What to do if a charger is dead, busy, or wrong connector

Check the operator app (Statiq, Tata Power EZ Charge, ChargeZone, etc.) — sometimes the gun is fine but payment or RFID failed.

Look at your backup list on the trip page. Tap the next option on the map; EV Grids re-checks whether you can reach it from your current SOC.

If live status shows busy (0 free), do not wait more than 10–15 minutes on a single-gun site if a backup is within 5–10 km.

When you swap a charger, watch for reachability warnings — if a later leg breaks, tap Fix trip to apply the suggested reachable alternative.

Red reliability badge = treat as skip if any backup exists. Amber = verify on PlugShare or the operator app before you commit.

Download PDF or WhatsApp the itinerary before you leave — you will have stop names and Maps links even with patchy data (install EV Grids to home screen for offline access to your last saved trip).

Slow-charge at a hotel or mall Type 2 if you have time — better than towing.

Re-plan from your current city with a higher reserve SOC and Trip mode → Fewer stops only if you can charge to 90%+ safely.

Report the broken site via EV Grids feedback so other drivers see updated reliability signals.

Minute 0–2: app, RFID, other gun, obvious error lights. Minute 2–10: navigate to backup if it is within range. After that: do not auction your remaining SOC waiting for a miracle at a single-gun site. Re-plan from the current town with higher reserve.

If you are below 15% with no reachable DC, look for destination AC (hotel, mall, office) and stay. Towing an EV is expensive and slow. Report the site on EV Grids so the next driver sees a worse badge.

Many Indian highway sites do not publish gun counts. A green badge is not a lock. The playbook still starts with backups you selected before you left the previous stop — not with crowdsourced hope after you are already low.

Before concluding a site is dead, try the obvious sequence: a different gun at the same site, a different payment method or the operator app instead of the RFID card, unplugging and re-seating the connector, and restarting the session from the app rather than the screen. A surprising share of failures are handshake or payment problems, not hardware.

If the site is genuinely out, do not stand there recalculating. Navigate to the backup you already selected. That decision was made when you had more battery and better information than you do now.

Drop your speed. Consumption rises sharply with velocity, so 80 km/h instead of 105 km/h can convert a marginal leg into a comfortable one. Turn climate control down rather than off, and avoid the temptation to sprint to the next site.

If nothing DC is reachable, a slow AC charger or even a domestic socket at a hotel is not a failure — it is time. An hour of AC charging that gets you to a working DC site is a better outcome than arriving at 4% and hoping. Then report the dead site so the listing improves.

Do not sit in the bay diagnosing a network. Confirm connector, app, RFID, and that the gun is actually DC. If it is dead, leave. Your backup pin is for this moment. Every minute of HVAC in a parked car at 18% is a choice.

If both primary and backup in that cluster fail, the next cluster along the polyline is the plan — not a random mall 18 km into a city unless the planner already ranked it. Open the shared trip, pick the next stop’s primary, and go. Drop HVAC if you are inside reserve; the dashboard is the authority.

Report the dead charger in EV Grids feedback with the station name as shown on the card. That does not repair the gun. It improves the prior for the next driver. Then continue the trip. A failed stall is a routing event, not a referendum on EVs.

A dead gun is hardware. An occupied gun is time. A closed gate is access. EV Grids cannot tell which one you will meet. That is why the stop card is a cluster. If the primary fails, you already have a neighbour in the itinerary — use it before SOC walks into the reserve floor while you stand in the parking lot.

Do not start a random Maps search for ‘EV charger’ at 14%. City-centre pins that look close in bird’s-eye view can be 18 minutes of one-way streets. The ranked backups were filtered to the driving polyline. Trust that list first. If both fail, the corridor page’s next town belt is the third idea, not a WhatsApp pin with no connector type.

Report the dead listing from the footer feedback form when you are safe to do so. Marking a permanently closed site helps the next plan. We still will not promise the replacement gun is free. Keep 20% reserve so ‘dead’ is an inconvenience, not a flatbed.

Do not drive past the backup ‘to try one more famous plaza’. Do not wait 40 minutes on a single gun because the tea is good. Do not charge to 100% on a tapering curve while the next car has a highway plan of their own — leave at the SOC the next leg needs, then go. If you must sit, pull off the stall.

If you are already below reserve, slow down, drop HVAC a notch if safe, and navigate only to the nearest ranked CCS2. This is damage control, not the plan you should have left home with. The plan is the backup you selected the night before.