The BMW i3 is one of the rare BEV on the market, where modern technologies like carbon fibre composite structure, a lightweight aluminium chassis, plastis parts etc. are used, and at the same time each HV battery installed, whether it is the 60 Ah, 94 Ah or 120 Ah type, has exactly the same external dimensions. Could early 60 Ah models because of their low range be considered to be of low value on the retail market, a further degradation of the 60 Ah battery most probably means their end. Battery degradation is and will be an issue on all BEV. But on the i3 it's not only the replacement, it's an upgrade to double range, which could be considered plug-and-play. So we will most probably see a growing market for battery replacement on the i3 in the future. E. g. Mandrill (mandrill-automotive.de) offers such an upgrade from 60 or 94 to 120 Ah, for roughly 13.6 TEuro. Together with their battery specialist Lion Smart they could tune the capacity even up to 147 Ah, using NMC911 cell chemistry, they say. This means some 400 km range, together with a better battery cell stability and lifetime, according to them. If it's preferable to invest in a car that you know well since years, or to loose about the same amount of money in the first two years when buying a new BEV, everyone has to decide on his own.
Second live with double range for the i3 60Ah?
- Thread starter JoeCool88
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I think that is partially true, but as we all know a car's parts wear out after some time, so keeping your car running with upgraded batteries will involve more maintenance, like the compressor, suspension, interior etc. Parts may become scarce because of the low volume. If you are really mad about the car it may be worth it.
I'm not familiar with European terms like that - what does TEuro mean?
"Thousand Euros"?
Sounds possible, though of course the conventional way would be kEuro.
If that's the price in Euros (i.e. 13.6 thousand Euros) I can't see how they will ever sell any upgrades, as that's the entire value of a decent 5-year-old 120Ah i3 on the secondhand market. It makes no sense to upgrade your car at that price - and of course as values drop, the financial case simply gets worse.
If that's the price in Euros (i.e. 13.6 thousand Euros) I can't see how they will ever sell any upgrades, as that's the entire value of a decent 5-year-old 120Ah i3 on the secondhand market. It makes no sense to upgrade your car at that price - and of course as values drop, the financial case simply gets worse.
I don't see upgrades ever being affordable on new packs for anybody vs. just replacing the car unless they choose to DIY the installation. Obviously, retrofitting pre-owned is more cost effective - if available, but still likely not worth the money unless the original pack is actually failing.
I don't know the price for a new 120Ah model in the US. But if we take 43.6 kEuro for convenience, according to the a. m. 13.6 kEuro remaining value@5years, the owner "accepted" a degrease of the value of his car of 6000 Euros per year so far. Which means that it's hard to imagine that anyone who is happy with his i3 will sell it at that stage. And even if he/she is forced to install a new HV battery exactly at this time, and drives another 2.2 years, financially nothing else happens than in the years before ;o)
The cost of the car when new is irrelevant - I think that's called the "sunk cost fallacy", isn't it? When comparing which course of action makes most sense, it's the current value of the car that matters.
Instead of paying 13.6 kEuro for a battery "upgrade", the owner might just as well pay 13.6 kEuros for a secondhand 120Ah car, and sell his existing car - every cent that he gets for his existing car would put him ahead, compared to the "upgrade".
These expensive "upgrade" services don't (IMO) have a future, because the car's value keeps decreasing, and they rapidly become non-viable.
IMO, the interesting developments will be reputable firms that are able to rebuild your existing pack for maybe a couple of kEuros. It seems likely that much of the decline of a battery pack is going to be a relatively few outlying cells that drag the whole pack down - that should be fixable relatively easily and cheaply without having to scrap the whole pack.
Instead of paying 13.6 kEuro for a battery "upgrade", the owner might just as well pay 13.6 kEuros for a secondhand 120Ah car, and sell his existing car - every cent that he gets for his existing car would put him ahead, compared to the "upgrade".
These expensive "upgrade" services don't (IMO) have a future, because the car's value keeps decreasing, and they rapidly become non-viable.
IMO, the interesting developments will be reputable firms that are able to rebuild your existing pack for maybe a couple of kEuros. It seems likely that much of the decline of a battery pack is going to be a relatively few outlying cells that drag the whole pack down - that should be fixable relatively easily and cheaply without having to scrap the whole pack.
