BMW Garage BMW Meets Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
BMW 5-Series (G30) Forum 2017+ BMW 5 Series (G30) General Discussions 80% charge limit on 2020 530e?

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      12-27-2019, 07:56 PM   #23
roxxor
Major
roxxor's Avatar
1120
Rep
1,124
Posts

Drives: 2024 iX50
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Florida

iTrader: (7)

Nice to see others getting 25ish+. The 12kwh battery was what sold me on the 2020 model, since my daily commute each way is around 23mi and I can charge both ways.
Appreciate 0
      12-28-2019, 01:13 PM   #24
ted99
Lieutenant
United_States
242
Rep
535
Posts

Drives: former i3>330e, 528i>X5>530e
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Houston, TX

iTrader: (0)

Attached is the screen where I was able to raise the max charge from 80% to 100% on my Nov Build
Attached Images
 
Appreciate 0
      12-29-2019, 02:59 AM   #25
Wivenhoe
Second Lieutenant
76
Rep
211
Posts

Drives: BMW 530e - delivered Nov 19
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: GB

iTrader: (0)

I think you may be getting confused. The battery control doesn’t control the external charging. It controls the amount of battery to be conserved so if you select 100% then you will never run on electric only and the ICE will keep charging the battery to preserve 100%. I would only set it to 100% if I was going to enter an electric only zone for a long time - 100% means you are using the ICE as a generator as well as an engine.
You’ll see that you can’t set it to completely deplete the battery - in your shot you can’t set it less than 30% - that’s so you always have battery for short term acceleration despite the system reporting 0 miles range.
Appreciate 0
      12-29-2019, 09:16 AM   #26
ted99
Lieutenant
United_States
242
Rep
535
Posts

Drives: former i3>330e, 528i>X5>530e
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Houston, TX

iTrader: (0)

What you are saying is cause for thought if this is indeed what this control actually does. More research necessary. Your statement raises another question, though. Say I set it at 80%, which is where I found it. So I drive the car in "EV" until battery is depleted. ICE switches on and runs wheels, plus recharges the HV battery until it gets back to 80%. ICE stops recharging the HV battery and runs wheels, only; until HV battery is used in boost mode or car stops in traffic and switches back to EV, because now there is some battery capacity available. ICE will start recharging the HV battery because it's now less than 80%. Same thing would happen if I had set the "meter" to 100%, but if the battery was at 100% and is kept there by my 100% setting, there would be no "room" for regenerative charge during braking or hill descent. So, 80% is the better setting. Perhaps I misunderstood the previous article I cited and this is what BMW means when they are limiting charge to 80%--or the journalist that wrote the article misunderstood and was "wrong" by calling it "home charging"--THAT certainly couldn't happen. Anyway, this setting is a mystery. In my two previous BMW PHEV's, in "Save" mode the ICE would not recharge more than approximately 50-80%. The only way I ever got to 100% was coming down a long mountain road with lots of regeneration (and the ICE was completely shut down). In any event, I'm going to dial back the setting to 80% until I understand this better.

Last edited by ted99; 12-29-2019 at 09:39 AM..
Appreciate 0
      12-29-2019, 11:10 AM   #27
HighlandPete
Lieutenant General
6659
Rep
15,858
Posts

Drives: BMW F11 535i Touring
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Scotland, Highland Region

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ted99 View Post
... Same thing would happen if I had set the "meter" to 100%, but if the battery was at 100% and is kept there by my 100% setting, there would be no "room" for regenerative charge during braking or hill descent. So, 80% is the better setting. Perhaps I misunderstood the previous article I cited and this is what BMW means when they are limiting charge to 80%--or the journalist that wrote the article misunderstood and was "wrong" by calling it "home charging"--
What is not clear from my reading on this subject, does 100% really mean 100% SoC, or 100% of the 'pre-set' maximum?

Reading some of the technical documents on PHEV development and testing, 80% SoC is often referenced. Seems to be the benchmark for maximum battery charge, so that there is energy recuperation/regeneration capacity from the initial drive off, on the so called maximum charge. May not always be the case in each installation, but does indicate (to me) that getting hung up with the 'maximum' capacity from a plugged in charge, is not the key parameter for battery use.

As to Battery Control... from the User Manual...

Quote:
BATTERY CONTROL
General

A certain charge state of the high-voltage battery can be maintained or increased with BATTERY CONTROL. This charge state can be set. The electric range can be conserved in this way for a later point in the journey, for example.

If the current charge state is too low, the battery is charged during the journey. This charging process increases average consumption...

... The Control Display shows the charge state that is to be saved as a percentage.

Quote:
BATTERY CONTROL
With BATTERY CONTROL, the electric range can be retained and conserved for a later point in the journey or increased if necessary.
Note: …. "or increased if necessary". Only users can really know what battery % they 'need' to retain for later use.
Appreciate 1
ted99242.00
      12-29-2019, 09:36 PM   #28
LogicalApex
Colonel
2017
Rep
2,932
Posts

Drives: 2020 BMW 530xe
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Farmington, NY

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2020 BMW 530xe  [0.00]
Quote:
Originally Posted by ted99 View Post
What you are saying is cause for thought if this is indeed what this control actually does. More research necessary. Your statement raises another question, though. Say I set it at 80%, which is where I found it. So I drive the car in "EV" until battery is depleted. ICE switches on and runs wheels, plus recharges the HV battery until it gets back to 80%. ICE stops recharging the HV battery and runs wheels, only; until HV battery is used in boost mode or car stops in traffic and switches back to EV, because now there is some battery capacity available. ICE will start recharging the HV battery because it's now less than 80%. Same thing would happen if I had set the "meter" to 100%, but if the battery was at 100% and is kept there by my 100% setting, there would be no "room" for regenerative charge during braking or hill descent. So, 80% is the better setting. Perhaps I misunderstood the previous article I cited and this is what BMW means when they are limiting charge to 80%--or the journalist that wrote the article misunderstood and was "wrong" by calling it "home charging"--THAT certainly couldn't happen. Anyway, this setting is a mystery. In my two previous BMW PHEV's, in "Save" mode the ICE would not recharge more than approximately 50-80%. The only way I ever got to 100% was coming down a long mountain road with lots of regeneration (and the ICE was completely shut down). In any event, I'm going to dial back the setting to 80% until I understand this better.
The Battery Control setting is really built around the "electric only" zones that are popping up in Europe. I don't think we have any yet in the US so the feature isn't as immediately useful for us (although it can be useful to help us to "charge" on the highway where the MPG hit is about 10MPG or so before we end up in stop and go urban traffic). As it allows you to suspend the battery charge state until later or to force charge from ICE.

80% is a good default as it leaves you with room to have the car operate the electric motor in the dual fashion it was designed to do. Since the car only has its full power when the electric and ICE motors are working together you don't want to force the EV engine off unless you have to.

I generally don't need to use Battery Control as I find the car is quite good at managing charge states to get me good range and regenerative braking can be very effective. If you can charge at home I'd say you don't need the setting at all with one exception. The one exception being you're going somewhere without charging and you know you'll want to use climate preconditioning while there. If the HV battery is flat this isn't an option so you can set Battery Control when leaving home to reserve some of the charge for this (it is best done when leaving home so you don't need to use the ICE to charge at all).
Appreciate 1
ted99242.00
      01-02-2020, 09:13 AM   #29
ted99
Lieutenant
United_States
242
Rep
535
Posts

Drives: former i3>330e, 528i>X5>530e
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Houston, TX

iTrader: (0)

I have found no difference in EV-only range with battery control set to 80% or 100% so I conclude that @Wivenhoe is correct and this setting pertains only to the max charge that will build up when the ICE motor is running to both move the car and charge the HV battery. By monitoring the amount of charge from a "depleted" battery with his advanced EVSE, @LogicalApex has shown that the maximum charge that can be added to the 12 KWh 2020 530e is approximately 10 KWh, or 2KWh less than the advertised capacity. What we don't know is what fraction of this reserve capacity is at the bottom of the charge, and how much is at the top of the charge; but I guess it really doesn't matter as it's not adjustable. So, the usable "net" battery capacity is 10 KWh.
Appreciate 1
      01-02-2020, 10:24 AM   #30
HighlandPete
Lieutenant General
6659
Rep
15,858
Posts

Drives: BMW F11 535i Touring
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Scotland, Highland Region

iTrader: (0)

I note that UK EV comarison data rates the 530e 'useable battery' as 10.4 kWh. Also note the WLTP test results state the EV 'rated consumption' (in the test) as 325 Wh/mile.
Appreciate 1
ted99242.00
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:00 AM.




5post
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST