Prise de charge ou broches endommagées

The vehicle's charging socket has been damaged — bent or corroded pins, a cracked housing, or debris and water inside it.

This is the commonest physical fault on the charging system, and the reason is simply exposure. The inlet is the one high-voltage connector on the car that is opened by hand, outdoors, in all weather, several times a week for years. Nothing else on the vehicle combines that much handling with that much environment.

The signal pins matter more than the big ones and are the ones that bend. Alongside the heavy power contacts sit two small pins carrying the proximity signal and the Control Pilot — the negotiation that decides whether charging happens at all. They are thinner, they are easier to bend, and a charge point will refuse to deliver any current if they are not making cleanly. So a damaged inlet usually presents as a car that will not charge rather than one that charges slowly.

The mechanical cause worth naming is cable weight. A rapid charging lead is heavy, and left hanging from the socket rather than supported it levers on the inlet every time the car rocks or the wind blows. Over time that is what bends pins and cracks housings.

Two things are cheap to check before anything is booked. Look into the socket with a torch: bent pins, green or white deposits and standing water are all visible. And try a different cable — a damaged cable end produces identical symptoms and is far cheaper to replace than an inlet.