Immediate charging even when off-peak charging is scheduled.

[Roger]

Yesterday, I came home around 9pm. My i3 Rex had 53 miles of electric range remaining. I plugged in my occasional use charger, expecting the solid blue illumination indicating the charge would be paused until the off-peak time range was reached. Instead, the blue light was blinking, indicating charging was initiated immediately.

I checked the schedule setting for charging and confirmed that "Immediate Charging" was unchecked, I had a departure time of 7am set, no pre-conditioning set, and off-peak time frame (11pm-7am) was turned on.

So why did the charging start immediately? It has always worked fine until last evening. Any one have any ideas? I contacted BMW's iConcierge and was told they did not know and to contact the dealer. No return call from the dealer as of yet.

From reading on the forum, some owners have experienced the same thing, but no definitive answer as to get it working properly again. Seems like a computer glitch. Is there some way to "reset" this feature?

 

[Neil]

Yesterday, I came home around 9pm. My i3 Rex had 53 miles of electric range remaining. I plugged in my occasional use charger, expecting the solid blue illumination indicating the charge would be paused until the off-peak time range was reached. Instead, the blue light was blinking, indicating charging was initiated immediately.

I checked the schedule setting for charging and confirmed that "Immediate Charging" was unchecked, I had a departure time of 7am set, no pre-conditioning set, and off-peak time frame (11pm-7am) was turned on.

So why did the charging start immediately? It has always worked fine until last evening. Any one have any ideas? I contacted BMW's iConcierge and was told they did not know and to contact the dealer. No return call from the dealer as of yet.

From reading on the forum, some owners have experienced the same thing, but no definitive answer as to get it working properly again. Seems like a computer glitch. Is there some way to "reset" this feature?

My i3 Rex did exactly the same thing last night with slightly different settings. Not the first time and not the last I'm sure. I think it just wasn't in the mood. For odd and unpredictable behaviors like this and others, I've nicknamed my i3 "Quirky". I will say that charging oddities like this seem to be more prevalent as the temperatures go up. Haven't had the KLE or software updated yet but intend to get to that pretty soon before it gets really hot and the charge faults start flying.

 

[foamposite1]

I have a Bev. I have access to charger at work.
I have charger at home.

I set to immediate charging when I plug in at work.
I set to off peak charging when I plug in at home.

what i noticed is that if I change from "immediate charing" to "off peak charging" when I
get home, just before I plug in, sometimes the car does not register and will charge
immediately.

there seems to be a require time after changing the setting for it to take effect.

my solution is that when I leave home, I set to "immediately charging" so when I get to work it will charge right away,
when I leave work, I set to "off peak charging" so when I get home, it will not charge until midnight.

My distance is 30 miles from home to work.

I never have the issue with this pattern.

 

[coupedncal]

We have discussed this issue at length on this forum. Here is what is going on. Bottom line is our car is smarter than what you all are giving "her" credit for.

When you enable smart time of day charging and you plug in 110V EVSE, the car still calculates the end time and if your end is beyond your departure time then the car will start the charger early enough to end charging by the departure time. That is what is going on.

 

[barrychan]

We have discussed this issue at length on this forum. Here is what is going on. Bottom line is our car is smarter than what you all are giving "her" credit for.

When you enable smart time of day charging and you plug in 110V EVSE, the car still calculates the end time and if your end is beyond your departure time then the car will start the charger early enough to end charging by the departure time. That is what is going on.

That's is a great feature to our cars to ensure battery is fully charged the next day but....what if some dont need it fully charged the next day but rather use off-peak time to charge or don't want to go out at 11 pm to plug in the charger?

 

[alohart]

That's is a great feature to our cars to ensure battery is fully charged the next day but....what if some dont need it fully charged the next day but rather use off-peak time to charge or don't want to go out at 11 pm to plug in the charger?

That's my situation, Barry. The i3's charging options don't work for me, so I bought a JuiceBox EVSE that can be set to start and stop charging at specified times. Of course, it knows nothing about the battery pack's SOC, so it does what it's instructed to do every time. I estimate the time that the SOC will be where I desire and set our JuiceBox to stop charging at that time. I just set our i3 to charge immediately and never bother with the off-peak charging settings.

 

[Neil]

We have discussed this issue at length on this forum. Here is what is going on. Bottom line is our car is smarter than what you all are giving "her" credit for.

When you enable smart time of day charging and you plug in 110V EVSE, the car still calculates the end time and if your end is beyond your departure time then the car will start the charger early enough to end charging by the departure time. That is what is going on.

Sorry, that's not what happened in in my case. I have a level 2 charger which when things work normally (as it does most of the time) charges my car during the night (low cost), usually at around 1 AM for about about 2 1/2 hours. The event I wrote about should have been just one of those typical night chargings I've racked up after 13000+ miles. But occasionally the car does something quirky, hence the nickname. I can find no logic or intelligence in this behavior and we shouldn't have to go through weird rituals to get this to work reliably.

 

[Roger]

Since I left home with 100% of charge and had traveled 20 miles of the 73 it showed when leaving home @ 100% charged, the Level 1 charger (120v) should have been able to complete charging back to 100% in about 5 hours (4 miles of range per hour of charging) which is what the occasional charger will do. I returned home at 9pm, and had set a departure time of 7am, so the charger would have had plenty of time between 11pm-7am to complete the charging process back to 100%. Thus the explanation about the car immediately starting to charge because it was "smart enough" to know it needed 10 hours to charge is not correct. Basically, it disregarded the departure time I had set and the "off-peak" time period I had entered. Must be something else in my opinion.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Departure time with preconditioning set takes a lot more power than just recharging the batteries since it warms the batteries and conditions the cabin. But, it really depends on the ambient temperature. In reality, I'm not sure the i3 will warm the batteries when on the level 1 EVSE...it may not have enough power; if so, then it wouldn't really make much difference.

 

[Roger]

As I mentioned in my original post, I DID NOT activate the "Preconditioning" function, so that did not come into play here.

 

[Disco300]

I had exactly the same problem one evening late last week. Plugged into home Level 2 charger and left it at that expecting the charge to start at 1am as usual. However, took a quick look at the app an hour or so later only to discover the car was charging and as it had reached 80% it had obviously been charging from the moment I plugged it in.

The following day I did a thorough check to see that I hadn't messed up the settings for delayed charge, but everything was in order and exactly as they should have been.

WHAT'S GOING ON .... surely someone from BMW should pick up on this thread and initiate an investigation. If it was simply one vehicle maybe BMW could be forgiven for not jumping in with offers of help or advice, but it would appear that numerous vehicles did exactly the same thing. What's really strange is that it's sounding like a number of us encountered this fault at exactly the same time (same evening).

 

[psquare]

I had exactly the same problem one evening late last week. Plugged into home Level 2 charger and left it at that expecting the charge to start at 1am as usual. However, took a quick look at the app an hour or so later only to discover the car was charging and as it had reached 80% it had obviously been charging from the moment I plugged it in.

The following day I did a thorough check to see that I hadn't messed up the settings for delayed charge, but everything was in order and exactly as they should have been.

Precisely the same happened to me about 2-3 weeks ago. I also have the feeling that something in the charging behaviour has changed recently, when the car is set up for off-peak. Every time I now plug the car in for overnight charging, I make sure that the app says: "Charging Paused" and indicating the correct departure time.

I have mentioned this before, the whole off-peak/precon setting process is not intuitive. A combination of both functions does not make a lot of sense to me. There should be one setting for off-peak charging and another for preconditioning. If the time frames indicate an overlap then a message to the user should be triggered.

I think it would also be good for location-dependent charging settings, where say at a remote (ie non-home) location off-peak charging would be disabled. Happened to me twice now that I plugged the car in at a public car park, walked away only to notice that charging was "Paused". I then rectified it remotely by disabling off-peak charging.

 

[coupedncal]

I agree with the recommendation posted earlier to invest in a smart EVSE as a workaround that can start and stop charging based on time of day settings. My current bare bone Juicebox does not have this capability and therefore i have to rely on the less than reliable onboard configuration to control delayed charging. BMW really needs to correct this behavior in one of their upcoming software updates.

 

[alohart]

My current bare bone Juicebox does not have this capability and therefore i have to rely on the less than reliable onboard configuration to control delayed charging.

I also have a base JuiceBox, but I upgraded it with the LCD and remote control of the Pro version which could be done to your JuiceBox as well. All JuiceBoxes run firmware that supports delayed charging, changing the charge current, and other features, but without a LCD and remote control, these features cannot be used.

 

[Roger]

When operating an EV, there are many different operational considerations that must be made versus having a gasoline or diesel powered vehicle...with SOC being #1 on people's minds! Suddenly finding oneself in a potentially life-threatening situation that you were never informed of shouldn't be part of the i3 REX ownership experience!

The truth is, all USA versions of the i3 REX cannot always maintain a 6% SOC. As a result, without warning, the i3 REX may decelerate to speeds of 25 mph or less. This situation is caused primarily by the "missing" HOLD STATE OF CHARGE function found on all i3 REX models except those destined for the USA. Having absolutely NOTHING in the Owner's Manual as to this potential LIFE-THREATENING safety concern tells me that BMW has opted to knowingly commit a dangerous sin...but it is not a sin of commission but instead, a sin of omission!

For those of us having the REX version i3, our vehicles have been secretly hobbled by a dangerous and undocumented handicap that can be life-threatening. Why should any REX owner have to even consider hacking their vehicle to "turn on" a feature that is already there, but switched "off" to allow BMW to earn (and then "trade") CARB credits to other vehicles in their product mix that are far less efficient? This decision on BMW's part is nothing more than a demonstration of abject greed, regardless of the risks posed to i3 REX owners.

For most EV owners, maintaining SOC is VERY important...but in reality, SAFETY should be #1 and SOC #2. So, YES, being able to easily charge our batteries at the lowest cost possible is on every EV owners mind. If battery packs could be charged to 80% in 15-20 minutes with charging stations being as easy to find as gas stations, we would all probably be driving EVs! But that's not the case yet. So in the meantime, we all discuss the daily task of how,when, and where to find "our fuel".

 

[spinball]

I watched a 30 min youtube review on the i3 yesterday and the test determined that the issue is not NEARLY as dire as you proclaim it. The slow down is very very gradual and (I can't recall exactly) but I believe the limiting speed to be a lot faster than 25 mph.

Now, I agree we should have this option in the US but to call it an extreme safety issue is hyperbolic. In the video the driver said he had to really work to get it below 6% basically driving super legal speeds going uphill for some time upon which it very gradually slowed down. Certainly enough time to avoid any kind of serious situation, same as if your gas engine ran out of gas. You wouldn't run a gas car on "E" right?

Here's the video. He talks about it at the end before the part about options. Maybe 19 min in?

I would take your REx to 6% and intentionally try to best the gas engine just to see how it reacts. I think you'll be surprised at the result. I still agree BMW should allow owners to use the REx as they want, and it's up to CARB to let them at this point.

 

[Roger]

My entire point is really the fact we are left to guessing when it comes to how the REX actually functions! As Owners, we should know (i.e. the Owner's Manual) exactly when the REX will activate and have a way to monitor how much excess energy we are using at any point in time if the REX can't keep up with the load and is siphoning off reserve energy from the high-voltage battery to make up for the deficiency. Aside from the fuel gauge, we should be made aware that if the high-voltage battery drops below 3% (from what I've read on posts in this forum) that the drive system will begin to decrease the vehicle's speed until it can put energy back into the high-voltage battery to be able to bring the SOC up to 6-1/2%. Reading other posts on this forum, many have experienced varying levels of de-rating, some finding themselves going as slow as 6mph!

NONE of these operational processes are mentioned anywhere in the Owner's Manual provided with the vehicle. There is no mention of de-rating mentioned in any of the marketing materials from BMW either. Without knowing, in advance of purchasing, anything as to this potential safety hazard is misleading at best. BMW would not have engineered the capability for the i3 REX to include the "HOLD STATE OF CHARGE" feature if it wasn't determined there was a need for it. To arbitrarily disable it to qualify for CARB credits in lieu of keeping it functional on USA-bound i3's for added safety is irresponsible and reckless.

 

[jadnashuanh]

There are graphic displays you can bring up to show the energy movement in the vehicle. Getting low on SOC is much less traumatic than running out of fuel on an ICE. You get as much or more info on the i3 about where it is in that situation than on an ICE, which may or may not have a low fuel indicator, but certainly has a fuel gauge. Now, they are not always an exact indication - I think the energy level bars on the i3 are probably MORE accurate than the gas gauge.

Anyone that has bought an i3 REx in the last 8-months or so that has not done their due diligence (i.e., some research), might be surprised, but then, when spending $50K or so, it really is important to do that, and if you had, it would not be a surprise.

On a long trip, if you're trying to push things, you'd potentially have run out of fuel while hauling ass up that long rise at high speeds, then, there's no REx to help you, either! Given that the i3 was designed as a mega CITY car, and the average person drives 34-miles/day (the median value for the years of research on EV's leading up to the release of the i3), it would be rare to get to this point where the REx can't keep up and your SOC drops to the i3's protect itself mode.

Go on a longer trip, start the REx at 75% SOC like you can in Europe, find out that the gas station you intended to use is closed, and you've just turned yourself into a BEV. You may or may not be able to get to the next station! SOmetimes, they are few and far between when you get out into the mid-west of the USA or the southwest, or, actually anywhere outside of the megalopolis on the east coast.

Personally, I don't find this a safety hazard...it is certainly no worse than ignoring your fuel gauge on an ICE and running out of fuel. Then, your power steering and all sorts of other safety features just stop working, or lose assist. The i3 is much more graceful about it, and it warns you before it's going to happen...other than the gas gauge, you may get NO indication on an ICE. WE have enough nannies, this situation doesn't need yet another one.

 

[foamposite1]

i am able to reproduce the following

normal routine
off-peak charging set to associate with 7 am time to leave. charge at home.
uncheck 7 am time to leave will change to charge immediately. charge at work.
check 7 am time to leave will change to off-peak charging again. charge at home.

charge immediately setting set by accident
off-peak charging set to associate with 7 am time to leave. charge at home.
after uncheck 7 am time to leave to charge immediately, change charge setting
from max to min. charge at work.
check 7 am time to leave will cause charging to immediately instead of off peek charging
when charge at home.

 

[psquare]

Tried to set my i3 back to off peak charging after a day trip out to use a couple of public charger. Arrived home, enabled departure time, then set off-peak times and ensured "charge immediately" was off (all set directly in the car, not via app). As soon as I plugged the car in, it started to charge there and then. Took me several attempts to finally get it to wait for the off-peak window - the app then says "Charging Paused". The car was low at 8% - I thought maybe it needs a minimum SOC to be able to go into sleep until the off peak window has started.

Just before I went to bed I checked the car via app, only to find out that it was charging and already at 48% ! (outside the off-peak window of 2am-6am). I have no idea what's going on, but I'm starting to get very annoyed with this. I'm a software consultant, so would call myself IT literate and computer-minded, but the off-peak functionality is very unreliable and temperamental in my view.