TomMoloughney
Well-known member
Notice: Onboard charger replacement and temporary reduction of charge rate
Over in the i3 Facebook group there have been some discussion here regarding the charge rates of some cars that have been returned from service once they had a new onboard charger(KLE) installed. Some people have reported that their car is taking longer to charge than it did before they had the service. I now have the real facts on this from BMW NA and it will be officially communicated through them soon. I just wanted to get this out there now before anyone else wonders why their car may be charging slower after service.
Unfortunately the lower charge rate is indeed going to be the case, but it is only a temporary measure. The problem is some i3s (BEV and REx) are having a failure of their onboard charger and the result is the car will only charge at half the usual rate (roughly 3.5kW instead of around 7kW). BMW has identified the cause and is in the process of developing a permanent fix for this which I believe will be a new KLE. In the meantime, if your KLE fails and you bring it in for the service, they will install a new KLE(the same one as the one you have), and then reduce the charge rate by about 20% (you should see about a 5.8kW draw instead of the ~7kW draw the car can take now). This will help to prevent the new unit from failing again but it is only a temporary measure until the new, permanent unit can be installed. What this means is instead of charging at about 23 miles per hour, you'll be charging at about 18 miles per hour (of course, YMMV) and instead of a 3.5 hour full recharge, it will be about 4.5 hours.
I don't have any time official frame, but I expect this to be a short stint of perhaps a couple months, that's all. Many of you won't even be effected, as long as your KLE doesn't fail. One suggestion I have that will prevent any failure is to set your charge rate to minimum if you don't need to charge faster, like if you are recharging overnight. The lower charge rate will prevent the KLE from failing and you won't be inconvenienced by having to bring it in for service just yet. No, I realize it's not ideal, but BMW does indeed have a permanent fix and the cars will indeed have the 7.2kW charge rate we were promised. I'll update more as I get information on this.
I'm not sure if the European i3 owners have been experiencing the same onboard charger issues as we have been here in the US, but I'd like to hear about it if you have. I'm not sure exactly why it would only affect us here, but I do know the KLEs are failing at a pretty good rate and many of the i3 owners that I know have had the problem, including me.
The temporary charge rate does not effect level 1 charging or DCQC, just level 2 charging.
Over in the i3 Facebook group there have been some discussion here regarding the charge rates of some cars that have been returned from service once they had a new onboard charger(KLE) installed. Some people have reported that their car is taking longer to charge than it did before they had the service. I now have the real facts on this from BMW NA and it will be officially communicated through them soon. I just wanted to get this out there now before anyone else wonders why their car may be charging slower after service.
Unfortunately the lower charge rate is indeed going to be the case, but it is only a temporary measure. The problem is some i3s (BEV and REx) are having a failure of their onboard charger and the result is the car will only charge at half the usual rate (roughly 3.5kW instead of around 7kW). BMW has identified the cause and is in the process of developing a permanent fix for this which I believe will be a new KLE. In the meantime, if your KLE fails and you bring it in for the service, they will install a new KLE(the same one as the one you have), and then reduce the charge rate by about 20% (you should see about a 5.8kW draw instead of the ~7kW draw the car can take now). This will help to prevent the new unit from failing again but it is only a temporary measure until the new, permanent unit can be installed. What this means is instead of charging at about 23 miles per hour, you'll be charging at about 18 miles per hour (of course, YMMV) and instead of a 3.5 hour full recharge, it will be about 4.5 hours.
I don't have any time official frame, but I expect this to be a short stint of perhaps a couple months, that's all. Many of you won't even be effected, as long as your KLE doesn't fail. One suggestion I have that will prevent any failure is to set your charge rate to minimum if you don't need to charge faster, like if you are recharging overnight. The lower charge rate will prevent the KLE from failing and you won't be inconvenienced by having to bring it in for service just yet. No, I realize it's not ideal, but BMW does indeed have a permanent fix and the cars will indeed have the 7.2kW charge rate we were promised. I'll update more as I get information on this.
I'm not sure if the European i3 owners have been experiencing the same onboard charger issues as we have been here in the US, but I'd like to hear about it if you have. I'm not sure exactly why it would only affect us here, but I do know the KLEs are failing at a pretty good rate and many of the i3 owners that I know have had the problem, including me.
The temporary charge rate does not effect level 1 charging or DCQC, just level 2 charging.
