Volkswagen ID.3 Forum

I had a rather annoying experience at an Osprey charger today, made worse by the fact that it was raining heavily throughout.

I used my RFID card successfully, and connected the cable. The charger said "Starting, please wait". After a couple of minutes, with the light on the car still solid read, an error message appeared on the charger. I repeated the process, but again it was unsuccessful, and with the red light showing I was unable to detach the charger. I then phoned Osprey who tried some solutions. First she rebooted the charger twice; told me to press the emergency stop button on the charger and told me to press unlock on the key fob six times.

At this stage the charger was still stuck fast so she told me to try the manual tag in the boot. I located this and gave it a good tug several times also without success. We were about to give up, having been advised that I'd need to call VW assistance, when the light changed to white and I detached the charger. I didn't dare try charging again just in case.

So I'm worried that the manual release isn't working. I'm wondering whether anyone else has experience of it - either successful or not. Also do you know if I can test it when I'm charging it at home with the granny charger connected, or is it possible I may do some damage? I suppose the correct thing would be to take it to the dealer, but they are nearly an hour's drive away and I've got several commitments over the next fortnight which could make it difficult.

Did you read the manual, the part about manual release? It is not an easy trick.

Yes I did - see the third paragraph above.

I had a similar sort of problem today with my home charger (1st attempt at charging) - could not release the connector. The manual suggests pressing the unlock button on the key fob 3 times in quick succession. Tried it and it worked for me.

That is odd for the Osprey to lock like that. I have been using them fairly regularly and stopped charging / unlocked the port in a number of ways, first selecting stop on the Osprey charger itself that prompts you to use the RFID card to confirm, and secondly by hitting the stop now button on the car infotainment charging screen. Other times on other chargers if the port is still locked pressing unlock multiple times on the key fob has worked. I also read on another forum a suggestion that you lock/unlock the car four times!!

One of the first times I charged was at a BP fast charge and the Type 2 lead did get stuck in the charger side, not the car. At this point, the charger had my cable and the app was reporting charge stop as did the charging post. A phone call to BP help desk, which I must say was quickly answered and very helpful. After a few attempts from BP to release the cable it came free. In hindsight, I think it was a case of pushing the connector before pulling it again that release the locking pin. Injected ABS plastic can have a sharp/ rough edge to it that can hold a locking pin especially if the connector has been pulled on.

It worth a go to giving it a push and a wiggle while push the unlock button in that moment of frustration.

Had a problem with BP polar network today…

Downloaded the app but confusing instructions - wasn’t sure whether I pay through the app (after uploading credit card details) and/or follow instructions on screen.

Something positive seemed to happened when I tapped my card on the reader so I plugged in. The station accepted payment but would not charge the car stating not enough power to proceed. I then found their cable was stuck in the car.

BP polar help was not answering. Wife got on the phone to AA whilst I managed to find disconnection instructions in the manual.

The diagram wasn’t completely accurate but I got to the loop, gave it a couple of good tugs and thankfully it worked. Light turned to white and cable disconnected. Phew! Think I’ll give BP a miss in future.

It seems you have to yank the manual release loop REALLY hard. At least, you do the first time you ever use it.

My question is: once you've pulled the manual release loop, does it need to go to a garage to be reset? Or can it then be pulled whenever necessary?


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Oh, and in case it helps anyone else, here's the story: I tried to use an Engie chargepoint yesterday - it didn't start charging at all, and then the cable wouldn't release from the car. The light was red and I had an "Unable to fully charge battery, consult manual" alert message. I stopped the charge on the app no problem, but still couldn't release it. All manner of locking/unlocking didn't work, so I went with the manual release. Possible causes: I had the car set to charge to 80%, and it was already on 78%? Or the cable was at full stretch around the back of the car, so maybe not aligned properly in the socket.