I went on a day trip to the Geneva Motor Show last weekend. There was some fab metal on display (here are some photos of my favs).
Unsurprisingly there were many new electric vehicles at the show. Plenty I’d never heard of too like the Quantino (the yellow car in photo 13).
In an announcement of interest to electric car owners earlier this week, Loxone revealed their new ‘E-Mobility Starter Kit’ which allows you to integrate your BMW i wallbox charger with their Miniserver smart home controller.
The setup will allow your BMWi to automatically run charging schedules, pause charging and set the charging current. Information about the current energy production via your solar panels, cheaper electricity periods or the total load of your house can be taken in consideration and used to adjust your charging automatically.
Related: Our BMW i3 Review
Loxone say the UK is one of the leading markets in the adoption of electric cars, whilst countries like Germany, typically the frontrunners for embracing new technologies, have been left behind. They believe the lack of infrastructure and trust in a nationwide charging network is one of the main reasons.
BMW i provide the Wallbox Pro, a fast charging station with integrated charge-management for electric cars whilst Loxone take care of the intelligent control logic integration. Such a partnership revolutionises conventional charging methods and provides controlled and efficient charging: BMW i owners can now look forward to a completely free, solar powered recharge in just four hours.
The Smart Home integration allows the charging to be intelligently managed based on sun-irradiation, the load of other devices in the home and variable electricity tariffs. The “Green Charging” button lets the customer chose to charge their car with self-generated solar power, i.e. without using power from the national grid.
Related: Loxone Integrates Your Electric Car With Your Home Automation System
The co-operation between the BMW and Loxone covers Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK as well as the Netherlands and Czech Republic. The one off cost for the Starter Kit (assuming the home has an existing PV installation) is £465, the Wallbox Pro is £1500.
Optimised solar powered charging means no more fuel costs. As a comparison: The average fuel costs for a car are £9500 over a distance of 100,000 miles (based on a consumption of 49 miles per gallon and a fuel cost of £1.02 per litre)
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