After just a little over 5 weeks on its summer holidays in Kerry, I picked the car up from Aherns on Tuesday evening.

The potential charging port issue was indeed a charging port issue. Google suggested that the most likely reasons were a KLE control unit module failure or a need for a software update. RealOEM suggests that there were 4 or 5 different part numbers for this module in the first 12 months or so of production, and the part number on the invoice is another partnumber that doesn't even show up on there yet. In fairness to Aherns, they were thorough, going to and fro with Germany as well as their own diagnostic work and after a few days it was diagnosed as the KLE module. The part alone is just over €1600 and with labour, incidentals and VAT the total for this part of the job came in just over €2500 (of a bill that just scraped in under €3k). After a little persuading they tried for goodwill from BMW, but to no avail and there was then a 3.5 week wait for the actual part. As an aside, they haven't been the worst weeks to be "stuck" in the Z4 .

While the bill stings a bit, I have to put it in the context of not having to spend a whole lot on servicing and nothing (other than €90 or so on a L-ion battery for the SOS function) on repairs, so over 2.5 years and about 40k miles it doesn't look so bad. What did amaze me yesterday was that the battery range after the first charge I did was about 10km's more than I've ever seen before, even in warm summer weather. We'll see if that becomes a new norm.

Its the first time I've used Aherns for servicing, and to be honest they were much more helpful and communicative that any of my recent experiences with my local main dealer, even if they were further away. The local dealer had initially quoted a 10 week wait for a service slot.

I was somewhat disappointed with BMW Ireland on the goodwill side though. As always, the reaction seemed to be along the lines of never having heard of such a thing before and that it must be a use/abuse issue. They do seem to be doing some goodwill, but it doesn't seem to go beyond about 3-4 years and 60k miles/100k km's regardless of car or service history. Its clear that the KLE module failure is a common issue with the PHEV's with plenty of cases popping up on F30 and G30 cars on forums, etc. There are some reports of the issue on i3 Rex's too. The delay on the part might be down to the remnants of semiconductor shortages, but working for a semiconductor company who supplies to automotive customers I know that this is an issue that has by and large subsided. I would be more inclined to think its a demand side issue, suggesting its more common than BMW will acknowledge. Automotive car and part manufacturers require their electronic part suppliers to design and manufacture parts with a minimum 15 year lifespan, and audit suppliers for their processes, etc. to meet that. Significant numbers of failures in entirely electronic parts such as this at a fraction of this 15 year expectation suggest relatively early life failure and performance that doesn't match that standard. I'd be surprised if there hasn't been extensive failure analysis by the part supplier or BMW and probably some sanctions on the manufacturer of the failing module or part within. I had Aherns return the failed part to me and will probably do a little digging for more info at some point.

I have an NCT booked in a couple of weeks and I might move the car on after that. This was the plan before this issue anyway, so its not a knee jerk reaction. I only intended to keep this for 12 months when I bought it. This bill changes the overall economics of the PHEV choice a bit, but, on balance its still been a positive experience. Again, something I'd decided before this issue, the next car will probably more traditional ICE, partly as a bit of a last hurrah for ICE and partly guided by the view that the high cost of key components, still somewhat unproven durability and reliability of the EV and PHEV hardware and software, etc. make the recent and current generation of offerings a bit of a risk in the medium term to second and subsequent owners, after the warranty runs out. That could have an effect on the enthusiasm for these later and that could well be reflected in residual values.