Emporia cable locked in charging port

[circatee]

I am still getting used to the Emporia EV charger. Yesterday morning, I went to disconnect the charger from the car, and it was sort of locked. Nothing I did (after pressing down the release lever), would release it from the charge port.

After a couple of seconds, the charge rings lights, turned red. Rather odd, that the cable was sort of locked in the charge port.
A few minutes later, I was able to disconnect the cable.

But, curious what may have caused this in the first place. Thoughts...

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[ChasingCoral]

Sounds like a communications failure. Most L2 chargers don’t lock in place but it sounds like the Emporia may be one that does so.

Apparently there’s an issue with Grizzl—E chargers getting stuck in id.4s. That one seems to be a mechanical issue, though.

 

[hack-e]

I have an Emporia EVSE and haven't experienced anything like this. Did you try to press the Mach-E's unlock button?

 

[circatee]

I have an Emporia EVSE and haven't experienced anything like this. Did you try to press the Mach-E's unlock button?

I did, and after a few seconds it went all red. Within 30-60 seconds, I was able to remove the Emporia connector.

I do wonder, and purely guessing here, when I pressed the unlock on the Emporia connector, maybe I was not holding it all the way down.

Anyway, we'll see how it does tomorrow (didn't charge last night)...

 

[hack-e]

I wish you good luck.

I have had a different issue that only started after some Mach-E charging updates a few months back. Now after charging finishes, I sometimes get a charging fault notification in FordPass. It claims there is a fault with the EVSE. But it doesn't seem to have any real consequences.

 

[Mach-Lee]

If that happens again, try pressing the unlock button on the charge port and see if that helps.

In very rare circumstances the Mach-E may lock a L2 cable because of a miscommunication. The EVSE may have faulty software that deviates from the J1772 spec.

Emporia isn’t experimenting with plug and charge or anything are they?

 

[ChasingCoral]

If that happens again, try pressing the unlock button on the charge port and see if that helps.

In very rare circumstances the Mach-E may lock a L2 cable because of a miscommunication. The EVSE may have faulty software that deviates from the J1772 spec.

Emporia isn’t experimenting with plug and charge or anything are they?

Remember that if worse comes to worst, there is an emergency release cord under the left beauty panel, on the back side of the charge port. You'll have to remove the top beauty cover, then the left one.

If you have to do this (as I did very early on with a faulty L2 public charger) or happen to be under the covers sometime, do yourself a favor and clip that emergency release cord to the two cables running along the upper left edge. That way you'll be able to reach the cord easily without removing the covers. It's worked perfectly for me. Since I clipped mine in easy reach, I've never had to use it. ?

All it takes is a paper clip. Here are a couple of photos:

 

[circatee]

Remember that if worse comes to worst, there is an emergency release cord under the left beauty panel, on the back side of the charge port. You'll have to remove the top beauty cover, then the left one.

If you have to do this (as I did very early on with a faulty L2 public charger) or happen to be under the covers sometime, do yourself a favor and clip that emergency release cord to the two cables running along the upper left edge. That way you'll be able to reach the cord easily without removing the covers. It's worked perfectly for me. Since I clipped mine in easy reach, I've never had to use it. ?

All it takes is a paper clip. Here are a couple of photos:

Funny enough, yesterday I printed the details on how to do this, from the manual, to keep a paper copy in my car...

 

[EmporiaEnergy]

I am still getting used to the Emporia EV charger. Yesterday morning, I went to disconnect the charger from the car, and it was sort of locked. Nothing I did (after pressing down the release lever), would release it from the charge port.

After a couple of seconds, the charge rings lights, turned red. Rather odd, that the cable was sort of locked in the charge port.
A few minutes later, I was able to disconnect the cable.

But, curious what may have caused this in the first place. Thoughts...

The car will lock the connector for safety issues, if it's not releasing, check the car settings

 

[MyLittlePony2022]

Thanks for starting this thread and thanks to @ChasingCoral for reposting this. I had it on my list to find this post, remembering that I had read it a while back.

My wife and I walk to our local grocery store for exercise and of course, to get some basics to supplement the weekly shopping. We walk past an EVGO fast charger and happened to be stopped by a couple that was desperate to get the charging cord unlocked from their car. What are the chances that some random couple walking by had an EV and could provide some advice? I let them know to check their manual to see if their particular EV had a release cable. Again, remember the post that Mark did about the release cable. After we left to continue our walk, I thought I need to find that post to figure out how to do this for the MME and to print out the instructions from the manual, in case my wife has the car. Found, printed and put the release documents from the owners manual with my other important documents in the car (i.e. towing information, lifting information, etc.).

 

[JBD UU]

I had a similar situation & spent 50 minutes on the phone at the charging station before I got the charge coupler released. She had access to a Mach-E manual as did I, but neither of us could find the info on the manual release cable. So if you're looking for it, it's "Charge Coupler Manual Release" and is on pp. 182-183 of my manual.

This problem started, we discovered, when my Visa card had expired & my new one, with the same account #, had a new expiration date & 3 numbered security code. Turns out that Ford, unlike most companies, doesn't get the automatic updates to this information, and they don't warn you ahead of time that you need to update your credit card info. They cancel your account and that apparently was enough to lock the charge coupler. I'm sure there were other problems that triggered this problem, but this shouldn't happen.

 

[hartmms]

I have an emporia charger, but it has a leaver on the handle you press to disconnect it from the car. I'd be surprised if there was a secondary lock also. Disconnecting a 11kW AC connection should not be an issue. I thought locks were only for DCFC where it's pushing >=120kW.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I had a similar situation & spent 50 minutes on the phone at the charging station before I got the charge coupler released. She had access to a Mach-E manual as did I, but neither of us could find the info on the manual release cable. So if you're looking for it, it's "Charge Coupler Manual Release" and is on pp. 182-183 of my manual.

This problem started, we discovered, when my Visa card had expired & my new one, with the same account #, had a new expiration date & 3 numbered security code. Turns out that Ford, unlike most companies, doesn't get the automatic updates to this information, and they don't warn you ahead of time that you need to update your credit card info. They cancel your account and that apparently was enough to lock the charge coupler. I'm sure there were other problems that triggered this problem, but this shouldn't happen.

LOL - "You better pay or we're not going to release your car from the charger"

 

[circatee]

I had a similar situation & spent 50 minutes on the phone at the charging station before I got the charge coupler released. She had access to a Mach-E manual as did I, but neither of us could find the info on the manual release cable. So if you're looking for it, it's "Charge Coupler Manual Release" and is on pp. 182-183 of my manual.

This problem started, we discovered, when my Visa card had expired & my new one, with the same account #, had a new expiration date & 3 numbered security code. Turns out that Ford, unlike most companies, doesn't get the automatic updates to this information, and they don't warn you ahead of time that you need to update your credit card info. They cancel your account and that apparently was enough to lock the charge coupler. I'm sure there were other problems that triggered this problem, but this shouldn't happen.

...thanks for sharing. I will need to be sure to remember to update my card info, if it ever changes.

 

[markboris]

I have two Emporia chargers and haven't had this issue with either one. However, both charger handles were somewhat difficult to push on and remove from the car's charging port. My previous ChargePoint charger and an EV extension cord I had did not have this issue. You could easily push on and remove the charger handle. In looking at the Emporia charger handles, I noticed an o-ring deep inside while the other two handles had none. I removed the o-ring and now the handles slide on and off as easy as my previous ones. Not exactly sure what the o-ring is for but probably a weather seal and since these are only used in my garage, weather is not a problem.

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