terrified newbie can i get to williams?

[jo ferrell]

I'm Jo. I've just bought myself an i3 after wanting one for years! yay! go me.
Only thing is and one day ownership in i have chronic range anxiety about being stranded on the albany hwy (particularly the armadale-williams bit!!!)
Has anyone out there done this far without charging?
in fact how far can my 94h i3 go on the open hwy before it runs out of huff? Been stranded on the albany hwy before.........

 

[EvanstonI3]

probably 100 miles if you keep it below 65mph

 

[nickp]

I'm Jo. I've just bought myself an i3 after wanting one for years! yay! go me.
Only thing is and one day ownership in i have chronic range anxiety about being stranded on the albany hwy (particularly the armadale-williams bit!!!)
Has anyone out there done this far without charging?
in fact how far can my 94h i3 go on the open hwy before it runs out of huff? Been stranded on the albany hwy before.........

Is it the Rex or Bev?

 

[eNate]

Hey Jo welcome to the forum.

The only way you'll learn to trust your i3 is to use your i3.

Start with shorter trips and get a feel for what your battery is capable of. You don't need to run the car down to zero to do this, but take it to 30 then 20 then 10 and extrapolate.

The car will play it conservatively as you use up your battery charge, and will tend to underestimate remaining range.

Get on Plug Share and get familiar with charging options along your intended routes.

Become familiar with your i3's cruise control. Controlling speed is the best way to achieve predictable range numbers, and depending on the type of driver you are, ACC can be a game changer in the ability to stretch it out.

In my 94Ah i3, 135 miles was my realistic nice weather highway driving range. It took some time to build the trust to drive it down into the single digits (not necessarily something you should aspire to, but it's good to know the car's capabilities of you're ever in that position).

https://www.mybmwi3.com/threads/1700-miles-in-48-hours-120-ah-bev.17445/

 

[EvanstonI3]

In my 94Ah i3, 135 miles was my realistic nice weather highway driving range.

I think this is an unrealistic estimate for a BEV with a now 7 year old battery. Especially for a new owner.
Last year I did a 220 mile highway miles round trip with my 2017 BEV.
My first stop was at a WalMart with DC Fast Chargers that was 82 miles away.
All highway driving and I drove fairly conservatively. I set out fully charged. When I arrived at the WalMart, the GOM said I had about 20 miles left.
I then left, and returned to that WalMart before heading home. I charged to 95% as there was no one else waiting to use the chargers and arrived home with about 20 miles remaining.

 

[eNate]

I think this is an unrealistic estimate for a BEV with a now 7 year old battery

I'd bet you're correct.

However I got to that number by driving the car down to nearly 0% (and actually beyond zero), and like I mentioned it's not a state of charge I attempted to achieve, but it was good to have that as a base line to compare to.

My point isn't "135," it's that an EV owner should drive their car and pay attention to the numbers to develop an understanding and comfort level so that they can confidently and realistically take on longer trips without worrying about charging every 50 miles.

 

[jo ferrell]

Hey Jo welcome to the forum.

The only way you'll learn to trust your i3 is to use your i3.

Start with shorter trips and get a feel for what your battery is capable of. You don't need to run the car down to zero to do this, but take it to 30 then 20 then 10 and extrapolate.

The car will play it conservatively as you use up your battery charge, and will tend to underestimate remaining range.

Get on Plug Share and get familiar with charging options along your intended routes.

Become familiar with your i3's cruise control. Controlling speed is the best way to achieve predictable range numbers, and depending on the type of driver you are, ACC can be a game changer in the ability to stretch it out.

In my 94Ah i3, 135 miles was my realistic nice weather highway driving range. It took some time to build the trust to drive it down into the single digits (not necessarily something you should aspire to, but it's good to know the car's capabilities of you're ever in that position).

https://www.mybmwi3.com/threads/1700-miles-in-48-hours-120-ah-bev.17445/

thank you eNate
thats really helpful advice, thanks a lot! i am especially heartened to hear that yours does 135miles on a single charge- the distance between ports is only 135kms (roughly 80miles i guess) so that it is very probable that i will make it without incident......
Its just slightly daunting that the reason i am doing this trip is because i live in the great southern and the car is in Perth 470kms away. its my maiden voyage as it were, bringing the car back to my home town, so this journey IS the research . I never do intend on doing distance driving after this one trip

 

[cpallenjr]

Good Luck Jo! One thing you will learn is it is expensive to charge at public chargers (at least here in the USA) so you will want to get a home charging set up. Get something sized to your driving habits. I spent quite a bit 0f $ having an electrician install a 240V-50A circuit in my garage and buying a full power charger. I found out with use that a 240V-20A circuit and a much smaller portable combination 120/240V charger would be plenty for charging my 2017 94AH i3 overnight even with the battery run down below 10%.

The other thing to do is try driving in Eco Pro mode; this will somewhat reduce your top speed, acceleration, and climate control functions but is not really that restrictive in most situations and will increase your range. As someone else already mentioned using your cruise control also helps.

 

[Richard Chapman]

Hi Jo... Sorry for slow reply. We live in the same state (WA) I think. I regularly travel from Bayswater to our farm at Crossman, about 38 km (I think) short of Williams in our 94 AH 2017 I3 Rex. In summer it makes the distance fairly comfortably at 100km/h on battery alone. I doubt it would make another 38 km though. In winter it barely makes it to Crossman, probably because the windscreen demister and heater use quite a bit of battery.
So it probably depends on your battery size and whether you have Rex. I would guess the 120Ah battery might just make it to Williams if you slow down a bit....

 

[Skye2002]

It certainly is daunting, Jo. That is why I chose a 94aH i3 with REX. Obviously the first thing is to ensure that the battery is fully charged before leaving Perth. I guess, like here in Queensland, that your state's charging network is not the best. The other issue is whether charging stations have attached cables, or it's BYO. And my final concern is would be whether the charging stations have the right connection. If it was me, I would seriously consider having your new baby trucked to it's new home... absolutely no range anxiety!
This all sounds negative, but my experience with my i3 is all positive. They are a great town car, and also suitable for longer trips eg Brisbane to either the Gold or Sunshine Coasts.
Good luck

 

[jo ferrell]

Hi Jo... Sorry for slow reply. We live in the same state (WA) I think. I regularly travel from Bayswater to our farm at Crossman, about 38 km (I think) short of Williams in our 94 AH 2017 I3 Rex. In summer it makes the distance fairly comfortably at 100km/h on battery alone. I doubt it would make another 38 km though. In winter it barely makes it to Crossman, probably because the windscreen demister and heater use quite a bit of battery.
So it probably depends on your battery size and whether you have Rex. I would guess the 120Ah battery might just make it to Williams if you slow down a bit....

Hi Richard
thank you so much for responding! It is really helpful to get a local perspective and on a really similar i3.
So, from your experience Armadale to Boddington seems always possible, as long as no other functions drain from the battery but Williams is a step too far for a 94h.
As it turned out I wasnt able to take the car from armadale at all as it had a type 1 (USA charging cable) instead so couldnt charge it on the fly.
I actually ended up throwing an obscene amount more money at the problem by getting it transported by National Car Movers. It arrived in Albany the next day on the back of a truck!

 

[jo ferrell]

It certainly is daunting, Jo. That is why I chose a 94aH i3 with REX. Obviously the first thing is to ensure that the battery is fully charged before leaving Perth. I guess, like here in Queensland, that your state's charging network is not the best. The other issue is whether charging stations have attached cables, or it's BYO. And my final concern is would be whether the charging stations have the right connection. If it was me, I would seriously consider having your new baby trucked to it's new home... absolutely no range anxiety!
This all sounds negative, but my experience with my i3 is all positive. They are a great town car, and also suitable for longer trips eg Brisbane to either the Gold or Sunshine Coasts.
Good luck

You are so right Skye! as it turned out, my i3, by some strange circumstance, is fitted with the USA plug.
Retrospectively, that is why I should have bought one from a dealership which knows enough about electric cars to give me that valuable information from the start.
As it turns out i bought an adaptor which can charge enroute, but which disables the fast charge option due to the added length.
ho hum! and yes, WA is the WORST for charging infrastructure!!! huge charging black holes everywhere, and 90% of the available are pay as you go!!

 

[Richard Chapman]

Hi Richard
thank you so much for responding! It is really helpful to get a local perspective and on a really similar i3.
So, from your experience Armadale to Boddington seems always possible, as long as no other functions drain from the battery but Williams is a step too far for a 94h.
As it turned out I wasnt able to take the car from armadale at all as it had a type 1 (USA charging cable) instead so couldnt charge it on the fly.
I actually ended up throwing an obscene amount more money at the problem by getting it transported by National Car Movers. It arrived in Albany the next day on the back of a truck!

I also have type 1 CCS on our I3. I bought a Chinese Type 2 to Type 1 CCS adaptor. It works for fast DC charging but not for AC charging. Let me know if you are interested. Also, lat me know if you find a better adaptor...

 

[jo ferrell]

I also have type 1 CCS on our I3. I bought a Chinese Type 2 to Type 1 CCS adaptor. It works for fast DC charging but not for AC charging. Let me know if you are interested. Also, lat me know if you find a better adaptor...

I am happy with the adaptor i got as I refuse to pay for charging anyway- so will spend the next few years lurking around the free charging spots

 

[jo ferrell]

fyi, currently waiting on a Tesla owned by Mike which says it has another 3hrs 30 to run!! (bit rude!!)

 

[Richard Chapman]

Can you point me to the adaptor you found? I assume it converts type 2 AC cable to Type 1?

 

[jo ferrell]

I am happy with the adaptor i got as I refuse to pay for charging anyway- so will spend the next few years lurking around the free charging spots

I am happy with the adaptor i got as I refuse to pay for charging anyway- so will spend the next few years lurking around the free charging spots

 

[jo ferrell]

-
Hi Richard
I got it at Repco. At $330 it wasn't cheap, but it certainly does the trick.
It doesnt allow for quick charge though as it is so long that the fast plug cant plug into the bottom two round pins!