[MAWGinMD]

I lasted exactly 1 semester as an EE before switching majors, so I look at things from a software perspective - so forgive my ignorance:

Is it possible to re-map/switch the 3.7kw charging limit to something higher that's a bit more...effective for public charging? Or is this a hardware limitation?

Thanks!

[jad03060]

Originally Posted by MAWGinMD

Is it possible to re-map/switch the 3.7kw charging limit to something higher that's a bit more...effective for public charging? Or is this a hardware limitation?

Thanks!

The EVSE is essentially a fancy power cord...the actual charging is all done in the vehicle. So, it's a hardware limitation. The X5 does not support CCS (high voltage, DCV) charging. With those, the AC-DC conversion is done in the CCS unit, not in the vehicle.

From a software view, the EVSE sends out a pilot signal that gets interpreted by the vehicle as to the maximum number of amps it can pull from the device, then, it makes its own decision on how many to pull. Since power = volts * amps, that's why a L2 device you'll find for public charging, tends to be faster, but in the case of the X5, not very!

The big question most have is why, and while BMW does have larger chargers used in other vehicles, they chose not to include it for (I think) the additional cooling resources, size, and weight it would entail. Ultimate selling cost is likely a factor, too. Unlike say something like a pure EV, you have a fairly large reserve in your gas tank to fall back on, if needed, to keep on going.

[MAWGinMD]

Well that's no fun. :/ Thanks for the info/response!