Pod Point CHAdeMO 50KW - Charging Error Isolation Fault

Dear Forum,

My 4H Outlamder has recently arrived.

I have tried to use 3 different Pod Point Rapid Charge stations at Lidl supermarkets. On each occasion the unit stops the charge after 2-3 minutes stating a 'charging error - isolation fault'. The unit can be reset and started again but only for a further 2-3 minutes.

The units have all been fully working (confirmed by calling Pod Point) and I am told by Mitsubishi that the car is OK as I am able to charge elsewhere.

Is anyone aware of any similar issues or experiences? Many thanks.

Because of the very large currents involved, Chademo chargers can be very sensitive and that is why they do all the checks before and during charging. There are known issues with other cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe with certain types of Chademo equipment, but we don't seem to have heard much with the Outlander. However that might be simply because not many people use Chademo on a regular basis for statistics to show up.

Generally public Chademo charging costs more than petrol and can shorten the life of the battery so people tend not to use it as much on the Outlander. Having said that I have a couple of times when the machine's been on free vend, however I've only ever used Ecotricity ones.

Pod Point rapid chargers at Lidl? Before we get involved in why and wherefores - are these really Chademo i.e. using the big connecting socket with the charger's own cable or the more usual street fast charger using the normal socket on the car?

I use Chademo at Lidl around once a week. I pop in there on the way back from town, and it's handy to get a free charge while I pick up a few things. I've never had a problem. And because it only charges to 80%, it can charge fine at roughly 19kW without worrying about balancing the battery cells, as long as you charge to 100% more slowly later on when the car can go through the balancing procedure. I 'm fairly sure that why Mitsubishi recommend you don't use Chademo all the time, as charging at 1.5C is not uncommon. The original Zoe was designed to charge at around 2C.

Zoe's do have issues with some chargers, though never Chademo as they're strictly type 2 AC. That is often down to the Zoe being quite particular on earthing. People have even fixed it by peeing near the earth rod to decrease the resistance

Assuming that these are chargers at different locations, it sounds like it's more likely to be an issue with your PHEV than with the points themselves. It could be a dodgy connection anywhere in the system that triggers a fault code when some reading is slightly out. The problem is convincing a dealer that you've got a problem if their software says everything is fine. I'm not sure on the best way to fix it, I'm afraid...

Thanks for the information / responses.

For clarity, I charge the car every night at home using the standard 3-pin plug. The Lidl / Pod Point CHAmeDO charges I use are on fairly regular journey routes and are ideal once my charge has been used, each has the same 'isolation fault' issue.

I did find a thread elsewhere containing the following text which may be of interest to others but again I would welcome any further input or advice:

It's apparently a know issue with Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with the newest CHAdeMO software (v 1.1) and charge stations from ABB.