Crossed 8000 miles after 9 weeks and mountain adventures...

[i3marc]

http://practicalbev.blogspot.com/2015/05/high-altitude-adventures-crossing-8k.html

Turns out the i3 is perfect for twisties. I went up to my property at close to 5000 ft of altitude without issues.

I am not talking hills... I am talking punishing inclines 5-6 miles at a time that are relentless and going up and up...

I imagine the Tesla for all its range will be BADLY handicapped with its 5000 lb in comparison to the relatively nimble and efficient i3.

This means the i3 might be the all around leader in practicality, matching closely what any gasoline powered vehicle can do and more.

FastDC is now badly needed... I asked the dealer about a retrofit and they are investigating.

Indeed all is perfect about the car minus the 2-3 hrs it gets to recharge.

So far the battery behaves the same.

 

[jadnashuanh]

An EV isn't really affected by altitude and thin air because the batteries just don't care! But, many turbocharged cars aren't too bad either other than the octane requirements may not always allow full performance. A normally aspirated car, though, is affected fairly severely!

Others have asked about retrofitting the DC fast charging option (and it's now standard in the USA on the 2015 model year), but the response has been no...While anything is possible, it's a LOT more to tear things apart to install it afterwards than to do it during production - you probably won't want to pay for it.

 

[i3marc]

Others have asked about retrofitting the DC fast charging option (and it's now standard in the USA on the 2015 model year), but the response has been no...While anything is possible, it's a LOT more to tear things apart to install it afterwards than to do it during production - you probably won't want to pay for it.

The issue here is about salesman training and the fact most people buying the i3 like me were not shown any possibilities and only remembered paddle systems on the EV1 which was my last contact with a BEV I rented (in 1999!).

There is no i3 offered for rent for a few days so I could quickly zoom in on this by myself, and generally you assume if you pay a lot of $$$ you will get a $700 option that makes life so much better now that I see quite a few FastDC chargers around.

Even 2 days ago I was charging at this dealership and all the staff was clueless about FastDC, so the only reason customers will be happy to find out they have it is because BMW made the decision for them in 2015.

And I suspect to avert legal liability... this is sue happy America after all

I wrote this predicament to a "genius" I know and stressed out the later little fact. So if enough owners of non FastDC i3's band together we may have enough leeway to make BMW do that for free, or even swap the cars for those that have FastDC.

My quality of life would be 500% better with the later.

 

[alohart]

If your i3 had the same options as mine (except DCFC), hadn't been driven so many miles (compared with mine), and we lived closer, I'd consider a trade. I couldn't find an i3 BEV with the exact set of options that I wanted, so I settled for one that included DCFC which I will never need and would have preferred not to have paid for. There are no SAE Combo L3 chargers on Oahu and might never be since living on a small island, unless one uses a car in one's work, it is difficult to drive farther in a day than the i3's range (one wonders why BMW of Honolulu has had so many REx's for sale).

But I understand the value of having DCFC for most i3 owners. Good luck on finding a solution!

 

[i3marc]

If your i3 had the same options as mine (except DCFC), hadn't been driven so many miles (compared with mine), and we lived closer, I'd consider a trade. I couldn't find an i3 BEV with the exact set of options that I wanted, so I settled for one that included DCFC which I will never need and would have preferred not to have paid for. There are no SAE Combo L3 chargers on Oahu and might never be since living on a small island, unless one uses a car in one's work, it is difficult to drive farther in a day than the i3's range (one wonders why BMW of Honolulu has had so many REx's for sale).

But I understand the value of having DCFC for most i3 owners. Good luck on finding a solution!

Well BEV don't really wear out that much... of all things if everything works A-OK the first 8k then the chances of a mishap are now removed.

Mechanical components have a bathtub reliability curve, while electrical ones have "youth" defects then no old age to speak of.

So far my battery is still as good as new from the constant range of 13-15 miles left to me after I commute the 98 miles to work.