0 BMW i3 Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Steven From The Netherlands

So Far we've had Andy from the UK , Hil from Holland , Toni from Belgium and Jan From Belgium. We'll now be traveling to The Netherlands to see what Steven has to say about his Laurel Grey i3 REx which he picked up on Valentines Day:

My name is Steven and I was Born Electric on Friday, 14th February, 2014. 

Love

Do I? Oh yes! BMW may not have delivered the alpha and omega of the motoring world, but boy, how good is it?

Every aspect to like has been covered in many a publication on many a different medium, but does this bombardment of information convey the feeling of ’togetherness’ of the finished product I have? I guess not, but I leave this for everyone to judge for themselves. Having driven 1600 km (around 1000 mi) the last week, of which 1230 km (765 mi) electric, my preliminary conclusion is that BMW has delivered something good here. And I’m not going to be talking about the performance, which is excellent, E-range, which is adequate, or about the battery, knowing that it could have been larger, but I will tell you a story about what you can do while having a nice conversation with your mother-in-law.

To begin with the latter: the effortless way the performance is delivered is absolutely fabulous. It is not just about sheer speed, there are faster cars, it is about acceleration with a creamy topping. This allows, for instance, for keeping up nicely, in this case up to 80 km/h (50 mi/h) in city traffic, with, say, a dark-blue 911 with spoilers extended and engine roaring. Whilst having a civilized conversation. With my mother-in-law, her being the least ‘brave’ of passengers one could imagine. Not a peep. At least not in the i3 :-) Just the subdued jet-airplane whine of its motor.

The same goes for decelerating. The recuperation is done very well, it comes naturally almost instantly. If one does need the footbrake, the transition is seamless. It is like the engine braking of a heavy diesel-powered vehicle and then some. Excellent !

To round it off, the comfort level is kept up nicely by the suspension and the road holding abilities are surprisingly good. The suspension is not soft, the wheelbase is on the short side, you’ll notice this on speed-bumps and short humps, but safe and comfortable it feels. It could be it is simply exactly to my taste and on par with my expectations. Just don’t ask me for an unbiased review then…

So, I like driving it. Almost as much as I like the interior now, for which I needed some time to get accustomed to the wild styling. We went for Lodge, being the light wool/leather combination. In our original order, we ordered the standard grey, but after driving our friend’s BEV with the white Loft interior, we changed our order on the very last moment. The light upholstery combines so much better with the interior design. Especially while ours is Laurel Grey on the outside. Not a topping, but a creamy center in this case. Nice. The feel and quality of it is absolutely on par with other BMW products, I am relieved to say, for we where a bit worried by the pre production cars we were presented with last year. It looks good, it feels good, even the doors sound fine now.

The ergonomics are ok. Some bonuspoints are not scored, some function follows form, as is the case in some other aspects of the i3, but if you are accustomed to other BMWs, you’ll get in and drive off. Also, the interior space is quite good. Everyone taking a ride is surprised the car is bigger than expected on the outside and roomier than expected on the inside. Fine for four adults not going around the world. When 1m90 (6’3”) though, it does get a little tight on the backseat. The ceiling is a tad on the low side for your average basketball-player. Also, the bootspace is, as widely written about, not ideal to cater for your basketball-team. It still is a small car, one needs to remember…

Finally, my take on the much debated exterior. It isn’t exactly pretty, but I like it a lot for all its quirkiness, what can I say ? The size is spot-on for me, with a length of 3999 mm (157.5”), the proportions render a sturdy image, the details look great in real life. Except the rear. It remains just too weird. But hey, nobody is perfect !

Lost

Love lost ? That is overstating it for dramatic purposes, but downsides there are. It feels like most of it is caused by form prevailing over function or, maybe, judgmental errors. For instance, the front windows seem to have difficulty coping with heavy gales. The top can leak air in this case. Also, the frameless windows cause a little turbulence around its rubbers on the B-pillar. The frameless windows could be a weight-saving measure and I am not against letting design rule over function, but I do question the decision to omit the window-frames.

Next issue: the charger. This is a big one. It is inexcusable BMW didn’t fit a three-phase AC charger. I really don’t get it, it is simply stupid. It could be that three-phase electrics aren’t common outside our little corner of the world, but north-western European customers could have benefited greatly having their AC charging times cut to one third. Let’s hope DC charging catches on…

Also high on my could-be-better list is the remote control. It is such a small part of the car, but you’ll handle it multiple times every day. It is a sort of plastic/metallic fob with buttons one can’t discern by touch, so it is not easy to press the right buttons unless looking while doing.

On top of this there are some niggles. The modulation of the heater could be better. And there are the caps (blind plugs ?) for the charge ports. Why ? And why the little hook for these to hang them from the flap ? It is all but useless. And why the rubber cord holding the two caps to the car (which I removed) ? And why is the flap covering the charge-port so big that I fear that somebody will break it off while walking past the car one day ? And why is there not a kind of courtesy handle for unlatching the security latch of the bonnet, like on our good old 3 series ? Oh well…

Born to live electric

What range do I get ? Perhaps the single most important question for battery drivers. This depends heavily on the driving style and top speed of course. My combined total is now around 17 kWh/100 km (62 mi) doing mixed driving and including road testing from me and my family members. I have observed a consumption of around 17-18 kWh/100 km (62 mi) when driving a hundred (62 mi/h), around 18-19 when driving one-ten (68), around 21-22 doing one-twenty (75) and around 24 doing 130 km/h (80). In not too cold weather (approx. 8 degrees centigrade (46 F)), and without too much wind and no torrential downpours.

My preferred mode of operation is using EcoPro with the climate control excluded and set to 19˚C (66 F), without A/C, the fans on the lowest setting and seat heating for driver and passenger activated as needed. This gives us a nice balance between comfort and consumption, for I don’t like the EcoPro implementation for the climate control. It is a very good thing one can exclude the climate control from EcoPro.

In real use, I haven’t used my REx all last week, doing 1000 km (621 mi) on electricity, I am pleased to say. For instance, we did a full-electric roundtrip to Germany yesterday of 290 km (180 mi) with a stop to and fro at a DC fast-charger and charging in Germany during our shopping expedition without a problem. One has to be careful to feather the throttle, even in EcoPro modus, and one has to keep Vmax at around 110 (68) for best results. I admit I couldn’t keep myself in check all the time, driving is supposed to be fun at times, right, so I used a little more than I could have used, but there was no problem reaching our designated charging stations. Driving like a granny is no prerequisite for driving off your kitchen socket….

Detail: BMW i3 Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Steven From The Netherlands

0 US i3 Orders Limited to Special "Launch Edition" Package For First Three Months

You want one of the first i3's in the US? You'll be getting the full leather Tera World interior as seen above and every option available besides the 20" wheels then. Welcome to the "Launch Edition i3"

Just yesterday, BMW i dealers received a bulletin that informed them they can officially begin to process customer orders and place them in the pipeline. Many customers have already left deposits at their local BMW dealerships even though it wasn't an official order yet, with the hope of being one of the first people to take delivery of this revolutionary vehicle. However they didn't have an official order place in the system, that was just to have a place in line reserved for them and to make sure they got one of the few allotted cars their dealer would get for 2014. So now that these reservations can be turned into official orders, everyone must be really happy, right?

Not so fast. In a move that will most certainly anger many of the enthusiastic people waiting patiently for their i3, BMW informed the dealers that the initial first three months of US i3 production will be restricted to a special "Launch Edition" i3. The Launch Edition i3 has the top of the line interior Tera World and every option available on the car besides the 20" Sport Wheels which you can add if you would like. (Options include: Metallic paint, Parking Package, Technology and Drivers Assist Package, DC Quick Charge Option, Heated Seats and the Harman Kardon Premium sound system). The only choice the customer gets is whether or not they want the range extender, the exterior paint color and if they want the 20" Sport wheels. So unless the people waiting in like with deposits are willing to take a fully loaded Launch Edition i3, they will have to wait an additional three months for production of the custom ordered i3's to begin. The Launch Edition i3 production will run from March to May so custom ordered i3 production will not begin until June.

As expected this isn't sitting well with a lot of folks who have had deposits and reservations for many months now. I've had over a dozen people reach out to me today to confirm whether or not this was true after being notified by their dealer. Some thought the dealer was just trying to jack up the price of their car by making them get options they didn't want and were seeking clarification from me. I wish I could tell them it wasn't the truth, but this is how it's being done. The unfortunate thing is many people have expiring leases and planned to make due for a few weeks until their i3 came in but now the gap is more like 3 or 4 months and they don't know what to do. Should they bite the bullet and get an additional ~$4,000 of options they didn't necessarily want or wait till July for the i3 spec'd the way they ordered?

Here is the cost breakdown of the Launch Edition i3:

Base:141A(BEV): $41,350.00
Color:B81: $550.00
Tera world:ZTW: $2700.00
Parking Package:ZPK: $1000.00
Tech+Driving Assist:ZTD: $2500.00
Heated Front Seats:494: $350.00
DC Fast Charging:4U7: $700.00
Harman/Kardon:674: $800.00
Destination: $925.00

Total: $50,875.

If you want the range extender just add $3,850, so a Launch Edition i3 REx will set you back $54,725.


The only exception to this is ordering process is for the current ActiveE drivers like me. As a "thank you" for participating the the ActiveE trial lease program, BMW is allowing us to order our cars "a la carte" in addition to giving us the heated seats and DC quick charge options for free. BMW is also creating some unique features that only our cars will have like interior, exterior and door sill badging, embroidered front trunk liner and BMW i floor mats. Plus we get priority ordering and the first batch of i3's that come to the US will include our cars and we should begin receiving them the end of April. BMW is calling our cars the "Electronaut Edition i3" and these only be purchased by current ActiveE drivers. The ironic thing is, I ordered my i3 REx with the Tera World interior and every option available including the 20" sport wheels. So even though I had the freedom to build my car the way I wanted to that the other early i3 buyers won't have, I'm still getting the car loaded just like the Launch Edition anyway.

I'm sure this will elicit some interesting comments below.

Detail: US i3 Orders Limited to Special "Launch Edition" Package For First Three Months

0 BMW i3 Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Hil from Holland

My i3 was delivered to my home on a flatbed truck, more than 300 kilometers (180 miles) from my i Agent. Traveling that distance in an i3 BEV on one charge isn’t possible and the i3 being my first EV, we agreed that the car be delivered! As it stands, I’m probably the first i3 owner in Fryslân, Holland and I’d like to report on my first month’s experiences!

A while ago I announced that I would be starting a new series here called, "I was Born Electric on...". The series will be featuring readers who are i3 owners and who are willing to share their thoughts on the car after owning it for a while. They will begin the post by introducing themselves and stating the date they were Born Electric, which is when they picked up their i3. Last week we had the pleasure of kicking off the series with a post from Andy, who lives with his new i3 in the UK. We'll now be hopping over to Holland to visit with Hil and his new Ionic Silver i3:       

    Hello, my name is Hil and I was Born Electric on Monday, December 30th 2013. 

My recent BMW history
My BMW before the i3, was a 5 door 118i (F20) which I bought for it’s economy and comfort. It was less the sports car than the Z4M Coupe I had before it, but with more room and an adjustable suspension, it meant super daily driving pleasure! Just after the “1” came, BMW launched their ActiveE program with a preview of the concept i3 and i8 in Rotterdam. With my eldest son Tom (also a motor head!) our short, snowy test drive in the ActiveE sold us to the i concept!

The big wait...
This past summer, BMW made production slots for the i3 available in Holland. An i3 in the autumn? Great! In early September the i3 was ordered and after a few glitches in the ordering process (an other color and not fully optioned!), the i3 turned up in the early winter, on snow tires, in Ionic Silver (which is more blue than silver) and with it’s cool Adaptive LED headlights.

Daily Use:

I use the car mostly for local trips, from one village to the next.  As a rural Family Doctor, it’s great to do my rounds in the pre-warmed comfort of the i3! To now the only EVSE I use is the standard socket plug-in, delivered with the car. It charges at 3.4 kW which is fast enough for my daily trips. Occasionally I make a longer trip to meetings, for post-grad education or visits to family and friends.  Those trips are between 100 to 140 kilometers (60 - 87 mi), but according to my i Agent (and BMW), form no problem to the all-electric i3! For on the road charging, there’s also a growing network of quick DC chargers in Holland, thanks to Fastned!

Adventurous Start:

True to the EV pioneer calling, on New Years Eve, the family traveled with the i3 to our traditional  New Years celebration at good friends. They live 103 kilometers (61 miles) away.  At the start, the i3 gave me a range of 120 kilometers, more than enough! But beware,  this figure is based largely on previous driving habits and I had only driven 70 km! But 120 km should be enough! We left at 6 pm, outside temperatures 5 degrees Celsius with a stiff southwesterly headwind and 3 adults in the car with the trunk packed. My normal ICE driving style is to limit my freeway speeds to 115 kmh (70mph) and on two lane roads, I drive 100 kmh (60mph). That evening I set out to copy my 118i driving style to see how the i3 fared. After 40 km (26mi) the battery had just 50% charge left! What??? Total i3 range as claimed by BMW to be 130 km (80mi) per charge, not a scanty 80 km (50mi)! At this rate we’d have to walk 20 km to our friends house. What now? Turn back and take the reserve ICE car or charge up somewhere?

I knew of a quick charger along the freeway nearby, so we decided to drive on! In the confusion we took the wrong exit and drove an extra 10 km to get back on track.  My first encounter with a public EVSE was a disappointment. Fumbling in the dark with wind and weather. the quick charger didn’t charge! I called the ANWB help desk number (=AAA in the US) who told me that there was a working charging point 30 km ahead on my route. The question again: press on or turn back? Well, we decided to "Go (South-) West"!

By now I had become a bit more EV savvy and after studying the settings and menu of the i3,  it seems I had started out in the standard, uneconomical but sporty “Comfort” mode! In “EcoPro” mode (EP) the range sprung from 55 to 65 km and in the EcoPro+ (EP+) mode, all of a sudden I could go 81 km! I kept it at EP+ and drove on with the Southwesterly storm at full head. On the freeway ahead, a Motor Home drove a leisurely 85 kmh (50mph) so I slid behind it and slipstreamed further. Meanwhile my hands and feet had turned to ice, as had everyone in the car! EcoPro+ is a spartan experience, with no heated air or seats, but it got us to our friends house, with 3 km to spare. We had become true pioneers on New Year’s Eve!

A Second Go…

The next week I had a meeting in Utrecht, at 138 km (84 mi) from home. After the cold experience on New Year’s Eve you might think that I wouldn’t consider an even longer trip. But that’s not what EV pioneering is all about my friends, and to be honest, the first trip turned out fine! But for this trip, I prepared myself. To ward off the cold, I took a hot water bottle along, put it on my lap, covered with a fleece blanket. From the start, I drove moderately (max. 100kmh=60mph) in EP+ mode and strictly followed the EcoPro route chosen by the BMW Navigation. It takes you over roads with lower maximum speeds but the route is shorter. My planned 1st destination was a public charging station 10km (6mi) from the meeting place and I had a folding bicycle in the trunk (yes it fit!) for the last leg. But the range expanded as I drove! I left with a calculated range of 124 km (77 mi) and after the first 25 km (15.5 mi), still had 119 km (74 mi) left! With this kind of magic the i3 grew on me! Once on the freeway I hit headwinds, so chose a truck to slipstream behind at 93 kmh (58 mph) on the cruise control.  Except for some wind buffeting I really enjoyed my radio in the quiet of the cabin! I reached the meeting venue at 138 km (86 mi) without the wayside charge! Range anxiety is a thing of the past!

DC Quick charging at 50kW's on a Fastned CCS Quick Charge Station

In the parking garage there was an EVSE which only charged at 3.4 kW instead of the expected 7.4 kW. After 2.5 hours the state of charge increased from 5 to 27%, not enough to get home! But I had enough range to get to the nearest Fastned DC 50kW quick charger, 40 km away. Within 30 minutes I had more than 90% of charge, enough to get home comfortably. When the Fastned network is expanded from the present 5 to the planned 100 stations at the end of 2014, cross country trips in Holland with the i3 will be no problem! At the end of 2015 the projected planning even calls for 200 stations, one for every 40 to 50 freeway kilometers!

EcoPro EcoPro+ and Comfort:

The difference between Comfort and EcoPro modes is purely performance. The i3 Comfort mode would be the Sport mode in an ICE BMW mainly because of the incredible acceleration! EcoPro differs from EP+ more because in EP+ the Seat and Main Heaters are turned off.  In cold seasons, choosing EP+ mode makes the cabin icy cold, even with a hot water bottle and fleece blanket!

My lesson is: when range is at issue, put the i3 in EP mode but turn the heater off with the dashboard button. The seat heater still works and hardly reduces range, but keeps you warm! If the windows fog, the heater rapidly clears them and when done, switch it off until needed again.

In Conclusion:
Yes, the i3 is the future of mobility, now! It’s quick, quiet, economical and clean! Range anxiety is unnecessary if you drive the i3 according to your purpose (range or fun!) and because this car also happens to be a BMW, that fun begins on your driveway!

 

The future has never looked brighter

Big thanks to Hil for sharing his experiences and thoughts here! If you own an i3 and would like to participate in the "I was Born Electric on..." series here email me at: tom.moloughney@gmail.com and I'll get you in the queue.

Detail: BMW i3 Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Hil from Holland

0 BMW i3 US Option Pricing Released

This afternoon, BMWBLOG along with other news outlets reported that BMW has released the pricing details for i3 options for the US market. You can use this link  to download the full list of i3 options pricing.

Nothing really new to report other than the pricing. The only odd thing I see is that sunroof isn't listed anywhere and it has been previously reported that it comes standard with the Giga and Tera World packages. For now I will assume it still is, and that someone at BMW NA just made a mistake and didn't list it here, but it is something to keep an eye on because it's very odd that there is no mention of it here. I've previously looked at the options pricing for Europe, so I pretty much knew what to expect and there are no surprises for me here. Here is a quick summary of the options:

Exterior paint:
The non-metallic paints (Arravaini Grey and Capparis White) are standard with no extra charge. Although Jacob Harb, head of electric vehicles sales and strategy recently said that the Capparis White will not be available in the US, at least for the first model year. That means if you don't like the Arravani Grey you'll be forced to pay the extra $550 for a metallic paint option and choose from Ionic Sliver, Solar Orange, Laurel Grey and Andesite Silver.

Worlds:

Mega World is standard, Giga World is a $1,700 option and Tera World will set you back an extra $2,700. All three interiors are pictured on the left (click to enlarge) with Mega on top and Tera on the bottom. The interiors only come in the colors shown, you cannot select Tera for example and get Grey leather, it only comes in the Brown trim shown. Giga adds 19" Alloy Turbine wheels style 429 and Tera adds 19" Turbine wheels style 428. For an additional $1,300 you can get the Sport 20" Double Spoke wheels style 430 regardless of the World package you choose. All of the wheels are lightweight and designed for minimum aerodynamic drag. The base wheels on Mega World is probably the most aerodynamic but will likely be viewed as the least visually appealing.

The 19" Mega World Wheels are on the far left followed to the right by the 19" Tera World Style 428 which is next to the 19" Giga World Style 429's and the 20" Sport Style 430 is on the right.

Electronics:
The Parking Package costs $1,000 and gives you the rear view camera, Park Distance Control and Parking Assistant (which is self parking and I've personally tested it on an i3 and it works perfectly). The technology & Driving Assistant package costs $2,500 and with that you get ACC Stop & Go + Active Driving Assistant (which is a self-driving feature for slow congested-street driving), the professional navigation system with wide screen Nav (Basic Nav is standard), BMW Online and BMW apps as well as Advanced Real-Time Traffic Information.

Heated front seats is a $350 option and if you live anywhere where the temperature drops below 50 degrees during the year I urge you to get the heated seats. In you happen to live in an area where it gets really cold, like below 30 degrees, this option in mandatory in my opinion. That's because for some strange reason BMW linked the battery warming system to the heated seat option so if you don't get the heated seat option, you cannot pre-warm the battery pack - odd indeed, but that's how it works. Luckily it's only a $350 option.

The Harman Kardon Premium sound system is an $800 option. Every i3 I've driven so far had this option, so I don't know how good the standard sound system is, but I can say the 12-speaker HK option is a great sound system. It's probably the best sound system I have ever had in a car and I'll definitely be getting it. The sound is so clear and with the quiet cabin of an electric car you can really appreciate the clarity of a great sound system even more so than in an internal combustion car.

At only $700 the DC Quick Charge option is priced reasonably, but will there be CCS stations to charge at?

DC Quick Charge:
The DC Quick Charging option is reasonably priced at $700. I believe BMW didn't charge more because they know the value of this option is directly tied to the amount of CCS DC quick chargers there are and right now there are only a couple of them. I'm pretty confident the deployment is going to occur, but at what pace I can't be sure. I also believe BMW is going to help with deployment in some degree, but exactly what level of participation is yet unknown. For certain, BMW isn't going to install and maintain the CCS chargers, like Tesla is with their Supercharger network. However that doesn't mean they aren't going to get involved in the deployment, perhaps by subsidizing the cost of the stations in certain areas, helping their dealers install them and perhaps forming partnerships with other stakeholders to help with deployment. I suspect we'll hear news on this front relatively soon too.

So what's an i3 really going to cost?
Finally, destination & handling is $925. So if you wanted to pay the least possible amount and still drive home in a BEV i3 the price after destination and handling is $42,275. However, if you want the i3 with range extender, along with the top of the line Tera World package, and every single possible option available, your price before incentives would be $56,025. That makes the options spread a whopping $13,750 if you consider the range extender an "option" and not a different model entirely. If you look at it that way, every available option offered increases the i3's price by $9,900. Is it cheap? Certainly not, but BMW doesn't sell "cheap" cars, they are a premium brand. However the tax incentives really help to make the i3 much more affordable, especially if you live in a State like California that offers additional incentives on top of the Federal tax credit. Whether or not it's "worth it" is going to be a personal choice and people assign value to different characteristics. I happen to really like the unique architecture used, the fact that it's the first volume production car made primarily of CFRP and aluminum and how BMW considered sustainable manufacturing processes including a high degree of renewable energy during the entire manufacturing process. Others may not care about that but it's important to me. However nothing matters much if the driving experience isn't good and after four test drives I'm satisfied that the i3 delivers the performance and fun-factor that I want in my car. Ok BMW I'm ready to order now... just take my money and give me my i3! Laurel Grey, range extender and every damn option there is. I've waited this long for it, I might as well spoil myself!

Detail: BMW i3 US Option Pricing Released

0 BMW i3 Range Extender: How Robust Will It Be?

There are still many unanswered questions about the i3. What will the EPA range rating be? How will is fare in NHTSA and IICA crash tests, will it cost more to repair, and so on. However there is one particular feature of the i3 that continues to dominate the discussion boards and forums: What can and can't you do with the REx?

Back in June before the i3 was officially introduced, I did a blog post on this very topic which turned out to be very popular. In fact, it's one of my top viewed posts and has been viewed over 5,000 times so  far. We now know a few more details since then so I thought it was a good time to give an update here. While I have driven in REx i3's, unfortunately I haven't had the chance to thoroughly test on while it was in range extender mode. That wasn't a coincidence. BMW has still be fine tuning the software for the REx and hasn't allowed the press access to them for complete testing. However, somehow over in the UK The Telegraph got hold of one and was able to take to for a long drive and use the range extender. Overall the review was pretty favorable and the author gave the i3 four out of five stars. However that's not the whole story. The real "story" within this story is that the author reported this about the range extender and it's caused a but of a stir:

"I thrummed along at 70mph, but it soon became clear that at this kind of speed our comfortable range between fill-ups was more like 40-50 miles. Still, it was impressive how, even when it says it’s flat, the car maintains enough battery power to give an instant shove of torque. Only if you really run it down, which you’ll have to try pretty hard to do (or so I’d been told), would you compromise the performance. Which is what happened next. 

I’d just come through a heavy but localised rain storm on the M20 when the i3 started to slow. It was a gradual process, from motorway cruising speed all the way down to 44mph. By this time I was travelling up a slight incline and had effectively become a slow-moving obstacle. Lorries were catching me with quite frankly terrifying closing speeds. It was three or four minutes - which was long enough to make me consider pulling over - before the i3 recovered; just as slowly as it had lost speed, so it crept up. “It’s not a limp-home mode as such,” a BMW spokesman later told me, “but once the charge runs down to five or six per cent and the range extender cuts in, if you keep driving at 75-80mph it can’t maintain the charge.” Rather than damage the battery by running it completely flat, the i3 had restricted our performance."

This Telegraph video above doesn't mention the difficulty they experienced with the car slowing down at all even though they show it driving along on the M20 while it was raining like they printed version said. That's strange to me since the article seemed to make a big deal out of it. I would have like to have seen video of the car during the explained "slow down" event.

The i3 REx Engine

I've had quite a few conversations with the engineers and product managers at BMW about the range extender and while they are cautious no to over sell it's capabilities, everyone I have talked to promises it's not anything like a "limp mode", and in fact you can do just about anything with it as long as you understand how it works and drive accordingly - I take that as monitoring your speed and if you know you'll be driving up a long steep incline and take it easy for a few minutes before you begin your ascent so the REx can build up a little extra reserve power for the climb. There has been a lot of talk around the fact that in the US, you can't manually engage the range extender once the state of charge is below 75% as you can in Europe. The concern is with the range extender coming on at such a low state of charge (at ~5% SOC) that there may not be a large enough buffer for those instances when the car needs continuous supply of a lot of energy for high speed driving or to climb long, uphill grades at highway speeds.

I don't have the exact answers as to what exactly is possible and what isn't. In fact, I'm not even sure it's possible to offer such a definitive explanation. Sure, the engineers can offer a formula based on total passenger and cargo weight, vehicle speed, head or tail winds, percent of grade you are climbing, etc but who will even understand that let alone be able to transfer that to an actual real world driving situation? There are so many different situations and roads it's just not possible to give a clear black and white definition of what it can and what it can't do and I believe BMW will likely struggle with how to explain this to their customers - maybe that's why they haven't even tried to explain it yet! I have made a request to the program managers to let me drive an i3 REx for a day once one is available. I'll test it in every possible situation I can come up with in the time frame I have including a 220 mile trip to Vermont. Hopefully my request will be accommodated because I believe I can clear the air on this as much as possible, however as I mentioned above there are endless specific driving circumstances so no test will completely satisfy everyone. My advice: Drive one in REx mode to satisfy your concerns before you plunk down your money. I'm sure you can leave a deposit on one and have it refunded if you are not satisfied with the performance once you get the test drive opportunity.

i3 Product manager Oliver Walter

I can say I have spoken with program managers that have driven the i3 REx extensively, and they have assured me that on flat ground, you really have to purposely try to defeat it in order to use more energy than it produces and that it can easily drive along at 70 mph for as long as you need to and still have enough energy for short bursts of power to climb hills along the way. BMW i3 product manager Oliver Walter in particular has assured me the range extender is robust and will be able to power the car in just about any circumstance without the driver even noticing any difference than when it's in pure EV mode. The question becomes how fast can you drive and for how long, up how steep a grade, and right now, we just don't have definitive answers.

So why can't the i3's in the US have the same ability the European i3's have to manually turn on the REx ahead of time, when you know you'll need a lot of energy for demanding driving conditions like climbing a mountain later in your trip? The answer is in the CARB certification of the i3. BMW needs the i3 to be certified as a zero emission vehicle in order to claim the most ZEV credits they can for each i3 sold. However the benefits aren't only for BMW. BMW has been working behind the scenes to make sure that i3 buyers get the same tax credits, tax exemptions and benefits like HOV access that zero emission vehicles get, which in many cases is better than what is offered to PHEV buyers. For example here in NJ, if I buy a zero emission car like a Tesla Model S, I am not required to pay sales tax, but if I buy a Chevy Volt which has a range extender, it's classified as a PHEV and I have to pay sales tax. So if BMW by getting the i3 REx certification approved, manages to get New Jersey to classify the i3 REx as a zero emission vehicle, then I will save about $3,500 in sales tax. To me, that's worth losing the ability to manually turn on the REx early because there will be so few instances that I would ever need to; it's just simply not worth it. This isn't just for NJ though, there are quite a few other States that offer different incentives for ZEV's as compared to PHEV's. However as far as I know, BMW is still working out these details State by State and they haven't announced exactly what the certification will mean in each particular State just yet. As soon as there is more to report on the certification and State benefits I'll have it up here, and hopefully I'll get to report first hand on how the REx performs sometime soon. Happy Holidays everyone!

Of course a robust network of DC quick chargers like the one pictured here would render the range extender irrelevant. But are they coming?

Detail: BMW i3 Range Extender: How Robust Will It Be?

0 The First Volt Owner in Georgia Explains What He Doesn't Like About the BMW i3... and Why He's Buying One!

Chris Campbell with his Volt. Chris was actually the first Volt owner in the State of Georgia. Now that his 3 year lease is coming to an end he's chosen to replace his Volt with a BMW i3.

Chris Campbell has been following my blogs for a while now, and has commented on many posts. He's an avid electric car supporter and is a member of the BMW i3 Facebook group. Chris has been following the BMW i3 for a while now and he's been really anxious to test drive one. As you'll read below, the driving experience is really important to him - as it is for me. Chris finally has his chance to test drive the i3 (twice actually) and shortly after declared on a post in the Facebook group "I did test drive #2 this morning. That's it, I'm in.". I know Chris knows a lot about EV's, and I know he had his doubts about whether the i3 would be the right EV for him, after all he really loves his Volt. So when I read his declaration, I asked him if he would like to do a guest post here, to offer his story of  how he came to the conclusion the i3 would be the EV that would replace his Volt. He accepted the invitation, and sent me the post below:

GETTING OVER IT AND CHOOSING THE BMW I3

I am an electric vehicle enthusiast.  The wave of EVs in the late 1990s piqued my interested, but it was a lucky chance at a long test drive of a Tesla Roadster in April 2009 that gave me the EV religion.  By 2010 I was ready for a new car and the market was finally ready to give me an EV.  In my case the Chevy Volt was good choice because I have a short commute, well within the electric range of the Volt, but also wanted the ability to take the car anywhere at any time and not have to worry about range.  Note that there was virtually ZERO public charging infrastructure in 2010 when I got the Volt.

Fast forward three years and I'm now at the end of my three year Volt lease, and looking for my next car. The Volt has been great, and in fact I still believe it is the BEST car on the market, especially for anyone new to EVs.  After three years of tweaks, and this year's dramatic price drop, the Volt is even more compelling than when I took my somewhat risky plunge in 2010.  But, for me personally, as my Volt lease ends I'm now looking to move on to the next thing.

I've been following BMW's EV developments closely for a few years now, and after a second test drive this past Friday, I've decided that the BMW i3 is going to be my next car.  I'll explain why, but I'm also going to take a sober look at the car, probably unlike any other i3 review you've seen.

EVs are an absolute thrill to drive, and there was no doubt that my next car would be another EV.  While the environmental and geopolitical reasons for getting an EV are important to me, what really draws me is the sheer power (well, torque) of the electric drivetrain.  Once you experience that "stealth V8" power you just can't live without it.

So, for me, the very top issue in selecting the next car was POWER. How fast was it?  The Volt (and Leaf, even) are deceptively powerful, and a blast to drive, but I consider them to have only the MINIMUM required power.  More is better!  And early reports on the BMW i3 indicated that it was going to be more powerful than anything on the market short of the (sadly unattainable) Tesla models, so I've been following it very closely for over a year now.

There are lots of features that I like about the i3.  The carbon fiber structure is certainly cool.  I'm tall, and the long coupe-style front doors place the pseudo B-pillars (and seatbelt anchors) nicely back and out of my peripheral vision.  The i3 will have an available DC fast charging option, and I decided earlier this year that my next car simply had to have DCFC capability.  The drive train is well engineered, following four years of careful testing in BMW's MINI-E and ActiveE programs.  It's a BMW, so you're going to get a driver's car.

All these things are great, but certainly the car isn't perfect.  No car is perfect.  And in fact, that's how it usually works, right?  You fall in love with a car, then you find out something about the car that you DON'T like, and then you have to decide whether you can get over it.  Do the pros outweigh the cons?

The Nissan Leaf is ugly, has a spartan interior, and has a cheaper battery technology that makes it susceptible to weather extremes.  The Chevy Volt is a bit pricey and can't seat more than two people in the back (and the EV purists turn their noses up at it).  The Ford models have that hulking battery pack messing up the trunk, signifying the worst of "conversion car" engineering.  And so forth -- you can always find something wrong with a car.  Even the vaunted Tesla Model S has problems, most prominently its stratospheric price tag, but upon closer examination there are plenty of other problems.

So, I've got problems with the BMW i3.  Can I get over it?

I'm an engineer, and I can't help but try to analyze this decision soberly and methodically.  Anticipating that I'd be back in the market for a new EV after the Volt lease, a year ago I started assembling my checklist for the perfect electric vehicle.  This long document is a collection of every feature in every EV on the market, and serves as a way to honestly evaluate the cars on the market.  No car is perfect, not even the Tesla Model S, and my list serves to remind me that there are tradeoffs in any car.

With that, I will now itemize the top things that I do NOT like about the BMW i3.  See, I told you this would be unlike any review you'd read!  Again, I've said above that I AM going to buy an i3, in fact I will be happy to be the first in my home state, as I was with the Chevy Volt three years ago, and probably will be as big a cheerleader as anyone about the car (well, except for Tom M...).  But I'm doing this with a clear-eyed view of the pros AND the cons of the car.

In essence, this is a list of the things that I had to "get over" in order to commit to the i3.

IT'S UGLY!

While the i3 has some sexy angles, it has some real stinkers too. Look at it straight on from the front, or straight at the rear.  In both of those angles the weird design is jarring, and the skinny tires jump out at you.  I know, I know, 19-20 inch tires, contact patch size blah blah blah -- it just LOOKS bad.  But it's a thrill to drive!  So I'll get over the looks, or least tolerate the snide remarks.  At least I shouldn't have to worry about those kinds of comments from Nissan Leaf owners, right?  That has got to be the ugliest car on the market, from ALL angles!  Ha!

NO CLIMATE PRESTART ON KEYFOB

You're not going to believe this, but this feature is THE most important feature to me in an EV, putting aside the headline features of the drivetrain, battery and charging technology.  The same way you get addicted to the instantaneous torque of an EV drivetrain, I have become addicted to that little button ON THE KEYFOB of my Chevy Volt that starts up the climate control.  I use it every ... single ... time ... I get into my car (so at least twice daily), from inside the house as I'm getting ready to leave in the morning, and then on the way home as I'm approaching the car at my workplace.  Yeah yeah, sure, I can use the smartphone app -- wanna race?  It takes me 3 seconds (and minimal cognitive engagement) to get the car warming up, and I can do it blind with the keyfob in my pocket.  Try THAT with your smartphone.  Scheduling the prestart doesn't solve this for me because I don't get in the car at the same time every day.

There is a "diamond" button on the i3 keyfob that acts as a panic button, but I've heard a rumor that it is actually *configurable*, and that climate prestart may be one of the configurable options.  If so, congratulations BMW on a brilliant solution, and scratch this off the cons list!  But I haven't seen confirmation, so it remains on my short list of problems with the i3.  Trust me, once you have this feature, you can't live without it.

CHARGE PORT ON WRONG SIDE OF CAR


You will plug and unplug the car EVERY DAY.  That's at least two trips to the charge port location, and therefore it should be as close as possible to the driver's door.  BMW stuck it in the right rear corner, just about the worst possible place.  I'm sure they have their reasons, but from a usability perspective it's just all wrong.  I have seen some factory photos of the CFRP passenger cell that have shown that the interior structure of the car has cutouts on BOTH sides, so it's possible that they may relocate the port to the rear left side in the future, but for now -- it's in the wrong spot and will annoy me twice a day for my entire life with the car.

NO POWER SEATS
Power seats aren't even available as an option.  It takes me forever to get the seat adjusted just right, and thus I really want the memory function of the power seats so I can put it back the way I like it after someone else has driven the car (spouse, mechanic, etc.).  A car that approaches $50,000 when loaded with options should offer power seats as one of those options.  And don't try to tell me that it's left out for energy saving reasons, that's simply nonsense.  I'll buy the weight savings argument, but still, this should be an option.
 
WHAT'S NOT ON THIS LIST

There are many things that other people have complained about that are NOT a problem for me:

- It's a four seater.  You can't put three people in the back seat, even three kids, as there's a console in the middle and no third set of seatbelts.  That's fine with me.


- There is no SOC percentage showing the exact state of the battery charge.  I know the other i3 fans are screaming about this, but I could not care less.  I'll trust the indication of mileage remaining, and will eventually learn how to correct for challenging driving ahead.

- Range: 80-100 is plenty for me.  In fact, using the VoltStats.net data from my last three years of Volt driving, I recently found that 80-100 is perfect for me.  Give me the DCFC interface and even just a hint of a future charging network and I've got all I need.

I GOT OVER IT

And here we are.  I've listed some big problems I have with the i3, and I've listed even more on the full EV checklist on www.ElectrifyAtlanta.com (now updated with i3 data).  And yet ... the drive is intoxicating.  It's got more power (more more more gimme) and can carve through turns like it's on rails.  Check out Chris Neff's recent report on his day with an i3 as a professional race car driver flung it around a racetrack for 10 hours!

It's got good range.  It has a sunroof option, and I love the doors. It offers HD Radio and RDS, which are radio tuner features that I really wish all cars had. I even love the underdog factor of having the SAE Combo DC fast charging interface that all the Nissan and Tesla partisans are howling at.  Game on, let's go.

And so I got over it.  Take my money, BMW, the sooner the better.  Can I be first in Georgia again?

Chris Campbell
www.ElectrifyAtlanta.com

The only question I now have for Chris is what color does he want. Will he choose Laurel Gray like I plan to order?

Detail: The First Volt Owner in Georgia Explains What He Doesn't Like About the BMW i3... and Why He's Buying One!

0 The LA Auto Show: Driving Impressions & Details Learned

It's been a long time coming but I finally got to drive an i3. I've actually been getting tired of having journalists contact me and ask me for my opinion of it on the road compared to the MINI-E and ActiveE and having to tell them I haven't had the opportunity to drive one yet! So did it live up to my (high) expectations? Yes, it did. It's certainly not "the perfect EV," but in my opinion, it does do more things better than any other electric vehicle that costs less than $70,000. And yes, the $70,000 is the threshold mentioned because slightly above that, (actually $72,240) is the starting point before incentives, for the least expensive Model S you can buy in the US.

Lined up for test drives

Price is worth mentioning here because since the i3 has launched there have been endless comparisons between it and the Model S. My contention is that they are both excellent electric vehicles and while there will be inevitable comparisons and even some cross-shopping, they are really vastly different cars and if they weren't both electric would never be compared. The i3's base price is $42,275. That's $29,965 or about 40% less than a base Model S and that alone should end the need to compare them. However I feel it was important to touch on this because everybody else is. These are both excellent EVs, but they serve different masters. The one thing fascinating about the Model S is that it's such a great electric vehicle, that every other electric vehicle that comes along will now be compared to it, well done Tesla.

The back up camera video is extremely clear

In addition to my test drives I had the opportunity to sit down and interview just about every BMW representative there and I will do a future blog post dedicated to at least one of those interviews. However, here I'm going to focus on my thoughts on the driving experience and answering the many questions about the i3 I've received in the past few weeks in the form of comments, personal emails or posts on the BMW i3 Facebook page or in the BMW i3 forum, both of which I am the administrator of.

Tera World interior is all leather

BMW had fifty identical i3s at the LA Auto Show for test drives. They were all exactly the same color, had the 20" wheels, the top of the line Tera World interior and had every available option the i3 will offer. I later found out from BMW NA i3 product manager Jose Guerrero that these cars were actually the very first i3s to roll off the assembly line and that they were pre-production vehicles and European spec so they had to be updated with US charging ports, navigation software and other small modifications so they could be used here in the US for test drives. Also, after the LA Auto show these cars will gradually filter to dealers all over the US so depending on where you live your local BMW dealer may get one soon for demonstration and test drives.

What about the range extender?

Harb addresses the ActiveE drivers

Unfortunately none of the cars had range extenders so I can't answer many of the REx questions I've had like: "How quiet is it?  Can you feel the vibrations when it's on?  What MPG does it deliver?" I did learn some new details which I'll discuss later in the post though. I will say this though because the question of how robust the range extender is has been a common theme on every website that has an i3 discussion. At a private event on Thursday that BMW held for the ActiveE drivers that question was brought up and Jacob Harb, BMW's North American manager of sales and strategy for electric vehicles said he wanted to straighten out the confusion around a comment that a BMW representative once said, and that was that the REx wasn't meant for daily use. Jacob said you can certainly use it every day if you need to, but that BMW didn't envision the car being used by someone that has a 120 or 130 mile daily commute. The car could do it, but if your daily driving needs were this extensive then perhaps a different vehicle might be a better choice. He was then asked about taking it on a long drive and refilling the tank and continuing to drive. Again he said that BMW doesn't really envision people using the car like that all the time, but technically it's perfectly capable of doing so. He even said that technically speaking, you could drive an i3 from New York to LA simply by stopping for gas every 50 or 60 miles and refueling, and then qualified it by saying, "But I don't know why anybody would want to do that."  And personally I agree.

Driving in LA:

I stopped for quick photo op

I actually had the opportunity to drive the i3 twice, and do a ride along once so I probably spent a collective 20 miles in the car. I had a press pass so I registered for a press drive and then at the ActiveE event we were all allowed one test drive, plus I rode along when fellow Electronaut Todd Crook took his turn. On the first drive BMW handed me a course that they wanted the press to follow. It was basically a 3 mile loop that had you driving five blocks and turn right four times and you ended back where the ride originated from which was the Staples Center parking lot. You were alone, so you could of course vary from the course if you "got lost."  Being from New Jersey and never having driven in LA before I found it difficult staying on course and accidentally drove a little longer. It was pretty much what I expected it to be. Very quick, (we were told it does 0-60 in 7.0 seconds) very quiet (quieter than the ActiveE for sure), it has very responsive steering, an amazingly short turning radius and the braking was probably the best I've ever experienced. I practiced some emergency stops in a parking lot and the car stopped in exceptionally short distances. I can't wait to see official road tests when they measure braking distances. I predict it will deliver some of the shortest braking distances of any car on the road today.

The optional wide nav screen looks great

I really didn't get the chance to push the handling because of the LA city environment but I did have some fun weaving in and out of traffic, sprinting from streetlight to streetlight and mashing the accelerator to the floor at every opportunity. I don't know how it will do auto crossing (yet), but I give it an A+ for making the most fun you can out of city driving. I even tried out the Parking Assistant and it worked perfectly. I also purposely hit every pothole there was - and incidentally LA doesn't have nearly as many of them as we do in New York, and the car absorbed them without a problem and I didn't hear any unusual rattles or noises that I've read a few other journalists report when driving over bumps. The regenerative braking was about 10% weaker than it is on the ActiveE, but it's still by far the strongest regenerative braking on any electric vehicle. I'd say the Volt in low driving mode and the Model S are tied for 2nd, but the i3 has stayed true to BMW's promise of having the strongest regen in the industry which really allows for "one pedal driving." Like on the ActiveE there is what BMW calls a glide mode (basically the ability to coast to improve efficiency). By slightly easing back on the accelerator, the motor decouples and the car freewheels. While this isn't what you would normally need in a city driving environment, it will come in handy at higher speeds on the freeway. By easing back a bit more on the accelerator the motor then reengages and the regenerative braking grabs. 

Lift the armrest & you can slide across

The seats were comfortable and supportive and felt like they would do fine holding you in place during spirited driving but definitely don't grab you into place like seats in a sports car would. This, plus the lack of a center tunnel on the floor does allow you to easily slide across to the other side of the car and exit out of the passenger side if you wanted to, which I did just to see how easy it would be. The back seats have plenty of room for two big adults. I even brought along three passengers on my second test drive to see how we all fit and if the extra 600+ lbs would effect the driving dynamics. The car was slightly slower as you would expect but the handling felt just as good as when I was driving alone but again, I couldn't push it much on the streets of LA but I did make some rapid lane changes at about 40 mph and the car felt precise and planted even with the full load. 

What was learned: 

As I mentioned above I've had a lot of people ask me i3 questions recently and I promised I'd do my best to get answers once I drove the car and had the opportunity to speak to the program managers again. Without listing the specific questions here the answers to most of what I've been asked:


-The range extender engine is liquid cooled, but it's a different system and coolant than what is used for the battery management system. In fact, the i3 REx has three separate cooling systems. One for the BMS, one for the passenger cabin and one for the REx engine. The battery pack uses air conditioning refrigerant and the REx engine uses conventional liquid coolant.

-Waste heat from the REx is not used to heat the cabin.

-In the US the heat pump is standard on all BEV i3s, but it's not available on the i3 REx. BMW doesn't believe it's a necessary option if you have the range extender.

-Yes, you can certainly precondition the cabin (heat or cool) and the battery even if you have the REx. (Two people from the UK asked me this so evidently there is inaccurate info somewhere there)

-European delivery will not be offered on the i3.

-There are no optional interior color choices. Each interior level only comes in the color shown. So you can't for instance get the Terra World with gray interior, it only is available in the brown leather like the pictures shown above.

-The REx does not turn on until the state of charge is under 5%. It is robust enough to maintain the charge under all but the most strenuous conditions. You can manually shut it off so it doesn't turn on at all for instances when you know you'll make your destination on battery alone. If you do so it resets once you turn the car off and on again. This way you can't forget you shut the REx off.

-The REx has start/stop technology and shuts off when you are driving under 10mph unless the SOC is so low that it needs to stay on to get the car to 5% SOC. This is so that the car remains quiet at low speeds and while parked. This means you can't park the car with the REx on and let it charge up for a while.

-There is no speed limiter when the REx is running, but there is when you choose Eco Pro+ mode. In Eco Pro+ mode you are limited to 56 mph. Jose Guererro showed the ActiveE group a picture of the speedometer he took while driving an i3 with the REx running and he was going about 70-75mph (I don't remember exactly) he also said the car was maintaining the charge without a problem at that speed.

*UPDATE: The US i3's will not be speed limited in Eco Pro+ mode like I wrote above. The European i3's are though, and the car I drove was a European spec i3, so when I put it in Eco Pro+ mode the speed restriction display showed, which is why I reported it as such.

-Heated seats are optional, and this was a bit of a head scratcher: You can't precondition the passenger cabin with heat unless you get the seat heater option. I don't get that at all, but that's the way it is. Anyone who lives in an area that has cold temperatures during the year simply must get the heated seats option in my opinion or they will regret it later.

-The rear seats fold down completely flat and split 50/50. 

-Comfort Access is standard with Giga and Terra World trim packages, as is the sunroof.

-The battery pack is comprised of 8 modules which each have 12 individual cells. The cells are supplied by Samsung but BMW assembles the modules in house.

-You have to get the Parking Assistant package to get the rear view camera, it's not a standalone option.

-US orders will begin in January, not in November as previously reported on InsideEVs.com

-i3s bound for the US will begin production in March, likely arrive in the US for delivery sometime in April.

I was also asked to take some specific pictures, here they are:

Taken by my friend Andre

There were 6 CCS quick chargers there

The display while DC fast charging

One battery module contains 12 cells

There is one more thing that I learned. For some reason, BMW has decided to omit a state of charge gauge. My head nearly exploded when I found this out. Both the MINI-E and ActiveE had state of charge meters and quite honestly it's all I use when I drive. I never use the predicted remaining miles, or the bar graph. I love the simplicity of a simply number, from 0 to 100% to tell me how much energy I have to work with. I am not alone either, when the other ActiveE drivers found out they were as shocked as I was. In fact we brought it up and protested so much the i3 management team promised they would revisit this. I'm going to dedicate my next blog post on this topic, because I don't want this post to be all about the SOC. Other than this topic, most everything else was extremely positive. The car drives as great as I had hoped it would and BMW announced to the ActiveE group that as a thank you for our participation, they would be making a special edition i3 that will only be available for us, and our cars will be some of the first i3s delivered to the US.  I hope I got to everyone's questions and requests. Please leave any other questions in the comment area and I'll answer them if I can.

Detail: The LA Auto Show: Driving Impressions & Details Learned