Ionity charging issues

[kl98cwg]

On a recent trip I used an Ionity charger and had some frustrating issues - I’ve not used public chargers that much before, so I’d appreciate any advice to hopefully make it easier next time.

• The round trip was over 260 miles in total, with an overnight stay after 220 miles (where I knew I wouldn’t be able to plug in).
• The range manager didn’t schedule any charging before the overnight stay, but I stopped at an Ionity station after 190 miles and plugged in with the intention of topping up enough to easily get me home the next day. The car charged momentarily and then stopped, which seemed to be because there was sufficient to get me to my destination for the night - so I cancelled the navigation and set the car to direct charging.
• After a few failed attempts the car started charging and kept going for a good while (20+ mins I’d guess), but it stopped with a charging error at about 60% - that would have been enough to carry on, but I wanted to master this! I had quite a few attempts to get the charging started again, but every time after accepting my Porsche charge card and initialising, I’d just get a charging error. I switched to a different charger and the same thing happened. Meanwhile someone else came along (in a BMW i3) and was able to use the charger that didn’t work for me.
• In the end I called Ionity, who were really helpful. Several remote reboots of the charging station didn’t solve the problem, so I was told to go to another one where they were able to get it going (and gave it to me for free for my patience ?)

Has anyone experienced issues with Ionity (or other public chargers) like this? I’m wondering if there’s a problem with my car as other people weren’t having difficulties, but it has always charged fine at home. Also, am I right that the range manager wasn’t charging the car because it didn’t need to? … and if so, is there a better way to override this?

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[Sonic]

Yes i've had quite a few issues recently with communication issues, cancelling charges or charge speed being low across quite a few charging locations.

 

[snb7x]

I’d an issue last week when driving from Cumbria to Cairnryan looking a charge at Gretna IONITY …. Couldn’t get it to be listed in charge planner or even show up in Sat Nav directly (Sat Nav would pick IONITY down through Merseyside but not Gretna … I drove there and charged up without issue (well at max 150kw) as I was familiar with its location!

 

[jontybutts]

Used Ionity Cullumpton today, pre heated the battery to 32 degrees before arrival, no issues and started charge at 230kw, then fell to a constant 135kw until about 70%. Initialised through the Porsche charging app

 

[W1NGE]

On a recent trip I used an Ionity charger and had some frustrating issues - I’ve not used public chargers that much before, so I’d appreciate any advice to hopefully make it easier next time.

• The round trip was over 260 miles in total, with an overnight stay after 220 miles (where I knew I wouldn’t be able to plug in).
• The range manager didn’t schedule any charging before the overnight stay, but I stopped at an Ionity station after 190 miles and plugged in with the intention of topping up enough to easily get me home the next day. The car charged momentarily and then stopped, which seemed to be because there was sufficient to get me to my destination for the night - so I cancelled the navigation and set the car to direct charging.
• After a few failed attempts the car started charging and kept going for a good while (20+ mins I’d guess), but it stopped with a charging error at about 60% - that would have been enough to carry on, but I wanted to master this! I had quite a few attempts to get the charging started again, but every time after accepting my Porsche charge card and initialising, I’d just get a charging error. I switched to a different charger and the same thing happened. Meanwhile someone else came along (in a BMW i3) and was able to use the charger that didn’t work for me.
• In the end I called Ionity, who were really helpful. Several remote reboots of the charging station didn’t solve the problem, so I was told to go to another one where they were able to get it going (and gave it to me for free for my patience ?)

Has anyone experienced issues with Ionity (or other public chargers) like this? I’m wondering if there’s a problem with my car as other people weren’t having difficulties, but it has always charged fine at home. Also, am I right that the range manager wasn’t charging the car because it didn’t need to? … and if so, is there a better way to override this?

Direct Charging, Timers and Profiles have no effect on DC charging. They are used for AC charging only.

There is no override. Check your PCM settings for plug and charge and protection for high speed charging. The latter may slow things down.

I think you may just have been unlucky.

 

[kl98cwg]

Used Ionity Cullumpton today, pre heated the battery to 32 degrees before arrival, no issues and started charge at 230kw, then fell to a constant 135kw until about 70%. Initialised through the Porsche charging app

Interesting, the problems I had were on a really cold day so what are you doing to preheat the battery? The only pre-heating/cooling options I’ve found are for the car interior not the battery.

 

[Pouria]

Interesting, the problems I had were on a really cold day so what are you doing to preheat the battery? The only pre-heating/cooling options I’ve found are for the car interior not the battery.

Setting the charger as your destination in navigation preheats the car. Also setting it in sport plus mode heats up the battery.

 

[Boss Hogg]

No major problems with Ionity so far (touch wood). Charge planner sometimes has a mind of its own (e.g. missing an Ionity for a regular 50kW unit further down the road) so when this happens I add the Ionity station I want as a stopover and it heats the battery to 32/33 degrees C. On rare occasions I do not get the speed I expect, I put this down to conditions within the charger itself or a sub optimal connection to the car.

 

[MrB]

On a trip to Devon recently I used IONITY at Baldock, Beaconsfield, Chippenham and Cullompton. No issues at any of them (including plug and charge) other than Baldock which for some reason is just not a huge fan of my car on 2 of the 4 pedestals. Haven’t seen above 150kw lately although that may well just be my arriving with less than optimal SOC/HV battery temperature. It’s a bit of a pain as Baldock is pretty integral to my commute, but I can usually get it working there with a bit of persistence.

Arriving there on Sunday evening to find it was full of 3 MG EVs and a Nissan leaf did make me despair a bit when chatting to the owners who were all convinced it was worth spending the extra on IONITY because “these are the really fast chargers”. I tried to explain, politely, that their car would be the limiting factor here (think they’re all 50kw max DC onboard) and that they might be better off financially at Gridserve across the way as they’d still be maxing their charge speed. Nosing around the screens not one of them was pulling more than 30kw. I had a little sulk as I only got 120kw max and was on my way in ten minutes!

 

[MarkG_M5]

I couldn't get Ionity to work at Cobham Services just after I took delivery and experienced almost identical issues to this.

From what I have now learned, I suspect 90% it was done to the battery being cold.

 

[kl98cwg]

Thanks for all the helpful feedback - I now have a better understanding for next time I use a public charger!

 

[USSWEDE]

Hello,
Yes, there's an issue with Porsche Taycan (certain batches) as well as the Audi e-tron (even more common). The thing is Porsche has used the same supplier and the specs deviates from what Ionity expects. Neither Porsche nor Audi wants to recognize this and lets us (the owners) take the issues with frustrations and missed charging opportunities. I got this confirmed via Ionity - so Ionity and VAG are not really synced (despite the part ownership). My car hasn't been able to fulfill a single Ionity charge since I bought it. I just get 'communication errors' sometimes directly and sometimes after just minutes of charging. This is extremely irritating since I know I can get up to 270 KW (during the short sessions it has usually worked) but I end up and some alternative charger (not Ionity) where I get like 45 KW instead (and the family when needed are advised to eat slow at some roadside POS restaurant). I have this major issue now with my Taycan CT (6 months) this summer when we expect to travel more and therefore I've rented a Volvo. I wish I knew of this issue before I bought the car (1,4 MSEK) - and not now. Creates un-necessary friction with the wife who also remembers the alarm going off every 5 mins (solved), and the PCM not working as intended (still an issue with logons to the account - if that even works), and all kinds of connectivty issues. Charging at home works (Tesla charger), and all other chargers apart from Ionity so obviously it's not only VAG at fault - something is super-sensitive with the darn Ionity network. I'm close to selling but the alternatives are few (apart from Mercedes butt-ugly EQS and EQE which I can get tomorrow) - there are leadtimes on all electric alternatives. I'm at a naive stage of hoping this will be solved. Especially the Ionity charging issue.

 

[Scandinavian]

Hello,
Yes, there's an issue with Porsche Taycan (certain batches) as well as the Audi e-tron (even more common). The thing is Porsche has used the same supplier and the specs deviates from what Ionity expects. Neither Porsche nor Audi wants to recognize this and lets us (the owners) take the issues with frustrations and missed charging opportunities. I got this confirmed via Ionity - so Ionity and VAG are not really synced (despite the part ownership). My car hasn't been able to fulfill a single Ionity charge since I bought it. I just get 'communication errors' sometimes directly and sometimes after just minutes of charging. This is extremely irritating since I know I can get up to 270 KW (during the short sessions it has usually worked) but I end up and some alternative charger (not Ionity) where I get like 45 KW instead (and the family when needed are advised to eat slow at some roadside POS restaurant). I have this major issue now with my Taycan CT (6 months) this summer when we expect to travel more and therefore I've rented a Volvo. I wish I knew of this issue before I bought the car (1,4 MSEK) - and not now. Creates un-necessary friction with the wife who also remembers the alarm going off every 5 mins (solved), and the PCM not working as intended (still an issue with logons to the account - if that even works), and all kinds of connectivty issues. Charging at home works (Tesla charger), and all other chargers apart from Ionity so obviously it's not only VAG at fault - something is super-sensitive with the darn Ionity network. I'm close to selling but the alternatives are few (apart from Mercedes butt-ugly EQS and EQE which I can get tomorrow) - there are leadtimes on all electric alternatives. I'm at a naive stage of hoping this will be solved. Especially the Ionity charging issue.

If I understand you correctly, you are relying on the Plug and Charge to work all the time? Did you not get a Porsche Charging Service card with your car? To use at all the stations in that network? Or did you try any of the Porsche apps, MyPorsche, Connect or Porsche Charging app linked to your car? In MyPorsche you just ho to the map setting, click on the symbol for a charger and then use the symbol for scanning the QR code. Same with the other apps. My car does not have Plug and Charge (MY20) so either of these payment options have worked out just perfect. There has been some issues with using the card, but the. Scanning the QR code with your phone solves that issue.

I have just done a 7000 km drive through Europe, France, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Italy. I have used Ionity 99.9% of the time! only wanted to test Fastned and a new network in Switzerland for comparison. There have been some issues with some chargers being out of service, but in 90% of my charges it work perfectly with the above card and apps.

Perhaps your Porsche dealer did not explain and show you how to use the card, apps etc. There was never a moment where we had any thoughts to not use the Taycan for long trips through Europe. And in the north of Sweden you now also have a lot of Tesla chargers that can be used.

 

[USSWEDE]

If I understand you correctly, you are relying on the Plug and Charge to work all the time? Did you not get a Porsche Charging Service card with your car? To use at all the stations in that network? Or did you try any of the Porsche apps, MyPorsche, Connect or Porsche Charging app linked to your car? In MyPorsche you just ho to the map setting, click on the symbol for a charger and then use the symbol for scanning the QR code. Same with the other apps. My car does not have Plug and Charge (MY20) so either of these payment options have worked out just perfect. There has been some issues with using the card, but the. Scanning the QR code with your phone solves that issue.

I have just done a 7000 km drive through Europe, France, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Italy. I have used Ionity 99.9% of the time! only wanted to test Fastned and a new network in Switzerland for comparison. There have been some issues with some chargers being out of service, but in 90% of my charges it work perfectly with the above card and apps.

Perhaps your Porsche dealer did not explain and show you how to use the card, apps etc. There was never a moment where we had any thoughts to not use the Taycan for long trips through Europe. And in the north of Sweden you now also have a lot of Tesla chargers that can be used.

Hi, Yes, I have the Porsche card. The issue is in the hardware. The adapter on the fast charger side of the car is not completely synced (on some models) with Ionity. So a communication error message is posted by Ionity and the car (of course, doesn't charge). This happens to me all of the time and I can not use the Ionity network. It doesn't matter how many times I try to re-establish a connection, it just will not work - so it is hardware related and not due to anything else.

 

[Scandinavian]

Hi, Yes, I have the Porsche card. The issue is in the hardware. The adapter on the fast charger side of the car is not completely synced (on some models) with Ionity. So a communication error message is posted by Ionity and the car (of course, doesn't charge). This happens to me all of the time and I can not use the Ionity network. It doesn't matter how many times I try to re-establish a connection, it just will not work - so it is hardware related and not due to anything else.

Hi then it is even more surprising as you say, Porsche is part owner of Ionity. And I think Blume is on the Board? To have interoperability problems HW wise is just not acceptable.

I feel sorry gor you.

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