Charge Port Lock

[amphibious]

I'm making the rounds, test driving all sorts of EVs now. Something that was mentioned by the Nissan Leaf dealer is that the car has multiple options for locking the charge port.

Seems as though you can set it to stay locked until it has finished charging or you can set it to lock until you get back to your car (there may have been one or two other lock/charge modes too).

I really like the idea of having the plugged locked while it's charging, and then automatically unlock when it's full. Seems like this should be an obvious, standard feature but I've spoken with two Chevy dealers and a Kia dealer and none of them knew anything about this.

So, experts... does the Spark EV have this option?

 

[SparkMoore]

Nope. It will sound the alarm though, and send you a text via onstar (if you set that up) if you get disconnected.

 

[Zoomit]

You can choose to turn off the disconnect alarm in the vehicles settings menu.

 

[Chaconzies]

No. On regular Level 1 and 2 charging with the Normal J1772 connector there is no way to lock the connector into the port.
On level 3 DC fast charges SAE combo cord, the connector will lock while charging for safety purposes.

 

[SparkMoore]

No. On regular Level 1 and 2 charging with the Normal J1772 connector there is no way to lock the connector into the port.
On level 3 DC fast charges SAE combo cord, the connector will lock while charging for safety purposes.

Yeah, but if the L3 charger stops charging, the lock disengages. Someone can come up to your car, if the L3 has a way to turn it off, the person can just turn it off and unplug you. Unlike in some other cars where the plug stays locked in place regardless of the L3, the Spark and the SAE Combo plug disengage if L3 Charger is not actively charging the car.

 

[Chocula]

I'm making the rounds, test driving all sorts of EVs now. Something that was mentioned by the Nissan Leaf dealer is that the car has multiple options for locking the charge port.

Seems as though you can set it to stay locked until it has finished charging or you can set it to lock until you get back to your car (there may have been one or two other lock/charge modes too).

I really like the idea of having the plugged locked while it's charging, and then automatically unlock when it's full. Seems like this should be an obvious, standard feature but I've spoken with two Chevy dealers and a Kia dealer and none of them knew anything about this.

So, experts... does the Spark EV have this option?

This seemed like a good idea to me when I first bought my Spark EV, but seems less relevant after having the car for over a year. I have never had anyone unplug my car while it was charging.

My L1 charger is the only one that I would actually want to lock to reduce the likelihood of theft, and this can be done using a normal padlock and looping the cord through the tire. This seems like a hassle, but I have not found L1 outlets to be particular convenient, hence it has not been an issue. I have only used my L1 charger away from home once, and it was secured by my friends garage door.

 

[SparkMoore]

Didn't mean to post in this thread. Apologies.