How to disconnect your charging cable

This is not a made up story, it is a real conversation between a client “C” (a new owner of an electric car) and a service technician “T” (a technician from a dealership the client got the car from).

C: Hello, I bought the EV from you guys and have a problem.
T: Hello, what is the problem?
C: I cannot disconnect the charging cable from my EV, it’s stuck.
T: What do you mean by stuck?
C: I cannot disconnect it from the car.
T: Did you try to pull it out?
C: Yes, I did, it doesn’t work.
T: Try to pull harder.
C: I did try that, but nothing, I would have to use real force.
T: Then do that.
C: OK, the cable is out, but something broke in the process.

Well ….. if you get an advise like this, even though it was from a technician,

PLEASE NEVER EVER LISTEN TO THAT!!!

By using the force:
In the better case, you will “only” damage the socket on the car, as the driver actually did. It might be a costly repair
In the worst case, you can get badly injured. Don’t forget, after all we are dealing with high current here!

So how do you remove it safely?
It’s very easy and the technician should have known!
Physically open the car door on the driver’s side, unlocking the door won’t do it. By opening the door the power will be disconnected and you can easily remove the cable without using any force and without causing any damage.