The all things EV chat thread

[harpo_72]

It looks like the BMW app is the trouble maker. It wants a departure time for at least 1 day of the week. Must be a German thing because I am a free spirit and do as I please .. I think I have solved it by giving it an arbitrary time on a day a week ( sure this will bite me on the backside in the future!!)

 

[PJ87]

It looks like the BMW app is the trouble maker. It wants a departure time for at least 1 day of the week. Must be a German thing because I am a free spirit and do as I please .. I think I have solved it by giving it an arbitrary time on a day a week ( sure this will bite me on the backside in the future!!)

The BMW API is A terrible and B the cause of a lot of issues

Octopus for example have pulled a lot of cars back from their intelligence tariff as the manufacturers api is harder to deal with than chargers as they are simple.

Kia was pulled as octopus were waking the car to get battery levels , this was causing some kias to drain the 12 volt. Kia and Hyundai didn't want to fix it as tbh it's not a design issue per say it's an issue with how octopus want to want..so their off and that's why I got an ohme charger just so that I know octopus and them work seamless

Majority of issues on the groups are controlled by car API, the chargers API (once set up and all schedules on the car gone) work faultlessly

Is it hypervolt or OVO you have to ask the % with btw?

 

[Mudball]

It looks like the BMW app is the trouble maker. It wants a departure time for at least 1 day of the week. Must be a German thing because I am a free spirit and do as I please .. I think I have solved it by giving it an arbitrary time on a day a week ( sure this will bite me on the backside in the future!!)

BMW app is pants. The concept of departure times etc does.

Having said that… there seems to be 2 schools of thought. - car led or supplier led

1) car led: if you want the car to dictate when it should charge based on departure times etc. then the app based approach could work. It will precondition, gps et al. But I m semi free spirited so it does not work for me

2) supplier led.. this is when you give the keys over to Octopus to charge it. This means the app departures times is meaningless. Everytime I plug it in, the app shows a complete random time. Just ignore it and let Octopus do the job. But this created a new problem.

The BMW API is A terrible and B the cause of a lot of issues

Octopus for example have pulled a lot of cars back from their intelligence tariff as the manufacturers api is harder to deal with than chargers as they are simple.

Kia was pulled as octopus were waking the car to get battery levels , this was causing some kias to drain the 12 volt. Kia and Hyundai didn't want to fix it as tbh it's not a design issue per say it's an issue with how octopus want to want..so their off and that's why I got an ohme charger just so that I know octopus and them work seamless

Majority of issues on the groups are controlled by car API, the chargers API (once set up and all schedules on the car gone) work faultlessly

Is it hypervolt or OVO you have to ask the % with btw?

Last week I started observing that the car was charging as soon as it was plugged in and would keep charging at peak time. Charger and BMW app was showing that the car is charging but Octopus showed ‘unplugged’. Could not figure it out, so asked Octo for help via the app. No response for 2 days. So reached out to them via Twitter. Response within 24 hrs.

Basically they emailed to say ‘We've lost control of your device’.. so asked to set it up again. Went thru the process last night and happy to report they could connect and things back to normal.

@PJ87 .. where did you see the news on the api issue? Looks like I got hit by it too.

(Ps: for ice owners, don’t worry you won’t have to deal with this type of mess.. unless you put petrol in a diesel van)

 

[harpo_72]

I have just set the time for charging.. I figured it will stop when the battery hits 100%. This may be an assumption that’s ignored .
So my view was set a time window .. charge to complete or when charging window terminates what ever occurs first.
The problem is the BMW has some time procedures and that’s why it’s stoping and starting. I have now turned it off, but for some reason it wants to reinstate itself… this is my issue with software, it does what it wants and doesn’t ask permission.

 

[PJ87]

BMW app is pants. The concept of departure times etc does.

Having said that… there seems to be 2 schools of thought. - car led or supplier led

1) car led: if you want the car to dictate when it should charge based on departure times etc. then the app based approach could work. It will precondition, gps et al. But I m semi free spirited so it does not work for me

2) supplier led.. this is when you give the keys over to Octopus to charge it. This means the app departures times is meaningless. Everytime I plug it in, the app shows a complete random time. Just ignore it and let Octopus do the job. But this created a new problem.




Last week I started observing that the car was charging as soon as it was plugged in and would keep charging at peak time. Charger and BMW app was showing that the car is charging but Octopus showed ‘unplugged’. Could not figure it out, so asked Octo for help via the app. No response for 2 days. So reached out to them via Twitter. Response within 24 hrs.

Basically they emailed to say ‘We've lost control of your device’.. so asked to set it up again. Went thru the process last night and happy to report they could connect and things back to normal.

@PJ87 .. where did you see the news on the api issue? Looks like I got hit by it too.

(Ps: for ice owners, don’t worry you won’t have to deal with this type of mess.. unless you put petrol in a diesel van)

Facebook groups and the speak EV forum is full of information about the woes of manufacturers api. Off the one that actually works is Tesla because they are a company that's designed an EV from the ground up rather than old school designers moving into the EV world.

Also it's not overly in their interests to make the API amazing and open where as Tesla is a tech company. It's their thing

I have just set the time for charging.. I figured it will stop when the battery hits 100%. This may be an assumption that’s ignored .
So my view was set a time window .. charge to complete or when charging window terminates what ever occurs first.
The problem is the BMW has some time procedures and that’s why it’s stoping and starting. I have now turned it off, but for some reason it wants to reinstate itself… this is my issue with software, it does what it wants and doesn’t ask permission.

There are plenty of BMW owners who have got it working, have a search on speak EV or post your issue and within about an hour you should get a reply. They are very good bunch on there

 

[PJ87]

@harpo_72 try this

I'm having this same issue with my charging settings changing on me randomly. I'm only using the BMW app but no matter how I reset the charging settings, they change a few hours later.

Just searched on other forums and it may be because I have "location based charging" turned on in the car. Turning that off seemed to work for others.

 

[Hobbit]

@harpo_72 try this

I'm having this same issue with my charging settings changing on me randomly. I'm only using the BMW app but no matter how I reset the charging settings, they change a few hours later.

Just searched on other forums and it may be because I have "location based charging" turned on in the car. Turning that off seemed to work for others.

Is this sort of issue going to impact car availability, i.e. if someone needs to make an unexpected, last minute journey…?

 

[Mudball]

I have just set the time for charging.. I figured it will stop when the battery hits 100%. This may be an assumption that’s ignored .
So my view was set a time window .. charge to complete or when charging window terminates what ever occurs first.
The problem is the BMW has some time procedures and that’s why it’s stoping and starting. I have now turned it off, but for some reason it wants to reinstate itself… this is my issue with software, it does what it wants and doesn’t ask permission.

Yea.. not a fan of the bmw setup either. I just let Octopus do it

When I first got it, i experimented with the BMW set up. But could not get a hang of it. It also depends on what is the setting on your charger.

My car is set to ‘immediate charge’. My Project EV charger is also set to ‘immediate’. For some reason BMW will set it to a random time. Here how it is this morning (on a Sat)

 

[stevied]

Is this sort of issue going to impact car availability, i.e. if someone needs to make an unexpected, last minute journey…?

I wouldn't have thought so . I don't leave the car empty , so it's always driveable regardless of charge level. Very worst case just do a boost at a rapid charger if needed.
It's because we are smart charging that we sometimes have these issues as sometimes there are conflicts between the car settings and the charger settings.

 

[PJ87]

Is this sort of issue going to impact car availability, i.e. if someone needs to make an unexpected, last minute journey…?

All these kind of API issues are solved within the first charge. It's very much a set up issue , once you have the correct set up.

As Stevie says once you move to the EV world majority of people grase charge. Charge when they return home to a desired level. So they always have what they think it's acceptable to have be it cover the day usage or cover an emergency long trip

The emergency trip scenario is so rare and always a "what about this" situation that if you woke up to 60% instead of 100% charge your not stuck at home you can make a fair way on the trip and then drive to a rapid charger on route and stop for 10 mins to replace that 40%. Once a set up is property set up the failures are very unlikely that if it did happen there is always the fall back of the above.

You would have to have the what 1 in 1000 chance of this emergency trip happening the same time as A 1 in 1000 chance of a charge issue that you didn't notice

The margins are so small it's not worth worrying about

 

[PJ87]

Yea.. not a fan of the bmw setup either. I just let Octopus do it

When I first got it, i experimented with the BMW set up. But could not get a hang of it. It also depends on what is the setting on your charger.

My car is set to ‘immediate charge’. My Project EV charger is also set to ‘immediate’. For some reason BMW will set it to a random time. Here how it is this morning (on a Sat)

I remember the issues you had with your charger when it first came..since they ironed it out and you ditched the rubbish BMW way have you had many charging issues?

Only charge issues I've had where when the Corsa had an onboard charger issue that I had replaced.

The podpoint I used to have for example was fail dumb .. if the internet went down it would revert to charge now so that cars would wake up full regardless which is a good idea

Depends how deep people want to go into charging. That's why my default recommendation for chargers is zappi or ohme as they are very simple.



If I don't fiddle and ask for another time the default charge I've set up is add 55% by 0530

 

[PJ87]

@Hobbit quick add here. All this stuff is cheap charging based. If you get a simple charge now charger that charges off the day rate (which is still cheaper than petrol) the car will just fill up when plugged in

So if the emergency situation is key for you. Go dumb charging

 

[harpo_72]

@Hobbit quick add here. All this stuff is cheap charging based. If you get a simple charge now charger that charges off the day rate (which is still cheaper than petrol) the car will just fill up when plugged in

So if the emergency situation is key for you. Go dumb charging

Actually “dumb” charging is way smarter as it can be done with more flexibility.. I am wondering if this persists I drop the BMW app .. it doesn’t do anything magical and I am old so I don’t need to ask Alexa how to wipe my backside.
I am now trying to work out how I get key information into my binnacle so I can see key data

 

[PJ87]

Actually “dumb” charging is way smarter as it can be done with more flexibility.. I am wondering if this persists I drop the BMW app .. it doesn’t do anything magical and I am old so I don’t need to ask Alexa how to wipe my backside.
I am now trying to work out how I get key information into my binnacle so I can see key data

If you drop the app do you lose precondition? Starting the heating before you get in is a game changer. Especially when screen is ice

I haven't defrosted the screen in 4 years apart from a couple on the Alhambra when we had it

What is weird feeling is when it's so cold the car is ice is that because there is no excess heat from engine you can drive an hour and still the actual outside the car be frozen lol

I always press start pre condition 15 mins before I leave so when I'm doing my teeth etc I press it and get to the car it's warm

 

[harpo_72]

If you drop the app do you lose precondition? Starting the heating before you get in is a game changer. Especially when screen is ice

I haven't defrosted the screen in 4 years apart from a couple on the Alhambra when we had it

What is weird feeling is when it's so cold the car is ice is that because there is no excess heat from engine you can drive an hour and still the actual outside the car be frozen lol

I always press start pre condition 15 mins before I leave so when I'm doing my teeth etc I press it and get to the car it's warm

I have had precondition on my JLR stuff but I used to go to work before 7 am. Now we don’t go anywhere really. I could put a warm function on the key fob, currently got the lights on it.
If I can isolate the timing of charging then the app will be okay but if it persists, it gets biffed

 

[adasko]

@harpo_72 if your electricity supplier is Ovo they have a EV tariff called anytime. You charge when you want and how much you want and dont have to worry about any schedules.
If thats the case just set your Hypervolt charger to plug and charge. Set max limit of charge in you car and just plug it when you at home.
My tesla is recommended to charge to 100% all the time but other cars with different batteries are told to charge to 80% daily.

 

[PJ87]

I have had precondition on my JLR stuff but I used to go to work before 7 am. Now we don’t go anywhere really. I could put a warm function on the key fob, currently got the lights on it.
If I can isolate the timing of charging then the app will be okay but if it persists, it gets biffed

With winter coming I'd recommend the warming! It's lovely

 

[harpo_72]

@harpo_72 if your electricity supplier is Ovo they have a EV tariff called anytime. You charge when you want and how much you want and dont have to worry about any schedules.
If thats the case just set your Hypervolt charger to plug and charge. Set max limit of charge in you car and just plug it when you at home.
My tesla is recommended to charge to 100% all the time but other cars with different batteries are told to charge to 80% daily.

Yes that’s what I have been using it was just the BMW and was stopping the charge. But I think I am sorted now. I will charge again probably end of the week .. don’t do a lot to be honest

 

[PJ87]

Yes that’s what I have been using it was just the BMW and was stopping the charge. But I think I am sorted now. I will charge again probably end of the week .. don’t do a lot to be honest

Same as the wife and her car! It was the free energy hour just gone and I filled mine up and had 20 mins to spare but hers is already at 90% and I don't like to leave sitting around at 100% so just left hers as she prob won't use it until Tuesday maybe Saturday

 

[3 jabber]

Had my Tesla test drive today in a model 3 long range. Very impressed with it. It was a brand new latest version so it has features that a 2nd hand one in my price range won't have though. Good to drive, couple of niggles I don't like but no showstoppers.