with a 66 mile work commute...

[Zzzoom3]

I personally would go Rex. If you forget something and have to turn around you could be screwed.

Not really, you just go "fill-up" at a charge station just liking stopping for gas. This is why we want more DC fast chargers so the stop can be "short"

 

[Zzzoom3]

Would you go Rex or regular i3? My wife's commute is 66 miles round trip, no charging station at her work. Other trips are mostly around town (Santa Monica) so no stretch there. Seems like running in eco mode the commute should be no problem on the i3 and enable a few errands along the way. Right now prefer the simplicity and lower price but the whole peace of mind thing is a powerful attractant.

Just finished a 60 mile round trip today with 25 miles remaining in battery charge of my BEV. Whole trip in comfort mode. Went from Salt Lake City to Park City. 3000 ft elevation gain, highway speeds at 68-70 mph. The trip up was 24 miles and range dropped from 85 to 40 so used equivalent of 45 miles to climb the 24 miles up to Park City. But then on the trip back down I started with 40 miles and finished with 42 miles. Did some other running around and arrived back home at 60 miles for the trip. It was 93 degrees and I ran AC at 76 the whole trip.

So, I only have 3 long trips thus far and it seems pretty solid for 85 miles. I am sure winter driving range will be a bit less but not by much. There should be much less penalty for winter driving in electric car compared to ICE. Just as easy to heat from 40 to 75 as it is to cool from 90 to 75 in the heat pump equipped BEV and no penalty for warming up the motor. Probably some penalty for heating the battery pack mitigated by pre-conditioning before leaving home.

Very pleased so far with the potential range.

Phew! Very reassuring report for me, due to receive my BEV on Wednesday and living in driving up and down the big hills of the SF Bay area.

Mine is garaged at night which probably helps from a battery temperature perspective .. not really sure. I'm typically seeing 89-90 miles reported available in the mornings. If I set it to precondition, it only adds 3 miles. I don't know of that is "typical" or not. I drive it in ECO PRO mode usually unless I forget to change it because it always powers up in "Comfort". The actual range seems to be pretty consistent with what was estimated.

 

[jadnashuanh]

BMW says that each mode gains you a compounded 12% increase in range over comfort mode. ONce the car is preconditioned, eco pro isn't much different. Putting it there initially would slow the cabin conditioning if I understand it properly.

 

[Zzzoom3]

BMW says that each mode gains you a compounded 12% increase in range over comfort mode. ONce the car is preconditioned, eco pro isn't much different. Putting it there initially would slow the cabin conditioning if I understand it properly.

If there is a way to do that, I don't know what it is.

Using the BMW i Remote app, I set the time of departure and turn on the Preconditioning switch. The car isn't ON when this is occurring. If I check the status as I'm getting ready for work, it will show Preconditioning as ON when it starts doing that .. seems to be about 10-15 minutes before the "departure time" I set.

If I want the car to also use the Comfort Climate Control, I have to do that manually. I don't see a way to make this part of the departure schedule. Not from the app anyway. Please clue me in.

 

[foamposite1]

I owned a i3 BEV for about 1 month. currently driven 1,500 miles. My work commute is
about 60 miles round trip from Irvine to Cypress, CA. My average battery usage is 1/3 battery charge to work. 1/3 to get home. I have remaining 1/3 battery charge left when I arrive home. I estimate my full battery range is 90 miles per full charge. I mainly drive in eco mode with AC on. My commute is about 80% freeway and 20% local driving. I try to drive 75 mph when possible on freeway. I have a level 2 charger at home and I do not charge at work. I am happy with not having REX. I never drive in Eco+ mode., not willing to drive without AC in California heat.

when I ordered my i3, california was not sure if REX would qualify for $2,500 rebate. Also at the time, california was not issuing any more green carpool stickers for REX. All that has been resolved (California rebate for REX is same as BEV and additional green carpool stickers have been issued). However, I
am still glad I did not purchase REX.

My justification is that I would apply the money saved for not getting REX toward obtaining solar panels for my home.

my recommendation is if you order BEV, get the DC fast charge option. It is unnecessary to have
DC charge option with REX.

 

[nostatic]

Have to admit I keep going back and forth. The price and simplicity of the BEV is nice, especially the simplicity. That said, my OCD would work perfectly for a BEV but my wife is much less manic. Seems like the Rex is the safer option. If the BEV was over 100 mile range it would be a little easier to go that route but one always wants "more". In the end though, just a car, not the end of the world...

 

[tiburonh]

I owned a i3 BEV for about 1 month. currently driven 1,500 miles. My work commute is
about 60 miles round trip from Irvine to Cypress, CA. My average battery usage is 1/3 battery charge to work. 1/3 to get home. I have remaining 1/3 battery charge left when I arrive home. I estimate my full battery range is 90 miles per full charge. I mainly drive in eco mode with AC on. My commute is about 80% freeway and 20% local driving. I try to drive 75 mph when possible on freeway. I have a level 2 charger at home and I do not charge at work. I am happy with not having REX. I never drive in Eco+ mode., not willing to drive without AC in California heat.

when I ordered my i3, california was not sure if REX would qualify for $2,500 rebate. Also at the time, california was not issuing any more green carpool stickers for REX. All that has been resolved (California rebate for REX is same as BEV and additional green carpool stickers have been issued). However, I
am still glad I did not purchase REX.

My justification is that I would apply the money saved for not getting REX toward obtaining solar panels for my home.

my recommendation is if you order BEV, get the DC fast charge option. It is unnecessary to have
DC charge option with REX.

+!

 

[Marki3]

Very pleased so far with the potential range.

Phew! Very reassuring report for me, due to receive my BEV on Wednesday and living in driving up and down the big hills of the SF Bay area.

I think you will be very pleased. I have now done my commute plus some running around every day and am consistently seeing around 80 miles in comfort mode. The app has some good statistics and grading on how you drive. I only get 1 star out of 5 for acceleration but 5 for regen and am showing average regen of 30.6 mi/kwh (the average on the community stats is 13.5). So, I have driving it pretty enthusiastically and cruising highway at 70-72 mph with AC but then paying very close attention to regen. Barely touched the brakes in 250 miles of driving.

The i3 is a great place to commute. Quiet, nice compliant ride, great stereo and an absolute blast in town. The fast steering and instant torque makes getting through traffic in town a breeze. Just used the automatic park for the first time and it was pretty slick.

 

[Zzzoom3]

Just used the automatic park for the first time and it was pretty slick.

Did you find it easy to do? I have that too but have yet to try it. Where did you learn the steps to follow?

 

[jadnashuanh]

THe owner's manual, you know that book you never look at, or the video version that is built into the car's system, or BMW has short videos on their owner's webpage...once you get started, it prompts you for the rest.

 

[ultraturtle]

Would you go Rex or regular i3? My wife's commute is 66 miles round trip, no charging station at her work.

My wife has a similar commute of 58 miles, mostly interstate. She currently accomplishes it on battery power alone with 12 miles remaining, but there is no way she will be able to make it on the coldest day of the year 8 years and 100,000 miles from now, assuming the battery pack degrades to 80% (70% allowable under warranty) of its original capacity. We got a REx.

 

[nostatic]

Well, decision made. Have a Rex en-route, just waiting to hear when it will get to the dealer. Should be fun. And as a bonus, I finally got my X1 back from the body shop after a 2+ week stay. Was rear ended early Aug. That was festive...

 

[jtoast]

Hopefully you will have better luck than I did. I had my Rex for 3 days before the 12v battery died. It's been a week now with no eta on a replacement part.