just a one off thing.

And sorry if I'm sounding snippy, but it's not at you. I just get angry when Tesla employees mislead people like that.

awesome! and thank you, i agree, i've looked through all of the documentation and see no references to any frequency recommendations on using a supercharger vs an at home tesla wall charger. 2 parts ended up being replaced and all is working fine, just makes me nervous for any future road trips!

 

[240vPlug]

Hi there, the Tesla service center replaced 2 parts (ASY,CHARGE PORT CONTROLLER GEN4 & ASY,FC CONTACTOR,HVBAT,MDL3). The rep told me that I need to use a supercharger every few months or this could happen again b/c the connectors need to be exercised. That explanation does not make sense to me - I don't see a supercharging recommendation in any of the documentation. Has anyone else had this happen?

I love my Tesla - we are a 2 Tesla family... but this experience really makes me question going on a road trip. Luckily, I ended up in a large city with a Tesla service center, but what if I hadn't?

That is complete nonsense. The supercharger should work regardless. When you take delivery test it and when you go on a road trip make sure you have a good CC on your Tesla account. Using the supercharger less than every three months will not cause parts to fail. Contactors do not need to be "exercised" . This response from Tesla is comical

 

[Silicon Desert]

The rep at Tesla told me this can happen if you don’t use a supercharger regularly.

I've heard some pretty nutty things from service people from time to time, but this one nears the top of the list.
There IS another problem. Please go back and slap him silly for me

 

[ewoodrick]

Hi there, the Tesla service center replaced 2 parts (ASY,CHARGE PORT CONTROLLER GEN4 & ASY,FC CONTACTOR,HVBAT,MDL3). The rep told me that I need to use a supercharger every few months or this could happen again b/c the connectors need to be exercised. That explanation does not make sense to me - I don't see a supercharging recommendation in any of the documentation. Has anyone else had this happen?

I love my Tesla - we are a 2 Tesla family... but this experience really makes me question going on a road trip. Luckily, I ended up in a large city with a Tesla service center, but what if I hadn't?

You had some problems with the DC contactor it appears. On any other charger, it's AC. On Supercharger and CHAdeMO and CCS it's DC. It goes through a different path to the battery.

No, you don't have to charge at a Supercharger every few months. But on the other hand, it doesn't hurt either, you may find some parts of failed, as you are keenly aware now.

Don't let this keep you from road trip, just the opposite, you now know it can work now. Have a scavenger hunt, go visit all the Superchargers in Texas. Or better yet, take a trip over to the east coast of Florida and enjoy yourself.

I was out on a camping trip with my motor home, the universal joint blew in Florida, and I had to wait to get it repaired. Did the keep me from camping again, heck no.

 

[ewoodrick]

And a little more info. The thump that you heard is normal when Supercharging. That's the contactor switching over to connect the charge port directly to the battery. You may also hear a few more as the battery can heat and expand and the metal just pops.
It indeed can take about a minute for a Supercharger to kick in. Lot's of people get used to plug and walk away.

But I HIGHLY recommend watching the charge screen after you plug in. First just to make sure that you are charging (nothing worse than walking away for 30 minutes and coming back to an empty battery) and the second to make sure that you are charging at the expected rate.

If you are at a 250kW station and your battery is down to around 10%, you should be seeing 1,000+ mph charge rate. If you don't, then the pedestal may be having issues and it may make sense to move to a new one. It happens.

 

[carlos31820]

If you are at a 250kW station and your battery is down to around 10%, you should be seeing 1,000+ mph charge rate. If you don't, then the pedestal may be having issues and it may make sense to move to a new one. It happens.

This isn’t always the case. Charging rate will vary depending on the temperature of the battery pack.

 

[yellowr6]

No error code pop up on ur screen? Weird.

I had a charging issue a couple month ago. error code pop up and I took it in to service. They replaced the charging door and problem fixed. took two trips to the SC tho.

yea. It’s BS what they told u. the car don’t need to be charged at a SC every now and then. My guess it’s ur charger ECU.

yea. I was afraid to take longer trip after this incident but won’t hold me back. Just did two trips, 500 miles RT and a 300 mi RT, no issues. This is why we brought an TESLA. U can just pack ur bags and go. No need to worry about Ur car or SC. Can’t say about any other brand right now For road trips.