Charging the car?

[lpka]

Hello.
New owner here of 2017 BEV. 94AH
I looked everywhere and just don't get it. have a few questions.

I.
If I put the charger into the socket, and all the doors are closed - The car charges, but WHEN :
-I open the door it stops charging.
-If I open the passenger door it continues to charges.
-If I unlock the car it stops.
-if the doors are open when I charge and get it, it charges, When I open again and get out it stops.
WHAT is going ON??? :?:
I don't get it. :?:
I want to charge NON STOP and go into the car , out of the car.... be in the car...


II.
If I select LOW charging and REDUCE charging in option. And put my 11KW 3 phase charger into the car, the car charges all of the time 10.5 KW 220V via 15Amp.... it does not go lower or higher... there is no difference what I select in the OPTIONS....
is this normal?

III.
What would you says that the lowest % of the battery would be OK to drive. 5% is OK, what about 1% if I know that I will charge in 1km?

Thank you for the answers.

 

[eNate]

The easy answer is no, this is not normal based on my car. I can unlock and open the driver side door without interrupting charging.

When L1 charging @ 16A, if I select Reduced it steps down to 12A, and when I select Minimum it steps down to 8A (my L1 EVSE delivers 16A at max). However, when using L2, I personally haven't adjusted the charge level, and the owners manual specifies only Maximum and Reduced are available, at 32A and 20A respectively. I interpret that as meaning the L2 "floor" cannot be set lower than 20A by the car, but if the EVSE is natively below 20A (in your case 15A), the car will charge at that level but it cannot be adjusted by the car.

To protect its health, a battery should never be run to zero, but the i3 has a modest buffer at the lower end separating displayed zero from actual zero. The battery is made up of groups of modules comprised of individual cells connected in series. A module could be at 5%, but an individual cell within that middle could be at 0%. At that point, as electrons flow from the module, there's basically a negative charge being applied to that cell, which damages the cell. But with the built in buffer and a good battery management system, that shouldn't happen.

At that point it makes it more a matter of your own safety and inconvenience, should you run out of juice during a drive. That said, I've run to zero twice, and found the discharge curve to remain consistent, and it seemed the i3 hides a little extra in that last percent. I'm not recommending this! But it doesn't go from 5% displayed to "Shutting Down Now" like a cell phone or laptop.

 

[lpka]

OK thanks, I got it.

Due to locking and unlocking, I will check my type2 socket, maybe when the car unlocks it moves the handle and car stops just for a second.

 

[alohart]

The easy answer is no, this is not normal based on my car. I can unlock and open the driver side door without interrupting charging.

lpka's i3 has a Type 2 charge port and 11 kW charging, so his isn't a North American i3. I've read that Type 2 charging behaves differently from Type 1 charging in North American i3's with respect to locking, when charging ceases, etc. I've read that opening and closing doors does interrupt Type 2 charging, so the behavior lpka is describing is likely normal. Those with Type 2 experience would need to explain this behavior because I, having only Type 1 experience, can't.

 

[eNate]

lpka's i3 has a Type 2 charge port and 11 kW charging, so his isn't a North American i3. I've read that Type 2 charging behaves differently from Type 1 charging in North American i3's with respect to locking, when charging ceases, etc. I've read that opening and closing doors does interrupt Type 2 charging, so the behavior lpka is describing is likely normal. Those with Type 2 experience would need to explain this behavior because I, having only Type 1 experience, can't.

Ah, Interesting! That possibly explains why Bjørn Nyland had an issue with the i3 not charging in this video. He has other videos where he leaves the car to get something to eat while plugged in to a DC charger, and no problem. But in this video he plugs in to a public AC unit and this happens:

https://youtu.be/AIUupdI2-X0?t=426

His resolution is to fiddle with the schedule but I don't think that was the cause. Weird, though, that there would be this restriction in place for L2 but not for DC.

 

[eNate]

lpka's i3 has a Type 2 charge port and 11 kW charging, so his isn't a North American i3. I've read that Type 2 charging behaves differently from Type 1 charging in North American i3's with respect to locking, when charging ceases, etc. I've read that opening and closing doors does interrupt Type 2 charging, so the behavior lpka is describing is likely normal. Those with Type 2 experience would need to explain this behavior because I, having only Type 1 experience, can't.

Ah, Interesting! That possibly explains why Bjørn Nyland had an issue with the i3 not charging in this video. He has other videos where he leaves the car to get something to eat while plugged in to a DC charger, and no problem. But in this video he plugs in to a public AC unit and this happens:

https://youtu.be/AIUupdI2-X0?t=426

His resolution is to fiddle with the schedule but I don't think that was the cause. Weird, though, that there would be this restriction in place for L2 but not for DC.