Looking to lease - some basic i3 questions

[JCMagoo]

Hi all,
Nice forum. My name is Jeff and this is my first post. I live in Savannah Georgia. I ride one of a few motorcycles daily. My wife has a Nissan Juke that serves as our only car. We're looking at trading it for an i3.

My next-door neighbor is the CFO at the local BMW dealership. He's bringing an i3 for us to drive for a weekend. A good deal is promised.

So far I've learned about lease deals and what numbers to look for. However, I have some general questions about the car in which I don't find answers.

Range Extender:
Being my first EV, I'm concerned about range for the few times I travel longer distances.
Can I just keep adding gasoline to the tank and use the range extender to travel beyond the estimated range (no matter how many times I fill the tank), or will it eventually run completely out of charge? (Or overwork the gasoline engine?)

I don't mind renting a car for longer trips, but I'd like to factor the cost into the ownership cost.

Charging:
Can I exist with just a 110v "emergency" charging option, assuming I'm willing to let it charge for 12 hours?

Is the charging port "standard" and comparable with public-access charging stations?

Bluetooth:
This is a stupid question, but I failed to ask when I bought my Nissan Juke.
Will the Bluetooth play music from my phone, or is it limited to calls and GPS only? My Juke only uses Bluetooth for calls and GPS. That was disappointing. My BMW motorcycle plays music, but only mp3's native to the memory in the GPS unit.

 

[Jeffj]

Yes, you can just keep filling the gas tank and keep driving. Out of the box, the REx will come on at 6.5% charge and will maintain that level. Its possible to drain the battery and go into "limp" mode if you are driving > 65 MPH or climbing a lot of hills once you hit the 6.5% level, as the car will be consuming power faster than the REx can generate it. Drop your speed to 56 (seems to be a magic number) and as long as its relatively flat, you'll charge back up to 6.5%. BTW, it takes ~90 seconds at a gas station from stop to start if you need gas - obviously plus the time it takes to get to gas station and then back to your route.

Your local dealer may or may not participate in the BMW mobility program that provides for free ICE loaners for long distance trips. Results are very mixed.

Whether you can live with the 110V Occasional Use Charger (OUC) is highly dependent on your driving habits. If you typically drive low mileage in a day (25 miles?), then the car can easily get back to full charge in 8-10 hours (e.g. overnight). If you drain the battery completely, you are looking at 20+ hours to get back to full charge. Figure you'll get ~4-5 miles of range for each hour of charging with the OUC. If that's your main charger, make sure you are plugging into a dedicated circuit (no other load on the circuit) of at least 15 amps, otherwise your charging will be slower.

The "standard" port is a J1772 port, which is compatible with virtually all public chargers EXCEPT the Tesla super chargers. Those "public" chargers will give you a full charge in ~3.5-4 hours.

If you are getting a 2015 model, it also comes with an additional charging port (2 extra pins just below the "normal" port) that will support DC Quick Charging. That will give you an 80% charge in 25-30 minutes. In Georgia, there are some DCFC chargers that you will have access to. Note that the DC Quick Charging port on the i3 (the 2 extra pins) is NOT compatible with the equivalent DC Quick charging port on a Nissan Leaf. The Leaf uses ChaDeMo for DC quick charging, the i3 uses CCS. Way more ChaDeMo chargers than CCS chargers at this point. This only applies to DC Quick Charging (also called Level 3).

Yes, you can play bluetooth audio.

 

[JCMagoo]

Thank you! This is quite helpful.

Apparently the dealer has several 2014 models. It's likely the best deal for me, but I like the idea of the Level 3 DC Quick Charge port.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The DC quick charge port is optional on the 2014 MY, and standard in the USA on the 2015 MY. I bought it on mine, but I've never had a chance to use it as there are no CCS units within range of me. Hopefully, that will change, but my normal day-to-day use, I chose the BEV version, since I do not exceed the battery capacity.

It really depends on how many longer trips you think you'll make. The REx adds nearly $4K, and you can rent a car a fair number of times for that. Your call entirely, I found it not worth it as I have a second car that can fill in that has been paid for for awhile, if needed.

At some point where there are a few plug-in hybrids where I could get by without using gasoline for most of my driving that I'd like to own, I may go that route. But, there's nothing like having a tool optimized for a certain purpose and the i3 is optimized for running around town or commuting 'typical' distances, not cross-country trekking.

 

[andytseng]

The DC quick charge port is optional on the 2014 MY, and standard in the USA on the 2015 MY. I bought it on mine, but I've never had a chance to use it as there are no CCS units within range of me. Hopefully, that will change, but my normal day-to-day use, I chose the BEV version, since I do not exceed the battery capacity.

I have the rex with the quick charge port, but I also haven't had an opportunity to use it. If you plan on purchasing a 2014, I would definitely take a look at the areas you plan to be in on plugshare and see if fast charging is even an option for you. And don't be fooled by the promises of, "Oh they're planning on rapid expansion of charging stations" kind of talk.

 

[JCMagoo]

Sorry. What is MY ?

 

[Schnort]

model year

 

[i3atl]

Hi Jeff - we have a few Savannah locals in the Atlanta i3 group on FB, if you would like to join. There are some recent charging station installs in Savannah that you might want to follow along with.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/atlbmwevowners/

 

[i3atl]

It really depends on how many longer trips you think you'll make. The REx adds nearly $4K, and you can rent a car a fair number of times for that. Your call entirely, I found it not worth it as I have a second car that can fill in that has been paid for for awhile, if needed.

It adds much more than $4K in GA, since you give up the $5K state EV credit by going with a REx - making it closer to a $9K option.

 

[JCMagoo]

It really depends on how many longer trips you think you'll make. The REx adds nearly $4K, and you can rent a car a fair number of times for that. Your call entirely, I found it not worth it as I have a second car that can fill in that has been paid for for awhile, if needed.

It adds much more than $4K in GA, since you give up the $5K state EV credit by going with a REx - making it closer to a $9K option.

The Georgia incentive drops to $2500 for an LEV instead of a ZEV. The direct cost of the REx is $3800.

 

[i3atl]

It really depends on how many longer trips you think you'll make. The REx adds nearly $4K, and you can rent a car a fair number of times for that. Your call entirely, I found it not worth it as I have a second car that can fill in that has been paid for for awhile, if needed.

It adds much more than $4K in GA, since you give up the $5K state EV credit by going with a REx - making it closer to a $9K option.

The Georgia incentive drops to $2500 for an LEV instead of a ZEV. The direct cost of the REx is $3800.

That is not correct - there is $0 in state incentive for the i3 REx. The LEV credit does not apply - see items #3 and #4 towards the bottom of the first page here: http://www.georgiaair.org/airpermit/downloads/mobilearea/engines/Alternative%20Fuels/LEVTAX%20Fact%20Sheet%20REVISED%202015_03.pdf

 

[JCMagoo]

Well, that's a downer. Thanks for the clarity.

 

[i3atl]

Well, that's a downer. Thanks for the clarity.

Sorry for the bad news - just wanted to make sure you have the right info. Many dealers are clueless when it comes to the government incentives.

 

[JCMagoo]

I appreciate it. I've been studying all the lease threads and gathering information. I'd hate to have bad info and screw up my attack.

 

[i3atl]

On another note, Owner's Choice is almost always a better deal than leasing, especially in Georgia.

Feel free to post a thread to the FB group as well if you have questions about anything.