Hybrid charging

P

Pastry

Senior member
 South East
Ive just bought a BMW 330e as the family car and I'm looking for advice on charging stations and leads. I want to get a fast charger for home so has anyone got any experience of these and knows what I should look out for? I also need a lead to connect to public chargers and I think I need a 32amp male to female type 2 lead, is this correct?

Cheers

Pastry
 
Myself and a good friend have just set up a new business solely dedicated for the installation of car charge stations. We are both electricians. You can get the 32amp charging unit fitted with the help from OLEV the government scheme. They will pay up to £500 of the installation costs. Where are you based?
 
Johnbmwz4 said:
Myself and a good friend have just set up a new business solely dedicated for the installation of car charge stations. We are both electricians. You can get the 32amp charging unit fitted with the help from OLEV the government scheme. They will pay up to £500 of the installation costs. Where are you based?
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I’m near Tring in Herts.
I’m aware you can claim back 75% of the install to a max of £500. The big question is what to install? :cry:
 
We install the Rolec and Pod Point units. I personally think the Rolec ones are the best. Not every model is available on the OLEV scheme so you need to do a bit of homework to see which one is best for you.
 
I heard that if you get it subsidised it is then there for anyone to use, so you could come home and find someone on your drive charging up ?

Stuart
 
Pastry said:
Ive just bought a BMW 330e as the family car and I'm looking for advice on charging stations and leads. I want to get a fast charger for home so has anyone got any experience of these and knows what I should look out for? I also need a lead to connect to public chargers and I think I need a 32amp male to female type 2 lead, is this correct?

Cheers

Pastry
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I know a bit about this. I've got your car's big brother. These cars do not support fast or rapid DC charging, only 3Kw single phase AC charging. It comes with the 13A granny cable which will charge at about 10A, or if you go for a home charger it'll do 16A but no more. That said, if you have one installed at home I'd go for a 7Kw one if your home electrics will take it, almost the same price. They're all pretty much the same so pick the one you like the look of. Grant is max £500. A tethered lead is easier. You need a type 2 Mennekes connector.

As for public charging, forget it. You'll take 3-4 hours to get 20 miles and in the meantime piss off all the people with BEVs that NEED the charger, and who can gulp power at 50Kw compared to your 3.

If you want a lead to carry around, type 2 to type 2 female-male is what you are looking for, a 16A one would do fine and is thinner, lighter and cheaper (easier to stow) but 32A would be useful in the future if you change the car. Try evcables.co.uk for great products.
 
Stuartt said:
I heard that if you get it subsidised it is then there for anyone to use, so you could come home and find someone on your drive charging up ?

Stuart
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Err, no.
 
A1GSS said:
I know a bit about this. I've got your car's big brother. These cars do not support fast or rapid DC charging, only 3Kw single phase AC charging. It comes with the 13A granny cable which will charge at about 10A, or if you go for a home charger it'll do 16A but no more. That said, if you have one installed at home I'd go for a 7Kw one if your home electrics will take it, almost the same price. They're all pretty much the same so pick the one you like the look of. Grant is max £500. A tethered lead is easier. You need a type 2 Mennekes connector.

As for public charging, forget it. You'll take 3-4 hours to get 20 miles and in the meantime piss off all the people with BEVs that NEED the charger, and who can gulp power at 50Kw compared to your 3.

If you want a lead to carry around, type 2 to type 2 female-male is what you are looking for, a 16A one would do fine and is thinner, lighter and cheaper (easier to stow) but 32A would be useful in the future if you change the car. Try evcables.co.uk for great products.
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Thanks for this, I appreciate it :thumbsup:
I was told they did fast charging but not rapid but I may have misunderstood. When I fit a home station will that reduce the charging time to 3-4hrs?
 
There are three core types of EV charging – generally called rapid, fast, and slow.

Rapid chargers are divided in two sections – AC and DC. Currently available Rapid AC chargers are rated at 43kW, while Rapid DC are typically 50kW. 100kW is coming. Tesla Superchargers are a special case, also Rapid DC and currently charge at around 120kW.

Fast chargers are AC, cover those with 7kW (single phase) and 22kW (three phase) power outputs.

Slow is everything else.

The BMW onboard charger is a slow. Regardless of the capability of the underlying AC supply, it takes 16A maximum and gives about 3.3KWh of useful recharge, per hour. Take the battery capacity and divide by that should give you an idea.

My 740e takes <3 hours from flat to full on the home charger or about 4.5 hours on the 13A plug ("granny cable").
 
Steve84N said:
Sounds like a pretty pointless hybrid... :tumbleweed:
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Not for me it isnt. Compared to the 420d it replaces my BIK has gone down from 31% to 13%. It’s my wife that uses the car mainly and her 18 mile commute used to be at 40mpg but it looks like this car will return about 70 mpg based on today’s run.
 
I'd say the main purpose of a 330e is to combine the power of a 3 litre with the economy of a 2 litre - though personally i'll do that with a diesel. However, if you can do a daily commute using majority battery power, and charge at home, you could have the benefits of an electric vehicle, but with a conventional petrol engine and fuel tank for long journeys.

I'd have a 330e, if I could make the all electric range work - but my commute of 40 miles is too much for the battery. currently no manufacturer makes the car I want, but I'm sure its only a matter of time - 1500kgs, 200bhp petrol engine, 100bhp electric engine for a combined total of 300bhp, all electric range of at least 60 miles.

in fairness, I don't know why a car like a 330e or 740e doesn't have an option of a battery 3 times the size of a normal one - I'd happily have an extra 100kgs weight penalty if it meant my 40mile commute could be completely covered by battery power alone.
 
brillomaster said:
I'd say the main purpose of a 330e is to combine the power of a 3 litre with the economy of a 2 litre - though personally i'll do that with a diesel. However, if you can do a daily commute using majority battery power, and charge at home, you could have the benefits of an electric vehicle, but with a conventional petrol engine and fuel tank for long journeys.

I'd have a 330e, if I could make the all electric range work - but my commute of 40 miles is too much for the battery. currently no manufacturer makes the car I want, but I'm sure its only a matter of time - 1500kgs, 200bhp petrol engine, 100bhp electric engine for a combined total of 300bhp, all electric range of at least 60 miles.

in fairness, I don't know why a car like a 330e or 740e doesn't have an option of a battery 3 times the size of a normal one - I'd happily have an extra 100kgs weight penalty if it meant my 40mile commute could be completely covered by battery power alone.
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The boot floor is raised by about 4” which equates to 100litres of space to accommodate the battery pack so it’s quite large. I should imagine fitting it in an existing model that is available with a wide range of engines and options is harder than a hybrid that is designed solely as a hybrid.
I’m sure battery size and life will advance quickly so will appeal to a lot more people but in its current form I am probably the ideal user with a shortish commute plus lots of local running around at weekends. I’m expecting similar mpg to the 420d on journeys too which my wife does once a week. Time will tell how running costs will compare but the days of diesels seem to be running out quickly.

Profornance is great too and that electric motor certainly makes up for any possible turbo lag :D :driving:
 
Works for me. I can charge up at both ends of my 23 mile commute. Get 21 miles on the battery, less if its freezing and dark and raining. Average since I had the car is almost 90mpg. This is very much down to my particular use case.

On a 200 mile journey it would average about 42mpg. Not bad for a 2500kg barge. It has a 250bhp version of the 4 banger. Not its best feature tbh and certainly no V8, but I hardly ever use it.

Only real weakness really is (as said) the battery capacity, it's a very rapidly evolving technology so I expect that in a few years when it's time for something else, the compromises are fewer.
 
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