[Mobeam]

Hi All,

Just registered and my first post......so please bear with me.
Just ordered a new IX3 Pro and expected in April. My first EV.

I am just retired and average around 10K miles per annum now but maybe less in the future. The longest trip maybe one holiday per year which could be a long trip abroad, of which on first thoughts scares me a bit, but hopefully if planned correctly should be OK as I understand that fast chargers are more plentiful in Europe than here.
My current car sits on the drive most weekends along with the odd few days during the week. So....with this in mind can I use just the supplied 3 pin charge cable {granny?]. I am aware that this way of charging takes quite a number of hours...but if I was to keep the SOC at say not less than 50% then would this suffice. Any comments would be appreciated.

[The shadow]

Hi, when you factor in the cost of the charger install as well(around £1k without grant) I think you would manage absolutely fine with the granny charger plugged in when your not using the car for a couple of days or even if you have a large supermarket nearby with free ev chargers, use them.

[hollpe]

Just a couple of thoughts. My iX3 is also my first EV and I had a dedicated charger installed at home. It's been great so far and charges the car up within 7 or so hours. I tend to do about 15 miles a day in the week with the odd long journey. So it gets charged up a couple of times a week as I keep it between 20 & 80%, unless I'm on a long trip.

It's worth thinking about the following:

- A dedicated charger can take advantage of multi rate electricity costs. A granny charger wouldn't be quick enough to make enough of the off-peak windows really.

- Granny chargers are recommended for ad-hoc short term usage. There can be issues with home wiring, sockets etc when using them for long periods of time.

- The dedicated charging point is generally installed so that it bypasses your house electrics completely.

- Don't underestimate how slow the granny charger actually is. It can take a day or so to charge the car. If you needed a few extra miles adding in a few hours, the granny charger just won't cut it.

- Relatively speaking the home charging points aren't mega expensive.

- Having used a granny charger the other weekend on holiday it is a bit of a faff (running cables etc) Having the dedicated one at home is much easier.

Just my thoughts and perhaps the best way would be to try the granny charger for a month or so and see how you get on. I've just remembered that the home charger grant runs out soon, so that increases the price a fair amount.

Hope that helps in some way

[lakmus]

Depending on the socket & fuses of your house and model of the granny charger, you can get anywhere between 8 km (5 mi) to 16 km (10 mi) per hour (with an average consumption of 22 kW / 100 km - or 2.8 mi per kWh).

My pre-LCI didn't come with the BMW Flexible Fast Charger that's limited to 8A (~1.8 kW / hr) from the granny. I can choose between 10 A (~2.3 kW / hr) or 16 A (~3.2 kW / hr), however I need to ensure the contacts are good on the socket and it won't blow the fuses. In general it's not recommended to pull more than 8A from a general socket (unless the socket is relatively new and your fuses can handle the load).

If you're generally driving 40-50 mi / day (assuming you would charge only over night 8-10 hours), you won't need a wall charger since you're 80 % (or 100% after every charge). You can always stop by a semi-fast (50-80 kW / hr) or high-powered charger (up to 150 kW) if you need to occasionally top up.

I don't have a possibility to charge at home currently, so I mostly use the fast charging network and tend to top up a bit when I'm shopping. Haven't felt charging as an issue, as long as you charge at least once a week for 1 hr. I've done just under 10 000 miles per year. Hope this helps!

[keninuk]

I was just about to post my reply and noticed hollpe had it pretty much all covered.

One thing to also perhaps consider is as EV's become more popular is that any guests you have visiting might really appreciate a quicker charger for them to use while they are visiting.

There are plenty of other threads to have a look at on the forum for further information on charging and many other topics on the iX3 in general and I hope you enjoy your iX3 when you get it.

[DaveCV]

I am retired and I have been driving EVs for 7 years. I have used the granny charger in the past and provided it is left connected to a suitable socket, it will work just fine. I wouldn’t recommend repeated removal/ insertion of the plug as this will cause wear and tear on the socket. You will though find the speed of charging frustrating. Even 7kW charging can appear to be painfully slow at times on the iX3. Finally, unless you are happy to pay standard prices for electricity, you wouldn’t get much of a charge for 4 hours on Octopus’ Go Offpeak rate of 7.5p/kWh.

[The shadow]

Originally Posted by DaveCV

I am retired and I have been driving EVs for 7 years. I have used the granny charger in the past and provided it is left connected to a suitable socket, it will work just fine. I wouldn’t recommend repeated removal/ insertion of the plug as this will cause wear and tear on the socket. You will though find the speed of charging frustrating. Even 7kW charging can appear to be painfully slow at times on the iX3. Finally, unless you are happy to pay standard prices for electricity, you wouldn’t get much of a charge for 4 hours on Octopus’ Go Offpeak rate of 7.5p/kWh.

Which is why I responded how I did, as per 1st post if the car is laid up for a couple of days then granny charger would be more than adequate to charge the car and if you don’t have an ev specific utility tariff (where you need to have an ev charger) then make do as it is

[the_ape]

Just remember the granny charger in the UK at least is not technically 'safe' as the grounding issues that's involved with our supply system. Most other countries not an issue, UK is on.

Have a research if you like, but just thought I'd mention.

[Mobeam]

Hi again guys and a big thank you for your helpful advice and guidance.

As someone has stated, in relative costs terms bearing in mind the purchase price of the vehicle, the cost of a wall charger and the initial benefits outways the outlay. Furthermore once taking ownership of my first EV it is highly unlikely for me [or other EV owners] to go back to ICE transport in the future. So sometime or other I will need one

So I have arranged and booked installation of a OHME wall charger hopefully next month before the £350 Government grant runs out end of March.
Also maybe I will save a little on heating bills as I won't have to open a window to poker out the granny charger cable !!
Should anyone who is using a OHME charger have any comments or guidance would again be appreciated.

Again thanks guys for your help.

[hollpe]

I've got the Ohme charger and have been really pleased with it. It's worked flawlessly so far and charges at around 7.2kWh @ 31a consistently. The app is straight forward and very easy to use. It's also good for charging at the cheaper rate, if you have a two rate tariff.

Congrats on your iX3. I'm sure you will love it. As you can see from the forum the vast majority of folks have been really impressed with theirs, me included!

[esgbeamer14]

We've had our iX3, our first EV, for 2 months and are having an Ohme charger installed on Monday; can't wait.

With the Granny charger we only get 10-12% charging in the 4 hour window that is the Octopus Go tariff, so we want better. Equally, even though we've set the car to charge in that window, it keeps charging until the set target is reached.

Key for us, as well as the cost saving, is to have the flexibility to charge the car quickly when we need to. We see a home charger as a game changer.

[DaveCV]

There is an interesting discussion about granny chargers on the SpeakEV website suggesting that they be banned in the UK.

[keninuk]

Originally Posted by the_ape

Just remember the granny charger in the UK at least is not technically 'safe' as the grounding issues that's involved with our supply system. Most other countries not an issue, UK is on.

Have a research if you like, but just thought I'd mention.

Originally Posted by DaveCV

There is an interesting discussion about granny chargers on the SpeakEV website suggesting that they be banned in the UK.

SpeakEV mentions the granny chargers have no earth fault protection so there is always the risk of electric shock if the fault is present with a car parked outside the house.

The EV chargers with monitoring/software do not prevent the earthing condition it just shuts off the charger if the condition exist for more than a defined time which I think for most of them is 5 minutes.

If I am not mistaken it simply means it is OK to allow people to be electrocuted some of the time but not all of the time! An over simplification but if you cannot eliminate the risk completely then I suppose it comes down to what is an acceptable/manageable risk to allow us to charge our vehicles.

[Hud78]

Originally Posted by the_ape

Just remember the granny charger in the UK at least is not technically 'safe' as the grounding issues that's involved with our supply system. Most other countries not an issue, UK is on.

Have a research if you like, but just thought I'd mention.

I think this is scaremongering. As I understand it, a 'granny' manufactured recently has to have DC fault protection incorporated.

Provided the 13A socket to be used has been properly checked/tested, and the granny is used as per its instructions it's perfectly safe.

[DaveCV]

From SpeakEV today:

Quote:Hi everyone

This is my first post. I have a 21 corsa e & I normally charge it at a supermarket or, more recently with a 3pin charger at my boyfriends house. No issues until last night, when I was charging at my mums house. We had a special outdoor socket installed & I bought a 3pin charger (I bought it off ebay new & reviews were good). I was on about 40mile when I plugged in at bedtime & when I checked my phone at 330am, it wasn't charging. When I looked, the wall socket was burnt out & the plug smelt of smoke. I was really worried about the car & (because I need it for a trip today) I'm currently a female sitting in a car on a deserted car park at 5am! It is charging normally thank God.

So...do you think the fault lies with the plug or with the charger? Was it because my car was very low on miles & it needed more power? Obviously really scared me!

Unquote

Arguably, EBay was not the ideal place to purchase a 3 pin charger and it is possible that the special outdoor socket was not as special as she thought; however, incidences like this do occur with 3 pin chargers.

[ggla]

Never buy anything power related from ebay, so many bad experiences.

I didnt realise other cars dont come with granny chargers, but the one that comes with the iX3 is built to a very high standard, it seems solid and has a huge block built in to it that looks like it does something to keep it safe (you can tell i know what im talking about :-S)

Id have no hesitation using it assuming i limited the car to 10amp.

of course i have got my own wall charger to take advantage of quicker charging times and reduced overnight electircity rates. I charged about 25% last night for £1.57

[DaveCV]

Originally Posted by ggla

Never buy anything power related from ebay, so many bad experiences.

I didnt realise other cars dont come with granny chargers, but the one that comes with the iX3 is built to a very high standard, it seems solid and has a huge block built in to it that looks like it does something to keep it safe (you can tell i know what im talking about :-S)

Id have no hesitation using it assuming i limited the car to 10amp.

of course i have got my own wall charger to take advantage of quicker charging times and reduced overnight electircity rates. I charged about 25% last night for £1.57

The granny charger that BMW supplied for the i3 120Ah (3 years ago) was the subject of a technical recall and 1 for 1 replacement. Even BMW can get it wrong.

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by DaveCV

The granny charger that BMW supplied for the i3 120Ah (3 years ago) was the subject of a technical recall and 1 for 1 replacement. Even BMW can get it wrong.

I think they have proven they can get it wrong many times over the years. Most recently, installing faulty batteries into an EV, and not knowing which vehicles were affected!

[Johna78]

Originally Posted by Mobeam

Hi again guys and a big thank you for your helpful advice and guidance.

As someone has stated, in relative costs terms bearing in mind the purchase price of the vehicle, the cost of a wall charger and the initial benefits outways the outlay. Furthermore once taking ownership of my first EV it is highly unlikely for me [or other EV owners] to go back to ICE transport in the future. So sometime or other I will need one

So I have arranged and booked installation of a OHME wall charger hopefully next month before the £350 Government grant runs out end of March.
Also maybe I will save a little on heating bills as I won't have to open a window to poker out the granny charger cable !!
Should anyone who is using a OHME charger have any comments or guidance would again be appreciated.

Again thanks guys for your help.

I've got the OHME…to be honest I don't even open the app anymore, once it's set and you get the schedules set up you kind of forget it's there.

I quite liked the no frills look too, honestly after a few weeks of use you just don't even think about it.

[DaveCV]

Originally Posted by Johna78

I've got the OHME…to be honest I don't even open the app anymore, once it's set and you get the schedules set up you kind of forget it's there.

I quite liked the no frills look too, honestly after a few weeks of use you just don't even think about it.

Ohme was really pushed by Octopus because it can use Agile pricing as the basis for charging. Given what has happened to Agile, Octopus is now pushing ahead with its Intelligent tariff which uses OCCP. Whether existing smart EVSEs are upgradable remains to be seen. Ohme appears to be on the development list.

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by DaveCV

Ohme was really pushed by Octopus because it can use Agile pricing as the basis for charging. Given what has happened to Agile, Octopus is now pushing ahead with its Intelligent tariff which uses OCCP. Whether existing smart EVSEs are upgradable remains to be seen. Ohme appears to be on the development list.

I believe the Wallbox Pulsar Plus is also compatible with that Octopus tariff.