Levo / Kenevo car charger (BMW Levo)

[Bimba]

Last year Specialized & BMW released a limited edition Levo complete with an in car charger.

So in my mind I should be able to buy one from Specialized? Oh how silly of me, my local Specialized dealer called Specialized UK to order one for me only to be told they don’t stock it as it’s a BMW part and would need to buy it from them.

So in my mind I should be able to buy one from BMW? Oh how silly of me, my local BMW showroom had not got a clue! So even though the picture I have of the charger had a part number it’s not in the BMW system! So the clueless parts assistant takes my phone number and says he will call BMW head office and get back to me.

A week later BMW ring me to say that the charger is not available yet, but should be available in July?

Price ? They don’t know! Bet its double the Specialized one ?

If anyone know different or has an alternative to charge your Levo / Kenevo battery in the car any help would be appreciated.

 

[tcm]

You need a pure sine wave inverter. I have a 350w one in my van which runs off leisure batteries charged by solar and the engine and have used it to charge my haibike in the past, great to be self sufficient on a trip away. You could run it directly from your car battery but firstly you may not be able to do it from the cigarette lighter socket as the power usage is on the limit of what is possible with a 10 or 15 amp fuse. Secondly you will be sapping at least 500 watt hours from your car battery for a full charge probably more due to inverter inefficiencies, losses. So you will probably not be able to start your car after the charging! Really you need a big leisure battery and split charge system in your vehicle.

 

[tcm]

just realised the BMW pictured is a 2 amp charger so it will be ok on cigarette sockets. I'm pretty sure the standard wall charger is 4 or 5 amp? So you're looking at a 8 hour charge time? Not very handy for a lunchtime boost..

 

[Kevin Hunger]

Hello, new member here. I have a Specialized Turbo Levo that I am taking on a Scout trip and I am trying to figure out how to charge it at a remote camp by using my car or a power bank .
After multiple requests, I was told by Specialized Canada ( I am in Florida) that they do not make a car charger (wonder who is making the one in the picture above) and that the inverter for the car had to be 12 V to 220 rather than 12 V to 110. I just plugged in the 300 Watt 12 to 110 inverter into the cig lighter adapter to see what it would do and it was registering 0.4 amps and was predicting 4 hours to get from 80 to100 %. Can anyone recommend a 12 to 220V inverter for the car that they have had success with and should it be a pure sine wave inverter?
Also has anyone tried a portable battery power bank of about 500 to 600 Watts and had success?
Thank you ! Kevin

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Hi @Kevin Hunger here the thread you need with some details:

Charging from a vehicle ?

 

[rhouser]

I have a honda eu2200i generator that I carry in the truck with my Levo on its rack carrier. I use my supplied specialized charger plugged into the generator and the bike charges fine. About 3 hours for a full charge/recharge. I can get a couple of full recharges from the .9 gallon tank on the generator. This lets me setup a remote (no electric) camp site and ride as I with (multi day camping).
This is not the same as a straight vehicle battery inverter, but, since I owned the generator, this was the best solution for me.

v/r rch

 

[KevinSalyer]

Just getting to know my new 270RKS, which has a 15k BTU Colman Mach A/C unit.

Hooked up my old EU2000i and it was able to get the AC running, but after 5 minutes or so it tripped. Something else must have kicked on, perhaps battery charging. The A/C unit must have a good hard start capacitor installed.

I ordered a new EU2200i companion generator but the cables are still on the way. Just for grins I hooked it up solo. Low and behold it ran the A/C and refrigerator without any overloading. I'm not sure if any battery charging kicked in or not, but I had all the lights on too. I ran it for 30 minutes or so with the A/C cycling on and off.

 

[Krisj]

For people using generators to charge their batteries I’d check to make sure it’s ok.
I’m in construction and we never charge our power tool batteries off generators because we’ve been told it’s not a consistent voltage and can screw our batteries up.
I not 100% sure of this but it’s worth checking out before hand. Our batteries only cost £90 I wouldn’t want to chance a £700 + battery.

 

[Mattwilko92]

For people using generators to charge their batteries I’d check to make sure it’s ok.
I’m in construction and we never charge our power tool batteries off generators because we’ve been told it’s not a consistent voltage and can screw our batteries up.
I not 100% sure of this but it’s worth checking out before hand. Our batteries only cost £90 I wouldn’t want to chance a £700 + battery.

Im an electrical engineer and can assure you this is a load of rubbish. The chargers (basically a rectifier) like most things have an AC input operation range - it doesn’t really care where it gets its voltage from it will continue to give a consistent DC output voltage to charge your battery. Both the ebike and your tool batteries have a BMS system which will maintain good charging and shutdown if it detects any problems.

Your generators on site are a consistent voltage, you will hear the engine ramp up / ramp down as you increase/decrease the load but the output should remain the same as it uses a voltage regulator.

I work in critical power and you’d be surprised how many generators are powering data centres, hospitals, superstores etc

 

[Simon_t]

I have charged my levo quite a few times using a generator without any issues. If you want peace of mind then choose a generator that has a ‘’pure sine wave’ output as that produces the closest output to mains power. The charger is a switched mode converter, and therefore may not work correctly if it does not see a good sine wave out of the generator - only the charger designers will know how good the quality of the supply needs to be to work correctly. A bad AC input might have gaps or spikes in the sine wave, which would cause a variation in the output DC voltage to the bikes battery, which might be damaging.
Most ‘caravan’ type generators these days produce pure sine wave outputs. I bought a cheap £180 Chinese 700w generator from Screwfix, which is capable of charging 4 Levos at a time if required. It has been excellent so far and is very economical on petrol:

Simon
https://www.screwfix.com/p/impax-im...WyIQeW61oPySvBMSS6MaAh4zEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Krisj]

Im an electrical engineer and can assure you this is a load of rubbish. The chargers (basically a rectifier) like most things have an AC input operation range - it doesn’t really care where it gets its voltage from it will continue to give a consistent DC output voltage to charge your battery. Both the ebike and your tool batteries have a BMS system which will maintain good charging and shutdown if it detects any problems.

Your generators on site are a consistent voltage, you will hear the engine ramp up / ramp down as you increase/decrease the load but the output should remain the same as it uses a voltage regulator.

I work in critical power and you’d be surprised how many generators are powering data centres, hospitals, superstores etc

Cheers for the heads up dude it’s been the rumour around sites for years
But it’s good to know from a reliable source and I will spread the word now ??

 

[Macone]

Cheers for the heads up dude it’s been the rumour around sites for years
But it’s good to know from a reliable source and I will spread the word now ??

Hi Krisj. I think I understand where those rumours come from. I supplied your industry for five years as a sales rep for Makita. Many times we saw large AC power tools like concrete breakers, fry their electronics when running off unstable generator power supply, but not once have I ever seen a battery charger (or battery) damaged in that situation. The concrete breaker would often be drawing the absolute limit of the available supply, this is highly unlikely for the charger and also not so critical for the supply to be as even/stable. Cheers

 

[Jonesanthony]

Hi All,

I have just managed to place an order with the manufacturer in China who made the BMW car charger last year for specialised.

specialised don’t have stock
Neither do bmw.

When I receive it I will let you know if it’s as expected.

One on its own with international shipping without taxes is about £98 given exchange rate.

 

[2wheeledwalbert]

Hi All,

I have just managed to place an order with the manufacturer in China who made the BMW car charger last year for specialised.

specialised don’t have stock
Neither do bmw.

When I receive it I will let you know if it’s as expected.

One on its own with international shipping without taxes is about £98 given exchange rate.

I bought one back in the summer (uk) it's an awesome bit of kit

 

[kayakingjanet]

Just managed to source a car charger from ebay, few more available...
Specialized Turbo Levo / Kenevo car charger (BMW Levo) | eBay
Thanks for this thread and others discussing this problem, I now have a solution for our new campervan.
Very happy, as BMW didn't seem able to find any in the UK

 

[Justride]

Hi, anyone ever get a good source for the bmw charger ? I really want one now!

 

[Justride]

H

Hi All,

I have just managed to place an order with the manufacturer in China who made the BMW car charger last year for specialised.

specialised don’t have stock
Neither do bmw.

When I receive it I will let you know if it’s as expected.

One on its own with international shipping without taxes is about £98 given exchange rate.

Did you ever get it , got a contact?? Really like one !
Thanks

 

[kntr]

Are these still available?

 

[Petrex]

Resurrection:

Just got one on eBay - 3 left as I type ...

BMW Specialized Levo Kenevo 12V Battery Charger eBike | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for BMW Specialized Levo Kenevo 12V Battery Charger eBike at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Works with my Turbo Levo C. Alloy