I would leave the cable that comes with the car in the car so you always have it with you and buy another station to install permanently. You can get a tax refund for 30% of the cost of the EVSE and installation up to $1,000.

 

Installation should be a lot cheaper if you already have the outlet. Just the box cost basically.

 

The cable supplied is only level 1 and would take a long time to charge the car. With the chargers installed elsewhere by EA and others, and still being unreliable, having a level 2 car charger at home is a must IMO.

 

That is not correct. It is a "Flexible Fast Charger" that has both a 110 VAC (level 1) plug and a 240 VAC (level 2) plug that fits a NEMA 14-50 outlet. I use it as my primary charger at home (because I see no utility in having a charging cable in my trunk). I never charge away from home, but if I did it would be at an EV charging station and those all have cables in the US. Can't imagine a situation where I am asking someone to let me plug in to their home outlet for half a day!

 

No, you don't need to buy a home charger station. It's not legally required

 

The chargers that come with our cars work GREAT, AND are totally portable.

 

The included cable is a combo level 1/2. So you can use it with our outlet and get good L2 charging speeds.

I would recommend checking with your power company for any incentives. Eversource in my area will pay you $200/year to use a wifi connected charger.

 

The included cable is a combo level 1/2. So you can use it with our outlet and get good L2 charging speeds.

I would recommend checking with your power company for any incentives. Eversource in my area will pay you $200/year to use a wifi connected charger.

I assume you mean a connected charger, dienst have to be WiFi?

 

I use the included charger as my home charger and am quite happy with it - on a 40a service (I believe) - decent recharging - about 10% / hour (sorry, don't know all the calculations). I have the BMW wall mount as well, making it super easy to remove from the wall and toss in the car if I am going any distance. To be honest, I can't really see when I'd need it, but I will take on longer journeys. Most of my driving is in town and I charge every 1-1.5 weeks.

 

Personally, I just use a 14-50 to charge at level2. This is what I’ve done for over 3 years and 40k miles. The included BMW charger is fine.

You could install a charger, and potentially get a bit more charging power versus the plug, but it’s not significant. The hard wired chargers can also provide reporting, that the BMW mobile charger does not.

However, what you have is completely fine and functional. Now if you only had 110v available, thattotally different discussion.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother taking the mobile charger with you, unless going on a long trip, as a backup. There isn’t a reason unless you’re always about to run out of juice.

 

Agree, the BMW-supplied charger is fine, if you don't mind the extra time to unpack/connect/disconnect/repack the charger/cable (mine is stored in its bag under the cargo floor). The NEMA 14-50 plug connected to a 240V/50A circuit yields 9.6 kw at the 48A setting. That allows 40% to 80% SOC in ~4 hours. Budget more charging time at 32A.

 

Agree, the BMW-supplied charger is fine, if you don't mind the extra time to unpack/connect/disconnect/repack the charger/cable (mine is stored in its bag under the cargo floor). The NEMA 14-50 plug connected to a 240V/50A circuit yields 9.9 kw at the 48A setting. That allows 40% to 80% SOC in ~4 hours. Budget more charging time at 32A.

Is the car setting at 48 amps? A NEMA 14-50 outlet with an EV car charger should be limited to 40 amps.

 

Be aware unplugging and plugging in repeatedly will cause wear on the socket and plug. This can then result in a sub-optimal coupling which can result in a hot spot which would cause an electrical fire.

Don't cheap out on the EVSE for your $50-90k BMW. Get a dedicated charger and get it hard wired.

 

Yes!

 

The fast flex charger that comes with the car is sufficient for L2 charging. But my outlet is outdoors and plugging and unplugging the big 240V plug got cumbersome after a while. I installed a Juicebox. The price was attractive too after some rebates and tax incentives.

It depends on your situation. If you are able to leave the BMW charger plugged in, then probably a charging station might not be necessary. However some wall chargers come with advanced features like syncing with your utilities rate plans etc, which are nice.

 

Use the included charger, mount it on the wall if it’s in your garage and leave it. It will charge at the 40 amp max of your 14-50 plug. If you really think you will need to carry a charger (which you probably won’t) buy a cheaper portable charger and throw it in the trunk and forget about it. That’s all you need.

 

As you see in these posts, it's not a "have to." You have a choice. You may find incentives for installing a smart charger, you want to be sure you don't plug/unplug a lot if you used the included Flex Charger (or, at least, get a very high quality NEMA socket!), and you will want to review the tax credits available (state, local, and federal).

 

It won't get 48A, but the next lowest setting is 32A.
So, using it, I get 40A X 240V = 9600 w

 

Why not buy a second BMW OEM cable like the one that comes with the car? Keep one in trunk. Keep one attached to the wall at home. Only needs a simple 240 volt socket. So far (three months) we have done all charging at home. If we start charging away from home, that would be my first choice. In spite of having the latest technology car, my only telephone is a land line. Maybe that makes a difference?

 

Coz you can buy something better that is capable of 48A even if you want to avoid smart devices.

 

I would recommend buying something like the Grizzl-E or the Juicebox for the 14-50 outlet. This allows you to do wifi monitoring of the charging and keep the travel charger in the car all the time. Will give you the power need. No need to go hardwired at all, that extra 8AMPs won't really matter.

 

Our local electric company put up $1500 on the installation. I was able to upgrade my fuse panel (added an auxiliary panel) which leaves me room for future circuits and installed the charger. The net cost was $100. The net cost on the charger itself was $400. I thinking that it's was worth a $500 investment for convenience and maybe adding to my home value.

 

I do agree that you shouldn’t unplug and plug repeatedly from the 14-50. If you’re going to do that, you should hard-wire one. I unplugged my Tesla mobile charger maybe 5 times in 3 years.

 

I always charge with the included BMW flexible fast charger connected to a NEMA 14-50 receptacle at home. It’s perfectly fine and you can fully charge from 0-100% overnight.

 

It's like 300-something bucks for an adequate L2 charger, assuming you have a 240V outlet available, so to me it's a no-brainer. I just keep one in the car for potential circumstances, but for pocket change (as it relates to the cost of the vehicle), I'd just rather buy a dedicated L2 charging station for home use.

 

90% of the installation cost of a dedicated L2 charger is in the wiring/run from fusebox to installed location. If you already have a 14/50 plug then converting that to a hard-wired 40A L2 charger is pretty cheap. You are likely to need a L2 charger for the rest of the time you own your home.

 

I bought an EVSE for around $450 (Autel Maxicharger) and had it installed for around $1600. But in retrospect, it's not really a necessity, especially if you already have a NEMA 14-50 outlet. OTOH, I would have had to spend the $1.6k for wiring anyway, and I think the electrical code where I live would have required them to install an additional GFCI at the panel for an outlet (not a hardwired EVSE), diminishing some of that saving.

 

With more and more EV's on the road, I am finding it harder and harder to find an available charger in my area. That coupled with how often these are down is frustrating. Having the convenience of my Chargepoint charger at 40amps in my garage is great! If nothing else than for convenience, I would recommend one if you can swing it.

 

Not much is going to outweigh the convenience of a dedicated charger.

 

They are correct. I bought a juice box prior to taking delivery of my M50. Then found out the Charger come with the car can do basic the same charging speed. So now I have 2 level 2 chargers but only 1 240v plug.

 

We've had our i4 for 5 months now, and we just use the mobile charge cord with the 14-50 outlet.
I personally don't see the Return On Investment by spending $500-$1,000 for a Wallbox that charges SLIGHTLY faster. Start with the mobile cord, and upgrade to the Wallbox in a minth if you think you'd prefer it.