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"Floppy" charging port door?

17K views 43 replies 25 participants last post by  sferrari63 
#1 ·
The small door of the charging port is very light, thin, a bit floppy and its alignment when closed is all but perfect. Have you seen such a thing too?
 
#4 ·
On the other hand I had a Leaf (the very first edition) back in the end of 2011 and the hatch on the bonnet was sturdy, mounted on solid metallic hinges: didn't feel cheap at all. The one on Golf GTE was unpleasant : the front VW badge serving as hatch was 100% plastic, including the hinges. Didn't close easily sometimes. But the one on I-Pace is actually worse and feels so fragile for something that will be manipulated so often.

A more rigid, heavier, stronger hatch would not have significantly penalized the cost and performance of the car.
 
#5 ·
Yes, seems unnecessarily flimsy.

Also, have others driven off leaving it open and the DC plug hanging after charging at public stations? It may be I have a mental block after putting the the charger back, especially at night. I'd find a warning light for that on the dashboard particularly useful.
 
#7 ·
Well, perhaps it is just as well it is a bit on the flimsy side.

Unlike BMWs with charging flaps, you don't get a warning when you start the car and the flap is open.

If you're rushing a bit it is all too easy to forget to close it. I did just that this afternoon when I reversed our of my garage. The flap caught on the edge of the door opening.

The aluminium part of the flap fell to the floor, leaving the plastic arm behind. I have plastic floor tiles, so luckily it wasn't damaged or scratched. I was able to clip it back on to the plastic arm.

Unfortunately the locking pin and rubber gasket got snapped off the plastic arm, but the pin snapping off probably saved the arm from damaging the bodywork. So maybe a lucky escape. The flap closes perfectly, but obviously won't lock.

I've just been round to my dealer and it is the whole plastic arm that needs to be replaced. The cost will be around £45 plus fitting. Fortunately the car is a Jaguar, rather than a Tesla, so the part will be here on Friday! :)

Obviously it was my stupid fault, but it is really remiss of Jaguar not to warn you when you've left the flap open!
 
#8 ·
Sorry to hear of your misfortune and as you say its great its not too expensive and available. With all the thing you get warnings about this should be easy enough to implement IF they monitor the flap position..
 
#9 ·
mikew said:
Well, perhaps it is just as well it is a bit on the flimsy side.

Unlike BMWs with charging flaps, you don't get a warning when you start the car and the flap is open.

If you're rushing a bit it is all too easy to forget to close it. I did just that this afternoon when I reversed our of my garage. The flap caught on the edge of the door opening.

The aluminium part of the flap fell to the floor, leaving the plastic arm behind. I have plastic floor tiles, so luckily it wasn't damaged or scratched. I was able to clip it back on to the plastic arm.

Unfortunately the locking pin and rubber gasket got snapped off the plastic arm, but the pin snapping off probably saved the arm from damaging the bodywork. So maybe a lucky escape. The flap closes perfectly, but obviously won't lock.

I've just been round to my dealer and it is the whole plastic arm that needs to be replaced. The cost will be around £45 plus fitting. Fortunately the car is a Jaguar, rather than a Tesla, so the part will be here on Friday! :)

Obviously it was my stupid fault, but it is really remiss of Jaguar not to warn you when you've left the flap open!
We have all been there, easily fixed though so that's good.

I believe the car won't allow you to drive off with the charging cable connected so that's good enough for me. I don't think we could complain that Jaguar didn't fit a little light to tell us the flap is open. I've never heard of anyone complain on a petrol or diesel car so why now?
 
#10 ·
Baikar said:
mikew said:
Well, perhaps it is just as well it is a bit on the flimsy side.

Unlike BMWs with charging flaps, you don't get a warning when you start the car and the flap is open.

If you're rushing a bit it is all too easy to forget to close it. I did just that this afternoon when I reversed our of my garage. The flap caught on the edge of the door opening.

The aluminium part of the flap fell to the floor, leaving the plastic arm behind. I have plastic floor tiles, so luckily it wasn't damaged or scratched. I was able to clip it back on to the plastic arm.

Unfortunately the locking pin and rubber gasket got snapped off the plastic arm, but the pin snapping off probably saved the arm from damaging the bodywork. So maybe a lucky escape. The flap closes perfectly, but obviously won't lock.

I've just been round to my dealer and it is the whole plastic arm that needs to be replaced. The cost will be around £45 plus fitting. Fortunately the car is a Jaguar, rather than a Tesla, so the part will be here on Friday! :)

Obviously it was my stupid fault, but it is really remiss of Jaguar not to warn you when you've left the flap open!
We have all been there, easily fixed though so that's good.

I believe the car won't allow you to drive off with the charging cable connected so that's good enough for me. I don't think we could complain that Jaguar didn't fit a little light to tell us the flap is open. I've never heard of anyone complain on a petrol or diesel car so why now?
Agree that seems logical but if this is happening to EV drivers (and not when we were driving ICE vehicles) there must be an, as yet, not fully understood reason. It would be a small fix for future models to add to the array of warning alerts.
 
#11 ·
mbart777 said:
Baikar said:
mikew said:
Well, perhaps it is just as well it is a bit on the flimsy side.

Unlike BMWs with charging flaps, you don't get a warning when you start the car and the flap is open.

If you're rushing a bit it is all too easy to forget to close it. I did just that this afternoon when I reversed our of my garage. The flap caught on the edge of the door opening.

The aluminium part of the flap fell to the floor, leaving the plastic arm behind. I have plastic floor tiles, so luckily it wasn't damaged or scratched. I was able to clip it back on to the plastic arm.

Unfortunately the locking pin and rubber gasket got snapped off the plastic arm, but the pin snapping off probably saved the arm from damaging the bodywork. So maybe a lucky escape. The flap closes perfectly, but obviously won't lock.

I've just been round to my dealer and it is the whole plastic arm that needs to be replaced. The cost will be around £45 plus fitting. Fortunately the car is a Jaguar, rather than a Tesla, so the part will be here on Friday! :)

Obviously it was my stupid fault, but it is really remiss of Jaguar not to warn you when you've left the flap open!
We have all been there, easily fixed though so that's good.

I believe the car won't allow you to drive off with the charging cable connected so that's good enough for me. I don't think we could complain that Jaguar didn't fit a little light to tell us the flap is open. I've never heard of anyone complain on a petrol or diesel car so why now?
Agree that seems logical but if this is happening to EV drivers (and not when we were driving ICE vehicles) there must be an, as yet, not fully understood reason. It would be a small fix for future models to add to the array of warning alerts.
It could be that most ICE fuel fillers are on the rear side of the car. If you leave the flap open you would see it in your mirrors. Whereas there is no way you can see a front mounted flap.
 
#12 ·
Surely it would be very easy to put a spring on the door, so it shuts itsself at least partially (the driver then pushes it fully closed) as soon as you take out the charging cable. But there again, not many ICE fuel filler flaps have anything.
 
#13 ·
Surely on ICE vehicles we all close the flap when having removed the filler nozzle and replaced the cap. Why on earth not close the flap when removing the charging plug?!
JLR cannot be blamed for their customers inability in remembering to do this.
We have to take responsibility
 
#15 ·
Dtrawford said:
Surely on ICE vehicles we all close the flap when having removed the filler nozzle and replaced the cap. Why on earth not close the flap when removing the charging plug?!
JLR cannot be blamed for their customers inability in remembering to do this.
We have to take responsibility
Agree but we also expect an increasing number of convenience features, especially in premium vehicles. Like manoeuvring cameras, adaptive cruise control, steering assist etc. etc. If there's sufficient demand for it JLR will add in the future.
 
#16 ·
Max69 said:
What I find less practical is in fact the small light in the port that lights your face more than the port itself.
Agree, seems a design flaw.
 
#18 ·
ChrisMc said:
Surely it would be very easy to put a spring on the door, so it shuts itsself at least partially (the driver then pushes it fully closed) as soon as you take out the charging cable. But there again, not many ICE fuel filler flaps have anything.
Please, no - it would be a right pain to have to hold the flap out of the way against a spring all the time when plugging in
 
#19 ·
oop north said:
ChrisMc said:
Surely it would be very easy to put a spring on the door, so it shuts itsself at least partially (the driver then pushes it fully closed) as soon as you take out the charging cable. But there again, not many ICE fuel filler flaps have anything.
Please, no - it would be a right pain to have to hold the flap out of the way against a spring all the time when plugging in
It's a hard life ain't it! :)
 
#20 ·
On my i8 it was on the front just like I Pace & that was much more expensive car.
Think sometimes we complain too much over trivial things & forget the bigger picture of what a superb car the I Pace really is!
Just chill & enjoy beauty & the beast.
 
#21 ·
nipri said:
On my i8 it was on the front just like I Pace & that was much more expensive car.
Think sometimes we complain too much over trivial things & forget the bigger picture of what a superb car the I Pace really is!
Just chill & enjoy beauty & the beast.
Ditto, also I saw a video recently and charge port location was discussed, the general opinion was that those EVs with charge ports on the front are subject to making the car completely unusable following a possible front on collision, they have more chance of being put out of action because of where they are located.

Not sure how correct that is, but food for thought.
 
#22 ·
To be honest, I like the E-tron. They have the charge port on both sides. My current Nissan Leaf 2.zero has the charge port at the front. For safety reasons it is mandatory to park reverse on quite a few sites I visit frequently. Also at home, I prefer to park reversed. In that way, you have a better view when leaving the parking spot/drive way. Parking reverse with the Leaf therefore requires quite an unusual long charging cable to reach the front of the car... The I-pace is already slightly better, but still too far at the front of the car. Tesla is much better equipped for reversed parking in most situations.
 
#24 ·
mjc said:
:p A necessary accessory for your I-Pace?
That's a great accessory. The i-pace has quite a long wheel base, so I hope it fits :lol:
 
#25 ·
ChrisMc - I have experience of fighting with a really heavy CCS cable in the pouring rain at a mway service station to charge my i3 and it was bad enough without having to push a spring flap out of the way!
 
#26 ·
oop north said:
ChrisMc - I have experience of fighting with a really heavy CCS cable in the pouring rain at a mway service station to charge my i3 and it was bad enough without having to push a spring flap out of the way!
Fair enough, no experience myself yet of such things, was just a thought. :D
 
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