[MaidenBMW]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm looking for advice on what to purchase for a home charging set up for my soon to arrive 2023 530e. I'm going to have an electrician install a 240 volt line for a level 2 charger because I plan to do a lot of electric driving. beyond this I don't know what charger model to buy and whether portable or wall mounted is better in the long term. Any advice as to what I should order ? Thanks

[NVRfollo]

It depends on what you are looking for in terms of connectivity, information, and control. I would recommend leaving your level 2 charger connected and not unplugging it all the time with a portable. The NEMA connector gets loose from all the plugging and unplugging cycles which can become a hazard. Just connect it once with your desired charger and leave it connected. As for the charger, you can go a little cheaper and get a dumb one. It essentially turns on when connected to your vehicle and turns off once you disconnect. There are "smart" ones such as the Chargepoint that has an app that allows you to turn the charger during off peak hours to reduce charging cost if your provider has different rates during different hours of the day. It will also let you know how much you charged during your sessions, etc.

[johnnyp420]

I bought this one for $270 on Amazon. I didn't see the need for a smart charger. It works as expected. Charges from a depleted in a little under 2 hours.

[ted99]

The one above is fine for the 530e. Key is to have the same plug and socket on your 240v. setup to be installed by electrician. If you are contemplating going to a full electric EV at some point in the future and are going to be in the same house, suggest you go for an EVSE (what you are calling a "charger") with more capacity. 9.6 KW is optimum, but that will require a 50 amp service connection. I suggest the Canadian Grizzle-e. Worked well for me and less expensive. You really didn't include enough information for a recommendation.

[SteveinArizona]

What are your longer term goals? Is the 530e a stepping stone to a pure electric car? BMW has annoyed me by putting the charging port on the front driver side fender on the PHEVs but on the rear passenger side for its pure electrics. Really stupid in my opinion if they want to keep folks in the BMW universe (I plan on a pure electric for my next car and as of now it is not a BMW...too ugly...but a Lucid Air which incidentally has its charging port on the same side as the 530e.

My point is that if you are planning on a pure electric you need to think about where to put the EVSE Perhaps think about what company will likely be making your first EV and see where they put the port and determine if there is a way to fit both without having to subsequently relocate the EVSE. Most do come with a fairly long cord.

[E-Man_DFW]

Originally Posted by ted99

The one above is fine for the 530e. Key is to have the same plug and socket on your 240v. setup to be installed by electrician. If you are contemplating going to a full electric EV at some point in the future and are going to be in the same house, suggest you go for an EVSE (what you are calling a "charger") with more capacity. 9.6 KW is optimum, but that will require a 50 amp service connection. I suggest the Canadian Grizzle-e. Worked well for me and less expensive. You really didn't include enough information for a recommendation.

I can vouch for the Grizzle-e, I have that installed near my garage at home on a 50-amp breaker and use something similar to the $270 Amazon charger at my job. I charge both ways and it works perfectly.

I'm looking to trade the 530e for the new i5 M50 when it's released so the Grizzle-e will future proof my set up.

[G30 545e]

That Amazon 32amp charger is all well and good but your 530e is only able to receive 16 amp max. My recommendation would be to get a wallbox charger and let your 530e send it all the instructions. I have a 545e and when I first purchased I had awful time getting used to it. I made the mistake at the beginning asking the car and charger to send the same instructions at the same time......that didn't work. It's either the car or the charger sending the instructions, not both.

[SonD]

Originally Posted by G30 545e

That Amazon 32amp charger is all well and good but your 530e is only able to receive 16 amp max. My recommendation would be to get a wallbox charger and let your 530e send it all the instructions. I have a 545e and when I first purchased I had awful time getting used to it. I made the mistake at the beginning asking the car and charger to send the same instructions at the same time......that didn't work. It's either the car or the charger sending the instructions, not both.

I had a similar issue going on, but resolved it by setting the wall box to allow power from 7pm until 06.30 am, then telling the car to charge itself and climatise ready for the next morning within that timeframe.

I disable it all at the weekends for now, via the app(s) on the phone.

[G30 545e]

Originally Posted by SonD

I had a similar issue going on, but resolved it by setting the wall box to allow power from 7pm until 06.30 am, then telling the car to charge itself and climatise ready for the next morning within that timeframe.

I disable it all at the weekends for now, via the app(s) on the phone.

So you chose the wallbox to be the boss. That's cool. I chose the car itself through the mycar app. I just find it to be a bit more intuitive than the wallbox and easier to work with.

[Extremeengineer]

Resurrecting this not too old thread, I just bought a 530e, and the Grizzl-E looks like a nice charger, I think I'd just use the app to set my charge and preconditioning together, so it looks like the Classic would fit that. To future proof, I would just have the 50A service installed for it, even though I know the 530e can't really take advantage of that, but that will future proof me to a degree. My mother has the Chargepoint for her Volvo, but give the BMW app appears to let me do everything in terms of timing, I do not see where the added cost for that charger, or the ability to go to a 60A breaker to get 37.5kwh gains me anything.

I know with the Chargepoint we removed the NEMA whip and hard wired it, I'd rather do that instead of installing a plug next to the charger, anyone just hard wired their Grizzl-E?

[Volasko]

Originally Posted by MaidenBMW

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm looking for advice on what to purchase for a home charging set up for my soon to arrive 2023 530e. I'm going to have an electrician install a 240 volt line for a level 2 charger because I plan to do a lot of electric driving. beyond this I don't know what charger model to buy and whether portable or wall mounted is better in the long term. Any advice as to what I should order ? Thanks

I went crazy looking into this. At the end of the day I just wired a simple 20 amp 240V single phase connector in my garage and ran a simple amazon charge cable. The car can do all the fancy programming and charge scheduling so no need to have that available on my wall unit. It only draws 16amps at max so no need for all that head room. Now if you're future proofing for a full EV that might change the equation but for now I waned to get something simple and cost effective.