30 min video that talks specifically about charging the IX.



Couple of the things I learned:

1. BMW mobile charger and wall charger both limited to 40 amps. IX can go up to 48 amps.

2. Using mobile apps to find and pay for EV charging locations. I didn't realize how many DC charging locations were available until I downloaded and looked. Both the apps mentioned do require submitting your email/phone number before you can use them.

3. Difference in range gain while charging between the IX and I4. BMW listed "up to" rates apply to the I4. Range gain for the IX is ~20% slower.

4. Preloading payment apps for the charging networks in your area to avoid swiping CC problems. Electrify America and ChargePoint are the two big providers for me.

What’s curious is the promo videos on bmw’s site specifically say the bmw wallbox can do up to 11kw. Take a look at the video labelled “charging the iX”: https://www.bmw.ca/en/all-models/bmw...21/bmw-ix.html

The BMW wallbox rating is likely the same as other commercial wallboxes - the issue is the type of circuit on which you would install it. In the US at least, electrical code requires that the circuit breaker should only deliver 80% of the maximum load of the breaker. And most home wiring supports a single circuit maximum of 50 amps - if you use a plug-in wallbox with a 14-50 plug on a 50 amp circuit breaker, the maximum it can deliver is 40 amps. Some wallboxes however support 48 amps, but only if hard-wired into your electrical panel (which can be done) - ChargePoint, Wallbox (the charger) and Juicebox units are all capable of delivering 48 amps (if hard wired), and likely so is the BMW wallbox although any information available is sketchy - hence the 48 amps claim probably.

You CAN install a 60 amp breaker and use a NEMA 14-60 plug with a 48 amp rated wallbox for a plug-in setup (which would be very unusual), but that requires rewiring circuits and significantly more expense, and really not much benefit. Most home charging will occur overnight anyway, and you are unlikely to run your EV down to zero daily so usual charging time with a 40 amp delivery will be 6-8 hours -cutting that down to 4-6 hours is not that much gain with normal charging use case, for a lot more trouble and expense, and certainly not Supercharger territory.

An electrician would be a good idea for any of those scenarios, but if anyone was thinking DIY without the necessary pre-wiring, you could theoretically just install a 60 amp breaker and outlet, buy a NEMA 14-60 plug, set their charging unit to 48 amps, and Voilà! 48 amps to your car - violating code with the risk of overloading your circuits and burning your house down. So hard-wiring to your panel sounds like a better route if you really wanted or needed 48 amps - more expensive than a plug-in but a bargain in the long run, with some small disadvantages (charging unit not easily swappable for example).

I've been researching this as well and Paladin1 is spot on. I'm going with 50 amp breaker to a NEMA 14-50 outlet and using the charger (with adapter) that comes with the iX. Level 2 charging at 9.6 kW will be just fine for an overnight top-off to 80%.

The video is likely just wrong. On that same page, you will see that they state it can do 9.6 kW which is consistent with it being able to handle only up to 40A at 240V. Getting the info on the Wallbox is hard cause it doesn't show up on the parts site for Canada. You can see some older ones but not the one that looks like the one in the video.

However, the German site does have it here.

You can see the PDF with the specs here.

My German is a little rusty, but there seems to be several variants of this Wallbox, but the highest amperage it can support is 40A. So unless they plan on making a different one soon, this is what it is.

Which brings up an excellent point highlighted by Tom in several of his videos - you don't actually need a wallbox to charge up at home. The provided cables and connectors in most cars will support charging through a 14-50 (or 6-50) outlet - another advantage of an outlet. The advantage of wallboxes (some) is that they provide WiFi connectivity, scheduling, flexible power delivery, cost tracking, etc, but much of that is actually provided by your car, including connectivity through an app like My BMW (and some units like ClipperCreek's basically just deliver power). One real advantage for a wallbox is that you have a fixed cable and plug that you just unwind and use, and you can leave the portable cable in your car (they also usually provide some power surge protection). If you use the travel cable as your permanent charger, it would be convenient to purchase another one to keep in the car so you didn't need to unplug it to have a Level 2 cable when you travel - but likely a cheaper solution than a wallbox.

If I had the possibility to charge in a closed garage, I would definitely not buy an EVSE and just use the cable supplied by BMW with the car. In my case, I have no need for any of the advanced features that a "smart" EVSE has, but I have to charge outdoors and so I will be getting one hardwired outside (so far leaning towards the FLO Home G5 for reasons I won't go into here). I don't think that having to pack up the charging cable once in a blue moon is enough to warrant getting a second one.

With my X5 PHEV I've had reliability issues with the BMW supplied charger where it either fails to make the handshake or starts charging and then fails partway through. BMW claims it's not the charger or the car and told me it must be something wrong in my house, but I'm confident it's the charger. I installed a NEMA 14-50 plug and a ClipperCreek wall box and it has been bulletproof so far. I'll be keeping the BMW charger in the underfloor area of the IX for occasional travel use.

If you're planning on using the BMW charger that comes with the car, keep in mind that NEMA outlets wear out over time particularly when repeated insertion and removal of NEMA plug occur. It is recommended that plug-in EVSE remain plugged in. If you'll be leaving it plugged in all the time this won't be an issue. While I was using my BMW-provided charger on my X5 40e, however, I found that it worked fine when it was first plugged in and got dodgy if I didn't unplug it for a few days and would only work again after being unplugged for a day. Hopefully the new one with the IX will be better.

Interesting, I was looking at the Charge Point wall box and one of the advantages is getting the full 48 amps as stated in the video. I have an electrician who is looking to wire and analyze the overall load of the house to make sure the current panel can handle the additional 48 amp draw.

If I understand the different levels for this wall box 48 amps is 11kw, and 40 amps 9.6kw. I thought I heard that’s about a 20% difference in charging performance he measured between the 2 (5.5 hours to 7 hours). So the additional cost may not be worth a 20% increase in charge time for some people. I have not seen the estimate yet but I would assume a 50 amp circuit to feed 40 amps is going to be less than a 60 amp circuit to feed 48 amps. How much I don’t know yet but I would pay a little more to have 20% better performance.

Your electrician can help you out. If you install an outlet, a 60 amp circuit requires larger diameter wire than 50 amp to the outlet (and a NEMA 14-60 outlet and corresponding plug), and may require additional wiring in the panel, so depending on the length of the run can be more or less expensive. Same for hard wiring, and in fact hard wiring is sometimes recommended for outdoor installation because of weather protection, but the length of the run matters here as well. As they say, "it depends," and a firm cost estimate will be helpful in any installation. Portability matters sometimes as well, so if you might consider changing the wallbox in the future, a hard wired installation requires an electrician to remove the unit and reinstall (and there may - or may not - be significant changes to home chargers in the future). You also won't have an outlet to use the provided portable cables with a hard wired unit, if that matters.

Outstanding thread OP, and thanks for all of the outstanding and totally useful follow up posts. A reminder of how good these discussion boards can be when free from the vitriol and hate....

This makes perfect sense. I also went with the a 240V / 50amp / NEMA 14-50 circuit. 50A was the max my box would support without an overhaul and should be adequate for my needs.

What would you guys recommend for a wallbox that is built to withstand outdoor use and which has the best feature set (even if somewhat redundant with the iX)??

I went with the ClipperCreek which is a basic no frills charging only box but built like a tank. I have piss poor wifi in the garage so the smart features of a lot of boxes would be useless to me and I'll be relying on the IX's smarts. The ClipperCreek has a track record of extreme reliability and durability, has a NEMA 4 enclosure (best for outdoor use) and restarts charging automatically after a power outage. Pretty much the feature set I was after. Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes. The guy in the video reviews a lot of charging equipment so you might want to check his reviews to help with your decision. He appears to be quite thorough and objective. Hardwired is usually recommended, but not necessary, for an outdoor installation.

In addition to the thread video, Tom Moloughney has a number of excellent videos on the chargers themselves, and provides a NEMA (weatherproof rating) for each. His ratings not only include the "weatherproofness" of the box, but the flexibility of the charging cord in cold weather for example. He gave excellent ratings (NEMA 4) for the Wallbox Pulsar and JuiceBox units (water/blowing snow directly on the unit, sealed), and a Good (NEMA 3) rating for the ChargePoint Home Flex (intended for outdoor use, but not sealed).

https://www.nemaenclosures.com/blog/...2-differences/

Example:

I needed my house upgraded from 100amps to 200amps. So, with my i4 coming, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to install a permanent wired charging unit. I went with the ChargePoint which is rating at 50amps. My electrician did the upgrade, installed a 50amp circuit, 240v outlet, and ran the wire to my garage. It will be interesting to see if I get the true 11kW @ 50amps.

I've now watched several of Moloughney's charger reviews, and while they're a bit formulaic, they're very helpful.

A couple of months ago, I had an outdoor 240V / 50Amp circuit with a Nema 15-40 tap installed. While watching the reviews, I noticed that every plug in 40Amp charger with a Nema 15-40 tap had only a 12" feed line. I assume this must be a code requirement.

The short feed line complicates my charger installation.
I hate to ask, but am I flirting with disaster if I install a 24" 50amp rated feed line??

I think for you to get 11kw you need 48 amps to the charge point charger. That would require a 60 amp circuit to your garage. Since you are putting in 100 amps, you have plenty. In the US they require the circuit to be 80% of load.

You can use a longer plug cord, but 12" is the longest cord allowed according to the NEC (National Electric Code, Art 625) in the US. Anything longer would not be UL certified, and is a potential overheating/fire hazard. That's why the plug orientation for a particular wall unit plug is important prior to outlet installation - ground up or ground down (the Wallbox Pulsar plug, for example, is ground down, where the ChargePoint Home Flex is ground up) - because the majority of plug cords are rather stiff and inflexible, and putting a "U" bend in one is usually impractical and also potentially hazardous. And just for terminology clarity, although we universally call them "chargers" (guilty) the wall units discussed are actually just filtered power supplies, and the actual "chargers" that intelligently feed the batteries are integral to the cars.

50A circuit will give you 40A charging. For a 50A charging you need a 62A circuit.

I have a 50A circuit and my ChargePoint runs at 40A

I think the 11kw is for european version where we have a three-phase 230V system (up to 240V in fact) into houses.
Apparently you can even get a 22kw version but at least for me (and most in sweden) that would require an update from the regular 25A input to something like 50+ A whcih is crazy expensive...

You said that backwards. It's 80% of max load delivered continually. 20% de-rating.

Yep, correct (edited). 40 amps on a 50 amp circuit. Early dyslexia!

id kill for one of these.