Why public charging sometimes fails, and what to do about it
Most failed charging attempts have four causes, and three of them you can work around on the spot.
Public charging fails more often than it should. The failures are not random, though — they cluster into four causes, and knowing which one you are looking at usually tells you what to try.
1. Payment and authentication
The most common failure, and rarely the charger's fault. An app cannot reach the network, a card is declined, an account has no balance, or the site needs an RFID card you do not have.
What to do: try contactless if the unit takes it. Failing that, a second network account is the single best insurance in public charging — it costs nothing to hold and it turns a dead stop into a short detour.
2. Handshake failures
The car and charger negotiate before any power flows. That negotiation sometimes fails, especially with certain car and charger combinations.
What to do: unplug fully, wait thirty seconds, plug back in. This resolves a surprising proportion of failures. If it fails twice on the same unit, move to another.
3. Genuine hardware faults
Damaged cables, failed screens, units that are simply offline. Nothing you can do.
What to do: move on, and report it. Note the unit number.
4. Not a fault at all
Sometimes the charger is working perfectly and the result is still disappointing:
- A cold battery accepts far less power — see why DC charging slows
- A shared cabinet splits its output between two bays, halving your rate when someone plugs in next to you
- You arrived at 80%, where charging is slow by design
Reducing your exposure
Hold two network accounts. The cheapest reliability improvement available.
Prefer contactless-capable sites when you can, so a phone with no signal is not a blocker.
Precondition before a rapid stop if your car supports it.
Arrive lower. Turning up at 15% rather than 40% means the fast part of the curve is available to you.
Have a fallback in mind. Knowing where the next site is turns a failure into an inconvenience.
What we do not publish
We do not rank networks on reliability. Doing that honestly needs a methodology we would be willing to defend, and we do not have one yet. Where we compare networks, we compare what they cost, because that we can measure.
In pictures
Common questions
Should I report a broken charger?
Yes. Operators fix what they know about, and most sites carry a unit number and a support line. Reporting is also how the reliability data everyone relies on gets generated.
About the author
ElectraMile EditorialEditorial desk
The ElectraMile editorial team covers charging, running costs and EV ownership for readers in the UK and US.
Spotted something wrong? Tell us — we correct and date every change.
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