We’ve been running our Nissan Townstar EV for nearing 8 months, without issue, until it suddenly started displaying the “AC Charge Impossible” fault.

The was recovered to Nissan, who couldn’t find any issues or fault with the van, and successfully had is charging. Immediately getting the van back we plugged it in and no fault presented itself… until a few days later.

We tried all of the pointers on line, charged the 12v battery, installed a 12v batter monitor, had the installer check the earth which was well within specifications at 0.3ohms. 

The van would charge at our workshop using the 3pin granny charger, but the same charger wouldn’t work at home, nor would the 7kw charger at home which was supplied from a separate consumer unit, fed with its own tails from the main supply, isolating it from the main consumer unit.

The only common thing was that both consumer units shared the same feed, so a call to the DNO for them to investigate.
Their engineers visited conducted tests, to find everything is fine.

Someone suggested perhaps a voltage issue, so for a few days we’ve been staring at a multi-meter at various times of day, and to our surprise the voltage was flickering, and dropping below the minimum 216v for mains supply.

Another call to the DNO, who again conducted tests and found no fault, this time the engineer headed to the local substation to check the voltage there. I was surprised to see the engineer back shortly after, they may have found the cause of this mysterious fault that’s had us stumped for the past month.

The local substation experienced an oil leak, and subsequently a component failed, resulting in our supply being provided by another substation, putting strain on the network, and supply issues. The timing of the oil leak ties in with approximately when the AC Charge Fault occurred, and with a fix at the substation due in the coming days.

It’s no surprise to update that approximately 1 week after the we were advised the substations replacement part would arrive, it appears they’ve installed it and now we’re back charging without issues. The voltage still fluctuates ~1V, but nothing compared to what it was, and remains within the prescribed limits.

If you too are experiencing the same fault, and have clutched at all of the other straws then don’t rule out a potential issue with the power supply!