[jonathanthehornet]

When you're driving in comfort mode and the electric battery level runs out and the electric range becomes zero, at that point are you essentially stuck driving from the traditional rear 1.5 litre petrol engine until you either get home and recharge or put it in sport mode to recharge? Sport mode is obviously a much harder drive, and it isn't always preferable to 'have to' put it in Sport mode, if you're in the city in traffic etc.

Only got my i8 yesterday, so apologies for the basic question.

[Maxxsirrah]

No, comfort mode or eco pro mode will automatically kick the engine in too if the battery level gets too low.

[skinrock]

I don't think you can run out in Comfort mode. eDrive is the only mode that purely uses the battery. Comfort still uses the ICE, but is obviously much more geared towards efficiency.

[jonathanthehornet]

But right now my battery is empty and I have no way of charging it right now, so if I get in the car and put it in comfort mode, then as there's no battery / electric range available won't it ONLY be using the 1.5 litre petrol engine? Sorry if I'm not making myself clear or if I'm missing something.

[MrRob]

Originally Posted by jonathanthehornet

But right now my battery is empty and I have no way of charging it right now, so if I get in the car and put it in comfort mode, then as there's no battery / electric range available won't it ONLY be using the 1.5 litre petrol engine? Sorry if I'm not making myself clear or if I'm missing something.

Correct. If you have 0% battery and you drive in Comfort you will be using only the ICE to drive the rear wheels. In Comfort, as I understand it, the ICE will not charge the battery. The only way the battery would regain any capacity in Comfort is if you had a lot of regenerative energy going back into the system (e.g. braking for long periods of time) but this would be minimal.

If you shift to sport mode then you will still only be rear wheel drive from the ICE but also charging the battery additionally. Once you have some charge in the battery then you have 4 wheel drive again.

[jonathanthehornet]

Originally Posted by MrRob

Correct. If you have 0% battery and you drive in Comfort you will be using only the ICE to drive the rear wheels. In Comfort, as I understand it, the ICE will not charge the battery. The only way the battery would regain any capacity in Comfort is if you had a lot of regenerative energy going back into the system (e.g. braking for long periods of time) but this would be minimal.

If you shift to sport mode then you will still only be rear wheel drive from the ICE but also charging the battery additionally. Once you have some charge in the battery then you have 4 wheel drive again.

GOTCHA thanks for the explanation

So when you often hear people with i8 say they NEVER charge it, they must be utilising SPORT mode a lot to keep the battery charged, or otherwise they're just driving around using the 1.5 internal combustion engine, which seems a bit odd.

[MrRob]

Originally Posted by jonathanthehornet

GOTCHA thanks for the explanation

So when you often hear people with i8 say they NEVER charge it, they must be utilising SPORT mode a lot to keep the battery charged, or otherwise they're just driving around using the 1.5 internal combustion engine, which seems a bit odd.

Yep. I charge at work but always use sport mode on my journey home to minimise the charging I have to do at home (call me tight). Sport mode will only charge to 75%-80% (I forget the exact figure) you have to plug in to get the last bit.

[jonathanthehornet]

Originally Posted by MrRob

Yep. I charge at work but always use sport mode on my journey home to minimise the charging I have to do at home (call me tight). Sport mode will only charge to 75%-80% (I forget the exact figure) you have to plug in to get the last bit.

Cheers.

Have you tried using a charger at a services or supermarket yet, I haven't. I assume they are more powerful but someone told me that the i8 will still only support the lower charging rate, so it would take the same amount of time as a standard home charge (3 hours) to fully charge whether it's a more powerful public charger or not. Is that your experience too? 🤔

[MrRob]

Originally Posted by jonathanthehornet

Cheers.

Have you tried using a charger at a services or supermarket yet, I haven't. I assume they are more powerful but someone told me that the i8 will still only support the lower charging rate, so it would take the same amount of time as a standard home charge (3 hours) to fully charge whether it's a more powerful public charger or not. Is that your experience too? ��

I have a 32A charger installed at home but i8 will charge at maximum 16A only even when plugged to a 32A capable charger. The 13A 3 pin charger supplied with the car will charge at maximum 10A I believe. There is a small difference between using the 3 pin charger and the dedicated 32A charger but it is not that great - mostly because the charge rate is automatically reduced as the battery reaches full charge so if you are only ever charging from 75% to 100% then I doubt you would see any noticeable difference as the charge rate for both chargers would likely be less than 10A.

I only opted for the 32A charger to future-proof myself due to available grants at the time.

[zagaboo]

Re: 'If you shift to sport mode then you will still only be rear wheel drive from the ICE but also charging the battery additionally. Once you have some charge in the battery then you have 4 wheel drive again'.

Don't think this statement is correct. Sport mode engages front wheels instantaneously AND charges the battery, as the engine (in sport mode) generates more than enough to feed both the battery and the motors.

So when you are at zero battery, you either drive in comfort and have the engine constantly kicking in and out - a bit uncouth in slow city traffic, or put it in sport - still uncouth in slow city traffic. Therefore best to plan ahead and charge accordingly ;-)

[MrRob]

Originally Posted by zagaboo

Re: 'If you shift to sport mode then you will still only be rear wheel drive from the ICE but also charging the battery additionally. Once you have some charge in the battery then you have 4 wheel drive again'.

Don't think this statement is correct. Sport mode engages front wheels instantaneously AND charges the battery, as the engine (in sport mode) generates more than enough to feed both the battery and the motors.

So when you are at zero battery, you either drive in comfort and have the engine constantly kicking in and out - a bit uncouth in slow city traffic, or put it in sport - still uncouth in slow city traffic. Therefore best to plan ahead and charge accordingly ;-)

Not sure I entirely agree with this. There were some track tests where they ran the battery to zero even though in sport mode and then found lap times were significantly slower as the ICE is now providing all of the power.

It is not fair to say that the engine has enough power to feed the battery and motors. The ICE is 231hp and the electric motor approx. 130hp. That means if the ICE is providing 130hp via the front wheels (whether directly or indirectly via charging the battery) then you only have 100hp for the rear wheels.

Therefore if you drive in a situation with the battery depleted and drive in a manner that requires more than 230 hp then you will not charge the battery or you will have reduced power available to the rear wheels.

[NGR]

Interesting discussion.

First thing on the original question, tick the box for "Hold Charge", this will use the ICE to charge the battery but at a reduced rate compared to sports.

Secondly, will you have front-drive e-power with a range of "0"? I think so. When the battery range shows "0", it does still have some capacity (I think it's really 40% actual capacity). I believe this is to reduce battery wear and also ensures you have 4-wheel drive. The power output from the front axle is reduced but the ICE should be helping by feeding some juice to the battery/motor.

Thirdly, using "sport" mode to charge the battery is an expensive way to do it based on European prices for petrol/gasoline!! Much cheaper to plug it in at every opportunity.

[zagaboo]

Agree with NGR. You don't get 'Full Beans' but pretty sure you do get 4wd in Sport at 0% battery. 'Spare' capacity in the battery a good, possible explanation!

[Louv]

Originally Posted by MrRob

I have a 32A charger installed at home but i8 will charge at maximum 16A only even when plugged to a 32A capable charger. The 13A 3 pin charger supplied with the car will charge at maximum 10A I believe. There is a small difference between using the 3 pin charger and the dedicated 32A charger but it is not that great - mostly because the charge rate is automatically reduced as the battery reaches full charge so if you are only ever charging from 75% to 100% then I doubt you would see any noticeable difference as the charge rate for both chargers would likely be less than 10A.

I only opted for the 32A charger to future-proof myself due to available grants at the time.

The speed at which the batteries are charged is (mainly) determined by two things:
- The car's Charger (that's the electronics inside the car that control how much power to put into the batteries at various states of charge)
- The Charging Station (that's the electronics outside the car)

For example, the i8's Charger has only half the capacity of the i3's charger. Since the i8 has a smaller battery, it didn't make sense to put a more expensive, heavier charger into the car.

It doesn't matter if your Charging Station is 32A, 40A, or 80A if the car's charger won't make use of any more than 16A.

Think of like the Charger as a 60W Light Bulb. It won't use more any more power connected to a 15Amp Circuit Breaker than if it were connected to a 40Amp Circuit Breaker.

[NGR]

Originally Posted by zagaboo

Agree with NGR. You don't get 'Full Beans' but pretty sure you do get 4wd in Sport at 0% battery. 'Spare' capacity in the battery a good, possible explanation!

I'm not 100% up to date on how things work but I know the car definitely keeps some battery in reserve. Partly it is so that the battery never gets stressed during normal use and enables BMW to offer an eight year/100k mile warranty.

Lithium batteries basically wear out quicker if you discharge and charge them fully so the car tells you it's 0% or 100% when it reality it's more like 40% and 90% - it is lying to you! The Battery will still wear out (but slower) and the computer I presume will allow more of the 'hidden' capacity to be used hiding the fact that it's wearing out!
Plus it can dip into reserve when you're at "0%", run the aircon/heater etc... - it won't give you the full beans on the front axle to avoid stress on the battery.

I once drove mine in electric only, got the range down to "0", then to "-", the computer said 0% battery and the ICE fired up but very much reduced power from the ICE to the rear wheels (if any) it could have still been front wheel drive with the ICE feeding the battery only. I imagine this is how the i3 REX feels when you've gone flat.

[Dexterfang]

I have "hold state of charge" set to button 2 on the assignable button array. If I see the charge getting below, say, 5 miles, I'll hit 2 and then engine ensures I've always got at least a little bit of juice in the battery. Enough to get me through most stop/start traffic.

Also, I don't live in a city so I'm luckily never that far away from an opportunity to blat the car in sport mode for a bit to get the charge up, which it seems to do relatively quickly.

I've also found that freewheeling down hill in purely electric mode charges the battery quite well. I'll get am extra mile or two that way without covering much distance, it seems to be to do with speed from what I've experienced.

[MalibuBimmer]

In the U.S. the battery is 7.1 kWh but we can only access 5.2 kWh. When the battery has 1.9 kWh left we are told it has 0 and the ICE starts. So here when the battery reads empty we still have an inaccessible 25%+ charge. While I suspect it's the same WW I cannot be sure.

When the i8 was first being advertised, BMW was claiming it could go over 25 miles on electric power alone on one charge. Of course, that's because someone in the advertising department was multiplying usage by the total capacity of the battery, not the usable capacity. BMW quietly changed the advertising, but not before a lot of people (including yours truly) had put in our orders.

The most I've ever gotten from the battery alone is 21.7 miles. Twice. I drove as if there was a raw egg between my shoe and the accelerator pedal, slowly crept up to the speed limits and tried to avoid red lights and stop signs. With the windows closed and no air con. No fun.

[zagaboo]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

In the U.S. the battery is 7.1 kWh but we can only access 5.2 kWh. When the battery has 1.9 kWh left we are told it has 0 and the ICE starts. So here when the battery reads empty we still have an inaccessible 25%+ charge. While I suspect it's the same WW I cannot be sure.

When the i8 was first being advertised, BMW was claiming it could go over 25 miles on electric power alone on one charge. Of course, that's because someone in the advertising department was multiplying usage by the total capacity of the battery, not the usable capacity. BMW quietly changed the advertising, but not before a lot of people (including yours truly) had put in our orders.

The most I've ever gotten from the battery alone is 21.7 miles. Twice. I drove as if there was a raw egg between my shoe and the accelerator pedal, slowly crept up to the speed limits and tried to avoid red lights and stop signs. With the windows closed and no air con. No fun.

Lol. Repeat the test but try get the WORST range. Much more fun!

[Nivarox]

I like Comfort Mode more than Sport Mode .When I run out of electric power , I don't shout powwweeererrrr to get them to recharge .I just keep driving in Comfort Mode because Boost is still available if needed some extra thrust .
Sport Mode is quickly charging but it's not the most efficient way of topping up the batteries when they're empty at all