Level 2 chargers

Sorry for the dumb question, but imo the owner's manual isn't much help. If I plug my new i3 into a level 2 charger, do I need to do anything in the menus to enable the faster charge rate? I work close to home, so I normally don't need to charge much, so I just plug into my wall at home. But my employer has a level 2 charger available, and due to a longish trip yesterday, I am down to about 33%, so I thought I would try the level 2 tomorrow.

When I turn the car off, the menu displays something which implies it expects low charge power (level 1, I assume). So when I turn it off prior to plugging it into level 2, do I need to change any settings, and if so, to what?

TIA

The car will autosense what's plugged in, so it will use the most of what's available.

You can tell the car to limit how much to ask for (only necessary if the EVSE is sharing that circuit with something) if you wish, otherwise, set the iDrive menu choices to maximum for both level 1 and level 2. You can't overcharge the car, or damage the EVSE, since the EVSE announces how much power it has, and then the car won't use more than either that, or some lower level you've preset in the car.

FWIW, the charging circuit is in the car, and it is the main thing that limits how fast the car can charge...think of the EVSE as a smart plug in the wall...it just acts like an on/off/safety switch.

Thanks for the reply, Jim.

Should I be able to tell anywhere on a menu what level of charger is hooked up? I am using a charge point station at work which is supposed to be level 2, but the only thing I can find on a status menu says something about level 1.

Thanks

Make sure both L1 and L2 charge levels are set to maximum as Jim detailed, as long as all of the charging sources you use can handle the energy load. For example, if you're using the L1 occasional use cable (OUC) and you plug it into a 15 amp home circuit, you should set the L1 level to "reduced" or even "low".

You can check the charging level of the EVSE by using the ChargePoint app. A ChargePoint account is needed to do this but I'm assuming you already have one since you're using one of their devices. If the app shows the car is charging between 6kW and 7.2kW (I believe 7.3 for 94Ah i3) then you are getting the maximum charge that the i3 can facilitate. If the app is showing the car is charging around 4kW then the EVSE isn't rated at least 40 Amps or the charge level set on the car for L2 isn't set to "maximum". This is the charge level I was getting from a public ChargePoint EVSE when I set my L2 to "reduced".

If it's charging below 4kW then it may be an L1 EVSE.

Unless the EVSE has a display on it to tell you, or it is connected to the internet and you can run an app to view it, there isn't a way to tell how much power the i3 is drawing. You can get sort of an idea by looking at when the car says it will be done charging (knowing the current state of charge and how long it will need to run), but that can often be wrong, at least at the beginning of the charging cycle (it gets refined a bit later on in the process). FWIW, while the public EVSE may be able to provide 30A (or more), it's not uncommon for them to also have a commercial 208vac supply input. Since the power delivered is P=V*A, or power=volts times amps, if you drop the voltage, at that same max of 30A, you will get less power into the batteries than say your home 30A EVSE that is connected to a 240vac supply. For example, during most times, my actual input voltage is closer to 250vac, which, at 30A (my unit's limit) means there's more power than my i3 can use, so it wouldn't even try to pull the maximum of 30A available.

The EVSE sends a signal announcing how much power is available (well, it describes home many amps it can provide), and then, the car will then use anything up to what is announced so that it doesn't overload the EVSE's circuit.

FWIW, if your home 15A circuit is a dedicated one, you should be able to tell the i3 to use maximum (which is by US code, 12A or less - 80% of the circuit it's plugged into). There is a limiter via software in the car in case that circuit is trying to feed other things so that you don't overload it...it's not for protecting the EVSE (or the car), it's in case the circuit it's plugged into might be overloaded. An example might be a typical garage circuit that may be powering a garage door opener, and maybe some other things. Might work fine, but then you try to open the garage door, and you trip the circuit breaker!