Time Slots unusable due to Remote Services

[jeeringtowser]

I've done that - it doesn't help.

I disconnected my car from the Octopus app a week ago, so I no longer have any devices configured at Octopus. I'm still getting the unwanted messages, and they prevent me from using the myBMW app properly (because any schedule I set in the myBMW app simply gets overwritten every 4 hours).

Sorry to hear that!
I updated the MyBMW app today but haven't had a chance to try it yet, hopefully this might improve things!

 

[Clanduncan]

Reading this has led me to realise this has (is) happening with my i3 as well. I too have 'paused' Intelligent control of my vehicle. Now I rely on the time scheduling of my PodPoint charger instead. We're lucky enough that the 6hr cheap window we have is more than enough to charge my 33(28) Kwhr battery fully with time to spare. Probably true for the 42kwhr version too.
I used to use 'Intelligent' to stop charging anywhere between 80-90%. Now if I want to do that I wait and see how long my car says it will take to reach 100%, and alter my charger schedule to take less time than the car says it will. However, I've recently been letting the car fully charge again. A side benefit of this is I've actually seen a marginal increase in my SOH from 87 to 88%, and the seasonal decline in range is not as severe so far this year!

 

[Gonville]

I have just had a long chat to BMW Connected!
BMW have changed the security to prevent any third parties being able to access BMW vehicles.
This is a permanent change and is here to stay.
Their advice is to disconnect ones vehicle from the Octopus app and set the charge via the car or BMW app.
This will cause problems with Octopus Intelligent conditions.

That is really really annoying. I was afraid of that. Just means we have lost a super useful mechanism for charging. I did say complaining about the wrong thing would mess this up.

 

[Gonville]

Sorry to hear that!
I updated the MyBMW app today but haven't had a chance to try it yet, hopefully this might improve things!

It’s not a fault in the app. Makes no odds to update.

 

[Gonville]

Writing to the CEO has resulted in this.

 

[Gonville]

I've done that - it doesn't help.

I disconnected my car from the Octopus app a week ago, so I no longer have any devices configured at Octopus. I'm still getting the unwanted messages, and they prevent me from using the myBMW app properly (because any schedule I set in the myBMW app simply gets overwritten every 4 hours).

Yes. The complaints just mean Octopus is now locked out when possibly it wasn’t their fault. So we lose. Just can’t believe folks badgering Connected means a brute force and ignorance response whilst the messages are still eminating from their server and they can use this as an excuse to say it’s ‘a third party’ now blocked. No further action by BMW. Grrrrtrrrr. Maddening.

 

[Gonville]

Not residing in the U.K. or being an Octopus customer, I haven't paid close attention to this problem. However, I don't recall reading that any i3 owner outside the U.K. has been suffering this problem. If so, what would make this problem U.K.-specific? There are probably BMW servers just for the U.K., but if this is a BMW server problem, BMW should be able to install server software from another market not suffering this problem. I'm sure some localization would have to be performed, but that shouldn't be a big deal unless this software is really poorly designed and/or written.

Certainly, BMW would not allow any 3rd-party company like Octopus to install its own software on an i3 because of the significant security risks. However, if Octopus somehow installed its own software on an i3 charger module, for example, this software could continue modifying charging schedules even if an i3 owner is no longer an Octopus customer or merely bought a used i3 from an Octopus customer. This seems highly unlikely, but software from various electronic module manufacturers runs on i3's already. Unlike Tesla, BMW didn't write all the software that's running on its EV's.

It doesn’t work like that at all. No software is installed on the i3.

Octopus uses the API interface that the myBMW app uses into the server using the owners BMWid credentials. I’m not an expert on that. All the Octopus server does is send times for charging into the server for onwards transmission to the car. No software on the car.

What has now happened is that the whole scheme is blocked, due to complaints, but there is no solution as the miss formed messages are still being sent and using the car or app to set schedules doesn’t work.

 

[mojo]

If that is what has happened (i.e. that BMW has locked down remote access to its APIs) then it's ironic. Not only does it stop providers like Octopus integrating with the car (for people like me with an EVSE that they can't integrate with instead) but it also hasn't stopped the polling that makes the myBMW app unpredictable to use as well. If it's the correct interpretation of what they have done, it was completely the wrong thing for BMW Connected to do.

 

[mojo]

But I have to say that I'm not convinced that BMW has described the situation accurately. If you take Enode as an example. They provide API integration for lots of different cars - including the BMW i3. If you look on their Status website, they report no issue in integration with any i3 models. You would think that - as it's core to their business - they would be the first to notice if they had suddenly been "blocked" by BMW??? Scroll down here and there are no issues reported here against the i3?

https://developers.enode.com/api/capabilities/vehicle

The fundamental problem for me in believing anything that BMW say is that I don't have any faith at all that anyone customer-facing there has a clue, really.

 

[Gonville]

If that is what has happened (i.e. that BMW has locked down remote access to its APIs) then it's ironic. Not only does it stop providers like Octopus integrating with the car (for people like me with an EVSE that they can't integrate with instead) but it also hasn't stopped the polling that makes the myBMW app unpredictable to use as well. If it's the correct interpretation of what they have done, it was completely the wrong thing for BMW Connected to do.

Unfortunately sending messages to BMW saying Octopus doesn’t work has made them do this an that doesn’t really help at all. My message was ‘why is BMW sending rubbish’ which doesn’t give them the opportunity to blame Octopus and not solve anything. I did say that wasn’t a good idea and now we are trashed.

 

[Gonville]

But I have to say that I'm not convinced that BMW has described the situation accurately. If you take Enode as an example. They provide API integration for lots of different cars - including the BMW i3. If you look on their Status website, they report no issue in integration with any i3 models. You would think that - as it's core to their business - they would be the first to notice if they had suddenly been "blocked" by BMW??? Scroll down here and there are no issues reported here against the i3?

https://developers.enode.com/api/capabilities/vehicle

The fundamental problem for me in believing anything that BMW say is that I don't have any faith at all that anyone customer-facing there has a clue, really.

That does match my understanding. Wait and see when my ‘vehicle’ goes in for investigation. As if.

 

[Parky14]

Yet another stupid reply from BMW ConnectedDrive. They clearly don’t understand that the i3 cannot receive software updates over the air…

“Thank you for your reply, I do apologise about the confusion and I understand your frustration with this issue.

There is currently a known issue regarding charging vehicles in customers preferred timeslots, we are currently awaiting the next software update, due to be releasing November 2024 that will resolve this issue for many customers effected like yourself.

After looking into this further. I have found that your car hasn't had a software update since 2019. due to this your vehicle is unable to complete an update over the air.

I would advise booking your car in with a BMW centre as they will be able to manually update your software.

Please be advised however, every BMW Centre is independently owned, so all costs and charges are up to their discretion. However, if your vehicle is currently under warranty, then these costs may be covered. Once the diagnostics test has been completed, the centre will be able to advise you further on the costs. “

So they expect me to pay to update my vehicle due to a software issue that they have caused. Plus after updating the software the car will still not be able to receive Remote Software updates!!!!!!

 

[jeeringtowser]

Yet another stupid reply from BMW ConnectedDrive. They clearly don’t understand that the i3 cannot receive software updates over the air…

“Thank you for your reply, I do apologise about the confusion and I understand your frustration with this issue.

There is currently a known issue regarding charging vehicles in customers preferred timeslots, we are currently awaiting the next software update, due to be releasing November 2024 that will resolve this issue for many customers effected like yourself.

After looking into this further. I have found that your car hasn't had a software update since 2019. due to this your vehicle is unable to complete an update over the air.

I would advise booking your car in with a BMW centre as they will be able to manually update your software.

Please be advised however, every BMW Centre is independently owned, so all costs and charges are up to their discretion. However, if your vehicle is currently under warranty, then these costs may be covered. Once the diagnostics test has been completed, the centre will be able to advise you further on the costs. “

So they expect me to pay to update my vehicle due to a software issue that they have caused. Plus after updating the software the car will still not be able to receive Remote Software updates!!!!!!

Bmw Connected told me that if update 8 is installed OTA updates are enabled!
Mine only has update 7 so they have advised me to get update 9 which is released in early December.

 

[Parky14]

Bmw Connected told me that if update 8 is installed OTA updates are enabled!
Mine only has update 7 so they have advised me to get update 9 which is released in early December.

They clearly don’t know what they are talking about.

 

[Parky14]

I pointed out to BMW that the i3 can’t do Remote Software updates, their reply is here!!!!!!!

“Thanks for contacting BMW ConnectedDrive about your BMW Charging. I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with this.

Please be advised that the My BMW app and other energy apps at times conflict with one another. If you're using another third party app that has the ability to charge cars, you may want to try either deleting the My BMW app and seeing if the issue persists or the other way around, deleting your third party energy app.

You can also try uninstalling and reinstalling your My BMW app to refresh everything and clear all cache and cookies.”

They clearly have no idea what is going on and no communication in the team who reply to us.

 

[Gonville]

Bmw Connected told me that if update 8 is installed OTA updates are enabled!
Mine only has update 7 so they have advised me to get update 9 which is released in early December.

The only confusion I see is that the i3 has never had OTA no matter what the iDrive version. The LCI with LTE/4G did have OTA updates for maps but can’t see they are confused about that. This is a bug in the server. Nothing to do with the car.

 

[Parky14]

The only confusion I see is that the i3 has never had OTA no matter what the iDrive version. The LCI with LTE/4G did have OTA updates for maps but can’t see they are confused about that. This is a bug in the server. Nothing to do with the car.

I agree 100% but it seems BMW ConnectedDrive people don’t understand. Maybe the i3 is just not on their training anymore.

 

[Gonville]

I pointed out to BMW that the i3 can’t do Remote Software updates, their reply is here!!!!!!!

“Thanks for contacting BMW ConnectedDrive about your BMW Charging. I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with this.

Please be advised that the My BMW app and other energy apps at times conflict with one another. If you're using another third party app that has the ability to charge cars, you may want to try either deleting the My BMW app and seeing if the issue persists or the other way around, deleting your third party energy app.

You can also try uninstalling and reinstalling your My BMW app to refresh everything and clear all cache and cookies.”

They clearly have no idea what is going on and no communication in the team who reply to us.

They are right the apps do conflict in sending time slots. But. This is a message emanating for their server independent of any app.

 

[Gonville]

I agree 100% but it seems BMW ConnectedDrive people don’t understand. Maybe the i3 is just not on their training anymore.

They never have. Since iRemote. They have no idea.

 

[Gonville]

That information was from the Connected Drive team not from a dealer. I did point out to them many times that the i3 does not have the capability to do Remote Software Updates, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

What annoys me is that initially they admitted it was an issue, they said :

"I can confirm that this is a known issue with the ConnectedDrive services that many of our customers are experiencing across the UK market."

Maybe all the cars with Remote Software Updates are able to be fixed and we are just left to fend for ourselves with the dealers.

My car is having an MOT tomorrow so I will mention the issue to the dealer see what they say, I don't expect much help.

I asked the Connected Drive team to escalate the issue, they just told me to complain to Customer Services, which I will do.

I'm not a Facebook user so I have not seen how many people have been affected by the issue, does anyone have feel for how widespread the issue is? Any data will be helpful for my complaint to Customer Services.

Lots. Tens. I would say. The UK FB group has over 8,000 members.