Charging speed

[ColinP]

I have a 1-year old I3 120 (EUR) with no REX. The wall charger supplier, which I use in an apartment block, stated that the car could be charged in less than 3 hours, but it always takes all night (12-14 hours). When I queried this they say:

‘An 11Kw unit has 3 live connections, each able to deliver 3.6Kw to which the combined power available is 10.8Kw, rounded to 11Kw for simplicity of marketing. As the BMW i3 can only connect to one of these live connections it can only access 3.6Kw and therefore this is the vehicles maximum charge rate on that charger. The only way to resolve this would be to upgrade the charger to a 22Kw charger as this would then allow up to 7.2Kw to be drawn down each phase.’

So is there no alternative to slow charging at this charging point? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[alohart]

Is an 11 kW AC in-car charger not standard European i3's? If your i3 has only the single-phase 7.2 kW charger that is standard in the U.S., you would be limited to 3.7 kW from a 3-phase 11 kW EVSE (wall box). Do you not have the option of installing a single-phase 32 A @ 230 V (7.4 kW) wall box?

 

[jadnashuanh]

ONly a few countries get a 3-phase acv input i3, and Belgium may be one of the few or only one in Europe. The standard input everywhere else is a single phase that will operate on about 100-250vac and then, the maximum input power is 7400W, but is more limited by the number of amps the device says it has. A three phase input will allow a higher amount of watts to be pushed into the batteries. The EVSE sends out a pilot signal that indicates how many amps it has available, and then, the vehicle will take as many of those as it can use up to a maximum of that 7400W. Power = volts * amps. The major controlling factor is how many amps the EVSE can provide.

 

[user 4543]

I believe all i3 models sold in Europe since the 94Ah battery became standard are equipped for 11kW charging (my 2016 REX is thus)

However, it's necessary to have the appropriate 3 phase type 2 cable to permit this, a single phase cable will only allow 7kW charging. I prefer to use DC rapid charging when on long journeys (locally there are still some free to use 7kW units here in south Oxfordshire, which is great!)

Chris

 

[eXodus]

did you adjust the charging speed in the car to maximum?

It's called charge rate. When it comes from the factory it's set to "reduced"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxict-O9xlk

 

[ColinP]

Thanks for replies. I think this means I have to buy a 3-phase cable, costing £150, and will then get a full (80%) charge in less than 3 hours. I believe I have the standard single-phase cable supplied with new cars (plus the 13 amp one which I don't use). Please tell me if I'm wrong before I make the investment!

 

[jadnashuanh]

Post a picture of the charging socket in your vehicle...your existing cable may only have N and L1 connected, L2 and L3 may be empty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_2_connector

To be able to charge with 3-phase, N, and L1-3 need to be populated.