[SteveinArizona]

I have a BMW 530e and the charging port is on the left front of the car. I installed a clipper creek charging unit convenient to that.

Now I am looking at the I4 on the BMW web page and lo and behold, they put the charging port on the lower right side of the car. The exact opposite.

It seems to me that BMW is making too many changes for no discernable reason except a desire to change. Buttons and switches work well, so BMW has been moving to touch screens instead (to be fair, so are most of its competitors); Several times it has changed the way the turn signal works; the reverse tach (allegedly to give room for the display in the center but that makes no sense as a tach moving in the opposite direction would leave the same amount of room; etc. etc. I am not even mentioning the snout.

[BryanC84]

The charging port replaces what would be the fuel intake on the ICE 4 series.
Just reverse the car in and you'll be fine!

[spool twice]

I concur, I think the metal stamping of that body panel is already molded from the ICE. Replacing a bolt-on front fender is easier to accomplish vs having a seperate stamp for that section for BEV vs ICE.

I do see the concerns though, you'd basically have to back-up into each charging station parking. But I supposed it's no different than reversing out of the charging station parking spot.

[Hansn]

In Norway many companies make it manditory to back into a parking space if you park in their lot or if you work on construction sites and park there as a health and safety thing.
Its proven to cause way less fender benders/risk of backing into people or things when you back into a parking spot at arrival when you have the best overlook cars comming behind you etc.. When you put the front of your car first into a parking space you also dont have right of way when you are pulling out and that alone causes people to have accidents. 😂😄

[Encanto]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

I have a BMW 530e and the charging port is on the left front of the car. I installed a clipper creek charging unit convenient to that.

Now I am looking at the I4 on the BMW web page and lo and behold, they put the charging port on the lower right side of the car. The exact opposite.

It seems to me that BMW is making too many changes for no discernable reason except a desire to change. Buttons and switches work well, so BMW has been moving to touch screens instead (to be fair, so are most of its competitors); Several times it has changed the way the turn signal works; the reverse tach (allegedly to give room for the display in the center but that makes no sense as a tach moving in the opposite direction would leave the same amount of room; etc. etc. I am not even mentioning the snout.

There is a gas tank in your 530e, none in the i4. That’s why.

[Ken7]

Originally Posted by spool twice

I concur, I think the metal stamping of that body panel is already molded from the ICE. Replacing a bolt-on front fender is easier to accomplish vs having a seperate stamp for that section for BEV vs ICE.

I do see the concerns though, you'd basically have to back-up into each charging station parking. But I supposed it's no different than reversing out of the charging station parking spot.

I had to do that with my MS. You get used to it.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by Hansn

In Norway many companies make it manditory to back into a parking space if you park in their lot or if you work on construction sites and park there as a health and safety thing.
Its proven to cause way less fender benders/risk of backing into people or things when you back into a parking spot at arrival when you have the best overlook cars comming behind you etc.. When you put the front of your car first into a parking space you also dont have right of way when you are pulling out and that alone causes people to have accidents. 😂😄

I started to form the habit of backing into parking spot and home garage with my G20, the rear view camera and PDC are quite useful.

I am not sure pulling out of parking spot head first provides right of way in US/CA though ....

[spool twice]

Originally Posted by Ken7

I had to do that with my MS. You get used to it.

exactly why a must have for me was the Parking Assistance Package. I have it on the current G20, the top surround view, the "augmented reality" with the outside perspective looking directly at the car from multiple angles, and the self-reverse feature based on how you drove it last made it an easy choice.

[jpuffmasterpuffpuffpuff69]

We have two chargers center-mounted in the garage. We just run one of the charging cords across the floor, and the car rolls over the thick cable day in and day out. Then we plug in easily. No issues and we've done this for several years. We may have to swap garage spots, though, for the easy of it.

[BimmerBahn]

LOL…. It’s all consistently inconsistent between brands…and models.

BMW PHEV’s, front fender
BMW BEV’s (i4/iX), rear fender (fuel fill)
Audi/Porsche, front fender
VW, rear fender (fuel fill)
Tesla, rear fender
Ford, front fender
Rivian, front fender
… you get the idea

At least everyone, sans Tesla (in the USA) all use the same CCS connector.

[Ken7]

The e-Tron has the best layout, a port on each side of the car.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by BimmerBahn

LOL…. It’s all consistently inconsistent between brands…and models.

BMW PHEV’s, front fender
BMW BEV’s (i4/iX), rear fender (fuel fill)
Audi/Porsche, front fender
VW, rear fender (fuel fill)
Tesla, rear fender
Ford, front fender
Rivian, front fender
… you get the idea

At least everyone, sans Tesla (in the USA) all use the same CCS connector.

My question is why make the change WITHIN a brand. BMW did the same thing a while back with the turn signal. Created its own version, then eventually went back to what everyone else is doing.

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

My question is why make the change WITHIN a brand. BMW did the same thing a while back with the turn signal. Created its own version, then eventually went back to what everyone else is doing.

This is done by necessity.
i4 would naturally use the rear opening, since the body panel with an opening is already there for ICE car.
For PHEV, they have to look for another opening as the rear opening is occupied by gas tank refill. So this is not done by choice.

[Encanto]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

My question is why make the change WITHIN a brand. BMW did the same thing a while back with the turn signal. Created its own version, then eventually went back to what everyone else is doing.

There is no change - the i4 uses the existing gas tank lid as the charging port as there is no gas tank as in the 4-Series GC which shares its assembly line. No manufacturer will make a new panel stamping when there is one already made that fulfill the intended requirement.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by Encanto

There is no change - the i4 uses the existing gas tank lid as the charging port as there is no gas tank as in the 4-Series GC which shares its assembly line. No manufacturer will make a new panel stamping when there is one already made that fulfill the intended requirement.

Nonsense. There is already a stamping for the front fender as well as I have it in my 530e.

And lets look at some of the other changes. A tach that goes backwards. The start/stop button moved from the dash to the console.

We spend lots of time developing muscle memory and then they change it without reason.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

Nonsense. There is already a stamping for the front fender as well as I have it in my 530e.

I'm not following your logic.

The rear quarter panel/aperture for a 4 GC already exists with a fuel filler opening. It is shared between ICE and BEV 4 Series vehicles. If that was not used, a new entire rear quarter/aperture would have to be stamped without the opening for the i4. Then, as any sheetmetal from a 5 Series is not compatible with a 4 Series, a new unique front fender would have to be created with an opening for recharging. Why would BMW do all this? I think your issue is the original location for the ICE fuel filler door, which led the overall 4 Series body exterior design program.

[Encanto]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

Nonsense. There is already a stamping for the front fender as well as I have it in my 530e.

And lets look at some of the other changes. A tach that goes backwards. The start/stop button moved from the dash to the console.

We spend lots of time developing muscle memory and then they change it without reason.

Are you dense on purpose? The stamping of a 5-Series panel is different and separate from a stamping of a 4-Series.

Moving on, nothing to see in here.

[spool twice]

I actually prefer the start/stop on the center console. I hate the location behind the steering wheel on my F82, My B8.5 Audi S5 with its center console mounted start button made substantially more sense from an ergonomic perspective and I'm 100% glad BMW switched to this on the G-series, it's much more natural to be honest.

The i4 doesn't have a tach, just a power usage gauge, so the backwards tach isn't an issue on the i4.

The Chinese market actually has a door on the front drivers side fender to accomodate the difference style charge ports there, so it has the standard rear panel port for the J1772 + DC fast charge in addition to the front fender one which has a Chinese market specific plug. The rear panel port is there as it's already part of the usual metal stamping