1 million EVs

[nowty]

SWMBO BMW i3 with its 647cc range extender is classed as a hybrid, its used an average of about 1 gallon of petrol a year and that works out at about 1% of mileage. You don't need an oversized battery as you don't get any range anxiety even when almost empty. Its only got a 9 litre tank but you can keep filling it up if you are stuck.

Can you tell me any more about your other half's experience with this car?I am looking at a 5 year old one because the ULEZ is a bit of a concern with my diesel fiesta which the family have had from new and I expected to be my last car. Mind I could venture into the ulez about 15 times on difference in annual tax; soon to change.

Can the engine provide cabin heat and be forced on on cold days?

What are servicing costs?

What doesn't she like about it? Annoying alarms?



I am working on the assumption the battery will last the lifetime of the car but looking beyond 10 years is this likely to mean just reduced range on the battery. The one I am looking at is about half its new price so if it lasts another 5 years that means amortising the cost at £3k/annum. anything after that is a bonus if I still have a licence to drive.

She has had it almost exactly 4 years and it was 2.5 years old on purchase. It had about 16,000 miles on the clock and she has driven it about 20,000 more miles in it.

Pros
She loves it, mainly as it costs her nothing to run, I've filled the 9 litre tank about once a year. The range extender either comes on automatically if the battery is down to 6% or you can force it on as long as the batter is about 75% or less. If you never use it, it automatically comes on for 10 mins every month or so to do a maintenance cycle.

Does over 110 miles on the battery so for most journeys, thats fine. She has difficulty with some out of home chargers, so on a few occasions I tell her to rely on the range extender and that gets her home. It does about another 70 miles on the range extender, but the beauty is if you cannot find a charger or don't know how to work it, you can keep filling the petrol tank up, every 50 miles or so.

She loves the performance, not quite as crazy as my Tesla but 0 to 60 in about 7 secs, not bad and fast off the start as all electric drive trains are.

Quite a small car, so easy to park and a crazy turning circle, similar to a taxi, can almost do a U turn on the spot. I quite often use it if I'm just going to the local shop or anywhere where parking might be difficult.

Quite a soft suspension so an easier ride.

Quite a high driving position so good visibility.

Ours has zero car tax, if it was a month newer it would have to pay tax.

Servicing, if you don't use the range extender a lot, there is not much to service, we had Halfords do a service.


Cons
Its a comfortable ride, but a bit twitchy at high speeds, especially down country lanes.

Speed is limited to 94mph, but as its a bit twitchy you don't really want to to go over about 85 anyway. At 80'ish on the motorway its fine.

Its had one fault, which was a an intermittent seat belt alarm going off, turned out to be a seatbelt buckle sensor, BMW charged about £300 to diagnose and fix.

She has had one scare in it, in the first week, she was not used to the power from a standing start. She was stationary waiting to turn right into our road and she put too much power on into the right turn, car did something weird and she hit the kerb. She initially did not want to drive the car again so I had to try and reproduce what happened and I eventually did. It even surprised me, only thing I can describe is the car did a bunny hop so the fix was a simple bit of driving advice and she has never had a repeat issue.

If you want the APP connectivity you have to pay a subscription so we don't bother with that.

It has air con, but the heater is a resistive element and reduces range a bit in winter, but never had a problem of the car heating up in cold weather. You can even set the car to preheat off your home charger if you want to maintain the max charge before setting off.

[openspaceman]

It has air con, but the heater is a resistive element and reduces range a bit in winter, but never had a problem of the car heating up in cold weather. You can even set the car to preheat off your home charger if you want to maintain the max charge before setting off.

Thanks Nowty

So the engine cannot contribute to the heating??

[nowty]

It has air con, but the heater is a resistive element and reduces range a bit in winter, but never had a problem of the car heating up in cold weather. You can even set the car to preheat off your home charger if you want to maintain the max charge before setting off.

Thanks Nowty

So the engine cannot contribute to the heating??

No, its an air cooled motorbike engine.

[Mr Gus]

I seem to remember skinny wheels?
The dial rotor ..rightly or wrong put me right off, ...that is without practise in reality, (just sitting in them & playing with them at car auctions) felt cumbersome to me.

The flex of the panels concerned me, even as a plastic car owner (smart) & I never saw a clean interior they were all wrecked, so I did have to wonder about the "design statement" versus common sense for numerous interior materials, abysmal staining (so wrong for us with dogs & then a still young careless kid)

The motorbike engine was the closest we came to considering anything with an engine, it was very different, but I was still put off by the added servicing that comes with an engine..

Has not been a bed of roses with the ****ing broken tesla POS though!

I'd definitely look at one again for here in the countryside as a second-hand vehicle though, I was kind of gutted that the I3 was dropped, it seemed to have a lot of scope, & there was plenty of room, the un-belting for rear access is overblown with the door set up.

[openspaceman]

It has air con, but the heater is a resistive element and reduces range a bit in winter, but never had a problem of the car heating up in cold weather. You can even set the car to preheat off your home charger if you want to maintain the max charge before setting off.

Thanks Nowty

So the engine cannot contribute to the heating??

No, its an air cooled motorbike engine.

Oh dear, that has put me off a bit, I thought most bikes except Guzzis were watercooled nowadays.

[nowty]

Thanks Nowty

So the engine cannot contribute to the heating??

No, its an air cooled motorbike engine.

Oh dear, that has put me off a bit, I thought most bikes except Guzzis were watercooled nowadays.

I'm assuming its air cooled as there is no water top up, the engine is locked away under a bulkhead with just the oil dip stick assessable. If its been running as you park, there is a fan running under it somewhere for some time afterwards.

[dan_b]

The i3 was the first EV I drove - got one as a hire car from a specialist "posh cars" rental place in SW London years back when it had just come out - that experience was what got me into the whole EVs are the future thing. I'd definitely have one as a 2nd car/ city car - gokart handling, gokart low speed acceleration, and just such fun to hustle it around corners.

I think the ReX was a good idea when it had the initial 24kWh battery - pretty sure later versions saw a much larger 42kWh battery, but wouldn't it have been good if they had kept developing it? It's crazy that BMW stopped making it in favour of the gigantic w*nkpanzer that is the iX, but there you go, that's marketing for you. I guess that carbon fibre body was expensive to make, and the looks were pretty divisive at the time - although when you look at current gen BMWs, it's positively a beauty of a thing.

[nowty]

Our i3 has a battery of just over 30kWh, larger than the earlier ones but not as large as the new ones which scarified the range extender in order to fit the extra batteries.

[dan_b]

Did the 30kWh one also permit the ReX?

Our i3 has a battery of just over 30kWh, larger than the earlier ones but not as large as the new ones which scarified the range extender in order to fit the extra batteries.

[nowty]

Did the 30kWh one also permit the ReX?

Our i3 has a battery of just over 30kWh, larger than the earlier ones but not as large as the new ones which scarified the range extender in order to fit the extra batteries.

Yes.