Do all I3's need KLE recall?

[johnnydrim]

Will all i3's need KLE updates?

My car has been held at the dock awaiting the repairs.

Meanwhile an exact duplicate built in August is I'm told by another dealer not on the recall list.

Can anybody explain this?

 

[Sparky]

From what I understand, all i3's will have the KLE updated at some point in time. The initial design did not have enough coolant flow to allow maximum current charging under some temperature conditions.

 

[jadnashuanh]

BMW wants all cars coming into port to be updated so those customers don't have to be recalled in a month or two as the parts become more readily available. Everyone will be getting a fix, whether it's a new KLE or some other hardware tweak to allow it to work properly under the desired temperature ranges.

IOW, at some point, everyone that already has an i3 that doesn't have the latest tweak, will be getting it. When, is still not known to the masses. Canadians are getting theirs now...maybe a smaller market and they're working out the kinks for a larger operation everywhere else.

 

[johnnydrim]

Thanks Jim. That makes sense!

 

[dculber]

mine was delivered this week, how can I tell if it had the KLE fix or not? Guessing I need to call the dealer?

 

[Jeffj]

I'm picking mine up tomorrow (built on Oct. 14). From reading online, it appears that mine has the new KLE, or at a minimum, it was updated when it arrived at the California VPC in mid-November. Since its just about the range limit for me to get home from the dealer, I'll be able to tell pretty quickly when I plug in tomorrow night whether I'm charging at the 7ish kWh rate, or lower. For the record, I have an EVLink EVSE on a dedicated 40-circuit, so I should be able to get max charging (or close enough that it doesn't matter).

 

[jadnashuanh]

The vast majority of my trips are fairly short, so the car is not as 'hot' as it might be after a 50-mile run. But, in my case, in the current cool weather (around freezing), I've not noticed any degradation in charging based on the volt/amp meter I installed feeding my EVSE. The car MIGHT be warm enough (battery) for it to lower the charge rate, but probably not. This is likely a different scenario than what people were seeing at the end of summer (or where it is still warm) with their cars. Plus, considering that colder weather will cause you to use a bit more power in the first place, even on the same trip summer/winter, in the winter, it may take a bit longer since you'll have used more juice. FWIW, I'm seeing just under 7Kw going into my i3 while charging from my 30A EVSE, very close to its limits and the car's. Then, consider, it is a cheap meter from China, bought on Amazon, so I don't really know how accurate it is. I use it as a relative indication, not an exact one.