That Hertz: Nissan LEAFs bricked after plugging into charging station

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Back in the Dark Days of motoring, it wasn’t unheard of for drivers to unknowingly fill their car’s fuel tank with a batch of ‘bad gas,’ perhaps caused by water seeping into the station’s underground holding tank. Now, it appears drivers of electric vehicles could run into something similar whilst using public charging stations.

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That Hertz: Nissan LEAFs bricked after plugging into charging station Back to video

According to a report from British Colombia, two drivers — both with Nissan LEAF electric vehicles — found their EVs inoperable after plugging them into BC Hydro infrastructure at Horseshoe Bay, near Vancouver. Following what seemed like a normal charging session, drivers of both machines reported their cars were ‘basically inoperable’ with dashboard illuminated like festive Christmas trees and a distinct inability to shift into forward or reverse gears.

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The vehicles were towed to a local dealer for service, where at least one of the owners was presented with a $7,000 repair bill. Apparently, the charging session damaged a power module in the vehicle, causing other components to spaz out and brick the car. Without specific details on the repair it is difficult to gauge the accuracy of that diagnosis but it’s worth noting that a Nissan LEAF power delivery module is listed in the official Nissan parts catalog at a suggested retail price of $2,231.40 (USD). Given today’s exchange rate and the labour involved with its replacement, perhaps the seven-grand estimate isn’t totally out to lunch.

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When reached by local media, BC Hydro acknowledged the incident and said they hadn’t seen this issue at any of their other stations. They also mentioned that only Nissan LEAF drivers seemed to have an issue at this station, with other electric vehicles being able to charge with no problems. Alert readers will recall the LEAF is one of the few EVs on sale in Canada with a CHAdeMO connector instead of a CCS Combo connector. A quick Internet search reveals some Electrify America chargers have also allegedly fried power modules in LEAFs south of the border. As for the driver in Horseshoe Bay, they are hoping to hash out some agreement with BC Hydro to help cover costs.

Bad gas, bad electricity — it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.