Best on the go charging cable !!!

[popdis]

I found this compact charging cable on eBay for $100, and it seems to be the smallest available on the market. The included charger is way too bulky and takes up too much valuable storage space. Has anyone come across anything smaller?

Model: Turbocord
From: BMW, Webasto or AeroVironment
(warning early versions were recalled for capacitor issues, make sure you only purchase units manufactured outside the recall date)

 

[triangletom]

Nice find!

I had been looking for an option that could do 120V or 240V with toggleable ground protection, which took me 6 months of searching to figure out:



This cable lives in the side-bag of my CE 04 for emergency purposes, but I've only used it for overnight stays so far. The only downside to this cable is that it only gets 16A rather than the full 30A, so it's only half-speed on 240V (but still twice as fast as 120V). 30A-rated cables are far heavier and thicker. For $100 on Amazon, it's worked out great!

 

[popdis]

Nice find!

I had been looking for an option that could do 120V or 240V with toggleable ground protection, which took me 6 months of searching to figure out:

View attachment 4732

This cable lives in the side-bag of my CE 04 for emergency purposes, but I've only used it for overnight stays so far. The only downside to this cable is that it only gets 16A rather than the full 30A, so it's only half-speed on 240V (but still twice as fast as 120V). 30A-rated cables are far heavier and thicker. For $100 on Amazon, it's worked out great!

Your charger folds up really nicely; good choice. What brand/model ?

You would think BMW would offer a compact option for its two-wheeled EVs. Unfortunately, you do sacrifice charging speed for the smaller size, but having a charger with the bike allows for more flexibility and reduced range anxiety. Believe it or not, the Turbocord pictured above charges at 12A@110v and 16A@240. As more eclectic motorcycles hit the market I suspect manufacturers will start producing ultra-compact chargers.

 

[popdis]

Harley uses an even smaller version of the Turbocord for its livewire. Unfortunately, a new one costs $700, and no used ones are available. Starting to feel that BMW included whatever chargers they had lying around rather than choosing something more optimal.

 

[Jojo]

Yeh, I was a bit shocked at how bulky the charger was. Oddly, in Australia the charger that came with my bike is a 3 phase, 16amp charger with 3 x 2.5mm2 phase wires capable of outputting 11kW. The CE 04 can't use 3 phase and can only take up to 6.9kW on 1 phase. The charger has a swappable tail but only comes with a regular household plug tail that is rated for only 10amps, although the charger will only put out 8 amps or about 2kW! Presumably there are other tails that unlock the higher outputs. This definitely appears to be a mobile charger sourced from another model, probably a car. Luckily I already have a fairly compact 15 Amp, single phase mobile charger (one on the left in the pic) with much thinner cable (1 x 2.5mm phase wire) which also has adjustable current output.

 

[Jojo]

OK I have to take back what I said in my previous post. With the faster charging option fitted the bike can indeed accept up to 30A on 3 phase (3 x 10A) or on 1 phase (1x 30Amp). Thus the supplied charger (11kW and 3 x 2.5mm wires) makes sense assuming there are other tails available to utilise these higher outputs. This charger has the potential to provide the maximum possible charge rate (6.9kW) on 3 phase or 3.6kW on 1 phase. It's still rather excessively bulky for a bike though.