Why didn’t my charge start?

What happens after you tap Start charge

Three things happen in order, and a failed start is almost always one of them not finishing.

1. We authorize your payment method. This is usually a temporary hold rather than a payment, and the amount is shown to you before you confirm. If you’ve already used the same card in the last 24 hours we normally skip it.
2. We send the start command. Aalto is connected to the operator that runs the charger, so the request reaches the unit without you needing an account with them.
3. We wait for the charger to confirm. Aalto keeps checking until the session reports as started. That wait is up to about two minutes on most networks, and about a minute on some.

While that’s happening you’ll see Starting Charge Session, with a note that it can take up to two minutes. The charger can only confirm once your vehicle is actually connected to the stall and connector you selected, so if the cable isn’t latched yet, seat it firmly now.

If the clock reaches 0:00 the message changes to “This is taking longer than usual.” That’s a short grace period rather than an open-ended wait. If the charger still hasn’t confirmed, we stop waiting and show a timeout, which is covered below.

Plug in right before you start, not earlier

This is one of the most common causes of a failed start.

Most chargers arm themselves the moment you plug in, and they only hold that state for a short time. It’s often around two minutes, though it varies by charger. If no session has started by then, the charger stands down and goes back to idle.

What makes this confusing is that nothing looks wrong afterwards. The charger still reads as available and the cable is still in the car, but as far as the charger is concerned the moment has passed. It won’t accept a session until the connector is unplugged and put back in.

It catches people who plug in first and then do something else: create an account, add a card, take a phone call, or walk around the unit looking for the stall number. By the time they start the charge, the window has closed.

So do it in this order:

1. Get to the point where Start charge is ready to tap. Pick the stall and connector, sign in, and confirm your payment method first.
2. Plug in, and push until the connector clicks.
3. Start the charge.

If you’ve already been plugged in for more than a couple of minutes, unplug, wait about 30 seconds, plug back in until it clicks, and start again.

This window is set by the charger itself, not by Aalto, so it applies whether you start from the Aalto app or from the operator’s own.

Find the message you saw

The sections below cover the ones where the message doesn’t tell the whole story.

“Start charge timed out”

This is the most common failure, and it usually isn’t a broken charger.

Before you try again, reset the connection. Tapping Start charge a second time without unplugging tends to fail the same way, because the charger is still holding the state left over from the attempt that just timed out.

1. Unplug the connector from your car.
2. Wait about 30 seconds.
3. Plug back in until it clicks, and start the charge again straight away.

While you’re there, check the following. Any one of them will cause this on its own.

• The stall number. The number printed on the unit has to match the one you selected in the app. On a site with several units, picking the neighbouring stall is the single most frequent cause of this message. Nothing you do at the charger will fix a session started against a different stall.
• The connector. If a stall offers more than one plug, the one you selected is the one the charger is waiting on.
• The cable. It has to be pushed in far enough to latch. A connector that looks seated but never clicked leaves the charger with nothing to report.
• The car. Some vehicles won’t accept a session while asleep or locked. Unlock it and try again.

If two attempts at the same stall time out, stop retrying it and move to a different charger. Another stall at the same site is usually the quickest thing to try, and if there isn’t a free one, the map will show you what’s nearby.

“Pre-authorization on your payment method failed”

Two different situations produce this message, and the wording only describes one of them.

Your card was declined. The hold is a real authorization, so a card can fail it even when it has room for the purchase. Prepaid and gift cards commonly fail. Add a different card and try again.

You have an unpaid balance. If an earlier session couldn’t be billed, that amount has to clear before you can start a new charge, and the same pre-authorization message is shown. Adding another card won’t change it. Contact support and we’ll tell you what’s outstanding.

“Invalid request. Please contact support.”

Despite the wording, this almost always means one thing: there’s no usable payment method on your account. Add a card and start again. If you’ve just added one and still see this, contact us.

“User already has a pending start charge session, please wait.”

A previous start attempt is still open. That can happen if you tapped Start twice, or if an earlier attempt is still inside its two-minute wait.

Wait about two minutes and try again. Starting a second charge while the first is pending is what causes this, so give the first one time to finish or time out. In the iPhone app this appears as a brief banner rather than a full error. If it persists after a few minutes, contact support with the station name.

“Aalto network is at capacity”

Despite the wording, this has nothing to do with how busy the site is. It means one of two things, depending on who operates the charger.

On another network’s station, we couldn’t get a working connection to that network at that moment. The charger is probably fine.

On a charger Aalto operates, that unit isn’t currently connected to us, so there’s no way for us to send it a start command. It usually reconnects on its own.

Either way, wait a few minutes and try again. If it keeps happening at the same site, tell us which one.

It says you’re already charging

If a session is already running on your account, starting another one doesn’t fail. It opens the session you already have. If that’s a charge you thought had ended, it may still be closing out, which can take a few minutes after you unplug. End it from the session screen if there’s a Stop charge button, or at the charger if there isn’t.

Start charge is greyed out

If the button was never available, the reason is on the button itself. Hover or tap it and you’ll see one of these:

• “Charging with [network] is down for maintenance.” Temporary, on our side. Try again later.
• “Aalto can’t start charges on [network] yet.” We map these stations so you can find them, but there’s no way to start one from Aalto. Start it at the charger with that network’s own app or card.
• “This charger can’t be started remotely.” The network supports Aalto, but this particular unit is tap-to-charge or card-only hardware. Start it at the charger itself.
• “Tesla vehicles only.” The car authenticates itself at these chargers, so there’s no session for Aalto to start or bill.

A station with no published pricing, or with no available connector, also can’t be started.

What to send us

If you’ve tried the steps above, use Need help? on the station or session screen. It prefills a message with the ID we need, which is the fastest route to an answer.

Otherwise, contact support with:

• The station name and the stall number printed on the unit.
• The exact message you saw on screen.
• Roughly when you tried, and how many times.
• Your Charge Session ID, if you got as far as a session.

A charge that failed to start doesn’t bill you. We release the authorization as soon as the attempt fails, though a pending item can sit on your statement for a few days afterwards while your bank clears it.