[Carty]

Today, we where required to make a very unplanned journey at about two hours notice.
The car only had about 26% of range remaining on the battery.
I needed a charge and fast !.
About two miles away from my home address, there is a fairly new Polar rapid charger located on a hotel car park.
I grabbed my Polar Plus RFID card and placed the car on only its second rapid charge in almost seven months of ownership.
Plugged in the car and off it went with out any fuss or bother !.
We had been charging for about 25 minutes ( ish ) and the car was just approaching the 78 - 79% mark.
I intended to let the car hit 80% and then stop the charge.
As I walked up to the charger to cancel / finish the charge, the screen suddenly displayed a large red cross and some text under the red cross.
It displayed a "Translation error" warning.
The car had stopped charging of course.
We had enough range to make our trip, so off we went.
Has anybody else witnessed this type of behaviour folks ?.
Is it the car or is this a known problem on this type of Polar charger ?.
99% of our charging needs are done at home and when we have a long trip to make, it hits the full battery status with no problem at all.
P.S. - I could not see anywhere on the info screen that reports what speed we where getting from the charging unit.
The length of time we had been charging was shown, together with the amount of power we had received into the battery, but no indication of the speed of the charge.
Am I missing something or does it not display the speed / rate of charge ?.

 

[Neilew]

I've had several problems with Polar and my Zoes, but not used Polar with the MG yet. I prefer to use GeniePoint (Engenie, etc.)

Not many chargers show the rate of charge on their screens. To find your charging rate you need to turn the car on (this is ok in the MG. There are several instances of Bjorn Nyland doing this in his Thailand videos.) and scroll down to the power usage bit of the API(?). You will see the Volts and Amps being used, but with negative figures (as they're going in, not out). Multiply the volts by the amps and you'll get the kWs. I downloaded a calculator to my phone just to do this.

 

[njm106]

I think I've watched a video of someone having a similar issue it might have been KC Talks EV and I think from memory it charges fine after just stops at this point for some reason.

 

[Spike]

Several mentions of translation error message with the MG over on the FB MGEV group.

 

[davesul]

My understanding has been that the translation error means that for some reason the information for billing the cost of the charge has an error, and effectively the transaction is cancelled.
If this is true then the charging for this particular session will be free...

 

[GMat]

It is a known error with the MG and polar chargers, Apparently Polar is supposed to rolling out software updates for their chargers but seem to be taking their time doing it. I think you can start a new charge if you need that bit extra.

 

[RicM]

I have a Polar unit in the next town that is 20p/kW or free with ChargePlace Scotland card. Roughly on about 3 of 10 occasions I have used it it has stopped charging with the 'Translation Error' and red warning cross. It seems to reach about 77% then stops with the error.

 

[Carty]

I have a Polar unit in the next town that is 20p/kW or free with ChargePlace Scotland card. Roughly on about 3 of 10 occasions I have used it it has stopped charging with the 'Translation Error' and red warning cross. It seems to reach about 77% then stops with the error.

Thank you for all of your reply's to my question.
@RicM this is very same as my experience !.
I had decided that I would end the session at the 80% charge point, when approached the charger to stop the charge, it was displaying either 77 - 78%.
At this point it had ended the charge and displayed the large red cross on the screen with the "Translation" message.
I have passed the charger twice today and on each occasion it was in use.
There was an eNV 200 charging today, first time I have ever seen one in the flesh.
Looks like a sometimes common glitch between the MG ZS EV and the Polar units then ?.
I will check my Polar Plus bill when it is available and see if I have been billed for the charge.
I guess restarting the charge from 80% would trigger another connection fee ?.
Thanks once again for posting your reply's.

 

[GMat]

I think the connection fees only apply to AC chargers on Polar instant

 

[Sandy]

Yes its a common fault between Poolar chargers and the MG. Upshot is the translation error results in a free charge too. I suppose we should be careful what we wish for...... free but not getting over 80% or a fix a fee and 100% slow charging if you need it.

There is a fix and its being rolled out to Poolar chargers currently, so the freebies won't last for long people.

 

[Carty]

Yes its a common fault between Poolar chargers and the MG. Upshot is the translation error results in a free charge too.

Bit of an update on the experience I had with the Polar charger stopping at 80% with a translation issue showing on the screen.
Just received my Polar Plus monthly statement and it did in fact charge me for the session.
Maybe I was a little unlucky on the day, but just to confirm I was billed for the juice.
The bill shows £2.65 for 21.2 kWh at 12.5p per unit and I was on charge for 35 minutes.
It gave me about 100 miles of range if I remember correctly ?.

 

[davesul]

Bit of an update on the experience I had with the Polar charger stopping at 80% with a translation issue showing on the screen.
Just received my Polar Plus monthly statement and it did in fact charge me for the session.
Maybe I was a little unlucky on the day, but just to confirm I was billed for the juice.
The bill shows £2.65 for 21.2 kWh at 12.5p per unit and I was on charge for 35 minutes.
It gave me about 100 miles of range if I remember correctly ?.

A little strange - according to here Polar Network - EV charging network guide & costs the Polar Plus cost per kWh is 15 p/kWh from a 50 kW Rapid.

 

[Carty]

A little strange - according to here Polar Network - EV charging network guide & costs the Polar Plus cost per kWh is 15 p/kWh from a 50 kW Rapid.

Yeah - I have just checked the charges on that rapid and it is showing 15p unit on the Polar Plus subscription ?.
Here is a screenshot of the line item on my bill.

 

[GMat]

12.5 is the unit price before VAT