[Tenchu]

Originally Posted by awesoM

I know there are a lot of chargers out in the market place, I just went with Chargepoint Homeplex. I was just familiar with the brand given their chargers around town. I ordered it from Amazon and took me 15 minutes to mount and activate it. An electrician did come out previously to put in the 50 amp breaker and outlet ahead of time. I had my first charge last night and it did a full charge from 0 miles to 42 miles in 5.75 hours.

I went ahead and got the same charger and waiting for my electrician to install the outlet. Hope no issue with the WiFi like some people are experiencing!

[awesoM]

Originally Posted by Tenchu

I went ahead and got the same charger and waiting for my electrician to install the outlet. Hope no issue with the WiFi like some people are experiencing!

Hopefully not. It was quite straight forward for me. I used my Chargepoint App to scan for the charger via bluetooth. Once it detected it and it connected to the wifi with no issues (I use the EERO system). So far working like a champ.

[FLYIN']

My ChargePoint charger has been rock solid for almost three years.

[aceman]

OK Guys -

I bought a charger (juicebox 48) for $ 700, now I'm rethinking this so need some advice. Why wouldn't this work for $ 180.00? Do I gain any speed? The bimmer doesn't allow for really fast charging, just lvl 2, correct - so this should work, no different than the juicebox? BTW - charging will be indoors in my garage if that matters.

Here's the low cost alternative I'm looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Thoughts and thank you in advance

Aceman

[TXSchnee]

Originally Posted by aceman

OK Guys -

I bought a charger (juicebox 48) for $ 700, now I'm rethinking this so need some advice. Why wouldn't this work for $ 180.00? Do I gain any speed? The bimmer doesn't allow for really fast charging, just lvl 2, correct - so this should work, no different than the juicebox? BTW - charging will be indoors in my garage if that matters.

Here's the low cost alternative I'm looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...UTF8&psc=1


Thoughts and thank you in advance

Aceman

This is what I have, it can be plug in or hardwired. Works well, and I have never felt that I needed to connect wifi to the charger. My E Hybrid does a full charge in less than 3 hours (have 7.2kW charger) so the 45e should do in 7-8. https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Siemen...ce=shoppingads

[awesoM]

Switching lanes from home charging to travel charging. Short of getting the converter dongle to use at a Tesla charger, how do we pay for it? I have been looking but it is not very clear how we can use a Tesla charger. I tried looking via the app store and could not find a Tesla app to allow us to use their charger. Any help is appreciated here.

[Tenchu]

Originally Posted by aceman

OK Guys -

I bought a charger (juicebox 48) for $ 700, now I'm rethinking this so need some advice. Why wouldn't this work for $ 180.00? Do I gain any speed? The bimmer doesn't allow for really fast charging, just lvl 2, correct - so this should work, no different than the juicebox? BTW - charging will be indoors in my garage if that matters.

Here's the low cost alternative I'm looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thoughts and thank you in advance

Aceman

I went with this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...WBVZG7J0&psc=1

got more reviews and comes with a NEMA 5-15 adapter

[GrussGott]

RocketGoBoom and charging experts, HELP!

So I have access to these charging stations that have cords attached that look like DC only to me ...




So question #1: To use these stations I'll need the Lectron adapter right?



Question #2: And would the cheaper mini-adapter work?



Question #3: Is this thing an install fail (there are a few of them) or is this somehow a level 2 charger? Is there a 240v outlet in there or something? Any ideas?



Thanks v much for all the help and advice!

[Spencer518]

Question on the ChargePoint Home Flex. I know the 45e is limited to 16 amps so logically I would set the ChargePoint to 16 amps. But we are considering an E-tron as a second vehicle and want to use the same charger for both cars. The E-tron can charge at up to 50 amps. Will we have to keep switching the amps back and forth? Or can we set it at 50 amps and the 45e will be smart enough to just draw 16 from it? How does it work in this situation?

[Caramel]

The 45e will be smart enough.

[Tenchu]

Originally Posted by Caramel

The 45e will be smart enough.

yup. I think you will need 60-70 breaker installed and it will need to be hardwired for ChargePoint Flex to work at 48-50 amp.

[Tenchu]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

RocketGoBoom and charging experts, HELP!

So I have access to these charging stations that have cords attached that look like DC only to me ...




So question #1: To use these stations I'll need the Lectron adapter right?



Question #2: And would the cheaper mini-adapter work?



Question #3: Is this thing an install fail (there are a few of them) or is this somehow a level 2 charger? Is there a 240v outlet in there or something? Any ideas?



Thanks v much for all the help and advice!

Isn't that mini is for Tesla to use J1772 charger? I am not sure if you can flip it around to go from Tesla charger to J1772.

This for using Tesla charger on a J1772 equipped car
https://ev-lectron.com/collections/e...-adapter-white

[GrussGott]

After a lot of frustrating research, I think I've started to figure all this charging cord stuff out for North America / USA, so here's my PHEV-Power-for-USA-dummies guideline, please anybody correct anything that's wrong.

First, the types of charging in the US:

➤ Level 1: Normal 120-volt connection, which uses any standard household outlet; the downside is slow charging, up to 24 hours for the 45e. BMW provides a cord with the 45e for this:


➤ Level 2: Requires a charging station or higher-output 240-volt power outlet, like the one that you plug your oven or clothes dryer into. Charging times are much faster than with a Level 1 EV charging station, which is about 7-8 hours for the 45e. This requires a charging station or 240v outlet-to-J1772 cable. Webasto also makes a dual, h/t to roxxor, and more on cables in a sec ...

➤ Level 3: These are the supercharger DC-only stations that aren't compatible with the 45e

Next let's talk about connectors!
This is where it was frustrating for me to figure out just what the heck I could use - well basically it's a J1772 in the US but with some caveats and questions ... First let's review the universe of connectors ...



As you can see, for connectors in the US, it comes down to the J1772, CCS (not compatible with the US 45e), and Tesla. So that means the 45e should be compatible with every non-Tesla level 2 charger right? Well, it sure doesn't look that way ...

Now the good news is, supposedly most power stations in the US (that aren't Tesla) are supposed to be J1772 so all good right? Well it appears, at least for the stations close to me that's not the case - they're not Tesla-branded stations, but they only appear to have Tesla connectors ... which means I'll need the Lectron Tesla-to-J1772 adaptor h/t to RocketGoBoom and you might too.

So here's the US summary:

✓ If you have access to a standard US 120v outlet, use the supplied BMW cord and/or the Webasto dual to plug the J1772 end into your 45e. This is slow, level 1 charging, i.e., 24 hours

✓ If you have access to a standard US 240v outlet, use a webasto dual and plug the J1772 end into your 45e. This is 3x faster level 2 charging, i.e., 8 hours.

✓ If you install a charger in your home (lots of info in this thread) it'll have a J1772 that plugs into your 45e. This is 3x faster level 2 charging.

✓ If you have access to a Tesla charger or Tesla-corded charger that's NOT a supercharger, get the Lectron adapter for level 2 charging.

✘ Level 3 charging / DC charging / supercharging is not available in the US for the 45e

[Tenchu]

GrussGott Thanks for the info. That's pretty much what I found in my research.

I found your plug. i think the one close to you is like a supercharger.

https://www.evgo.com

https://www.evgo.com/ev-drivers/customer-resources/

https://www.evgo.com/why-evs/types-o...tric-vehicles/

[jad03060]

EVSEs send out a signal that tells the vehicle how many amps it has available, then it is up to the vehicle to decide how much power it will take up to, but never more, than the EVSE says it has. So, there is no 'harm' or potential damage to either the EVSE or the vehicle if they are not both maxed out. The batteries in the vehicle need DCV, and the EVSE provides ACV, and the conversion is done in the vehicle. Think plugging in your phone charger to the wall...it may only provide 10W to the phone, but the wall receptacle may have something like 1800W available...works fine, except the EVSE and vehicle combination is a bit smarter.

An EVSE is basically a smart on/off switch. THe bigger part of the cost is the cable and connector, as the internals are really pretty inexpensive. Adding built-in things like Wi-Fi or smarts to measure voltage and current resulting in power delivered may be nice, but not critical. Some of the wall units can be set to activate at specific times, where the vehicle may be less flexible or reliable.

So, there is nothing to adjust in most EVSEs to account for different vehicle's power needs. Some do allow you to set in the EVSE the maximum power they announce. This might be useful if your power wires going to it could not support the maximum the device is capable, to protect the wiring feeding it...not the vehicle attached. For example, say you had an EVSE capable of providing 60A, but your wiring could only support 40A...a few EVSEs will let you adjust their output signal to match, most don't.

BMW chose not to support CCS (dcv charging) in the X 45e. For now, they only support that in their EVs, not their hybrids like the X 45e. That would require another electronics module and a different receptacle in the vehicle.

[RocketGoBoom]

The X5 45e will use any level 2 AC charging unit. There are adapters for everyone, Tesla to J1772 and also J1772 to Tesla. My Tesla wall unit is setup for the max 240 volts and 48 amps. The 45e automatically pulls only its maximum of 16 amps, no changes needed.

We cannot use DC charging yet with 2021 cars or earlier.

Hopefully in the future the battery packs will get a bit larger and they bump up the amps to 32 or 40. That would reduce a full recharge to 2-3 hours, which would provide enough useful range gained while shopping.

Even if you don’t have a Tesla wall unit at home, it is worthwhile to get the EV-Lectron adapter. These Tesla wall units are common in hotels and shopping areas and they are often free.

https://ev-lectron.com/products/lect...-adapter-white

[awesoM]

Does anyone know if it costs to use a Tesla charger in public? If there is a charge, what app do we use to facilitate payment.

[moodyhank82]

Originally Posted by awesoM

Does anyone know if it costs to use a Tesla charger in public? If there is a charge, what app do we use to facilitate payment.

Destination chargers are free for the time being but superchargers are not. You have a card on file on your Tesla account (tied to your Tesla vehicle) so it charges your card automatically for supercharger use. Therefore, since you don't own a Tesla you would not be able use the superchargers.

[jad03060]

Superchargers utilize DC outputs...the X5 can only use AC inputs, so even with a conversion cable, it won't work.

For those vehicles (other than Tesla and CHADMEO) with DCV charging, the plug has a section below the normal level 1/2 part that has two pins for DC+ and -. The ACV input lines become serial data connections that talk to the CCS unit to adjust the voltage required for charging.

[RocketGoBoom]

Originally Posted by awesoM

Does anyone know if it costs to use a Tesla charger in public? If there is a charge, what app do we use to facilitate payment.

The other posts on this subject were correct, there is no charge for actually using a Tesla AC destination charger with the adapter from EV-Lectron (or others). However they are often found in hotels and there is likely a valet charge for those.

I have also seen Tesla AC chargers at two of our local malls in the EV parking areas. Those are free also. The malls also have ChargePoint J1772 units, which are also setup to be free recharging.

It seems like the owner of the ChargePoint unit has the option on whether they want to subsidize electricity or not in order to attract EV customers. I hope that trend continues. I certainly am more likely to shop at those locations where I can plugin for free. It is a small amount of money, but it makes me feel good to get the free electricity.

[Spencer518]

I think I would feel guilty using a charger at a hotel for a PHEV, when someone with an EV might need it more. Not sure what the etiquette is on this, but I can get by with the ICE. They may have no choice but to recharge. Am I being overly considerate?

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by Spencer518

I think I would feel guilty using a charger at a hotel for a PHEV, when someone with an EV might need it more. Not sure what the etiquette is on this, but I can get by with the ICE. They may have no choice but to recharge. Am I being overly considerate?

My 2 cents is the etiquette would be the same as with anything anywhere: you let those more in need, or who'd have a tougher time, go first. (e.g., holding doors, reaching things high on a shelf, let the grocery shopper with 2 items go ahead of you, etc).

So in the case of BEVs & PHEVs, if I was taking the last spot, I'd probably let the front desk know I'm willing to move if they get another BEV person in, or if I knew there was one I'd let them use it.