need advice on long daily commutes

[divinefavor]

sorry if i'm posting too many questions. it's just that i have lots of questions before i make the decision to buy i3.

my daily commute is about 75 miles round trip. my work place has a charging station. it's a big company but only 6 lots for electric car charging.
i commute during traffic hours. 50% of my one way trip is stop and go. it's less likely that i can make the round trip without charging at work.

75 miles seems too close to realistic range of i3. does anyone have this long commute? how is it working out for you?
i3 rex version is not an option for me due to high cost. shall i be looking at other plug-in hybrids?

any advices will be welcomed.

 

[Gonville]

The beauty of an EV is that it is not using energy when you are stationary in a stop go situation. Looks like temperature more of a concern if you are in cold weather area. 81 is the measured range using Eco-pro should give a 20% extension. Take a test drive?

 

[amateurish]

I don't think that commute is suitable for the Bev. I wouldn't want to rely on getting 75 miles out of the battery every day, especially if it is cold and raining.

 

[elptex]

When I did my 24 hour test drive, I did 76 miles round trip. While it was a REx model, I was mildly determined to stay on battery only...and I did except for the very last mile. About 40 miles that day was motorway with the cruise set on 70mph, of which about 20 miles had 4 adult men in the car. 2 miles of that was a little spin around the block during lunch to show someone the car, of which I explored the acceleration of the vehicle unreservedly several times.

I'm quite certain that if I hadn't had 4 adult men in the car for 20 miles at 70mph or gone on a 2 mile joy ride, I would have made it home that evening without the REx motor kicking in a mere 1 mile from my house. Would it have been tight and invoked 'range anxiety'? Very likely.

The next day we did 51 miles, of which 15 was motorway with cruise set on 70mph; the rest of the distance was city/countryside, lots of stop lights, bumper-to-bumper traffic. When we returned the vehicle to the dealer, it indicated a further 47 miles of electric range (98 total). I did check my "score" and it was 5 star acceleration and 4 star anticipation. The 'i expert' at the dealer even commented along the lines of "wow you did well with range!". To that tune, I routinely get 60+ mpg from my Passat and have very much learned how to be a superb "hypermile-er"; the i3 is no different: figure out all its sweet spots in maximizing range and you can do quite well.

Would I be comfortable buying an electric-only i3 with a known 75 mile journey, though? Eh, I'd have to think long and hard on that. Which is why we went with REx.

 

[mindmachine]

I don't have my i3 yet so I can't relate exactly how it will perform. However; I have a Prius plug-in and the range in EV mode is all over the map, depending on how you drive, temperature, road conditions and terrain. I ordered the i3 Rex, but I firmly believe if you can master the art of economical driving you will have a range well in excess of 81 miles obtainable in comfort mode. I think the range estimates provided in eco pro and eco pro + can also be exceeded by a driver that figures out how to coax the most out of the i3 BEV.

There are negatives though, over time you will loose some ability of the battery to accept as much charge as when it was new. BMW guarantees the battery to no less than 70% SOC for 8 years or 100,000 miles. So over time you can expect to see the battery capacity gradually decrease and only you can determine how well you will be able to drive the car to maximize efficient use of the battery capacity available.

 

[Stevei3]

my daily commute is about 75 miles round trip

Hi,

alas, in our experience, you shouldn't depend on the i3 to reach 75 miles all of the time. It can and will surprise you. Sometimes by going (much) farther than expected, sometimes by barely reaching 70 mi, largely dependent on the weather conditions and your own stress level. It can work out for you though, but that can't be guaranteed. Also keep in mind that, as Mindmachine stated, the battery will deteriorate over time.
I think it was Ultraturtle here who wrote the wise words: 'A decision to purchase a BEV would best be based on the minimum range requirement considering the worst case scenario, which would be the coldest temperature on the last day of either ownership or battery replacement'. That's solid advice !

Regards, Steven

 

[ultraturtle]

If the battery range you get with the REx is currently 74, I think the BEV should get you about 83 under similar conditions because it consumes 4.65% less energy per mile (4 miles) and holds approximately 6% (5 miles) in reserve for REX operation. That said, if you cannot be assured of a charging opportunity at work on that coldest of days years from now, you would be wise to choose the REx.

 

[divinefavor]

wow. thanks so much for your inputs. i am very glad that i asked the question here. especially the information about battery deterioration over time. i did not think about that.

i live in sunny california so the weather is perfect for BEV. but i guess i3 doesn't fit into my use case. sigh. i really don't like prius but with such a crazy promotion going on, i think i will buy prius plug in this weekend.

hopefully i will get to buy i3 later when i get to work close from home.

thanks all.