[Anton Mas81]

Hi, i just bought bmw i8 2017. i am not sure if something is wrong with my battery or the car is like this. i went on sport mode for 9 miles the battery charged from 3% to 68%. the battery showed 6 miles on the right of the battery in blue. i went on comfort mode for 4 miles mostly 30 miles per hour and the battery shows 2 miles left and 30% of battery so it used 4 miles. i thought it will use 4 miles on only e drive mode not comfort mode or i am wrong. also i charged the battery home for 3.5 hours and the battery was full showing only 10 miles on the right blue usage of battery. then i went on comfort mode for about 8 to 10 miles and the battery drained again to almost 0. i drove about 30 miles an hour. i ask bmw dealer and they could not say nothing only if i want to check the battery it will cost me 170 pounds. any recomendation if i need to do the battery check. thanks

[F5506m]

This should give you all the information you need.

[billy.gif]

Dear Sire,

Thanks for contacting the world's largest BMW owners forum

The "EV range" is hugely impacted by outside temps, driving environment (highways vs B-roads vs city) and your driving style. Smaller the battery back (plug-in hybrids), more noticeable is the range fluctuation. These all affect much, much more than with petrol engine cars. For example how cold its in the UK now?


1. Colder winter temps = battery is drained faster than during spring / fall. Especially cabin heating will drain battery but also during summer AC will drain up to 2-3 miles of real life range. The best EV range is generally achieved during spring or fall when AC is OFF (use normal HVAC w/o AC), car is in ECO PRO -mode and outside temps are something like 10-15C or 50-60F.

Mine is 2014 model and I can achieve over 30km / 18 miles on pure electric range when driving 60-80kph limited country roads, Eco Pro -mode enabled and using HVAC w/o AC. But like I said, the range is hugely affected for example speeds, your driving style and traffic environment etc. I paid 300 euros for the official BMW "battery back test" and got figure of 98%. 10 year old vehicle with 85k km or 53k miles on the odometer.

2. Keep the car plugged in your home charger and use cabin preheating / precooling option via BMW app. This will significantly impact your EV range. With out it the cabin heating (cold morning starts) really drains the battery pack. If you do not have home charger, then you'll get much less EV range no matter the time of the year, sir.

3. The "estimated range" is calculated by the ECU. It shows less range when battery has been heavily used (cabin heating etc) and it takes into account last few "driving sessions" when showing expected range. Kind of MPG in city vs country roads.


With any BMW in general the Comfort Mode is basically similar to Eco Pro -mode only major difference being that in Eco Pro -mode the car will use HVAC / AC / heating system in more ... how to say it, in more "restrict manner". Also shift points are lower (when driving with petrol engine) and the accelerator pedal is tad more lenient.

If the cabin will not "fog up", just use Eco Pro -mode when daily commuting, especially if you want to extend the EV range or your MPG.

[Anton Mas81]

thanks Billy,

i have not understood. if i go on comfort mode in town going no more then 60 km/h will it drain the battery the same if you go on fully electric mode in town?

[Anton Mas81]

i am not using ac or any seat heater or anything else

[billy.gif]

Originally Posted by Anton Mas81

thanks Billy,

i have not understood. if i go on comfort mode in town going no more then 60 km/h will it drain the battery the same if you go on fully electric mode in town?

Hello Sire,

If you're driving 60 km/h in town the car will probably use petrol engine when accelerating from traffic lights etc. so you may reach your destination with some EV-battery still unused. Depends the distance and your driving style. If you're going for lets say lunch, 10 km of city driving, put the car into "Full EV mode" (the button below START button). Then it will not start the petrol engine even under accelerations. With "Full EV mode" the car will accelerate 0-60 mph around 9 sec so its not slow either, but hard accelerations ... once again, they eat your electrical range rather fast.


The Comfort Mode will eat up EV-battery faster no matter if you put the car into the "Full EV mode" or if you use the hybrid mode, where car decides how it uses the EV-battery.

The Eco Pro Mode will consume less EV-battery and less fuel, no matter what speeds you're using. Eco Pro will limit the HVAC (among other things) so in rainy weather the windows may start to ... "fog up".


In general the most efficient way to use any plug in car at "daily basis" is as follows:

-Don't charge the EV-battery with your petrol engine (Sport-mode), this is no good for overall MPG.
-Charge the car at home / work / during errands.
-Use the cabin preheating / -cooling feature.
-Put it Full EV mode every time you know that you have errands to run which are well inside the predicted EV range.

Bonus:

-IF you're going on a longer journey, use the Sat Nav. Then the car will use your battery pack in most efficient way as it knows where you're heading, what route you're taking etc. It will use battery for example uphills and charge it back up at downhills, slowing to roundabouts etc. I personally use this feature all the time, even when driving to destinations where I know the route.

This is true with all plugin hybrids and full EV cars, no matter the brand: Always use Sat Nav if you want to reach your destination in most efficient way.

If there's any other way I may assist you, please just ask!
Happy motoring with your new i8!

[billy.gif]

Originally Posted by Anton Mas81

i am not using ac or any seat heater or anything else

If you want to test your battery back in "layman way" please drive to charging station, charge the car up to 100%, put the car into "Full EV mode" (the button under Start button) and then choose "Eco Pro"-mode, reset the trip o meter and drive until car will start petrol engine.

Please report to us the outside temperature, driving environment (city, suburbs, B-roads, rush hour etc) and your personal driving style.

With PRE-LCI -model (2014-2017):

-IF the EV-battery is OK the car should, I mean should have range of at least 15-20km (10-13 miles) in UK's spring weather of ... 8-10 C? And with moderate driving, not "race starts"

-IF the EV-batteries are in top nick, under perfect circumstances and with driver with experience of hybrid drive drain etc. Then the achievable real world range may be up 30 km / 18 miles. But to achieve this out of your i8 you basically need flowing country or "B-roads" with 60-80km/h speed limits and energy efficient driving style, no traffic lights, no roundabouts.

With LCI -model (2018-2020):

-With bigger battery pack (11,2kWh versus 7,1kWh) and more powerful EV-motor i8 is able to achieve over 50km range with one charge. Yet again, its depends very much with speed, driving environment, driving style, weather etc.

[tarmo]

Note: my 2018 i8 needs 5 last VIN digits sum. (To reassure: after couple of tries with wrong sum it did not lock up so don't worry )

[Orange fever]

If you drive the car like a racecar, then you will see the e mode go down very fast....
Try to drive the car normal and don't punch it for couple of days... And you will see the charge go back to 16-18 at full charge///