[Spen.H]

This afternoon I've picked up my iX3 from the dealers. It was returned the day after it was delivered on 28th October. The reason it was returned was as it was delivered with a short in the cars charging circuit which tripped my home, my office and two BMW main dealers!. I haven't tried plugging it in yet as I insisted it was returned fully charged.
The My BMW app showed 173 miles at 100% and the car showed 194 miles. Is the App normally wrong? Am I likely to get more than 194 miles on normal driving, or is that it? It's a company car and was sold to me as having at least a 250 mile range.
I've noticed that the maximum charging current has been set to 6A. My home 7.4kW wallbox is 32A. The office wall charger is currently 3.5kW, I'm not sure what the max current is.
Why would BMW have set the max charging current to 6A? will I damage anything if I set it to 32A? Also, does the max current effect the charge time? Thanks

[the_ape]

Set charge rate to the max your home will allow (32a) by default they come set low like that as BMW assume owners will use the geanny/schuko cable, that's wall plug, bmw cannot guarantee the quality of the plug so set it to 6a for safety.

6amps at 240v is around 1.4kW, whereas your work is obviously 16amps (3.6kW) and home 32amps which is 7.2kW

So just set it to max, and remember when away from home and need to granny charge to turn it down, put a sticker on the granny with a warning on the plug, won't forget then.

Setting it to 32a will let you charge on lower power devices, just the car will inform the charge unit that the max current it 32amps,if it can do that it will, else will output its max.

Remember also the charger is in the car, not the wall unit, that's just essentially a glorified relay with safety stuff on it.

Oh and the car usually 'guesses' best on range, although they are just that, guesses, the 250m range is in optimum conditions, and that means on a rolling road, same as mpg on ice cars. In winter you are NEVER going to see that, cold batteries, and heaters, and rain/moisture on the road will make 100% sure of it. Summer time 200+ is fairly simple. No BEV gets its range that the official figures give, they aren't even supplied via the manufacturer, they come from government tests in the territories, why US/UK/Euro/far East ranges are all quoted differently, even the '420' cars (tesla) don't get their quoted WLTP ranges no matter what the fan boys preach.

[supersebbo]

the_ape covered it all perfectly, so I'm just adding commentary

The charger comes pre-set at 6A for safety, but it's mind boggling that it's not something the BMW 'Genius' is told to cover in the handover, I imagine there are hundreds of befuddled iX3 owners out there who think their car can only charge at the miserly 6A rate because they have no idea about the setting (which to be fair, is quite hidden away). A UX designer would suggest that if the charge was being limited by the internal limiter rather than the charger capabilities (which are shared between charger and car over the charging protocol) then it would prominently state this on the dash/app.

Ignore the range, it's essentially useless, you'll get your own feel for the remaining miles based on battery charge, temperature, type of journey etc. I have done a 200 mile round trip in cold wet weather and finished with 30 miles to spare, despite starting the journey with only '175 miles' of range. Hopefully this will get better over time as BMW improve the algorithm, but it's totally understandable that it errs on the side of caution. Just imagine the comments on this forum if it worked the other way around and people were grinding to a halt on the road with 20 miles of range remaining.

[Hud78]

Originally Posted by the_ape

remember when away from home and need to granny charge to turn it down, put a sticker on the granny with a warning on the plug, won't forget then.

but but but....the BMW granny charger limits the current based on the cable type used between brick and mains outlet anyway, so this is not actually necessary if that's the one that's going to be used.

[the_ape]

Originally Posted by Hud78

but but but....the BMW granny charger limits the current based on the cable type used between brick and mains outlet anyway, so this is not actually necessary if that's the one that's going to be used.

Aaah yes... But the plug in UK is 13amps, a lot of older faceplate will get hot if drawing 10+amps constantly from it, so always best if not at home or unsure on the state of the electricity in the building your plugged into to turn it down.

When on holiday in rented place I always do it as I can't be sure how well maintained the electrical system is, and if using an extension cable make sure you get an EV one, not just a standard B&Q one, as they are not designed to handle constant high amp supply.

So when away from home I always set it down to 6-8amps just safer!

[Bert13]

If you look at the back of the granny charger supply it is limited to 10a by design when a uk 3 pin plug adaptor is connected. This rises to 16a if a command socket adaptor is fitted (a round blue industrial type 3 pin) - from the leaflet in the bag with the charger when first supplied this can be purchased from BMW (don’t know the price). The supplied granny charger is a smart device meaning that it communicates with the car therefore cannot draw more current than it is designed to provide.
Our car was set to 10a when delivered so no changes in setting to use the granny charger. 32a (7.4kw) is the limit in the uk on a single phase supply. If you have 3 phase you could go up to 22kw, but only if the car has a suitable onboard ac dc inverter which as far as I know only the current Renault Zoe has. Most other cars are limited to 11kw, 7.4kw or less (early Nissan Leafs we’re only around 3.3kw). Public fast chargers supply dc directly hence they can charge faster, battery permitting.