Article on High Mileage i3's

[Anonymous]

https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/canada/article/detail/T0304198EN/six-years-of-bmw-i3:-electric-vehicle-pioneers-drive-over-200-000-km-in-their-bmw-i3?language=en&fbclid=IwAR2VR9_mlhlVqngSlXVEc5kOI1Cwpw3GCz8OEfURndht02liQbd0P8mYl2M

 

[alohart]

The article states about the i3:

"Since its market launch, it has been the most widely sold electric vehicle in the premium compact segment."

What are some other examples of premium compact segment EV's? Or is this just a meaningless marketing boast?

"The BMW Group will continue to further develop this vehicle and currently plans to extend production until at least 2024."

Coming from an official BMW press release, this is encouraging. However, for sales to continue to grow or to at least not decline significantly, vehicle development would likely need to include updates more significant than battery pack capacity increases.

"Experience obtained by customers who use a BMW i3 from the first years of production shows that even with the original battery, the achievable vehicle range decreases only marginally even after high mileage."

Both the actual range and Batt. Kapa. max value of our 1 August 2014 BEV have decreased by ~15% over only 10k miles of driving under extremely ideal conditions for an EV. I wouldn't describe our range decrease as marginal. However, maybe my experience is an outlier although I have read quite a few reports of significant actual range decreases by 60 Ah i3 owners.

"Not one BMW i3 high-voltage battery has had to be replaced due to premature ageing to date."

I find this difficult to believe. I have read several reports of i3 battery pack replacements performed under warranty including replacements because of more than a 30% capacity decrease. Maybe BMW doesn't consider a bad battery cell to be "premature ageing".

 

[eNate]

"Not one BMW i3 high-voltage battery has had to be replaced due to premature ageing to date."

I find this difficult to believe. I have read several reports of i3 battery pack replacements performed under warranty including replacements because of more than a 30% capacity decrease. Maybe BMW doesn't consider a bad battery cell to be "premature ageing".

Ha! "Had to" versus "we wanted to do it because we like our customers" is a technicality, no?

"Premature aging" could be the key, as perhaps the ones they replaced were appropriately aged?

Anyhow, thanks for summarizing, because I couldn't get past the first paragraph.

 

[user 4543]

Well my 3 year old 94Ah battery seems to be holding up well (mileage still just 27000)

A pair of 150kW public chargers are about to be commissioned near my home, it'll be interesting to see the effect these might have (I rarely charge at home, due to my 1st floor apartment making it awkward...)

I'm hoping to keep my i3 for long enough to warrant an eventual battery upgrade- unless the UK's Rapid Charger network materially improves in coverage!

Chris

 

[eNate]

(I rarely charge at home, due to my 1st floor apartment making it awkward...

Lol, you ought to change to a 2nd floor unit so you can throw a cord over the balcony and let it hang above the sidewalk!

But in all seriousness, my garage is right off the sidewalk so I lay a heavy rubber doormat over my cord where it crosses the sidewalk. It's not a super-heavily trafficked sidewalk like a downtown area would be, but we do have a higher-than-average amount of foot traffic, and this hasn't presented an issue. Of course, I do have the benefit of having "my spot" to park in (the short driveway leading to my garage door).

 

[alohart]

A pair of 150kW public chargers are about to be commissioned near my home, it'll be interesting to see the effect these might have (I rarely charge at home, due to my 1st floor apartment making it awkward...)

A 150 kW DC fast charger would charge your i3 much faster than the maximum 7.4 kW single-phase or 11 kW 3-phase AC EVSE but no faster than existing 50 kW DC fast chargers because of the i3's maximum DC charging power of ~45 kW.

 

[robthebold]

(I rarely charge at home, due to my 1st floor apartment making it awkward...

Lol, you ought to change to a 2nd floor unit so you can throw a cord over the balcony and let it hang above the sidewalk!

But in all seriousness, my garage is right off the sidewalk so I lay a heavy rubber doormat over my cord where it crosses the sidewalk. It's not a super-heavily trafficked sidewalk like a downtown area would be, but we do have a higher-than-average amount of foot traffic, and this hasn't presented an issue. Of course, I do have the benefit of having "my spot" to park in (the short driveway leading to my garage door).

I suspect the poster lives somewhere that "first floor" means "first floor above ground level".

 

[user 4543]

Yes, my apartment is 1st floor above ground, the domestic charging cable just reaches (if I park correctly...)

The new 150kW chargers will be faster (despite the i3's limit) because most UK 50kW units fail to deliver their full output (due to local grid limitations?)
Each 150kW unit has its own mini substation fed from the 33kV grid!

Chris

 

[jfran2]

"Not one BMW i3 high-voltage battery has had to be replaced due to premature ageing to date."

I find this difficult to believe. I have read several reports of i3 battery pack replacements performed under warranty including replacements because of more than a 30% capacity decrease. Maybe BMW doesn't consider a bad battery cell to be "premature ageing".

It could be that BMW meant that they hadn't changed out a COMPLETE battery pack. In the ones they've pulled, I've read that they find and replace the bad cells only, bringing the entire pack back above the 70% limit.