Charging speed only charges at 3.9kw

[Asm123]

Hi,

I have a B250e Art Nov 2016, I am in UK. On dashboard Ecell is set at Max stetting (after 13a).

When i plug in my Chargepoint 7.4Kw (32a) charger, it only reflects a charge speed of 3.9kwph. I thought b250e had a 9.6kw on board speed. I have used an Andersen A2, 7 kw too but even that shows same output.

Why can I not get at least 7kw going into this b250e, at present if my battery is 0% it takes around 9-10 hours to charge from my 7 kw charger, the Mercedes handbook says it should fully charge around 5 hours.

Please advise what I'm doing wrong ?

Would be grateful for any information. Thank you all.

 

[PatricioEV]

These definitely have a 10kw on board charger as I regularly see that with my EVSE. You may want to go into the settings to see if you have it limited to 3.9kw. There is an option to do that. Sorry, I don't remember exactly which menu, but it's in one in the instrument cluster, not the center console.

 

[PatricioEV]

Sorry.. I see you have already checked the settings. Could you have a setting in your EVSE that needs adjusting? Have you used the EVSE with other vehicles? Even if the EVSE is 7kw, it's still limited by the capacity of the circuit it's plugged/wired into.

 

[Asm123]

Thank you for your advice but my Chargepoint is definitely working at 7.4kw output (32 amps) and the rate if charge going into car is appropriate 10 mph (as per Mercedes Me app) I have also tested this on another 7kw (Andersen A2 ) charger with same result, simply speaking the handbook says the car should fully charge 0-100% around 5 hours ( my car is taking around 9-10 hours). The dashboard ecell is set to maximum. In the UK our electricity supply is rated 240v. I just cannot understand why this is taking/charging at half the speed it should ? Any help would be extremely grateful.

 

[DTesla]

So this prompts another question. Is the full Mercedes Me app still available with advance stats shown in the UK? I can't even see what my State of charge is in the US.

 

[Asm123]

Hi, in the UK the Mercedes Me app shows in the charging options, only two things 1: the existing Charge status (the remaining miles and per cent of current charge) and on the opposite of this it shows the charge level remaining in per cent before reaching 100% and time remaining to achieve 100% of charge.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[PatricioEV]

Have you tried to charge it with no time of day restrictions? Maybe there is some conflict with the settings. With my EVSE, I get around 25 miles/hr charge. Otherwise, something is limiting it. Probably something in the software is off, or sensing a reason to slow the rate.

 

[Asm123]

Hi,

Thank you for your advice regarding times, but I have not set any timers on the car or the Chargepoint, I just charge as and when required. I did take the car to Mercedes dealership but they did not give any reason just fobbed me off ( I truly believe their mechanics had no idea about electric cars in particular B250e, in the UK i think they only sold/imported approximately 300 vehicles since launch) thats the reason I was trying to seek guidance and advice from all the good people on this forum. If I had some a hint of what it could be, I would be able to take it back to the Mercedes Garage and tell them where to look..its just been soo frustrating not being able to benefit from a faster speed then 3.9kw.

 

[JeffRay]

Could be a software gliche in Yank parlance. In cases where our US dealers had no clue, we had the service manager contact MBUSA or in your case MB Germany to get an answer. Yours cannot be an isolated case.

I had sporadic unexplained charging issues even at the dealer's chargepoint chargers. It just went away but others have mentioned issues with their car's charging port hardware.

 

[Asm123]

Hi,

Appreciate the reply regarding the software/charging port hardware.

I have just booked the car in for investigation next Tuesday with Mercedes Dealer, and will make sure I point out your thoughts , I will post back with an update once I get the car back.

In the meantime, thank you all for your guidance and advice.

 

[JeffRay]

ASM,

The dealer needs to run their standard battery diagnostics plus check the charging rates so plan to bring the car in half charged. This will check the battery and the actual charging rates.

For me, the software gliche was switching to a lower charging rate automatically for some unknown reason. The service advisor said I had switched it on the dash. I replied that I had no idea where the menu was so I did NOT down throttle the setting.

Separately, I had seen a post where the charging apparatus on the car was compromised. Also, we have seen some rare cases that the inverter, etc was damaged by leaking coolant.

These are all things that MB is aware of, even if your local MB shop had not.

 

[Asm123]

Hi JeffRay

Many thanks for your advice, really appreciate it at least i can tell them where they need to look, I'm sure they won't have as much knowledge as you.

Its booked for next Tuesday and I shall definitely report back on this forum (I prey with good results).

Once again thank you soo much for taking the time to help me.

 

[hfeb]

my guess is that it could be that your charger is 1 phase 32 amps. The car charges with 3 phases at 16 amps each, and this gives around 10kW. If you only have one phase it will charge at 1/3 of that.

 

[mercevdriver]

Yes, i have the same issue, how did you get on at the dealership.

 

[diggerdave]

I have a similar charging issue. I'm in the US, we don't have 3phase in our homes. I do have Level 2 capable EVSE served by a 30amp circuit. With my old Juicebox 60amp EVSE I used to charge at about a 26amp rate. It shorted out and I recently replaced it with a 40amp Wallbox. And have been charging both my 2014 Bclass and my 2017 Chevy Bolt at 23amps. The Wallbox is new and strange to me and it's still a hassle to get it to start the current flow sometimes. Now the Bclass is throwing a Malfunction Error take in for Service. I can get around that and get the charging to start by turning down the Wallbox EVSE from 23 amps to 19. I haven't had any problem with the Bolt. I am wondering now if the the charger on the Benz is damaged? Anyway to tell? Will an OBD device give more info, error description etc?

tia,
dave

 

[laurentm]

In Europe, the B Class will charge @16A x 1 phase (with 230 Volts AC Mains) or 16A x 3 phase (400 Volts between live wires ) which means 3680 W or 11040 W, but not at all 7,2 Kw.

According to the stickirt on the charger socket door, the car can accomodate from 100 to 400 Volts.
In 110 Volts, this means probably 22h on a 20 Amps socket for a full charge.

 

[endaconnolly]

Hi guys,

Bit late to help you I am guessing, but the answer is yes you can most certainly use 40kW stations as long as the plug will fit (i.e. type 2). I recently bought a 2017 B250e, and regularly charge it at AC 43kW stations, as these are what are installed publicly in Ireland. Max charging rate will still be limited by the On-Board Charger to 11kW/hr - giving you a charge time of 2.5-3hours.