New “Seamless Retry” Technology Automatically Restarts Failed EV Charging Sessions

In a noteworthy development that could transform the electric vehicle (EV) charging experience, the ChargeX Consortium has introduced an innovative solution called “seamless retry” that automatically restarts failed charging sessions without requiring driver intervention.

Collaboration to Improve Charging Experiences

The breakthrough comes from a collaboration between researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), working alongside industry stakeholders as part of the National Charging Experience Consortium. Their solution targets a common scenario that every EV driver dreads: returning to their vehicle after running errands only to discover their charging session failed to initiate, leaving them with little to no added charge.

Currently, when a charging session fails, drivers must physically return to their vehicle, unplug the connector, and plug it back in to restart the process. While this manual intervention usually resolves the issue, it creates an inconvenient disruption to what should be a seamless experience. The new seamless retry mechanism eliminates this hassle by automatically detecting failed sessions and initiating a restart without any physical interaction required.

Ed Watt, a researcher at NREL and lead author of the consortium’s report, explains the practical benefits stating, “With a seamless retry mechanism in place, an EV driver at a retail center can plug in a charging connector, provide user input data, leave to shop, and feel confident that they will return to a charged vehicle.”

Ensuring a Smoother Charging Process

Moreover, the technology works by automatically resetting both the vehicle and the charging infrastructure when a failure is detected, and then initiating a new charging session in the background. This process is specifically designed for DC fast charging scenarios, where simple connection issues are often the root cause of failed sessions.

However, the researchers have not overlooked potential concerns with the new system. One key consideration is the additional time required for automatic retry attempts, which could potentially frustrate users. To address this, the consortium recommends implementing comprehensive real-time status updates that would keep drivers informed about what went wrong, how many retry attempts have been made, and what actions might be needed based on the specific type of failure.

Kristi Moriarty, a senior transportation researcher at NREL and ChargeX Consortium lead, emphasizes the broader implications of this development stating, “By resolving a variety of session failure types automatically, we have unlocked a significantly scalable way of improving users’ future charging experiences.”

Further Refinement and Implementation

Furthermore, the ChargeX Consortium plans to continue refining the seamless retry mechanism through additional research and development. Future work will focus on developing more targeted retry methods, establishing detailed implementation guidelines, and conducting thorough verification testing to ensure reliable real-world performance. In addition, this advancement builds upon the consortium’s previous work, which included standardizing EV charging error codes to enable faster diagnostics and resolution of charging issues.

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Through this latest development for enhancing the EV charging experience, the seamless retry solution reveals how technological innovation can address practical challenges in the EV ecosystem, moving the industry closer to a future where charging an EV becomes increasingly convenient and reliable.

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