Your first few 100 kilomters?

[Burdi3]

I don't understand the figures in the display. 19.5kWh/100km corresponds to fairly well with Tesla's results, but completely contradicts the 195km range on the right. Can anyone explain?

I took the picture while driving out of the garage... the 19.5 is not a mean... it's the actual load...
and as you can see it's actually charging...!

 

[Tesla]

Then I assume that you do not have the heat-pump?

In cold weather you need either the REX or the heat-pump.

Real life number from Norway around X-mas (probably around same temperatures):

67 km with CC av 80 km/h, with consumption of 1,24 kWh/km. (with heat-pump - standard in NO)

Yes, we DO have the heat pump ordered. (option 4T9)

Ordered?, may be I misunderstood. Do you mean installed, og that you tested another car? Did that car have the heat-pump?

I mean: we ordered it, so it must be installed. But how do I check?

 

[LMOR]

I mean: we ordered it, so it must be installed. But how do I check?

I dont know, but I was wrong about my reference, it was 2-3 degrees, and with the heating off (and then without any effect from the heat pump)
So it should be directly comparable to eco pro and your limited use of heating.

67 km with CC at 80 km/h, with consumption of 1,24 kWh/km.

Something else must be wrong in your car?

 

[shaerpai3]

We left home New Year's Eve at around 18.00 hours. The Remote Assistance had not been activated yet.

... in the mean time my Remote Assistance became activated (Miracles do happen!)

Ok ... let's be positive ... Does this mean that someone at BMW Netherlands has been working hard on New Year's Eve to get your Remote Assistance activated at last?!

Well, I guess this is "customer commitment", isn't it?

Mine has the same problem since December 27 (delivery date) and did not disappear miraculously. I'll pray for some of the customer commitment too

 

[i3me]

Hello fellow bloggers, I’ve made another adventurous trip with my i3, which I’d like to share with you here!
I’ll include some pics later.

This time it was a round trip, alone in the car, last Thursday evening, destination Utrecht, a city in the middle of NL and I live to the north.
One-way, the distance is 140 km (87mi), round trip, just shy of 300km (186mi).
A real challenge! :ugeek:

Weather:
Stiff southwesterly winds at 4-5 Beaufort, an occasional heavy rain shower and temperatures of 5C (42F).
Destinaton:
South side of Utrecht, to a building with a covered, unheated garage and a quick charger in the corner!
What and How:
The meeting is to last 2,5 hours (from 19 - 21.30h) so enough time to get at least 80% battery charge. The i3 at the start reports only 129km (80mi) of range, so I take a folding bike along with (yes the trunk held it perfectly!) and navigated first to a public quick charge station in the north of town. This charger was right across the street from friends, just in case!
I figured I'd need 2 hours for the trip, but left home at 17.15. If the trip goes well, I might make the meeting on time!

So with the i3 fully charged (and pre-heated!), I left with a displayed range was 129km in Comfort mode. But knowing I would push the limits here (just like New Year’s Eve!), from the start I put the i3 in EcoPro+, turned off the ventilator (just blows cold air anyway!) and to keep warm, put a warm water bottle on my lap, covered with a fleece! Occasionally the windscreen had to be de-fogged, so for short bursts I put on the ventilator.
The Navigation is set to EcoPro routes which will put you on secondary roads (80kmh = 50mph), unless highways are shorter.
I limited my speed to between 80 - 100kmh (50-60mph) and low and behold, after the first 25km(15,5mi) the range indication only went down by 5km (3mi)!
Holy Cow, if this kept up I might reach my final destination in one shot!

After 40km (25mi) and another 100km (60mi) to go, I headed onto a busy freeway and set the cruise at 93kmh (58mph). The trick is to slip-stream trucks because of the stiff head-wind! Other than a bit of wind buffeting behind them, the ride was calm with a wonderful audio sound (yesss Harmon Kardon!) and occasionally the sound of the ventilator fan.
Approaching Utrecht my range had grown to get to the destination by i3 in one shot!
I drove into the garage with 5km of range left (woo-hoo!) and hooked up to the charger!
To be honest, I did arrive 20min late, so my travel time was 2 hours and 5 minutes. :-(

During the meeting the charge status only increased by 8% per hour. What a let down! At this rate, getting home tonight was only a dream! The garage closes at 22.00h, so I needed a real quick charger!
Fastned saved the day because one of the 4 of 200 completed quick charge stations in NL is only 40km (27mi) away from the meeting!
A measly 25% of charge would bring me there with no problem and meant only a minor detour back home! ;-)
I left the garage at 22.00 hours after some time-stretching small talk.
The i3 reported a 30% charge, good for 44km (27mi), it said! Of course I knew better now, because in EcoPro+ the figure grew to 51km.

Before departure I pre-heated and the wind was full in the rear!
At the quick charger there was still 19% charge left and a range of 21km! Hooking up the DC combo connector was simple and it charged at an amazing 2% per minute!
Instead of getting some warm coffee I decided to stay with the car, put on the pre-heat, had some mineral water and some fancy apple and listened to music!
After 33 minutes the charge was up to 93%! More than enough to get home tonight (120km = 75mi)!

Folks, I guess that my range anxiety has gone!
There are rickety chargers out there, but one of them is NOT the Combo DC charger, so BMW: well done with the i3!


PS: It does get fairly cold without the seat heaters on and no heat! In EcoPro+ both won’t work, but in EcoPro both do!
If you compare both forms of heat, seat heaters take a little current, but the heater cripples your range!
The solution?
Engage EcoPro mode, turn the Ventilation to Off and put On your seat heaters!
The range turns out to be the same as in EcoPro+ but with a really warm butt! ;-)

 

[i3me]

And here are some screen shots of the i Remote app to show what happens to your range after "training" the i3!

 

[Sprinty]

Hello fellow bloggers, I’ve made another adventurous trip with my i3, which I’d like to share with you here!
I’ll include some pics later.

This time it was a round trip, alone in the car, last Thursday evening, destination Utrecht, a city in the middle of NL and I live to the north.
One-way, the distance is 140 km (87mi), round trip, just shy of 300km (186mi).
A real challenge! :ugeek:

Weather:
Stiff southwesterly winds at 4-5 Beaufort, an occasional heavy rain shower and temperatures of 5C (42F).
Destinaton:
South side of Utrecht, to a building with a covered, unheated garage and a quick charger in the corner!
What and How:
The meeting is to last 2,5 hours (from 19 - 21.30h) so enough time to get at least 80% battery charge. The i3 at the start reports only 129km (80mi) of range, so I take a folding bike along with (yes the trunk held it perfectly!) and navigated first to a public quick charge station in the north of town. This charger was right across the street from friends, just in case!
I figured I'd need 2 hours for the trip, but left home at 17.15. If the trip goes well, I might make the meeting on time!

So with the i3 fully charged (and pre-heated!), I left with a displayed range was 129km in Comfort mode. But knowing I would push the limits here (just like New Year’s Eve!), from the start I put the i3 in EcoPro+, turned off the ventilator (just blows cold air anyway!) and to keep warm, put a warm water bottle on my lap, covered with a fleece! Occasionally the windscreen had to be de-fogged, so for short bursts I put on the ventilator.
The Navigation is set to EcoPro routes which will put you on secondary roads (80kmh = 50mph), unless highways are shorter.
I limited my speed to between 80 - 100kmh (50-60mph) and low and behold, after the first 25km(15,5mi) the range indication only went down by 5km (3mi)!
Holy Cow, if this kept up I might reach my final destination in one shot!

After 40km (25mi) and another 100km (60mi) to go, I headed onto a busy freeway and set the cruise at 93kmh (58mph). The trick is to slip-stream trucks because of the stiff head-wind! Other than a bit of wind buffeting behind them, the ride was calm with a wonderful audio sound (yesss Harmon Kardon!) and occasionally the sound of the ventilator fan.
Approaching Utrecht my range had grown to get to the destination by i3 in one shot!
I drove into the garage with 5km of range left (woo-hoo!) and hooked up to the charger!
To be honest, I did arrive 20min late, so my travel time was 2 hours and 5 minutes. :-(

During the meeting the charge status only increased by 8% per hour. What a let down! At this rate, getting home tonight was only a dream! The garage closes at 22.00h, so I needed a real quick charger!
Fastned saved the day because one of the 4 of 200 completed quick charge stations in NL is only 40km (27mi) away from the meeting!
A measly 25% of charge would bring me there with no problem and meant only a minor detour back home! ;-)
I left the garage at 22.00 hours after some time-stretching small talk.
The i3 reported a 30% charge, good for 44km (27mi), it said! Of course I knew better now, because in EcoPro+ the figure grew to 51km.

Before departure I pre-heated and the wind was full in the rear!
At the quick charger there was still 19% charge left and a range of 21km! Hooking up the DC combo connector was simple and it charged at an amazing 2% per minute!
Instead of getting some warm coffee I decided to stay with the car, put on the pre-heat, had some mineral water and some fancy apple and listened to music!
After 33 minutes the charge was up to 93%! More than enough to get home tonight (120km = 75mi)!

Folks, I guess that my range anxiety has gone!
There are rickety chargers out there, but one of them is NOT the Combo DC charger, so BMW: well done with the i3!


PS: It does get fairly cold without the seat heaters on and no heat! In EcoPro+ both won’t work, but in EcoPro both do!
If you compare both forms of heat, seat heaters take a little current, but the heater cripples your range!
The solution?
Engage EcoPro mode, turn the Ventilation to Off and put On your seat heaters!
The range turns out to be the same as in EcoPro+ but with a really warm butt! ;-)

Hi i3me,

Really impressed with your dedication to the cause (water bottle and slip streaming trucks) but for me this post highlights exactly why the REx is the correct choice for me and dare I say it anyone else in the UK (although of course anyone brave enough or not needing more than 60 miles I salute) the charging network in the UK just does not exist to any sensible degree. I hope in 2-3 years this car raises the profile in the public mind to build more charging stations but it is exactly that, a hope! As an aside slipstreaming trucks is quite a dangerous thing to be doing on the motorway!

 

[i3me]

And this is at Fastned's ultra fast charging station near Utrecht, NL.
The charge was for free as they're still rolling out the network and try to attract future customers.

Well that works for me!

 

[i3me]

As an aside slipstreaming trucks is quite a dangerous thing to be doing on the motorway!

Thanks for your reaction Sprinty!

Slipstreaming is dangerous if the trucker doesn't want you to. This you can tell easily because they will either slow down (most NL truckers put their cruise at 90-95kmh) or change lanes to get you into their mirrors. That's your clue to back off and find another truck or just slow down a bit!

To tell you the truth, I'd rather have a truck in front of me than behind me!

 

[Bunter]

Hello fellow bloggers, I’ve made another adventurous trip with my i3, which I’d like to share with you here!
I’ll include some pics later.

Snip.

Nice story i3me thanks for sharing. Loving the hot water bottle.

Bill

 

[Burdi3]

Folks, I guess that my range anxiety has gone!
There are rickety chargers out there, but one of them is NOT the Combo DC charger, so BMW: well done with the i3! eater cripples your range!

Engage EcoPro mode, turn the Ventilation to Off and put On your seat heaters!
The range turns out to be the same as in EcoPro+ but with a really warm butt! ;-)

Nice story again i3me! For me the same... After 1700 km the anxiety is gone... Have discoverd really nice new roads... Harman and kardan surely rocks...! And if it al turns bad i'll step back 40 years in time which gives the same adventures feeling...only with a much larger footprint!
Cheers

1972-2013

 

[LMOR]

Other than a bit of wind buffeting behind them, the ride was calm with a wonderful audio sound (yesss Harmon Kardon!) and occasionally the sound of the ventilator fan.

Can you then confirm that playing HK does not affect the range?
Since you tried to save energy, and still played music it was not a concern, because it takes the energy from the 12V battery or?

 

[agj]

Hello fellow bloggers, I’ve made another adventurous trip with my i3

Very nice post, i3me!!

Contrary to others, you convinced me that the BEV (no REX) is the way to go. Can't wait to see mine in my garage!

 

[i3me]

Other than a bit of wind buffeting behind them, the ride was calm with a wonderful audio sound (yesss Harmon Kardon!) and occasionally the sound of the ventilator fan.

Can you then confirm that playing HK does not affect the range?
Since you tried to save energy, and still played music it was not a concern, because it takes the energy from the 12V battery or?

LMOR, you can bet on it that playing the radio does not affect the range: in the orgy of energy used by the motor at highway speed, the radio only takes a very, very small bit of current! But, as with everything in and on an EV, all of the current used comes from the HV battery pack eventually, even if the juice took a detour through the 12V battery.

I wonder if BMW are using light weight 12V Li batteries: does anyone know?

 

[i3me]

Hello fellow bloggers, I’ve made another adventurous trip with my i3

Very nice post, i3me!!

Contrary to others, you convinced me that the BEV (no REX) is the way to go. Can't wait to see mine in my garage!

Hopefully your i3 will arrive soon! Cheers when it comes.

I wasn't sure if the BEV could really take me as far as it wound up doing! Salesmen have a way of pitching their story to what they have to sell instead of what you might need! That's why I needed to made this trip, to convince myself early on that it could do what I wanted it to do.
I know now that "single charge trips" are possible!

For my next foray I would like to go down to Rijswijk where BMW NL are located: about 180km from home! That will involve quick charging on the road to get there.
We've been discussing the good and the bad of my i3 this past week and I'd really like them to see exactly what's going on when driving this car!

 

[LMOR]

Other than a bit of wind buffeting behind them, the ride was calm with a wonderful audio sound (yesss Harmon Kardon!) and occasionally the sound of the ventilator fan.

Can you then confirm that playing HK does not affect the range?
Since you tried to save energy, and still played music it was not a concern, because it takes the energy from the 12V battery or?

LMOR, you can bet on it that playing the radio does not affect the range: in the orgy of energy used by the motor at highway speed, the radio only takes a very, very small bit of current! But, as with everything in and on an EV, all of the current used comes from the HV battery pack eventually, even if the juice took a detour through the 12V battery.

I wonder if BMW are using light weight 12V Li batteries: does anyone know?

According to the manual, there is a procedure if both the 12V battery and the high-volt battery is empty. If the 12V battery is maintained from the high-volt battery during driving, this would not happen? So I think it is only charged during normal charging, and only when critical low during driving. So since i3 can only drive 2-3 hours, my theory is still (until proved wrong), that playing music does not affect the range.

 

[BMWi3RexNL]

And this is at Fastned's ultra fast charging station near Utrecht, NL.
The charge was for free as they're still rolling out the network and try to attract future customers.

Well that works for me!

Hi i3me, do you need a charge card or something? I am also a future (rex) owner, end of february i will drive it! I have noticed that there are more fastned stations then are displayed on their website. I am curious of it is possible on the navi to search for quick (fastned) chargers??

 

[Lecram]

I understood that Fastned had chosen not to use the card but an app. For the time being, it's free.

 

[Pio]

And this is at Fastned's ultra fast charging station near Utrecht, NL.
The charge was for free as they're still rolling out the network and try to attract future customers.

Well that works for me!

I see you used the Fastned charger at Terschuur (judging from the broken lighting of the ''t'', yeah i was there some time ago as well and noticed somehow someone managed to destroy it already) Fun experience charging the i3 as we seemed to become an attraction, multiple cars (non-electric) decided to drive through the fast charger station curiously looking at the i3 trying to figure out what i was actually doing over there.
What i wondered is, how long did it take you to charge at the fast charger. The display indicates that it will take 1:45:00 to full charge, correct? I went there and plugged in while i had a charge of 78%. No need to get a full charge but I just visited the charger to check out how it worked and get some experience with the i3.
I was plugged in for about 20minutes and gained some 10% charge, as I than proceeded my trip to wageningen on the highway, not thinking about speed affecting the range, i lost more than double the kms from the battery compared to what i actually drove. Good lesson not to drive 130km/h in the i3!
But I thought that these fast chargers are supposed to give up to 80% charge in only half an hour? is that correct? what kind of charging speed did you achieve?
Does it really charge the first 80% that quick and slows down a lot at the last 20%?

PS: Any experiences i write about ''me using the i3'' is refering to me using my dads car as it has become sort of a sport for me to understand electric driving

 

[LMOR]

During the meeting the charge status only increased by 8% per hour. What a let down!

It sounds like your setting on charging speed could be set to low (8A)?

If so, change this to high (12A), and it should charge 50% faster