New i3 Owner

[Slypig]

Sorry for the long post but I just had to share. Not exactly how I planned the day to go but it turned out well. lol.

thank you for sharing. I've had EV cars since 2015 and I've found that I never ever trust public charging. Until they become reliable and something you pay for and get guaranteed service, like you do at a gas pump.. it's a NO-NO for me. If my car will not make the trip from my house without charging then I find another way.. unless I'm up for an adventure, with a backup plan.

 

[tman66]

Sorry for the long post but I just had to share. Not exactly how I planned the day to go but it turned out well. lol.

thank you for sharing. I've had EV cars since 2015 and I've found that I never ever trust public charging. Until they become reliable and something you pay for and get guaranteed service, like you do at a gas pump.. it's a NO-NO for me. If my car will not make the trip from my house without charging then I find another way.. unless I'm up for an adventure, with a backup plan.

I hear ya. I learnt on the very first day of EV ownership that I shouldn't "rely" on public charging facilities paid or not. Luckily the Greenlots DC Fast Charger at the library was working. That's going to be my go-to for emergency/quick charging. For $10 or so I should be able to get 80% or more.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Destination charging is probably a bit more reliable...say, your boss installs an EVSE for his employees (but you may have to share, which can be problematic). In the USA, except for maybe Tesla, for now, public charging is not always reliable.

As to indicated range, keep in mind that that number is a guess based on about the last 18-miles or so of your driving. If you just got off of a high speed road, blasting along for awhile, the number will not be anywhere near what it might have been cruising along at 40-50mph on a surface road. The difference can be significant. It can also change quite a bit depending on the ambient temperature. I've had days when I've driven 10-miles, and the miles to empty has increased because of those differences.

 

[alohart]

I asked the CA to make sure the i3 was at 100% and of course it wasn't. It was only showing 90km at 93%. I think i3 has range degradation from the original max range of 130km when new?

The computed range estimate depends on the conditions under which an i3 was driven during the last ~30 km, so one can't imply battery pack degradation from a single range estimate.

The Flo network Level 3 DC Fast Charger wouldn't work./quote]
Although it's an all too common mistake, no "Level 3" electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) or chargers exist. In North America, there are only AC Levels 1 and 2 EVSE and DC Levels 1 and 2 chargers. Apparently, a high-power DC Level 3 standard is being considered now that high-power DC chargers are being deployed. DC Level 1 and 2 chargers are correctly described as DC fast chargers rather than Level 3 chargers to avoid confusion with future DC Level 3 chargers.

 

[tman66]

I asked the CA to make sure the i3 was at 100% and of course it wasn't. It was only showing 90km at 93%. I think i3 has range degradation from the original max range of 130km when new?

The computed range estimate depends on the conditions under which an i3 was driven during the last ~30 km, so one can't imply battery pack degradation from a single range estimate.

The Flo network Level 3 DC Fast Charger wouldn't work./quote]
Although it's an all too common mistake, no "Level 3" electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) or chargers exist. In North America, there are only AC Levels 1 and 2 EVSE and DC Levels 1 and 2 chargers. Apparently, a high-power DC Level 3 standard is being considered now that high-power DC chargers are being deployed. DC Level 1 and 2 chargers are correctly described as DC fast chargers rather than Level 3 chargers to avoid confusion with future DC Level 3 chargers.

Thanks for clarifying. So a DC Fast Charger is just a higher output Level 2 charger at 480V?

 

[jadnashuanh]

Level 1 and 2 EVSEs are ACV charging. In the USA, a level 1 device is using 120vac, and a level 2 device is 240vac. It gets a little more complicated in other markets. The level 1 device BMW provides with US cars is a 120vac device...depending on the MY, it may be 10 or 12A.

DCV charging bypasses the car's AC-DC converters, and feeds, nearly directly, into the batteries themselves.

In reality, level 1 and 2 devices are not "chargers", they're fancy on/off power switches...the charger is built into the vehicle.

A DC device IS a charger, as it provides DCV.

Most cars other than Tesla are somewhat limited in the maximum current DCV input they will accept. On the i3, today, that maximum is 50Kw. When charging with ACV, it's about 7.4Kw, depending on the market, it might be a bit more. The Tesla is over 100Kw.

The newest CCS (DC chargers) being installed can handle up to 350Kw, nearly 3x the max of a Tesla. They also support higher voltage battery systems (800V verses the 400V max of the majority of cars out there).

Just like you may find an EVSE that has limited maximum output, the same is true of CCS units. There's a signalling system between the car and the device that negotiates the max available, and what the vehicle needs so that they can cooperatively get it all right without damaging either the vehicle or what it's attached to.

No cars today can handle the maximum throughout the whole charging session...they all require things to taper off as the charge level gets near maximum. So, the last 10% or so (varies) can take nearly as long as the first 90%. The holy grail is a battery system that can handle a very rapid charge to full without delays. We're getting closer, but that's still years away. Some of that is because of heat buildup, and the method and quality of the cooling system for the battery can go a long ways towards maximizing it's overall health and longevity as is the method used to throttle the charging rate to preserve the batteries. Liquid cooling like the i3 has works much better than the air cooling used on the Nissan Leaf, letting the BMW battery to have a more reliable, longer-lasting battery life.

 

[tman66]

Thanks for the very detailed reply.

 

[tman66]

So here is where I got some of my i3 charging information from; https://www.pluglesspower.com/learn/bmw-i3-charging-ultimate-guide/ and where it says Level 3 = DC Fast Charging.

 

[jadnashuanh]

If you read the CCS tech standard, that's not true...although, it is a logical assumption.

 

[alohart]

So here is where I got some of my i3 charging information from; https://www.pluglesspower.com/learn/bmw-i3-charging-ultimate-guide/ and where it says Level 3 = DC Fast Charging.

Unfortunately, some U.S.-specific on-line sites incorrectly describe DC fast charging as "Level 3". I suppose this assumes that AC Level 1 and AC Level 2 are the first 2 levels, but that's true only in North America. The rest of the world with 230 V residential power has no AC Level 1 (120 V) equivalent. Those parts of the world with 3-phase AC residential power have 3-phase AC charging that North America doesn't have. This being an international forum whose members have different sorts of AC charging available, "Level 3" is meaningless to many members while "DC fast charging" exists everywhere and is quite different from AC charging.