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What You'll Pay for a New 120-Volt Charger - 2014 BMW i3 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited September 2015 in BMW
imageWhat You'll Pay for a New 120-Volt Charger - 2014 BMW i3 Long-Term Road Test

Lose or break your 2014 BMW i3's 120-volt home charger and you'll pay - dearly.

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Comments

  • opfreakopfreak Member Posts: 106
    was plug on the cord? for 600 bucks, I'd buy a replacement plug, and wire it myself. If I couldn't find a replacement plug that day, I'd buy the thickest extension cord, cut its plug off and wire it.
  • nate001nate001 Member Posts: 102
    there goes the savings from being electric, $600 buys a lot of gas. I guess that is the price to pay until the manufacturers get together and all start using a standard charging system. Also in a few years the cost will start coming down, they should come up on the used market after some of these cars are totaled in accidents.
  • ebeaudoinebeaudoin Member Posts: 509
    How did you get the ground prong out of the port? I wouldn't want to stick anything in there.
  • bankerdannybankerdanny Member Posts: 1,021
    Can we pictures of the broken plug and the replacement?
  • lmbvettelmbvette Member Posts: 93
    edited September 2015
    Why wasn't this a warranty issue? It broke. It is covered under warranty.

    FYI, I went through six (SIX) EVSE chargers for my Volt, never had to pay for a single one, all covered under warranty.
    Don't worry about what other people think. Drive what makes you happy.
  • lmbvettelmbvette Member Posts: 93
    Also, any EVSE should work, you don't specifically need one that is for the i3 (unless there is unique functionality). If you found a cheaper one from Nissan(Leaf) or Chevy(Volt, ELR, Spark) dealer you could have saved money.
    Don't worry about what other people think. Drive what makes you happy.
  • zimtheinvaderzimtheinvader Member Posts: 580
    lmbvette said:

    Why wasn't this a warranty issue? It broke. It is covered under warranty.

    Warranties are for defects not abuse. Otherwise they should have been able to warranty the TSX because the panels were not longer straight.

  • zimtheinvaderzimtheinvader Member Posts: 580
    opfreak said:

    was plug on the cord? for 600 bucks, I'd buy a replacement plug, and wire it myself.

    I second that. It sounds like the plug broke where you plug it into the household socket. Any hardware store would have a wide selection of heavy duty replacement plugs that are easy to wire in.

  • bankerdannybankerdanny Member Posts: 1,021
    See, this is why I wanted a picture. I thought the damage was the proprietary cord at the car end, not the plug on the wall end. Assuming the plug is attached to a cord and not the inverter then it should absolutely be replaceable with a standard plug available at any Home Depot/hardware store.
  • gslippygslippy Member Posts: 514
    As others have said, you could have easily and safely replaced the plug with another readily available one. What a waste of your money.

    By the way, that charger resembles a Trilobite: http://whataearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Cambrian-trilobite-fossil-001.jpg
  • moridin2moridin2 Member Posts: 4
    nate001 said:

    there goes the savings from being electric, $600 buys a lot of gas. I guess that is the price to pay until the manufacturers get together and all start using a standard charging system. Also in a few years the cost will start coming down, they should come up on the used market after some of these cars are totaled in accidents.

    They all use chargers that meet the J1772 standard. Didn't need to replace the EVSE with a BMW one. In fact, the unit itself is not the charger. It merely communicates with the on board charger to determine what power the car can charge at, and if it is safe to do so.
  • allthingshondaallthingshonda Member Posts: 878
    There is warranty and then there is good faith customer service. Telling a customer that they have to buy another charger due to customer abuse is legal and correct but usually leaves customer with a bad taste in their mouth. BMW should have replaced it free of charge. Electric vehicles are new, the i3 is all new to BMW and owning an electric vehicle is probably new to most customers. Paying $600.00 for a charger for a vehicle you just bought a few months ago would turn most people off from buying an electric vehicle again.
  • marmotkingmarmotking Member Posts: 42
    I thought, like a few others apparently, that the plug that broke was the end that fits into the car, not the wall plug. To re-iterate and paraphrase several other poster's comments, you're nutso for not wiring a new plug yourself. Or would that void the warranty? Even a really nice, easy to wire NEMA 5-15 plug like http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pass-Seymour-15-Amp-125-Volt-Industrial-Grade-Angle-Plugs-PS5266SSANCCV4/100126294 is less than twelve dollars, plus it is a 90° plug that's less likely to get the cord tripped over again. That parts manager should... well I won't say, there's already so much insensitive material on the web.
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