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      06-26-2017, 10:27 PM   #1
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Will the i3 make my commute easier?

In my long search for a good DD to reduce wear and tear on my F80, I've come across a good deal on an i3 with Range Extender. My commute is 80+ miles round trip. I don't have a fast charger at home, nor a charger at my current office location, so I assume it will take 18hrs for a full charge, but I'll only have 10-13 hrs to charge at home at 110v.

Assuming it's stop and go traffic 40 miles to work, and cruising at 70mph+ coming home, with only a 10-13hr charge, how often will the range extender kick in, and how often do you think I will have to fill the tank? Keep in mind that I WILL be using the AC, it gets hot here and I can't stand it.

Will I have a problem going to work 3-4 days a week with the i3?

Another option is swapping my car daily to allow the i3 to fully charge.
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      06-26-2017, 11:44 PM   #2
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You could also stop off at a DC Fast charging station for 30mins which will get you close enough to full that you can charge to full using the 120v charger at home.
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      06-27-2017, 12:12 AM   #3
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I do a similar distance commute though less pressure on the air conditioning. If traffic is slow I can even make it return on just battery... if I need a full charge for the next day I go to a local level 2 station for an hour in the evening and charge while I do groceries/gym/reading this forum/whatever. It's enough that my home regular outlet will get to 100% overnight.
Worst case scenario I would be filling the Rex once every 10 days. Reality though it's about once per month for just commute.
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      06-27-2017, 10:03 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by note46 View Post
You could also stop off at a DC Fast charging station for 30mins which will get you close enough to full that you can charge to full using the 120v charger at home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by reductase View Post
I do a similar distance commute though less pressure on the air conditioning. If traffic is slow I can even make it return on just battery... if I need a full charge for the next day I go to a local level 2 station for an hour in the evening and charge while I do groceries/gym/reading this forum/whatever. It's enough that my home regular outlet will get to 100% overnight.
Worst case scenario I would be filling the Rex once every 10 days. Reality though it's about once per month for just commute.
Thanks for the replies. Theoretically, let's as I have an emergency situation and the i3 isn't charged. Could I still use the car as long as there is gas on it? In other words, will the range extender charge the batteries enough to continuously run so long as I keep filling it with gas? Assuming that the battery is low enough for it to kick in, what is the additional range for a full tank of gas?
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      06-27-2017, 12:27 PM   #5
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I do 125 miles round trip on my commute daily and I am fine. I use the rex when I'm late and can't stop to use the fast charger with no problem. The rex will keep you going until it's out of gas. If you get the 2017+, the battery is better and will get you 110 miles on a full charge, so you probably will never need the rex. All you need is a home charger and you're good to go. EVGO fast charger is all over SoCal, no need to worry about being out of juice.

The rex has a 2.5 gallon tank and will get you around 80 miles or so.
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      06-27-2017, 06:39 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmg View Post
In my long search for a good DD to reduce wear and tear on my F80, I've come across a good deal on an i3 with Range Extender.
Welcome to the Mi3 club!


Quote:
Originally Posted by jmg View Post
My commute is 80+ miles round trip. I don't have a fast charger at home, nor a charger at my current office location, so I assume it will take 18hrs for a full charge, but I'll only have 10-13 hrs to charge at home at 110v.
You will end up buying and installing an L2 (240V) charger at home, or you wont be able to use your EV (i3 or another one) as desired.

L2 chargers can be found for $300-500, and if you have an electric dryer plug in the house (all post-50s houses do), it will plug right in, for free.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmg View Post
Assuming it's stop and go traffic 40 miles to work, and cruising at 70mph+ coming home, with only a 10-13hr charge, how often will the range extender kick in, and how often do you think I will have to fill the tank? Keep in mind that I WILL be using the AC, it gets hot here and I can't stand it.
At highway speeds, with full AC ON, your highway EV range will drop by ~25% from the stated 80 miles. I would plan on having ~60 miles range, the rest on REX, using ~ 1/4 of the tank.

If it's your first EV, I understand REX appeal (BTDT myself).
If you think it through, you will be much better off with a BEV i3 that has full 114 mile range (86 miles on highway) to take you home on batteries alone.

With that much driving (80 miles / day) * (4 days/week, on average) * (50 work weeks) = 16K miles/year.
At Cali $3.50/gallon, that's $2.8K of gas savings / year (at M3's stop-go 20 mpg), or $233 / month.

Your i3 BEV lease will cost not much more than that!

*free car* !



Quote:
Originally Posted by jmg View Post
Will I have a problem going to work 3-4 days a week with the i3?

Another option is swapping my car daily to allow the i3 to fully charge.
That's just nuts - buy an L2 charger, and enjoy!
Any other arrangement will be an inconvenience at best, and a waste of time and source of endless frustration at worst.

We know you can do it.



Quote:
Originally Posted by jmg View Post
Theoretically, let's as I have an emergency situation and the i3 isn't charged. Could I still use the car as long as there is gas on it? In other words, will the range extender charge the batteries enough to continuously run so long as I keep filling it with gas? Assuming that the battery is low enough for it to kick in, what is the additional range for a full tank of gas?
By default, REX kicks in at 6% battery remaining charge level, and runs to keep it constantly charged upto 6%. You can code the car to manually turn it on at any other level below 75%. Many people did that, including myself, to buy flexibility on longer drive to use-up gas first, and hunt for the gas station later (then refuel the empty gas tank, and keep going).

With the full 2.4 gallon gas tank and 34 MPG, REX will keep going for ~81.6 miles under ideal circumstances. BMW claims exactly 80 miles, so make that ~60 at highway speeds with AC ON.

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      06-27-2017, 07:14 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by afadeev View Post
Welcome to the Mi3 club!


Quote:
Originally Posted by afadeev View Post
You will end up buying and installing an L2 (240V) charger at home, or you wont be able to use your EV (i3 or another one) as desired.

L2 chargers can be found for $300-500, and if you have an electric dryer plug in the house (all post-50s houses do), it will plug right in, for free.
I have a separate breaker in my garage (detached), so it might be fairly cheap to get a 240V installed, if I don't already have one. I'll have to check.

Quote:
Originally Posted by afadeev View Post
At highway speeds, with full AC ON, your highway EV range will drop by ~25% from the stated 80 miles. I would plan on having ~60 miles range, the rest on REX, using ~ 1/4 of the tank.

If it's your first EV, I understand REX appeal (BTDT myself).
If you think it through, you will be much better off with a BEV i3 that has full 114 mile range (86 miles on highway) to take you home on batteries alone.

With that much driving (80 miles / day) * (4 days/week, on average) * (50 work weeks) = 16K miles/year.
At Cali $3.50/gallon, that's $2.8K of gas savings / year (at M3's stop-go 20 mpg), or $233 / month.

Your i3 BEV lease will cost not much more than that!

*free car* !
86 highway is cutting it way too close! I'd rather have the additional security cushion of the REx. BTW this is for a 2015 i3. Its rated at 72 miles + 75 from the REx, is that accurate? According to this: http://www.caranddriver.com/bmw/i3

But it's the 2014 i3.



Quote:
Originally Posted by afadeev View Post
By default, REX kicks in at 6% battery remaining charge level, and runs to keep it constantly charged upto 6%. You can code the car to manually turn it on at any other level below 75%. Many people did that, including myself, to buy flexibility on longer drive to use-up gas first, and hunt for the gas station later (then refuel the empty gas tank, and keep going).
That sounds promising. After coding, do you manually turn it on through idrive?

Quote:
Originally Posted by afadeev View Post
With the full 2.4 gallon gas tank and 34 MPG, REX will keep going for ~81.6 miles under ideal circumstances.
That's with coding right?
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      06-28-2017, 02:27 AM   #8
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What are you after fuel savings or the latest technology and having some fun. I differently wouldn't buy an EV/i3 just for their fuel savings.
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Last edited by Kiwi; 07-05-2017 at 02:41 AM..
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      06-28-2017, 03:59 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmg View Post
I'd rather have the additional security cushion of the REx. BTW this is for a 2015 i3. Its rated at 72 miles + 75 from the REx, is that accurate? According to this: http://www.caranddriver.com/bmw/i3

But it's the 2014 i3.
That's exactly the car I parted with earlier this year (MY'14 REX) in favor of my current EV (MY'17 BEV)!

BMW mileage estimate is accurate, and misleading at the same time.
It's a good average, in as much as an average American family has 2.4 kids. You will hardly ever see that number in real life, both in family size and REX mileage.

On the highway, you will see a significant mileage drop of ~25%. Roughly the same penalty for sub freezing weather (you won't see that).
On the other hand, you can stretch out that mileage on the back roads to somewhere north of 100 mile mark, before REX kicks in. So figure a potential for +39% upside if you one-pedal drive, stay below 50 mph, and accelerate like a grandma on the way to a funeral.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmg View Post
That sounds promising. After coding, do you manually turn it on through idrive?

That's with coding right?
Yes, and yes.

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      06-28-2017, 05:45 PM   #10
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Going to test drive the car this weekend. Hopefully it all works out!
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      07-04-2017, 11:56 AM   #11
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Join us in the F80/i3 club!
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      07-04-2017, 01:50 PM   #12
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Join us in the F80/i3 club!
I think I will be!
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      07-05-2017, 01:59 PM   #13
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I think I will be!
Try to find one with Active Cruise control. That will make the commute more bearable and you can relax a little bit.
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      07-05-2017, 04:58 PM   #14
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Try to find one with Active Cruise control. That will make the commute more bearable and you can relax a little bit.
Yup, it has it, thanks!
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      07-05-2017, 05:26 PM   #15
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Yup, it has it, thanks!
Last word of caution, just make sure it has all the latest software updates and that when you're driving into the sun, be aware that it can blind the camera and it may not stop/slow down in time...ask me how I know hahah
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      07-05-2017, 07:55 PM   #16
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Last word of caution, just make sure it has all the latest software updates and that when you're driving into the sun, be aware that it can blind the camera and it may not stop/slow down in time...ask me how I know hahah


Hmm... I'll be sending it to the dealer before I code it as well.
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