Best Value Level 2 Charger for 2015 BMW i3 REX?

Hello i3ers! I recently made the move to EV life and have really enjoyed the last few weeks with my i3! I drive about 42 miles RT/day and often have to run the kids to soccer or school - and have started to find that the Level 1 charger provided isn't cutting the mustard anymore and oftentimes the over-night charge doesn't quite get me back to full.

Does anyone have a similar model and could recommend to me a good Level 2 charger? I have an electrician coming to put in the plug, and he was asking me if I was going to put ina 16A or 32A charger - and I was like, 'Uh. Lemme get back to you.' ... Can I get some insider information?

Also would be helpful to know if I would be able to 'oversize' the AMPerage of the plug so that if/when I upgrade to a later model that can accept more power, I don't have to reinvent the wheel on that.

Thanks in advance for any/all advice! - Ian, Ohio

The amp choice will depend on your electric service panel. Do you have an older home with 100 amp service, or a newer home with 200 amp service? You should be able to tell by looking in the main power cut off box next to your meter. If you see twin 50 amp breakers, you have a 100 amp service, and depending on your total load, will likely not support 32 amps. 200 amp service and 32 amps should be fine. I have 100 amp service and have mine set at 24 amps - but I have all gas appliances (dryer, furnace, stove) so a light load on the electric panel. To future proof, the electrician will just need to use the proper gauge wire. The minimum wire size for 30A is 10 AWG. The minimum wire size for 40A is 8 AWG. The minimum wire size for 50A is 6 AWG. Once you decide what amperage you will be using right now, the proper size breaker will be installed in your electrical panel - which can easily be swapped out for a breaker rated for a different amperage in the future. For example, on a 24 amp circuit, the breaker in the panel for the circuit would be a 30 amp breaker. For a 32 amp circuit, you would need a 40 amp breaker. For mine, I installed 10 gauge wire, and a 30 amp breaker, to support a 24 amp circuit. Since I did my own wiring, I didn't worry too much about future proofing, as I can easily run new heavier wire if/when I need to (I did oversize the conduit for the wire to allow for this).

I bought an Evocharge unit. Made in the US by a company that mainly manufactures commercial units for office buildings and apartment complexes, so figured it would be pretty well made. It is both CAPA certified (https://www.amazon.com/gp/jewelry/technical-specs-help/?ie=UTF8&hideLogo=1&page_ident=1000627531), and UL listed and certified. And it is adjustable for multiple amp service levels (18, 24, and 32 amps). The unit can either be hardwired or plugged in. They have excellent tech support, and so far the unit has worked flawlessly. Plane-Jane, no internet or bells and whistles, but does exactly what I want, charges the car - and the company sells it on Amazon at a discount. Totally empty to full charge takes about 5 hours at 24 amps on my 2015 i3.

https://www.amazon.com/EVoCharge-EVoInnovate-Electric-Charging-Adjustable/dp/B07BKMX3NL

View attachment Charger.jpg

One thing that you might want to consider in the USA is UL certification. Most of the cheap EVSE options on Amazon do not have UL certification. If your house ever catches fire, your insurance company might try to weasel out of paying if there is a non-UL device nearby.

A lot of EV owners swear by the Juicebox EVSE line. I don't personally have one or know if they are UL certified.

If your electric panel has 40 amps of spare capacity, by all means get the 32A EVSE. If you have more than 40 amps, have the electrician run a 50A circuit for the future in case your next EV can do 40A charging. When looking at EVSE models, you will need to make a choice between ones that are hard-wired by an electrician or ones that plug into a high-amperage outlet. The gotcha is that some rule (I don't remember if it is UL or NEC) require that plug-in EVSE's have a maximum power cord length of only 18 inches. If you go with a plug-in unit, make sure that the electrician puts the outlet right next to where you plan to mount the EVSE, since extension cords are not advised.

Another thing for future-proofing is to get a longer charge cable (25 feet) instead of the shorter ones. Longer wire has more resistance and loses a little more metered energy to heat, but there's no guarantee that your next EV will have the charge port on the right rear fender. Many of the popular ones have the charge port in the front grille, and you probably won't want to pay an electrician to move the EVSE/outlet for your next car.....

You can put in any size EVSE your panel and pocketbook can support. They talk to each other (the car and EVSE) so that the car will never pull more than what's announced by the EVSE says it has available, so it won't hurt anything. The current USA i3 can handle up to 7400W. It depends on what your supply voltage is as to how many amps that is (power = volts * amps). Your next car could utilize more, and would charge faster if it was there.

Code requires that an extended on period of something like an EVSE must not draw more than 80% of the rated load, so to actually draw 32A, you'd need a 40A circuit. To use a 40A EVSE, you'd need a 50A circuit, etc. each pairing representing 80% of the max available. WIth the typical supply voltage, you may want a 32A unit to maximize the i3's recharging capability. Where I live, before 32A units became more common, and with my higher than nominal supply voltage, I can max out my charging with a 30A unit.

So, depends on what power you have available and how much you want to spend and how long you expect to be in the house. The wire is fairly expensive, so making the run as short as possible while still being convenient to use the EVSE may be a factor to you. Running it so it looks good and is properly protected could be expensive, too. A simple install shouldn't take more than a couple of hours...a long run, hidden in the wall, could take much longer.

Most, but not all, EVSEs will restart by themselves if there's a power glitch. The Clipper Creek unit I have will. That may be a factor as if you had a power glitch overnight, with some, it may not be fully charged in the morning. Something to look into before making a decision.

Hi Ian,
I’ll throw out another contender for the best value EVSE since I’ve been happy with my 40A Mustart with Nema 14-50 plug ($360 on Amazon) It’s basic so it has no wifi nor scheduling ability but it’s portable, appears well-built and has a screen that displays volts, amps, watts and total kW/hr used. No issues in the 3 months I’ve owned it but the kW usage does reset every time power goes out.
Brian