by Staff Writer
BMW is aggressively pursuing green power-optimised charging, which aims to keep connecting vehicles with the world of energy.
Thus BMW i is the first automobile manufacturer to offer its customers a system that intelligently incorporates charging into everyday life and at the same time helps to considerably reduce charging costs.
Pilot markets for the new service are Germany and the Netherlands in early 2017, subsequently more countries will follow and hopefully South Africa will be one of those included in the lists.
The BMW Digital Charging Service is based on two core functions: Tariff and solar optimised vehicle charging.
In the case of tariff-optimised charging, the BMW Digital Charging Service aligns the charging plan to the customer’s electricity tariff. Cost-efficiency of the charging process is improved and the vehicle is automatically charged at the lowest electricity rates.
In selected markets, BMW i cooperates with innovative energy providers, so that customers are even able to receive cost reimbursements.
In the case of solar-optimised charging, the BMW Digital Charging Service is aligned to the domestic photovoltaic system.
DCS predicts the solar power based on the weather-forecast and the output of the installed photovoltaic system specified by the customer and establishes a charging plan. In this way, the amount of electricity not consumed at the time of being generated in the home can also be used for cost-efficient charging of the electric vehicle.
The vehicle is automatically charged in optimum combination with the self-generated solar power.
Thanks to further developed charging electronics, they are now able to handle three-phase charging currents of up to 22 kW.
The top-of-the-range model is the BMW i Wallbox Connect, which features a factory-set WiFi connection and is therefore an ideal match for the innovative Digital Charging Service.
Furthermore, it is not only possible to record the amount of electricity generated via the BMW i Wallbox Connect separately for each vehicle but also to export the data following the charging process, which is, for example, essential for recording charging costs.
