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BMW & MINI Smart Charging Setup

Updated

Supported models

All BMW and MINI electric and plug-in hybrid models with Remote Services active. The app connects through BMW Group's official interface for third-party apps.

Connecting your BMW or MINI

  1. In the app, choose to add a car and pick BMW or MINI.
  2. Log in with your BMW or MINI account (BMW Group ID). Use the account of the car's main user.
  3. Select your car.
  4. Set your home location and accept it in BMW's own consent screen. See below.
  5. Set your ready-by time in the app.

What your car needs

  • Main user: you must be the main user of the car in the My BMW or MINI app.
  • Remote Services: ConnectedDrive Remote Services must be booked and active.
  • Location sharing: switch on location sharing (vehicle tracking) in the car's privacy settings.
  • Target charge level: set a target charge level in the My BMW or MINI app. The car's own charge limit always wins, so smart charging stops there.

If your car does not show up when you connect, check Remote Services and location sharing, then try again in a few hours.

Home location

BMW only lets the app control charging at your home location. This is a BMW Group rule to protect your data.

  • You set the home location in BMW's own consent screen while connecting. It must match the address where you charge.
  • BMW only tells the app whether the car is at home or not. The app never sees your coordinates.
  • Away from home, the car sends no data to the app and does not smart charge.
  • You can manage your locations, including more than one, at ocapi.aws.bmw.cloud.

Turn off BMW's own scheduling

  • Charging window: the car's own charging window can block smart charging. Set it to match your ready-by time, or switch it off.
  • Starting or stopping in the BMW app: if you start or stop charging in the My BMW or MINI app, that takes over the session. Smart charging resumes the next time you plug in.

What you will see

  • First data: the first battery level usually arrives within minutes. Fully current data can take a few hours.
  • A schedule about 24 hours ahead: when smart charging pauses your car, the My BMW app may show a charging schedule about 24 hours in the future. This is normal. The schedule is replaced when smart charging starts the next session, well before that time.
  • Data a few hours old: cars only send data when they are awake and, for BMW, only at home. Older data is normal for a parked car.

Solar charging

If you have solar panels, link your solar inverter in the app. Smart charging then uses your solar surplus. It reads your real-time solar export if you have a smart meter, or estimates the surplus from your typical home use. You can set a start threshold for when charging begins. Below that threshold the app falls back to the cheapest hours.

What data is shared

  • Vehicle information: battery level and charging status.
  • Location: only whether the car is at home. No coordinates.
  • Charging control: start and stop commands.

Removing access

Remove the car in the app to end smart charging for it. The link with BMW also expires after 90 days without use. To use smart charging again after that, add the car again.

Still not working?

Contact the support team of your app. If your app comes from your energy supplier, that is your energy supplier's customer service. Tell them your car brand and model, when it happened, and add a screenshot of the app.

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