What are the specifics of the i3 battery warranty?

[RRi3]

I've been lurking on this forum for quite a while but have not yet seen this subject addressed. I am considering leasing or buying an i3 in the USA and will be coming from a Ford C-Max Energi. For those that don't know, the Energi is a plug-in hybrid with about a 20 mile range in pure EV mode. After only 15 months and 28,000 miles, I have noticed significant (about 20%) degradation of the C-Max battery, reducing my EV range to about 16 miles. So far, Ford has refused to do anything about this degradation, saying that it is "normal". Unfortunately, Ford does not define "normal degradation" in their warranty. Consequently, I am very sensitive to how the BMW warranty is worded and how BMW defines "normal degradation" of the high voltage battery.

Has anyone had any experience with this or know of any references to BMW documentation that addresses battery degradation specifics?

Thanks!
-RR

 

[MikeS]

If you have been lurking for a while I’m surprised you have not seen this - http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1235&start=10

I'm still looking for what BMW publishes in this regard.

Warranty
• 8 years / 100,000 miles
• Battery is replaced when State of Health (SoH) is 70% (State of Health to be determined by the Diagnosis System)

See page 19 of this document: http://darrenortiz.com/website_pdfs/BMWi3PG.pdf

Search battery warranty and you will probably find other threads.

 

[RRi3]

MikeS, thanks for the reply and the references. (Really, I'm not lazy, I just somehow missed this!)

I guess that my main hope is that the degradation is at least linear over age or mileage and doesn't drop 20% after only 28K miles.

-RR

 

[jadnashuanh]

The i3 uses active cooling and heating of the battery pack to minimize issues with trying to charge one when it is hot, or too cold...the batteries like it 'just right'. THat, plus the actual battery chemistry chosen should make those in the i3 more reliable than some other designs. The Nissan Leaf has had issues from those living in AZ because of their original battery temperature management (not much, not very sophisticated). The current model year's system is better, but time will tell whether it is enough. I do not know what Ford did with theirs, so I cannot compare that to the i3's.

 

[RRi3]

After originally starting this topic, I had also asked my BMW salesman to research this for me. Yesterday he provided the following answer:

"I have some great information for you about the battery warranty from BMW. I found that if at any time during the 8 year/100K mile warranty the battery fails to maintain 80% of its original charge, they replace the battery."

This is good news.

-RR