Quote:
Originally Posted by tiburonh
Hi George-
There is a forum devoted exclusively to the i3 ( www.mybmwi3.com) that includes posts from actual i3 owners (in Europe) that you might find useful.
There are several discussions there about range.
From everything I've read there and elsewhere, you would never make it to SF from Tahoe or to Tahoe from SF without charging along the way unless you have the REx model. Even with the REx, it would work slightly differently from how you describe it. In the US, the gas generator motor on the REx will be prohibited from turning on until the battery has reached the point where it only has roughly 5% of its charge remaining. Just how long you can drive until that level of discharge is reached seems still to be a matter of great debate. BMW is saying you ought to get 80 to 90 miles on the full battery, but users say that is optimistic and in any event will be reduced by the extent to which you are less than a perfect eco driver (i.e, you like to drive fast, you like to use the heater, you are driving up big hills a lot, etc., etc.).
Once the REx's motorcycle motor does kick in, it is apparently only able to keep the battery at the 5% charge level, not recharge it past that. The additional range you get from the REx is estimated by BMW to be about 80 miles to 90 miles (by US law it has to be no more than the range from the battery alone). And that again will depend on how much you are drawing on the electricity to do tax in things like going up big hills, driving fast, heating the seats, etc.
So to do a 200 mile drive from SF to Tahoe or Tahoe to SF, under the best of conditions you would need to be sure the car was 100% charged before you left and that the REx's gas tank was totally full, and then you would still need to refill the gas once along the way. Which could be done at a gas station, or could be done from a small gas can that you keep in the rear of the car (if you're brave enough to do that.)
In any event. it's totally doable -- and will cost you less than it would in an ICE vehicle. Might save you more than enough to pay for lift tickets and more. |
Not sure where you came up with that; it is totally inaccurate. There is no such law. Case in point, the Chevrolet Volt: 40 mile battery range 300 mile gas generator range. i3 REX system is designed to get the back home when the battery is depleted.
OP, if you want a plug-in EV with gas generator range extension to get you to Tahoe, the Chevrolet Volt is the ideal car for your needs, the BMW i3 is not. If you have badge anxiety driving a Chevy, wait until the Cadillac ELR comes out in a few months. Or a Tesla (you'll have to charge it when you get to Tahoe so you can get back to SF).