EV charger not charging the car
Three separate things can each decide not to charge — the car, the chargepoint and the tariff app — and most of these faults are one of them following an instruction.
What it usually means
A home chargepoint is not a socket that pushes electricity into a car. It is one half of a conversation. The charger offers a current, the car decides whether and how much to accept, and either side can refuse. So the first useful question is not what is broken but who is saying no, and there are three candidates: the car, the chargepoint, and whatever app or tariff integration sits above them.
Start with the law, because it explains the single most common complaint. Chargepoints sold in Great Britain since mid-2022 have to be smart, which under the regulations means they arrive with default charging hours preset outside peak times, and with a randomised delay of up to ten minutes on every charge. Plug in at six in the evening and a compliant charger may quite correctly do nothing at all, then start at half past eleven. Nothing is wrong. The default window can be overridden and the delay can usually be skipped with a boost or charge-now button, but a new charger that "does not work in the evening" is nearly always this.
Next, count your schedules. A modern setup can easily hold three: one in the car, one in the chargepoint app, and one imposed by an energy tariff that takes control of charging in return for a cheaper rate. They do not merge — they intersect, and the intersection can be empty. A car set to charge between one and five, a tariff that offers midnight to seven, and a charge limit already reached will produce a car that sits plugged in with a light on and no energy flowing, three times over. The car's own charge limit is worth checking specifically, because a battery already at its ninety per cent ceiling will report itself full and the chargepoint will show as connected but idle.
Then there is load management. Most installations include a current sensor around the incoming supply so the charger can reduce its output when the house is drawing heavily, because the alternative is a main fuse. On a cold evening with an oven, a shower and a heat pump running, that can throttle charging to almost nothing or pause it, and it is doing its job. Solar and battery integrations do something similar deliberately — a charger set to use surplus generation only will sit idle all evening by design.
That leaves the physical and the electrical. Connectors have to be seated properly: a plug not pushed fully home will fail to lock, and a locking mechanism reporting a failure is usually solved by pushing the plug in further rather than by a repair. Cold, wet or salty conditions cause contact problems in older connectors. And the important exception to everything above: a charger showing an electrical fault, or one that has tripped a protective device, is not a scheduling puzzle. That is the one branch of this fault where the answer is to leave it alone and get an electrician.
How to narrow it down
Work through these in order.
How old is the chargepoint, and what time of day are you plugging in?
Chargepoints sold here since mid-2022 come with default off-peak charging hours and a randomised start delay of up to ten minutes, both required by regulation. If a new unit does nothing at teatime and everything at midnight, it is complying rather than failing, and the default window is a setting you can change.
How many schedules are involved — car, app and tariff?
List them explicitly. A car timer, a chargepoint schedule and a smart tariff that controls charging can each be perfectly reasonable and still leave no window where all three agree. Turn all of them off, charge once, and add them back one at a time. This resolves more of these than any hardware check.
What charge limit is set in the car?
Most cars let you cap the state of charge, and many are set to eighty or ninety per cent deliberately. A car at its limit reports itself complete, and the chargepoint will show connected and idle rather than faulted. Check this on the car’s screen rather than in the charger app, because the car is the one enforcing it.
What is the light on the unit doing, and what does the manual say that pattern means?
Note the colour and whether it is steady or flashing, then look it up rather than interpreting it. Red does not universally mean broken — some makes use it for a stopped or paused state — and a flashing pattern is often a specific published condition. Getting this right is the difference between a setting and a call-out.
Is the plug fully home and locked?
Push it in firmly until you hear or feel it seat, then try again. Locking failures and cables that seem stuck are usually mechanical and usually solved by pushing further in rather than pulling harder, which is the opposite of what instinct suggests. Check the pins for dirt or corrosion while it is out.
Was anything heavy running in the house at the time?
Most installations have load management with a sensor on the incoming supply, and it reduces or pauses charging when the house is drawing hard. An oven, an electric shower and a heat pump at once can throttle a charger to nothing. If charging works at two in the morning and not at seven in the evening, this is why.
Is the charger set to use solar or surplus only?
Chargers that integrate with solar have modes that wait for spare generation, and on a dull day or after dark those modes will never start. It looks exactly like a fault. Switch to a plain full-rate charge for one session to confirm the hardware is fine before investigating anything else.
Has it tripped a breaker, or is it showing an electrical fault?
If either, stop here — this is no longer a scheduling question. Chargepoints in the UK carry protection against earth faults and against loss of the supply neutral, and a device that has operated has detected something real. Do not keep resetting it; note exactly what is displayed and get an electrician to it.
Codes commonly shown with this
- Not charging on scheduleAll brandsAlmost certainly the law rather than a fault. Chargers are required to apply a random delay of up to ten minutes and to ship with a default off-peak schedule.Usually simple to fix
- Red lightAll brandsDo not assume red means broken. Some manufacturers publish it as a stop condition; Ohme publish steady red on their Home and Go as connected and waiting for your car.Get it checked
- Charging slower than expectedAll brandsUsually the charger sharing the house supply, a solar mode doing its job, or a CT clamp problem — Ohme publish a specific fallback to 16 amps.Usually simple to fix
- Charge Blockedmyenergi zappiNot a fault. The car keeps asking to charge after it already reported complete, and the zappi has stopped answering.Usually simple to fix
- Lock Failuremyenergi zappiCode 23, and the fix is counter-intuitive: push the plug further in to release it. Untethered zappis only.Get it checked
- Flashing yellowOhmeOn a Home or Go this means an electrical fault, and all lights flashing together means the car. Steady red on these models is not a fault at all.Get it checked
When it is urgent
Take care
What it costs
Typical repair cost
£0–£250
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated September 2026. Your quote may differ.
Get an engineer to look at this
We do not pass enquiries to a repair firm, so there is no form here. When you book a registered electrician, tell them the make, the model and the exact code or message on the display, and ask whether they carry parts for this make — that is what turns one visit into a repair rather than a quote.
Technical review
Not reviewed by an engineer
No engineer has read this page. Severity follows what the manufacturer publishes, and we would rather tell you that than let a byline imply a sign-off.