Batteries & Chargers…

[Junior Tibby]

I currently have a BMW i3 and have been thinking of ways to perform upgrades to keep it current. At the moment it charges at a max of 7kw and only via type 2. It also has a battery that has a max range of 100 miles. I live in the UK and was wondering if it’s possible to not only upgrade the HV battery but also change the charging system to increase charging speed? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[kd7iwp]

I don't believe you can increase charging speeds when charging via AC level 2 as the built-in charger in the car can only handle that. You would need to use a DC fast charger (up to 50kw) as the only faster option. There are people who have upgraded the battery, up to the largest 120ah version but it is very expensive as you would imagine. BMW made all 3 batteries physically the same size and you can upgrade in-place if needed.

 

[mojo]

I currently have a BMW i3 and have been thinking of ways to perform upgrades to keep it current. At the moment it charges at a max of 7kw and only via type 2. It also has a battery that has a max range of 100 miles. I live in the UK and was wondering if it’s possible to not only upgrade the HV battery but also change the charging system to increase charging speed? Thanks in advance for any advice.

You don't say here, but other posts suggest that you have a 2014 model. At that time I believe that DC charging was only an option. If yours does not have the extra two-pin DC charging socket at the bottom of the charge port, your options will be very limited. If you don't have that option, it probably won't be economically viable to add it - not least because the cost of using public chargers is so much more costly that AC charging at home (in the UK, often ten or more times the cost of overnight AC charging at home on an EV tariff).

Even if you could justify the cost of adding DC charging (probably requiring the replacement of two expensive modules - the EME and KLE), it would not help for home charging, as DC charging equipment (outside the car) is very expensive and would require a 3-phase supply to your home.

Similarly, upgrading to a larger battery probably won't be viable either - typically the cost will exceed the value of a car of that age. I'm aware of one company in the UK that will install secondhand batteries, and that might be a way to go from 60Ah to 94Ah (but possibly not to 120Ah due to technical issues). But again, the cost would probably near enough equal (or possibly exceed) the current value of the car.

 

[Junior Tibby]

I don't believe you can increase charging speeds when charging via AC level 2 as the built-in charger in the car can only handle that. You would need to use a DC fast charger (up to 50kw) as the only faster option. There are people who have upgraded the battery, up to the largest 120ah version but it is very expensive as you would imagine. BMW made all 3 batteries physically the same size and you can upgrade in-place if needed.

I gathered this would be expensive. At this point I’m just trying to find out how expensive.

 

[Junior Tibby]

You don't say here, but other posts suggest that you have a 2014 model. At that time I believe that DC charging was only an option. If yours does not have the extra two-pin DC charging socket at the bottom of the charge port, your options will be very limited. If you don't have that option, it probably won't be economically viable to add it - not least because the cost of using public chargers is so much more costly that AC charging at home (in the UK, often ten or more times the cost of overnight AC charging at home on an EV tariff).

Even if you could justify the cost of adding DC charging (probably requiring the replacement of two expensive modules - the EME and KLE), it would not help for home charging, as DC charging equipment (outside the car) is very expensive and would require a 3-phase supply to your home.

Similarly, upgrading to a larger battery probably won't be viable either - typically the cost will exceed the value of a car of that age. I'm aware of one company in the UK that will install secondhand batteries, and that might be a way to go from 60Ah to 94Ah (but possibly not to 120Ah due to technical issues). But again, the cost would probably near enough equal (or possibly exceed) the current value of the car.

Hi, I rely on public charging (I live in a flat) which is great when I’m in central London, as there’s an abundance of AC type 2 charging stations but as you can imagine charging can take some time. This is the reason I wanted to explore not only upgrading the battery but also the charging system. Can you ping me a message with the details of the company that undertakes these upgrades, please?