2017 i3 Rex EME Repair $14,000 USD? Is this for real?

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God forbid I should have to deal with an EME problem myself, and sorry for those who are doing so.
I have to wonder if anyone has gotten into these on their own, the kind of thing that I often did when I was younger and much poorer, so wouldn't have considered going to a dealer for (yes, I often ruined stuff this way, but learned a lot in the process.) Here's a video from youtube showing how simple the disassembly of the EME is. I suppose there's a reason they're doing it on a bench and not in the car (which would be much quicker). The video only shows you what you'd be faced with if you wanted to replace either or both of the PC boards within - nothing about diagnostics, nor post-installation re-setting if needed.
But as a DIY-occasional-ruiner of such stuff, I had to wonder...a year or two ago, our laser-printer died. Authorized repair cost would have exceeded the replacement cost of the printer as a whole, so I dug into it myself (prolly would have regardless because of the time involved in even getting a unit like this in for service). Turned out the only PC board in the machine, identified by numbers on the board itself, wasn't hard to find on AliExpress, and I think it was around $25. The biggest problem I encountered on reinstalling was that it was about six weeks later, so my memory of the tricky plastic-panels and interlocks assembly sequence was a bit tattered, but it's working fine again.
 
God forbid I should have to deal with an EME problem myself, and sorry for those who are doing so.
I have to wonder if anyone has gotten into these on their own, the kind of thing that I often did when I was younger and much poorer, so wouldn't have considered going to a dealer for (yes, I often ruined stuff this way, but learned a lot in the process.)
Replacing individual electronic components might be possible. I don't know of any circuit diagrams that are available, so knowing what to replace would require more electronics smarts than I have. Replacing circuit boards might be the lowest level repair possible. However, there are different EME versions, so it could be tricky finding the correct replacement board. I doubt that AliExpress would sell them. Maybe used EME circuit boards could be found on Ebay. But then it's likely that a replacement board would need to be registered with some electronic controller so that the proper software could be installed during a software update. Complex stuff…
 
I have a 2014 i3 Rex (Electronaut edition) which had EME failure. In my case, the 12v charging inverter appears to have failed. My experience with this car has not been good as A/C compressor (Visteon) failed and was replaced ($2716) and cabin heater failed and was replaced.

I spent $4764 at dealer having Safety Box replaced and declined spending another $10,000 to have EME replaced. What I've done to put the car back in service is add a 12V 100Ah LFP battery and 40A DC-DC battery charger in the frunk area. At $450, this keeps the small BMW 12v battery charged for at least a couple of hours and this allows using the full range of the HV battery. The i3 low voltage system requires about 10 amps continuous to wake up when doors are opened, 22 amps to run in daylight, 40 amps to run at night with windshield wipers and approaching 50 amps to run all these along with range extender.

This is admittedly a kludge but it makes the car useable for local trips. It does extend the range a little. The one glitch, is sometimes the car does not go to sleep for a few hours so I have to keep the LFP battery on a charger when parked. So far, no error codes.
Hi macaytodd,

Can you share your Frunk image? I think my i3 has the same issue and I will try to install a lithium battery and a DC to DC charger.
Thanks
 
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