Possible new rider with questions

[Mondomensch]

That's probably overstating their similarities. Some Mini electrics do use the i3's propulsion motor and maybe motor electronics and transaxle. But I think that's about it. Even though some Mini battery packs are a similar capacity to the 94 Ah i3, the battery packs are different.

Sharing a platform usually means sharing the entire rolling skateboard chassis which definitely isn't true for the i3 and any Mini electric.

Yes, sorry for spreading my misremembered info. I must have been thinking about the powertrain.

 

[Buggs1a]

There’s no way in heck I’ll pay an equivalent of gas money. The whole point if ev is no gas. Cheaper. So what then? If evgo is such a rip off why in the hell use it. Sheesh.

Aren’t there ways or places that are like half or less then half gas? Not home.

The whole point in ev is save money on gas.

 

[Buggs1a]

This site isn’t fully updating the thread when I reload pages. It’s weird.

 

[Ollie]

Maybe I went to far in my diatribe. My recommendation (reading between this individuals lines) is to not go with an EV, and now with the old governor newsome going with a .30 cents a mile tax plan on ev's that he signed (test my ass). Washington will follow suit quite quickly. It makes an EV a horrible option for this situation. At best, go hybrid.
So now you have .50 cents to charge for 4 miles and .30 cents ($1.20 for 4 miles) a mile to drive. Just in basic math that's .42cents a mile to drive our I3. A mini I.C.E. would be .15 cents a mile based on $5 a gallon gas. How does it make any sense to recommend an ev to what seems a very limited income individual? Isn't that a $13.44 equivalent of a mini's 32mpg @ $5.00?
My comment about a mini cooper does not include electric. Full ICE. 32mpg and lots of good cheap used ones for sale.

 

[Mondomensch]

Maybe I went to far in my diatribe. My recommendation (reading between this individuals lines) is to not go with an EV, and now with the old governor newsome going with a .30 cents a mile tax plan on ev's that he signed (test my ass).

I’ve read 0.03 per mile - 3 cents. 30 would indeed be crazy, and you’re right about WA doing a similar charge, but it’s all cars for them!

Any add-on gps or tap into my car’s navigation would I’m afraid be quite likely to quickly develop a malfunction

WA state is already running into issues like would their tax apply to interstate trucks and vehicles driving in and out of the state. It’s hard to imagine vacationers from say ID having to stop at the WA border to have gps devices installed in their cars.

 

[Buggs1a]

Charging 100 mile range would be about less then half what it cost for gas here. Since the i3 is even less that is less then. Looked this up on electrify.

Ev all the way.

There’s no car that I know of with leg room like i3 and second gen Prius. I won’t do second gen Prius. But that’s the leg room I need. 18 Leaf was pathetic. Waaaaay too small. 18 Tesla model 3 sucks too. Too small. Need wider like i3 and second gen Prius. 17 Prius was ok. So maybe 10 Prius too but doubt it looking at photos. 16-17 leaf might be ok. It’s like 17 Prius looks like.

 

[Ollie]

Whew! .03 cents a mile is a bit of a difference. Apparently the news agency I listened to was way off base. Now I can go back and recompute.

That seems to be just about a wash. $5.00 for 32 miles in an ICE mini compared to $5.12 in my I3 on a 4.0 average per kwh. Unless you can do at home charging (which this person is limited). I'd say your still in for more on the I3 in this case. Lot's to consider.

 

[Buggs1a]

Yes lot to consider. I get say 380 miles or so on my cmax sel then gas up. I do this at about a quarter tank. Every time. Couple days ago this was $35. 9 gallon or so. This was at Safeway with 20 cents off per gallon. Sometimes only 10 cents off or no cents off. Just depends when I get gas and how much groceries I get in between fill ups.

Was with my cousin in law yesterday. We figured charging an ev was about $5 for 100 miles. At Electrify. 2.6 difference I think roughly. There’s a charging station about 15 minutes away from me. I be honest here and say I’m not 100% sure cus Electrify site doesn’t say x dollars per x distance. But my cousin in law looked at something like cost per heart maybe?? And that’s like x for 100 miles. I think. Forget.

So basically it maybe save half or slightly more then half for me. I’m it 100% sure cus I haven’t done this.

But, of all the cars I’ve seen I love the BMW i3. And maybe I can get a 2014 or 2015 Rex with premium sound and nav etc for around $7k-$9k. After gov discount and no tax on it.

Or maybe the Leaf 2016-2017 for same cost range at 107 mile range. With same premium sound and nav.

Or say 2010 Prius with everything for same price range.

To fill up the Prius would cost maybe $35-$55 depending on when I fill up getting maybe 400-450 miles. But an ev going by what my cousin in law and I figured, about $5 per 100 miles give or take.

Just estimates.

The BMW and Leaf would be my first choice. Not sure which cus the BMW only has 60-80 mile range real world. More like 60 maybe. To be safe. The Leaf maybe 80-110 miles maybe.

The Prius is last choice as its gas. And don’t think it has leg room I’m after like the bmw has and maybe the Leaf has. Based on pictures. And the Prius I don’t like the look of as much. BMW by far the best there.

Anyway sorry for long post. I’m co fused and very depressed.

 

[alohart]

Was with my cousin in law yesterday. We figured charging an ev was about $5 for 100 miles. At Electrify. 2.6 difference I think roughly. There’s a charging station about 15 minutes away from me. I be honest here and say I’m not 100% sure cus Electrify site doesn’t say x dollars per x distance. But my cousin in law looked at something like cost per heart maybe?? And that’s like x for 100 miles. I think. Forget.

A reasonable estimate for an i3's efficiency would be 4 miles/kWh over a year, lower in winter or when driving at higher speeds, higher in summer or when driving at lower speeds. 100 miles / 4 miles/kWh = 25 kWh would be consumed in 100 miles. $5 / 25 kWh = $0.20/kWh. $0.20/kWh is probably considerably less than the electricity rate of an Electrify America DC fast charger, maybe similar to the electricity rate of an AC Level 2 public charging station, and probably higher than your residential electricity rate. There might also be some free public charging stations. Trying to estimate the driving cost of an i3 really depends on where it's charged and how it's driven. Charging at home is always the least expensive because there's no public charging station owner that needs to cover costs plus make a profit.

When estimating the total cost of ownership, maintenance must also be considered. i3 tires are relatively expensive and can wear out faster than average. If you buy a REx, annual engine oil and filter changes must be included, but not with a BEV. BMW recommends that the brake fluid of all i3's be changed every 2 years as well as the cabin air filters, especially if the climate control system is used frequently and ambient air is on the dirtier side. i3 REx maintenance costs are probably similar to that of an ICE vehicle. Maintenance costs for an i3 BEV are likely lower than that of an ICE vehicle.

You might want to find out whether there are any local mechanics who would work on an i3. Unfortunately, there haven't been very many although that might be changing as more EV's are sold. Having to rely on a BMW dealer for maintenance and repairs would increase the cost of ownership compared with an independent mechanic.

 

[Buggs1a]

Ok thanks. Crap. I sigh. Prius way to go then? I love the i3 though.

 

[Buggs1a]

The i3 inside and out is awesome. The features are awesome too.

 

[Buggs1a]

Never mind. I’m outta here.

 

[Mavourneen19]

Hi all.
I’m having some issues with my car. Now I’m looking to replace it. But I have questions. So I did a search and found this place.

After reading some stuff I get nervous when I hear bad things. But all cars have good and bad.

I need better mpg and good sound and good tech. But under $10k. I’m not working. On gov ssi and ssdi.

My cousin in law is helping a bit. We found a local place that has or had , I dunno, the 2015 BMW i3. Decent price I guess. No clue.

So I’ve been watching a few YouTube vids. I love what I see. So far. But I have questions.

So I’m introducing myself here as requested. .

I live in Burien Wa. In an apartment.
I’d like to ask a few questions here. Please forgive me if this isn’t the place.

1: Could I use a maybe 100 foot extension cable for charging? Has to go from my apartment to where I can park my car for a few hrs.

2: What about if it’s raining?

3: Does the 2014-2015 i3 have good sound?

4: What trims/models are there? I know of base and range extender. Then I know of stuff for the fabric or something?

5: I’m interested in the 20-4-2015 i3 range extender. Navigation. Good sound. Other stuff like ACC seems cool.

6: I’ve read online of free chargers. Is that true? Charging station.

7: How can I find where charging stations are? Is there an app like Tesla has that will show this on gps map like Tesla?

8: Is there a nice BMW app to manage the car/charging like Tesla has?

9: Can you get charging cost info? I think the Tesla app shows how much per mile or something. My cousin charges his at home and it seems to know cost per mile or something. But how I wonder. Based on his power company and the app knows or his location.

10: How do you enter in addresses in the nav. Do you just use the dial in the center console area or write out an address?

11: Can you talk to the car and get directions? Say an address or business and nav does the rest?

12: What’s the difference between 2014 range extender and 2015 range extender?

Sorry. I just have questions haha. And thank you.

I have successfully used a 10 gauge 100 foot extension cord to trickle charge my 2014 all electric i3 since I bought her in 2017. I've replaced the cord two or three times. Here in the inner city there's no garage or even driveway. When I moved out of my house I moved into an apartment with the same situation. Finding a landlord cool with the cord took a while. But it's better to have a cool landlord anyway! I used to really sweat my cord and when it was not in use. I was wrapping it up with ziplock bags ! One day I found a cord protector probably meant for holiday decorations. It's amazing and now I never worry about the open plug end of my cord getting wet. I carved out the rubber at one end a bit to accommodate my fat cord.

The cost of home charging with the "trickle" charger that comes with the car is absolutely negligible. Basically free in comparison to gas.

On days where I get in over my head I have low cost level 2 chargers available nearby where I can charge in an hour and a half or so. I've NEVER had to pay more than a few bucks... seriously $3-5... I recommend Flo brand. In my opinion Blink are trash in terms of functionality and customer service. Most places that were free when all electric cars were still a novelty charge now.

The basic sound system is perfectly fine. I live in the inner city so when I was ready to upgrade the stereo my dude at the shop did everything "beneath the surface" basically replacing the speakers so that thieves would not even be tempted. Now I blast the stereo at full volume to my great delight.

Don't disappoint yourself trying to use the onboard system if like the 2014 it was dependent on the free 2.5 Wi-Fi that BMW disconnected several years ago. It is no loss as it was the worst most outdated feature of the car. Google maps/MapQuest or nearly any free navigation app for your phone is far superior.

As the car blogger Jalopnik once said, the i3 is the "stealth super car". It's true. I only drive on the highway when absolutely necessary as high speeds munch potential miles. Back roads and parkways are where it's at. Once you go over 55mph you are kissing your potential range goodbye. Eco mode nerfs the car for truly no benefit whatsoever. The performance of the car suffers far too badly for it to be worth the extra 3-5 miles of range.

I'm fine with having no range extender. My i3 is a daily driver/slow travel weekend car, my partner has the gas car.
In my case it took thousands off the cost of the car because people were scared. This may still be the case.

Again the cool app that monitored charging was disabled years ago. Planned obsolescence so that we would buy a newer model. Humph!

There are myriad ways to try to find charging stations. All of them are wrong at least 25% of the time. Planning ahead is vital. My favorite is the ev feature on an app called Wav. Police stations/parks/other city buildings are pretty safe bets. All of the apps will try to tell you there are available chargers in apartment complexes and car dealerships. These are NEVER available to the general public. Make efforts to not get duped! Get a low cost auto club membership like AAA. Then if you have a disaster like I did once you can just get towed home.

I love this car more every day.

 

[Mavourneen19]

Charging 100 mile range would be about less then half what it cost for gas here. Since the i3 is even less that is less then. Looked this up on electrify.

Ev all the way.

There’s no car that I know of with leg room like i3 and second gen Prius. I won’t do second gen Prius. But that’s the leg room I need. 18 Leaf was pathetic. Waaaaay too small. 18 Tesla model 3 sucks too. Too small. Need wider like i3 and second gen Prius. 17 Prius was ok. So maybe 10 Prius too but doubt it looking at photos. 16-17 leaf might be ok. It’s like 17 Prius looks like.

Passengers in my 2014 are always amazed at the roomy interior. The cargo room is great when you put the back seats down and I just used a $7 roof strap to get some wall panels home from the hardware store.

 

[Bat66]

Just a thought, but I've managed to run the power to the boot/trunk of my 2013 ReX, leaving the end of the extension lead and the BMW adapter in the boot with just the cables from the power to the charge point hanging out. Then, I close and lock the car. That seems to work fine for me. The boot rubbers stop the lid from crushing the cables.

As for the 'My BMW' connected app, I'd say it's hit/miss. Charging is something of a 'black art', as sometimes it will happily let you set it up for departure time, off-peak hours, or immediate charge, and sometimes it has its own ideas, and either does not change the setting or insists that off-peak can only be set when you state departure time! A few times now, I've resorted to setting the charge immediately via the car's settings menu system when the app refused to change from off-peak when I've been at a public charger.

As for the years, I assume the US variant is the same as in Europe in that it's the same battery in 2014 and 2015 with the 60Ah, 22.6kWh battery pack. It was not until 2017 that the larger 94Ah, 33kWh pack was introduced, so I'd suggest checking which options are fitted that you want; would be a better question than purely the year.

 

[alohart]

Don't disappoint yourself trying to use the onboard system if like the 2014 it was dependent on the free 2.5 Wi-Fi that BMW disconnected several years ago.

BMW didn't disconnect anything. AT&T, the telecom company whose 3G data service U.S. i3's used, discontinued 3G service which prevented pre-2017 i3's from establishing an Internet connection over this cellular data network. No WiFi was involved. BMW could have offered to replace the 3G telematics module with the 4G version, but the cost would have been significant.

Eco mode nerfs the car for truly no benefit whatsoever. The performance of the car suffers far too badly for it to be worth the extra 3-5 miles of range.

An i3 in Eco Pro mode produces the same maximum power as in Comfort mode, so there is no performance loss. However, the power pedal mapping is less sensitive during the first half of its travel but more sensitive during the last half compared with Comfort mode. Many people prefer Eco Pro's less sensitive power pedal for everyday driving.

There's an Eco Pro option in iDrive to use full Comfort climate control power rather than the reduced Eco Pro power, so the climate control system can be just as powerful as in Comfort mode.

Eco Pro+ mode restricts full speed to 90 km/h (56 mph), but this can be overridden by pressing the power pedal to the floor or driving under the control of ACC with its speed set point >90 km/h (56 mph). However, there's no way to use full climate control power in Eco Pro+ mode which could be uncomfortable in cold or hot weather.

Again the cool app that monitored charging was disabled years ago. Planned obsolescence so that we would buy a newer model. Humph!

Again, BMW didn't do that; AT&T did.

 

[Mustrum Ridcully]

There are myriad ways to try to find charging stations. All of them are wrong at least 25% of the time. Planning ahead is vital. My favorite is the ev feature on an app called Wav. Police stations/parks/other city buildings are pretty safe bets. All of the apps will try to tell you there are available chargers in apartment complexes and car dealerships. These are NEVER available to the general public. Make efforts to not get duped! Get a low cost auto club membership like AAA. Then if you have a disaster like I did once you can just get towed home.

Also, watch out for any of the apps sending you to a Tesla supercharger until BMW cuts a deal to use them, and even then, I was told on another forum that the i3 and i8 would not be getting the converter plug to use them. Someone else on the same thread said that it would not happen until BMW was selling cars that had native Tesla charge ports. This is all hearsay and based on someone saying it in a bar. However, without official facts from BMW, it is something to keep in mind. Where I am in Maine, I have only seen reliable DC fast charging at the Shell stations on the Mass Turnpike (Interstate I95) once you get too far north of the greater Portland area. I can't speak about the situation down there myself.

In most states outside those that are hard-core conservative (where electric cars seem to be an assault on their Gods Given Right to huge pickup trucks with monster tires and black smoke-belching diesel engines { I haven't yet had anyone "Roll Coal" on me whilst driving my i3 S; But I did have it happen about a year ago while I was driving my 2004 MINI Cooper S, which I found very confusing at the time Was he angry at my 36 mpg?}) will have a webpage like this one. In my experience, they tend to be a bit on the optimistic side.
https://www.efficiencymaine.com/at-work/electric-vehicle-supply-equipment-initiative/

The WAZE app seems to have been subsumed into Google Maps, but this is just an observation of how they both act on Car Play at the moment. I am still exploring Car Play and have yet to add and subtract apps easily.