My intro message. BMW i3S is brilliant, but needs big range Solid State battery

[alohart]

Also: there are examples of the 60ah battery having been upgraded to the 94ah one for the first generation ones. Weight didn’t increase significantly.

Correct! The 120 Ah battery pack is only 40 kg. heavier than the 60 Ah battery pack.

Software and coding were the biggest challenges and I don’t know whether that can ever be reverse engineered; I certainly don’t expect BMW to ever open source it. Even with what sounds like a simple upgrade from 60 to 94ah there were complications with getting the car to “understand and accept” the larger module.

Several European and Chinese mechanics seem to have figured out how to upgrade i3 battery packs without problems, apparently even including higher capacity battery cells that were never installed in i3's by BMW. Whether U.S. i3 owners will ever benefit from these upgrades remains uncertain.

 

[weajd]

And just another thought... why are towbars not a BMW i3 option, at least in Australia? Pretty obvious to me... So perhaps a third party 'option'? Give me strength.

Not sure it is a good idea to tow any electric vehicle. When they are towed all four wheels up and not just the front two. The rear wheels in the i3 are directly connected to the electric motor as I recall. No tranny. If you really meant a trailer hitch, there is one aftermarket one but the load must be small (e.g., bike rack). You cannot get much support because it is not a good idea to drill holes into a carbon fiber frame.

 

[weajd]

Correct! The 120 Ah battery pack is only 40 kg. heavier than the 60 Ah battery pack.

Several European and Chinese mechanics seem to have figured out how to upgrade i3 battery packs without problems, apparently even including higher capacity battery cells that were never installed in i3's by BMW. Whether U.S. i3 owners will ever benefit from these upgrades remains uncertain.

Yes. There were samsung battery cells in the i3 as I recall. If you get someone to upgrade the samsung battery cells to solid state, they would have more universal usage and possibly lower costs. But getting the software upgraded to support the updated cells would be a problem with BMW. BMW is not looking back. They want to sell new cars. Maybe if right to repair takes off, there may be some accommodation some day.

 

[rdimonda]

It seems most posts on this forum are USA owners of REX models.
A quick question:
are there many owners of (2019 to 2021 version) i3S 120 AH ?
are there any Europeans on this forum who wish for 960 Km range ?
are there any EU specific forums ?
Thanks

I think that you can determine via BMW how many i3's were sold in the US. I would imagine that it was half of the total of 50,000 cars. Many of these cars, like my wife's, is a REX. This car was originally envisioned as a metro vehicle. My wife loves it and at some point, probably when the battery range gets down to about 35 miles, I will want to get the battery replace. We have a 2015 and it is still at around 60 miles of electric range but likely to deteriorate more quickly. I can tell you that most i3 owners love their cars and would be happy to spend upwards of 6k to replace the batteries. Someone could readily open up one location in the US and they would be very busy.

BMW has made a big mistake not continuing this model. It is an extremely practical car, a mini SUV with an iconic design that could rival the VW bug if they had kept it alive. All they had to do was lengthen it a few inches and they could have put more batteries in it. They built a whole plant to make this car. I can't understand their thinking, especially when most everyone in the US wants an SUV, not a 428 sedan, which is where they put their money.

We need a users group in the US who would like to keep the car alive and someone to offer repairs and battery replacement (not necessarily an upgrade) at a reasonable price.

 

[mojo]

BMW has made a big mistake not continuing this model.

Of course, nobody outside BMW knows in detail the profitability of the i3 to the company, but there seems to be plenty of evidence that it simply wasn't profitable for them.

You have to bear in mind that the car (and the expensive construction technique used) was conceived around 15 years ago, before it was apparent just how much of a force Chinese EV manufacturing was going to become. That is now obvious, and is almost certainly why they decided to focus on more conventional manufacturing methods.

when most everyone in the US wants an SUV

That in itself is a problem for BMW. The one thing that the EV market is not short of is SUVs - there is nothing distinctive about an SUV for them, and SUV style cars are heading down-market. That's not where BMW can afford to be, because the Chinese will obliterate them if they try to hold onto the cheaper/smaller end of the market.

Much as I like the i3, in terms of a straight financial business case, I suspect that BMW had no choice.

 

[DuploCar]

It seems most posts on this forum are USA owners of REX models.
A quick question:
are there many owners of (2019 to 2021 version) i3S 120 AH ?
are there any Europeans on this forum who wish for 960 Km range ?
Thanks

The question is a bit loaded and limits a lot of owners.
I just bought a 94 Ah BEV, and was looking into replacing the battery in 3-5 years with a 120 Ah. Maybe from The mecanic in Hungary.
But my car is neither a Rex nor a 120 Ah neither from 2019-2021, so my car won't be with your parameters
Although a range of 500-600 miles extra would be nice.

 

[alohart]

Although a range of 500-600 miles extra would be nice.

I'd much rather have much less than 500-600 miles range and a much, much lighter EV. Improvements in charge density might never result in a 500-600 mile EV that I'd want to drive. Our 2000 Honda Insight hybrid had a 600+ mile highway range and weighed just over 1,900 lb., so it was very light and agile. The hope is that the public and private charging infrastructure and the DC charging power will increase enough that stopping to charge every 200 miles would not be an objectionable experience. That's when EV's will take overtake ICE vehicle sales and become mainstream.

 

[DuploCar]

I'd much rather have much less than 500-600 miles range and a much, much lighter EV. Improvements in charge density might never result in a 500-600 mile EV that I'd want to drive. Our 2000 Honda Insight hybrid had a 600+ mile highway range and weighed just over 1,900 lb., so it was very light and agile. The hope is that the public and private charging infrastructure and the DC charging power will increase enough that stopping to charge every 200 miles would not be an objectionable experience. That's when EV's will take overtake ICE vehicle sales and become mainstream.

I knew about the small range when I bought the car. It's even part of my calulations about my driving needs including the use of A/C and heat without restrictions, winter degredation and keeping most charges between 20-80% in order to preserve the battery as long as possible. Keeping the range between 20-80% does make it limited compared to my old ICE car (2005 Fiat Panda), but I seldom drive beyound the city limit of Copenhagen and new chargers seems to be popping up (both ordenary, fast and hyper). Last year I drove around 6000 km (3728 miles), with a single trip to the other end of the country to visit my family (2 x 515 km (640 miles)).

(I used ADAC's numbers for calculating actual use. They found BMW to be a bit optimistic)
(https://blog.bilbasen.dk/undersogelse-effektive-elbiler-380674/)

 

[alpine788]

buy and enjoy it for what it is: A limited range city car, great packaging, fun to drive.. and waaaay overpriced when new, but a bargain, as a used car.

 

[alohart]

buy and enjoy it for what it is: A limited range city car, great packaging, fun to drive.. and waaaay overpriced when new, but a bargain, as a used car.

Considering its lightweight, strong, corrosion-resistant, expensive aluminum, CFRP, and thermoplastic construction, I considered the i3's new price fair compared with the alternatives. But then I also considered the $20k new price of a 2000 Honda Insight hybrid to be fair considering its lightweight, corrosion-resistant, expensive, all-aluminum construction and extreme fuel efficiency.

 

[Danewing669]

For my 2019 i3S 120 AH, I hope to get heat pump working again.
By 2027 hope to get solid state battery replacement to give 960 Kms or 600 miles range. I hope two German companies I am talking with make this possible soon.

That would be fantastic because I really love my 2015 i3 please keep me posted thanks (Dan Ewing)