[Cbew]

My 45e is due to the dealership any moment now. Bought an Chargepoint Home Flex. Hardwired it with 4 awg wire on a 70 amps breaker. Overkill? Maybe, but like the post above said: do it once, do it right.
You never know, I might want an EV sooner than later and I will have the charging station ready for it. The new Mercedes EV has an estimated range of 470 miles! That will put a lot of minds at ease about the feasibility of the EVs. And other car makers will soon follow with their cars, hopefully bringing the prices of the cars down.
Just my opinion.
Cbew

[jad03060]

With a 70A breaker...code says the EVSE cannot be larger than 80%, or 70*0.8=56A. If you bought a 60A EVSE, two things:
- it needs a bigger breaker!
- it should have a power on/off switch close by (that's a factor of the size...smaller ones do not require this)

All's fine if it's a 50A unit.

[codex57]

Does Chargepoint even have a unit that goes more than 40a?

I think it's fine. And yes, I do think you should just future proof things if you're gonna install a Level 2. I put in a 2nd Level 2 for the 45e. I have a Model 3. 40a charging is fine.

The onboard charger that BMW put in the 45e (3.something kW) is just idiotic though. I know someone likes to argue that most homes in the US only have 110v plugs. I also argue that's irrelevant. Those homes also have 220 for things like dryers. Either way, if you buy an electric vehicle, you're gonna want a Level 2 anyways. Even if you don't own the home, BMW still should have put in a higher charger in the car so it can use Level 2 public chargers. As it is now, someone with a 45e can't use a public charger b/c it's cost prohibitive due to the slow charge rate.

[jad03060]

Most public EVSEs in the US charge more on time connected versus the actual power supplied. That's not true everywhere in the world.

Yes, BMW has larger onboard charging devices in their inventory. Yes, to use them, requires bigger wires, more space allocated to them, and more complex cooling arrangements. BMW chose not to equip the vehicles that way since, to keep going, you can just keep the fuel tank full. The vast majority of commutes in the USA are within the EV range of the X5, and on those occasions when you exceed that, it just continues on in hybrid mode. A BEV, to be functional, requires the ability to recharge quickly...a PHEV does not. Raising the price of the X5 to recharge faster won't be cost effective for most buyers, and, in some places, people never recharge them, so it's just extra dead weight, cost, and complexity.

[codex57]

Considering basically all the other manufacturers have faster on board chargers, I don't buy that argument for a second.

A Hyundai IoniQ plug in hybrid can charge at 22kW. That's generally considered the cheapest plug in hybrid. This is a $65,000+ vehicle and a SUV with considerable dead weight in battery that they blocked off via software but we're still lugging around. BMW sells a branded charger for double the price of an aftermarket one but doesn't do anything special. Any argument about cost/weight/etc is all total BS.

[jad03060]

Originally Posted by codex57

Considering basically all the other manufacturers have faster on board chargers, I don't buy that argument for a second.

A Hyundai IoniQ plug in hybrid can charge at 22kW. That's generally considered the cheapest plug in hybrid. This is a $65,000+ vehicle and a SUV with considerable dead weight in battery that they blocked off via software but we're still lugging around. BMW sells a branded charger for double the price of an aftermarket one but doesn't do anything special. Any argument about cost/weight/etc is all total BS.

The Hyundai has an 8.9Kwhr battery, that they say can recharge in about 2 hr and 15 minutes...so, has about the same onboard charger as the X5 45e. That 22kw MIGHT be the max it can handle in regen. I've not seen a spec on the X5's max regen capability, but since the EV motor in the X5 is about twice as big, it's regen capacity is likely more. On the i3, they dialed back the max regen from the initial release, because people were unwilling to learn how to feather it and when you released the pedal, max regen was almost like slamming on the brakes...to get it to be more reasonable, you had to learn to adjust the pedal and you could coast, or apply up to the max regen, depending on how far the go pedal was pressed.

Not all of the manufacturers make finding the size of their onboard charging systems easy, but looking at the battery sizes, and the listed charging times, the X5 is not out of line. There are exceptions.

The LandRovers cost more, and have a smaller onboard charger. Toyota's standard charger is smaller, but they do offer an optional, larger one if you want to pay for it.