If your Chevy Bolt doesn’t want to charge, there are several reasons for this. Also, if you see the “Unable to Charge” error message on the dash, this will help you narrow down the possible issues and check the most common problems. It’s not always a serious issue that requires a lot of investment to cope with.
In short, if your Chevy Bolt says “Unable to Charge”, something is wrong with the power supply, EV charger, wires, charging port, or on-board charger in your car. Each step of the charging process should be checked starting with the ones that are easy to check.
In this article, I will cover the following:
- What to do if your Chevy Bolt says “Unable to Charge”?
- What are the common reasons for this message to pop up?
- Solving the problems on your own.
- When will you need professional help?
Your actions when you see “Unable to Charge” in the Bolt
The first thing to do is to check if you have enough charge to drive to the nearest public charger and try it there. The thing is that very often the problem is in the EVSE (your home charger) or with the wires and possibly the home circuit. So, when you are trying another charger, you may find out that everything is OK on your car’s side.
Also, you may go to your neighbor and ask to plug a charger in their house for 5 minutes to check if it solves the problem.
Alternatively, you may immediately call a dealer and arrange your visit to the dealership to have the problem fixed. This is a good idea if your Bolt is still under warranty. But if the warranty period is over, this is the most expensive way to check what’s wrong and I’m sure you can do several DIY steps before this.
I strongly recommend addressing this problem while you still have some charge in your car. If you don’t have enough juice in your battery to go to the dealer, you may spend another 2-3 hundred dollars just on a tow truck service.
So, to try and solve the “Unable to Charge” problem on your own, you need to know the most common reasons for this. Let’s have a look at them!
What can cause the “Unable to Charge” message in the Chevy Bolt?
There are numerous things that can cause this message, but they are all connected with the charging process, so finding the problem shouldn’t be very hard. But Bolt owners very often go to forums after they tried everything and still couldn’t solve the problem. You need to carefully check every step to know for sure that everything is OK.
So, here are the common reasons to concentrate on:
1. Something is wrong with the circuit
The home circuit should have about 110 Volts in the US and 220 Volts in Europe. If it’s much higher or lower than that, the EVSE will just not work. Checking the voltage is not that hard if you have a good multimeter and know how to use it.
Usually, this problem may happen because of wiring problems, electrical equipment in your home, or maybe high loads on the home circuit. This also may be a temporary factor while the energy supplier repairs something in your area and the voltage is unstable.
To check this, drive your Bolt directly to the nearest public charger and try charging it there. You need to check the L2 and L3 charging types to ensure the problem was with the home circuit or equipment.
2. EVSE problems
If you charge your Bolt with the EVSE at home, this is one of the most common culprits of the “Unable to Charge” message. The chargers may burn, get damaged by water or some weather conditions, etc.
The EV and the charger are constructed in such a way that a charger is the first to burn if something is wrong with the network. So, if you find the charger broken, you should call professionals and ask them to find out the reason for its death. Maybe, you can ask the power supplying company to compensate for the lost charger.
3. Cables and wires
It’s not uncommon for the home EV charger to have a broken cable. You may have damaged it when you were hurrying to work in the morning and just drove over it. Or maybe the charging socket got directly into the puddle near your home and was damaged by corrosion. In such cases, the charger will not work and the EV will inform you that it’s “Unable to Charge” without telling you about the reasons.
Again, it’s easy to check by trying to charge your Bolt in any public L2 charging station.
4. The charging port in your car
Things escalate here and now we come exactly to the vehicle and its parts. The charging port in your Bolt is pretty durable and is hard to break. Hard, but not impossible. If you leave it open under the heavy rain, the port may be corroded or even burned the next time you try to use it. You may even see some smoke if things are very bad.
The charging port is probably the cheapest problem in your car that may trigger the “Unable to Charge” message. But still, you will need to pay quite a lot and wait for some time till the dealer gets it delivered.
5. Charging control glitch
If you’ve checked everything but your Bolt still can’t charge the battery and you don’t know the reason, you should pray for this option. If your charging control just has a glitch, you can reset it. For this, disconnect the 12V battery and wait for 5 minutes. Then connect the battery back. In such a way, you will be able to reset the charging control unit and it may start working.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t help really often. And if there is no reaction after such a simple repair, then, there is only one thing left in your car – the charger itself.
6. The on-board charger
The Chevy Bolt, like any modern EV, has an on-board charger that controls the voltage, amperage, and all other parameters of the charging current. If something goes wrong, the on-board unit may cut the charging process or pause it.
But if things are very unexpectedly bad, the charger may burn. In this case, you will need a pretty expensive OEM part (the charger itself) and very expensive labor to have it replaced. This is obviously not something you will want to encounter in your Bolt.
I wouldn’t say the problem of the on-board charge is very common for Bolt EVs, but it’s possible and several people reported in forums that their Bolts had to go through this process. Thankfully, most of these cars were still under warranty.
How can you solve the problem on your own?
I’ve presented several ways to try and locate the issue and even to solve the problem without any professional help. Let’s finalize the list of things you may try doing:
- go and try another charger (use the public L2 and L3 chargers) to make sure the car is OK;
- if the car is OK, have the EVSE inspected by professionals;
- if the problem is in the vehicle, go to the dealership and have the Bolt inspected thoroughly;
- unfortunately, DIY repair is not a good idea, you better go to the dealership if needed.
You can get a cheaper aftermarket charging port and try installing it on your own. But the process is extremely complicated and requires a lot of special experience and specific tools. Without this, you will not be able to succeed in DIY repairs.
EVs are not that easy to service and repair at home, so the dealership is a good choice if you eventually find out that something is wrong with the charging port or the on-board charger in your Bolt.
How much is it to cope with the charging problems in the Bolt?
If the problem is not with the car, the solution may be free for you. For example, the manufacturer of the EVSE may be glad to repair the unit under warranty. Or the power supplying company will solve the problems with the voltage in your house if there are any.
But repairing the Chevy Bolt may not be that cheap. If your car is not under warranty anymore, you will need to pay for everything.
Here are the prices:
- the charging port (OEM used) may cost $100-150 while the new one will cost you more than $300;
- the wiring and connections may also require replacement and you should add about $50 for that;
- the on-board charger for the Bolt (OEM, of course) should only be new and will cost $1000 to $1800 depending on the generation and type;
- the labor for installing the new on-board charger will cost you another $1000 (in the dealership);
- reprogramming and all other necessary things should be done for about $100-$200.
You may see that the prices for EV repair are not that low. The optimal thing for you is to have the broken cable on your EVSE. But things may not be as good as you want them to be, so you better be ready for anything.
Final thoughts
I hope I could answer your questions about the “Unable to Charge” message in the Chevy Bolt. Unfortunately, a lot of cases with broken ports and on-board chargers have been registered, so the chances are high. But still, you need to start with other, less expensive things.
If you still have questions or want to share your experience, just write in the comments below!