[-c-]

Does anybody know if the pro is coming to the states?

Bosh is telling me no and I have to buy the wall box pure. But I'd rather wait for the pro if it is indeed coming.

I like the added LED accent lights and LCD screen plus like the fact it can charge the car faster than the pure.

If the pro is coming does anybody know how much and when?

[uter]

Pretty sure there's been no announcement about PRO being available in the USA.

The i3 Facebook page is really active, if you're not already on it, and just about all information that is i3 related gets posted there.

I wasn't aware the PRO could charge the car any faster. After all, it's also a 240 volt EVSE (not a DC fast charger).

I have the Pure and it works just fine. My dealer sold it for $600 when I leased the car.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by uter

Pretty sure there's been no announcement about PRO being available in the USA.

The i3 Facebook page is really active, if you're not already on it, and just about all information that is i3 related gets posted there.

I wasn't aware the PRO could charge the car any faster. After all, it's also a 240 volt EVSE (not a DC fast charger).

I have the Pure and it works just fine. My dealer sold it for $600 when I leased the car.

Ok I was just going off all the press about it.

Though their the same 240 it's supposed to actually charge it faster how beats me. But it did say that it would be available later in the usa but no specifics l.

[jadnashuanh]

The i3 has an internal charging circuit that can handle 7400W maximum, and at exactly 240vac, that's slightly over 30A. While the i3 can be plugged into any EVSE with the right plug, it will never draw more than that, and if the EVSE can't supply that much, it will also work fine, but charge slower. The EVSE is essentially a fancy on/off switch, so paying extra for one styled by BMW is fine if you want to pay for it, but isn't required to get maximum charging rates. Something like the Clipper Creek 40 series will have a retail price about 1/2 of the BMW unit, and will work just fine, as will numerous other units out there. I liked the CC unit, since it is Made in the USA. So far, mine has been working fine (about 6-months). Some of them offer more control and status, but you have to decide if it's worth the extra costs. I added a volt/amp meter to the junction box feeding mine, and the cost, with all of the bits - cover plate, a switch, the meter, a fuse holder, fuse, for easily less than $30, but it's not a cumulative power used readout, only instantaneous status.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by jadnashuanh

The i3 has an internal charging circuit that can handle 7400W maximum, and at exactly 240vac, that's slightly over 30A. While the i3 can be plugged into any EVSE with the right plug, it will never draw more than that, and if the EVSE can't supply that much, it will also work fine, but charge slower. The EVSE is essentially a fancy on/off switch, so paying extra for one styled by BMW is fine if you want to pay for it, but isn't required to get maximum charging rates. Something like the Clipper Creek 40 series will have a retail price about 1/2 of the BMW unit, and will work just fine, as will numerous other units out there. I liked the CC unit, since it is Made in the USA. So far, mine has been working fine (about 6-months). Some of them offer more control and status, but you have to decide if it's worth the extra costs. I added a volt/amp meter to the junction box feeding mine, and the cost, with all of the bits - cover plate, a switch, the meter, a fuse holder, fuse, for easily less than $30, but it's not a cumulative power used readout, only instantaneous status.

Here in Illinois they pay for half of the unit and half the install price, so going for the nice cool gadget is not a big cost.

The shiner the gadget the more I want it lol....

Mine has the DC fast charge option so when and if that finds its way around me would be great but till that time the faster home charge the better.

The press release said the pro unit has the capability to charge 80% in under 3 hrs and full charge in 3.5 hrs. Which BMW claimed was a bit faster than the pure but again not sure as nobody here I guess has seen the pro at work.

I'd just hate to buy the pure to have the pro come out a short time later.

[jadnashuanh]

The Wallbox is a 32A device...IOW, it can recharge the i3 at it's maximum rate assuming you have reasonable supply voltage. There is nothing in an EVSE that can recharge the i3 faster as a level 2 device - a 40A EVSE won't recharge the i3 any faster than a 32A one, since it is the car that determines how much it will draw from the device, limited to the max of the 7400W...sort of like plugging in a 60W lightbulb in a 15A (120*15=1800W max) circuit. SOme of the fancier ones have some readouts and could affect timing of when to activate, but the car can do that on its own. The other big convenience thing is how long the EVSE cable is. In general, it is not recommended to use an extension cable, although there are a couple of companies that do make them.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by jadnashuanh

The Wallbox is a 32A device...IOW, it can recharge the i3 at it's maximum rate assuming you have reasonable supply voltage. There is nothing in an EVSE that can recharge the i3 faster as a level 2 device - a 40A EVSE won't recharge the i3 any faster than a 32A one, since it is the car that determines how much it will draw from the device, limited to the max of the 7400W...sort of like plugging in a 60W lightbulb in a 15A (120*15=1800W max) circuit. SOme of the fancier ones have some readouts and could affect timing of when to activate, but the car can do that on its own. The other big convenience thing is how long the EVSE cable is. In general, it is not recommended to use an extension cable, although there are a couple of companies that do make them.

I'm just saying what BMW is saying, your arguing whith what their saying so I have no idea just stating their saying the pro is faster and who am I to argue that.

So if the car can only charge as fast as a stage 2 then how can it charge to a full charge in 30 minutes with a DC charger ?

Just curious as I'm new to this.

[jadnashuanh]

Originally Posted by -c-

So if the car can only charge as fast as a stage 2 then how can it charge to a full charge in 30 minutes with a DC charger ?

Just curious as I'm new to this.

The level 1 and 2 EVSE's are acv power switches that then go into the car's DC power supply (charger) to make nearly 400vdc to recharge the batteries.

A CCS charger, essentially, takes over that on-board ac-dc conversion, since it is a monster DC power supply. The i3 can handle 50Kw input from the DC input, but only 7.4Kw because of the size and limitations of it's internal DC power supply when acv is supplied from a level 1 or 2 EVSE...IOW, the CCS charger bypasses the car's internal power supply, and assuming it is bigger (not all are), it can recharge the car much quicker - heat buildup is one factor preventing it from being even faster.

The BMW documentation says 3-hours to 80% with their wallbox. Now, since the vehicle's onboard charging circuit slows down radically (as does the CCS path) once the battery charge approaches full, it takes an extra 1/2-hour or so to get that next little bit on level 2, and somewhat less on CCS.

32A*240V=7680W. The car cannot use 7680W, it is internally limited to 7400W, so bigger has no effect when using level 2. Now, say you only have 220vac instead of 240vac, that's 32*220=7040W, and the car could use more, but won't because of the signal from the EVSE says it can only provide 32A safely (the CAR adjusts based on what the EVSE says it has available, sort of like a dimmer switch - it can never use more than what the EVSE says it has).

There's also some confusion between the way the Europeans rate power verses how we do it in the USA...in Europe, it's peak, in the USA, it's continuous, so a 32A EVSE specified for Europe is the same as a 30A unit specified for USA use.

In the USA, it is not uncommon for a commercial EVSE to be supplying 208VAC, and at 30A, that's 30*208=6240W. So, out in the 'wild', you may not achieve maximum recharging rates. BMW has endorsed a 24Kw CCS unit, mostly because it is much less expensive, but it won't recharge that 80% in 20-minutes, it takes a bit longer, but because of the dropoff in rates as the batteries are full, should you want a full charge verses 80%, their times are nearly similar.