2014 i3 with 94 Ah 2017 battery - in California!

[scepter]

BMW NA ran a test program by retrofitting 10 2014 i3 cars with the big 2017 battery. I tracked down one of these cars in FL, and I bought it and shipped it here to California.

So I now have what is essentially a fully-loaded 2017 Tera for half price. And the car is minty (18K miles). I found the deal compelling enough to eat $500 on my Fiat 500e lease.

The dealer, Juiced Car (http://juicedcar.com/electric-vehicles-for-sale/), was great to work with. That was essential to me for such a large long-distance purchase. I also ran the VIN through Carfax, Autocheck, and BMW. All were clean. The shipping was just over $1K door-door (enclosed truck).

(I think that Juiced Car has two modded i3's left. I was unable to find any of the other seven.)

Anyway, I researched this car purchase for four months and test-drove a bunch of cars – i3's, Bolts, Volts, Leafs, etc. The i3 BEV was a clear winner for my use case. For me, the 94 Ah/33 kWh battery was worth the ~$8K price premium that I paid over CA BEV prices. I also liked the fact that I was getting latest-tech BMW battery chemistry. YMMV.

So I'm thrilled!

View attachment 2014 i3 Range small.jpg

 

[theothertom]

I guess congratulations are in order
I can't argue with the pic of your display, but every BMW manufacturing person I've talked to say that all test vehicles, prototypes, etc are crushed. Yeah, expensive tests but they don't sell them to the public. I'd guess a mechanic at the dealer would be somewhat confused by the larger battery in a 2014, but hey, looks like you got a one of a kind (ok, one of 10).

 

[scepter]

I'd guess a mechanic at the dealer would be somewhat confused by the larger battery in a 2014, but hey, looks like you got a one of a kind (ok, one of 10).

I was worried about that too but the battery mod comes up on my local dealer's computer, and the remaining warranty shows intact. That made me feel a lot better about the deal.

I asked the dealer whether something might go amiss if/when the software was updated. He wasn't 100% sure but he was very comfortable that BMW would stand behind the product. That was (obviously) enough for me.

The "they were crushed" story is an urban legend. I'm pretty sure that a good portion of the 10 were auctioned. For one thing, I was told by Juiced Car that he could have bought more but he didn't think that he could sell them all in the western FL market. Perhaps some went to "internal customers."

BTW, the history of these cars is pretty unremarkable. I pulled the records on the three VINs that Juiced Car had and it appears that these cars were picked up off lease by BMWNA from a couple of locations in the mid-Atlantic. After modding and testing, they were auctioned in Philadelphia and Virginia as I recall.

 

[tooshay]

That's awesome. I hope BMW NA makes the upgrade available nationwide soon.

 

[theothertom]

The "they were crushed" story is an urban legend. .

I've never seen prototype BMW's or test BMW's for sale. Trust me, they crush them.
The 10 i3's are an exception. Obviously these weren't crushed.

 

[CanadianBigBen]

BMW announced the battery swap program in select markets - although not US - a while back. See below:

http://www.bmwblog.com/2016/05/12/bmw-i3-battery-upgrade-make-sense/

 

[scepter]

The "they were crushed" story is an urban legend. .

I've never seen prototype BMW's or test BMW's for sale. Trust me, they crush them.
The 10 i3's are an exception. Obviously these weren't crushed.

I trust you that they generally crush them. Sorry if I implied otherwise.

Perhaps these were spared b/c this was a local (BMWNA) program and not a BMW corporate initiative.

 

[fastring]

Interesting, looks like a good find! I just purchased my 15 i3 this month and one of the deciding factors (over a Leaf) was that BMW was investing in backwards compatibility of the battery. The Leaf, with its new increased capacity but same form factor battery is not supporting upgrades of older units. I hope to not have to explore this option for many many years but when the time comes, I am glad that at least the 94a battery will be an option and am hoping a larger capacity battery will also be an option. Given warranty of 70% capacity at 8years, I do not see having to worry about this for some time.

Thanks for posting this, interesting. Glad they tested it on at least 10 vehicles, its an investment, in testing and in software/hardware to support backwards compatibility.

 

[killban]

I've never seen prototype BMW's or test BMW's for sale.

You are correct in that prototypes would not be sold, however, these were not prototypes. These were fully homologated cars built using production facilities with a replacement battery that was also in full production.

 

[EVBob]

BMW NA ran a test program by retrofitting 10 2014 i3 cars with the big 2017 battery. I tracked down one of these cars in FL, and I bought it and shipped it here to California.

Did your search turn up any other dealers selling these 10 cars? I would be curious if they also included REx versions.

Thanks!,

Bob

 

[alohart]

I would be curious if they also included REx versions.

BMW has apparently stated that it would not perform the 94 Ah update on REx models (sorry, I have no reference).