Has anyone got a fault-free i3?

[Jeffj]

Commuting mostly (15 miles round trip with lots of hills and stoplights) I get ~3.8 in the winter and 4.3 in the summer. If I do any extended driving, including highway, my averages creep up toward 4.8 (4.2 in the winter). I don't mind accelerating hard, but I normally don't drive it like a hot rod. I also have a REx, so my numbers are a bit lower than they would be with a BEV.

 

[xxiicenturyval]

Getting average of 4.7 miles/Kwh. Typical range in the summer now is 96 miles with AC on and in comfort mode.

I don't know how people are getting such great range! I am averaging 3.6 mi/kWh in a bev. GOM is usually in the 60s. It can be consrvative, but somethimes I have run the battery down to fumes(?), and the real range has been 62.

There are some factors I understand -
I have owned the car for less than two months, and the high temps have been between 95-104. My drive home is during the hottest part of the day. I drive in comfort mode with the A/C on all the time.
My commute is only 14 miles round trip along surface streets. I thought that would be ideal, but apparently the start-stop nature of the drive is not ideal.
I may drive it harder than optimal. Accelleration is fun.

Those of you who are getting nearly 5 mi/kWh - How do you drive? No A/C, Eco Pro, and steady at 35 miles an hour all the time? I love the car, and its range suits my needs fine. But I'm a little jealous of all these reports of 4.5+ mi/kWh.

I have only had the car for a week but from what I gather there are a few things which I think decrease your range:

1. AC on always - significant impact
2. Hot weather - batteries are kept at operating temperature even when the car is parked and this drains them slowly. Do you park in the shade or full sun? I try to find a shaded spot in the summer (and plan to leave it in the open this winter).
3. Even if you use the regen it will not capture all the kinetic energy you have at that point. In addition to regen you have to try to keep the car at a constant speed (this morning I came back from work at 7 am (on a Sunday) using city streets and mostly coasting below 40 mph or using the regen at stop lights, no AC and got 6 mi/kw)

 

[alohart]

2. Hot weather - batteries are kept at operating temperature even when the car is parked and this drains them slowly.

Do you hear the A/C compressor and heat exchanger fan running while your car is parked in the sun and not plugged into an EVSE? They're quite loud when the battery pack is being cooled during charging, but I've never heard this while our car is parked in the sun and not being charged.

It doesn't seem good for a BEV if the battery pack cooling system could run for hours while a car is parked and not charging. One could have parked with sufficient range to reach one's next destination but because the battery pack's cooling system lowered the battery pack's SOC while parked, one could find insufficient range remaining to drive to this destination.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I would be surprised if the battery cooling worked when parked and not hooked to an EVSE, or if it did, it wouldn't run for long. Two things can make the batteries hot in general use: recharging, and high-rate discharge. They'll warm up some just with use, but often not need cooling unless it is really hot outside. Up to a point, warmer batteries improve their output capability, but they can be damaged if they are too hot while trying to recharge, which is the primary reason the cooling comes into play.

 

[i3marc]

18500 miles fault free for the last 6 months now...

 

[xxiicenturyval]

2. Hot weather - batteries are kept at operating temperature even when the car is parked and this drains them slowly.

Do you hear the A/C compressor and heat exchanger fan running while your car is parked in the sun and not plugged into an EVSE? They're quite loud when the battery pack is being cooled during charging, but I've never heard this while our car is parked in the sun and not being charged.

It doesn't seem good for a BEV if the battery pack cooling system could run for hours while a car is parked and not charging. One could have parked with sufficient range to reach one's next destination but because the battery pack's cooling system lowered the battery pack's SOC while parked, one could find insufficient range remaining to drive to this destination.

You are right. I have never heard the cooling system fan while the car is parked and not connected to an EVSE. From my reading on this forum I assumed that the car would not allow the batteries to become dangerously hot if you park in full sun in the middle of August. I thought high heat was really bad for battery lifespan.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Charging or using batteries when they are much hotter than design can be damaging. If they got heat soaked, when you turn the car on, it will then cool them, if required, as I understand things. During the charge process, it may cool them before the actual charging starts, and could run intermittently during the process, as required.

 

[alohart]

Charging or using batteries when they are much hotter than design can be damaging.

True. i3 owners in hot climates have reported that some power bars are grayed out until the battery pack cooling system reduces the cell temperatures to safe levels. It would probably be best to drive as gently as possible until all power bars have returned just as driving a cold ICE gently until it reaches operating temperature is best for longevity.

i3 owners are fortunate that the temperature of their battery packs is actively controlled (well, until this temperature management system is added to the growing list of other systems that are failing prematurely). Many current EV's don't have such sophisticated battery pack temperature management including the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV (although those with DCFC can direct heated or cooled cabin air into the battery pack), and even the new VW e-Golf.

 

[barrychan]

6 months now.....no issues

 

[peteinlongbeach]

REx, 12,000 miles in 6 months. Fault free. I drive it everywhere I drove my conventional car. Just did a 500 mile round trip to the central coast. Love it....

 

[imolazhp]

If my car had been delivered with the July, 2015 software it would have been fault free. It was delivered with the March, 2015 software and had some random REx CEL's prior to the update that seemed to only pop up if I did not run the REx manually a few times per week. Now I don't have to manually run the REx and I'm realizing I could have done without the REx altogether.

 

[DJCeeJay]

2500 miles on a BEV in 6 months, fault free - apart from a glove compartment rattle that was fixed in a day and hasn't returned. Still enjoying the drive every day, and my wife and I are fighting over the car on the weekend ...

 

[DerfSdrawd]

I see I posted this thread last August when the car (BEV) was 4 months old and had done 6k miles. It had the software upgrade at that time, which fixed the aircon issue but de-rated the on-board charger to 5kW. This was subsequently fixed about 3 months later under recall You give your key to the dealer, they read it and can see if any upgrades are due to be fitted to the car).

The car is now at 31k miles and since the replacement charger was fitted it has been faultless. New rear tyres at 18k miles, fronts just about shot now.

 

[S3RDP]

I see I posted this thread last August when the car (BEV) was 4 months old and had done 6k miles. It had the software upgrade at that time, which fixed the aircon issue but de-rated the on-board charger to 5kW. This was subsequently fixed about 3 months later under recall You give your key to the dealer, they read it and can see if any upgrades are due to be fitted to the car).

The car is now at 31k miles and since the replacement charger was fitted it has been faultless. New rear tyres at 18k miles, fronts just about shot now.

Good to hear that you are piling on the mileage - 25k in 15 months in a BEV means you must be pretty fearless of the risk of chargers being out of action. Any measurable degradation of batteries or performance?

 

[jadnashuanh]

Good to hear that you are piling on the mileage - 25k in 15 months in a BEV means you must be pretty fearless of the risk of chargers being out of action. Any measurable degradation of batteries or performance?

That's averaging 55miles/day...well within the capabilities of the BEV, especially if you have a charge point say at your work, but even then, totally within design specs. While people use it that way, I do not see the REx as an ICE replacement for longer trips. I will say that when I do drive my ICE after mostly using the i3, it seems quite crude even though it is not a low-spec vehicle! That wears off after say 100-miles or so when I'd have had to stop to recharge the i3 and be looking for the next place while hoping that it was working...not an issue with finding a gas station on that vehicle where I can exceed 500-miles on a tank on a trip.

 

[DerfSdrawd]

I will say that when I do drive my ICE after mostly using the i3, it seems quite crude even though it is not a low-spec vehicle! That wears off after say 100-miles or so when I'd have had to stop to recharge the i3 and be looking for the next place while hoping that it was working...not an issue with finding a gas station on that vehicle where I can exceed 500-miles on a tank on a trip.

Yes - that's exactly my experience too. Most of my BEV's trips are either very short local journeys, c 20-40 miles round trip or longer trips of around 150 miles. The "secret" is that at both my business destinations there are free public chargers and I tend to be the only one using them. One weekend I had to take my eldest to near Shrewsbury, which is a round trip of about 300 miles so for a laugh I took the i3. The car can do that sort of trip without any issue whatsoever, but the charging infrastructure is too unreliable to imagine doing so out of necessity. Suffice to say the trip took about 12 hours end to end and I finished on zero charge having eeked out about 18 miles from a 9 mile indicated range (eco pro+ and 30mph) because my intended final charger before reaching home wasn't working.

Any measurable degradation of batteries or performance?

Not that I can detect. The range is ultimately dependent on whether you sustain high speeds (75mph+) and ambient temperature. I take it to London frequently and when there it hardly seems to hardly use any power at all despite enjoying the blistering acceleration.