BMW 225xe (2 Series Active Tourer)

BMW 225xe (2 Series Active Tourer)

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Discussion

BoloH4wes

92 posts

90 months

Tuesday 6th November 2018
quotequote all
I've been quoted £149 all in for an untethered rolec charger. Plus 12 quid for a choice of colours.

He did mention a small charge if cabling over a certain distance is needed.

NeoVR

435 posts

171 months

Tuesday 6th November 2018
quotequote all
Sounds about right.
The critieria for the cheap deal is quite restrictive - suitable consumer unit, up to 10m cabling, and the charging socket on an inside wall, garage etc - most typical external installations will need at least a ground spike too.

Personally I had an EO-Mini installed and needed about 15m of cabling, and a earth spike, it was just over £200 after the OLEV grant as I wasn't a fan of the Rolec look..

R0B3RT

136 posts

94 months

Tuesday 6th November 2018
quotequote all
NeoVR said:
Sounds about right.
The critieria for the cheap deal is quite restrictive - suitable consumer unit, up to 10m cabling, and the charging socket on an inside wall, garage etc - most typical external installations will need at least a ground spike too.

Personally I had an EO-Mini installed and needed about 15m of cabling, and a earth spike, it was just over £200 after the OLEV grant as I wasn't a fan of the Rolec look..
Who was your supplier? EI mini seems to be £250 fitted.

dobly

1,178 posts

159 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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^ elderly cat?

Springer996

10 posts

65 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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I won't be paying for any home charging devices. Takes 3 to 4 hours to fully charge on the medium setting. I've done 16 miles on a full battery, she'll be lucky to get to 12.....

NeoVR

435 posts

171 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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R0B3RT said:
Who was your supplier? EI mini seems to be £250 fitted.
I used a local company - API electrical in Manchester. https://www.apielectrical.co.uk/electric-vehicles/...

I found them by looking through a list of approved installers on the OLEV site.. The process was thoroughly pleasant - sent photos of the consumer unit and the run to where I wanted the point to be.

As for the "additional" cost of having the chargepoint fitted + buying the proper cable over just using the 3 pin plug - you could say I, and even more so the missus are EV converts now, so the next car will more than likely be full EV.
Even with the limited range of our 330e - it works for our commute to be all EV mode. which is saving a fortune in fuel.. not to mention the added refinement and low-speed performance... and even preconditioning which is starting to be appreciated now its getting colder.

Cfboys

104 posts

70 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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Could you kindly explain how the pre conditioning works? Do you use the app? How does it link to the vehicle? Can u set the heating to come on at a certain time each weekday morning? Must the car be charging at the time?


Cheers

R0B3RT

136 posts

94 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
quotequote all
NeoVR said:
R0B3RT said:
Who was your supplier? EI mini seems to be £250 fitted.
I used a local company - API electrical in Manchester. https://www.apielectrical.co.uk/electric-vehicles/...

I found them by looking through a list of approved installers on the OLEV site.. The process was thoroughly pleasant - sent photos of the consumer unit and the run to where I wanted the point to be.

As for the "additional" cost of having the chargepoint fitted + buying the proper cable over just using the 3 pin plug - you could say I, and even more so the missus are EV converts now, so the next car will more than likely be full EV.
Even with the limited range of our 330e - it works for our commute to be all EV mode. which is saving a fortune in fuel.. not to mention the added refinement and low-speed performance... and even preconditioning which is starting to be appreciated now its getting colder.
Also interested in the pre-conditioning. Does it actually warm the car? There was some debate that if was simply just a fan and no heat.

NeoVR

435 posts

171 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
quotequote all
First caveat - my experience is with a 330e - but assume it should be similar for the '2.

In a nutshell, yes preconditioning uses the battery power, or mains power if plugged in to heat the car for a scheduled departure time.

You can set the schedules through the connecteddrive app, but ive had issues with this so i normally just set it through idrive - there should be a "schedule charging" menu in the my vehicle section. you can also set charging schedules - eg if you have Economy 7 to charge at off peak times.

Note: If its like the 330e - the 3 pin charger cannot supply enough juice to heat the car and keep the battery charged, so the battery will be slightly drained when you set off.

Somebody

1,175 posts

83 months

Wednesday 7th November 2018
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On my 330e when you switch off the engine, iDrive always go to the charging screen where you can set/change pre-conditioning/climatisation times, immediate/delay charge, and rate of charge (max, mid, low). It's so that you can change it when you're destination charging, or using a granny charger away from home etc. Just ignore it when you're on your daily routine.

Cabin heating/cooling is great; but better still is the defrosting. No more scraping of glass and works with snow too.

loofer

464 posts

69 months

Friday 9th November 2018
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James-l4h2w said:
Are other people paying £149 in total for the charger? The company that quote me are adding on for certification and earth rod etc.

Quote below:

Rolec untethered 7.2KW ????? £124.16

Building Control/ Warranty/ Certification?? £15.00

Earth Rod, Inspection Box and Clamp? £50.00

Sub Total. ??£189.16

VAT???£37.83

Total Client Contribution??£226.99

  • Gas & Water Bonding is charged at £80.00 per bond, if not present on site**
Just had my Zappi Charger installed this week. Cost (my contribution after OLEV) £307.
No Earth Rod Installed.
The zappi already has integrated RCD.
They also installed a separate garage/mini consumer unit in the meter cabinet a I ahve an old fuseboard.
They installed a CT Clamp (that comes with the zappi) to measure what's being imported from grid.
The chap kindly moved my leccy meter a few inches (more so to provide more room for him to install the mini RCD)


fizz47

Original Poster:

2,666 posts

210 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
anyone recommend a place to buy a dedicated charging cable rather than a 3 pin one?

NeoVR

435 posts

171 months

Friday 9th November 2018
quotequote all
fizz47 said:
anyone recommend a place to buy a dedicated charging cable rather than a 3 pin one?
Ebay.
You can get a BMW OE cable from a BMW dealer on EBAY for £120 - it coils itself, and comes with a storage bag, cleaning cloth, and even some gloves!.

rallye666

39 posts

216 months

Friday 9th November 2018
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NeoVR said:
Ebay.
You can get a BMW OE cable from a BMW dealer on EBAY for £120 - it coils itself, and comes with a storage bag, cleaning cloth, and even some gloves!.
Are you allowed to post links on here? There's a few different ones on eaby.
BMW price list seems to have 2 types:
1 phase or 3 phase, no idea what the difference is!

loofer

464 posts

69 months

Sunday 11th November 2018
quotequote all
NeoVR said:
First caveat - my experience is with a 330e - but assume it should be similar for the '2.

In a nutshell, yes preconditioning uses the battery power, or mains power if plugged in to heat the car for a scheduled departure time.

You can set the schedules through the connecteddrive app, but ive had issues with this so i normally just set it through idrive - there should be a "schedule charging" menu in the my vehicle section. you can also set charging schedules - eg if you have Economy 7 to charge at off peak times.

Note: If its like the 330e - the 3 pin charger cannot supply enough juice to heat the car and keep the battery charged, so the battery will be slightly drained when you set off.
Hmm I’ve set my Zappi to only charge during the cheap hours of the night on Octopus Go. Not sure it will charge if required to defrost as I don’t know which takes priority, the Zappi or iDrive.

If the iDrive allows scheduled charging then I may rely on that and out Zappi on default mode which I think is Fast

Dyslexicwinker

100 posts

132 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
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Trouble took delivery last week. Have a socket on driveway so will just use supplied lead. One question is assume I can crank it up to max for charging ? Charged for first time tonight and it’s about 7 hours to charge. Does anyone know how long it takes on full power off domestic plug? Ta

dobly

1,178 posts

159 months

Sunday 18th November 2018
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^surely that car's handbook would have this information, or at very least this should be supplied by the dealer?

Dyslexicwinker

100 posts

132 months

Monday 19th November 2018
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Nope otherwise I wouldn’t have asked. It tells you ampage and about asking a qualified electrician. I assume that a normal socket is capable of the max but wanted to see if others had used.

AARONM3

415 posts

216 months

Monday 19th November 2018
quotequote all
I got mine last week as well and although the charging on 'max' via the normal lead did claim to be quicker it does seem that it should be on 'reduced' or 'low' based on what I can gather from the handbook. As far as I can glean- max should be for the proper phase 2 charger (I think that's what it's called!).

BTW- I think it's pretty great and the midrange punch is really good but the range on max EV seems to be about half what is claimed. Which is fine for my use and maybe I'll get the 'hang' of driving it in a super-eco way.

I have a q- so is the mpg calculated in a way that takes account of the electric motor or is it just purely based on the petrol element? Mine is currently at 55mpg after 100ish miles so I assume that relates to just the times I've used the petrol so for total running costs I'd have to work out how much I've spent on electricity as well?

R0B3RT

136 posts

94 months

Monday 19th November 2018
quotequote all
AARONM3 said:
I got mine last week as well and although the charging on 'max' via the normal lead did claim to be quicker it does seem that it should be on 'reduced' or 'low' based on what I can gather from the handbook. As far as I can glean- max should be for the proper phase 2 charger (I think that's what it's called!).

BTW- I think it's pretty great and the midrange punch is really good but the range on max EV seems to be about half what is claimed. Which is fine for my use and maybe I'll get the 'hang' of driving it in a super-eco way.

I have a q- so is the mpg calculated in a way that takes account of the electric motor or is it just purely based on the petrol element? Mine is currently at 55mpg after 100ish miles so I assume that relates to just the times I've used the petrol so for total running costs I'd have to work out how much I've spent on electricity as well?
mine is delivered next week. I assume mpg is purely based on petrol use, so 55mpg seems very high (use). Shouldn';t it be reporting >100mpg? What is the range on max EV you are seeing then?