[Maybei8]

I'm just trying to make sure I've understood the drivetrain behaviour.

Taking the scenario of a 100 mile trip, and ignoring the hold charge function:

1. Fully EV mode
The first approx. 20 miles will be on fully electric. The car will then switch on the petrol engine and comfort mode. The engine won't charge the battery, but a small amount of charging will occur via regenerative braking and downhill coasting. The remaining 80 miles will be mostly via the petrol engine, therefore the resulting good MPG figure for the entire 100 mile trip will be mainly because the first 20 miles were 'free'. I'll end the journey with a near flat battery.

2. Comfort mode
Here the car will attempt to use the electric motor as much as possible, but the petrol motor will come in when needed. Once again the battery will last approx. 20 miles, at which point it'll mainly be the petrol engine providing motion. Again the battery will not significantly charge over the next 80 miles meaning by the end of the journey I'll have an almost empty battery.

3. Sport mode
I think I understand this one. Petrol engine and electric motor run all the time. Battery is constantly charged buy the engine. I'll complete the journey with a full battery and the worst MPG.

Is my understanding right?

[MichaelJohn]

I’ll give my two cents on number 3.

Sport mode will not fully charge the battery. Yesterday I finished a 45 mile drive and drove the last 10-15 miles in sport mode to see how much it would charge. When I got home the battery range was 11 miles. When I plugged it in the gauge said I had a maximum of 16 miles range so I got a 2/3 charge on the battery in sport.

Edit: when I checked this morning the range was 15 miles so I did get about a 75% charge in sport.

I am sure that this has been discussed before but being a new owner I would like to hear others’ experience with this.

[vance]

Sport mode sends a small amount of passive charge to the battery at all times and also charges the battery with thrust and regenerative braking, however, the state of charge from sport mode recharging maxes out at 75% (3 out of 4 blue bars). The i8 is my daily driver and I commute about 25 miles to work each day. The first 5-8 miles usually have traffic so I use full EV mode, then switch to sport mode for the remainder. By the time I get there, the battery goes from 25-40% charge (after the first several miles) back to the max of 75%. The only way to get the battery over 75% back to 100% is to plug in.

[Maybei8]

Interesting stuff!
So sport mode only gets you to 75%....good to know. Hopefully someone can shed some light on options 1 & 2 too.

[Aye-eight]

How your scenario #2 plays out depends on the type of driving you’re doing. In comfort mode, the e motor will only run up to 60 km/h. So, if you’re doing 100 miles on the highway, your battery will be close to full at the end, your fuel economy will suffer, but will be better than in sports mode due to the less agressive engine setup. Remember, you only have a 1.3 liter in a light and aerodynamic car. Fuel economy is generally quite good.

If your 100 mile trip is on back roads and through towns, it will look more like what you described above.

[Maybei8]

So the long and short of it is, you can't pottle around in comfort mode only. At some stage you'll exhaust the battery and will either have to charge the car or run in sport mode, otherwise you're running on engine only meaning 231 BHP?

[ImGoingPlaces]

I've also noticed that when I'm driving in comfort mode, the amount of battery miles available is not accurate, it will tell me I have 7 miles left and then go to zero after only 2 miles of driving

[FrequentFlyer]

Originally Posted by Maybei8

So the long and short of it is, you can't pottle around in comfort mode only. At some stage you'll exhaust the battery and will either have to charge the car or run in sport mode, otherwise you're running on engine only meaning 231 BHP?

Even in comfort mode the car will charge an empty battery to give you some boost potential but only until the battery is up to 10% charge. You can get some energy back by recuperation but honestly unless you put it in sport mode you are not going to build up miles of EV range.

The car is pretty smart in hybrid mode - there is 231bhp petrol plus 132bhp electric boost available except under the most extreme circumstances (such as racing it round a track). EV range is more difficult to earn back once it has gone down to 1 mile unless you go to sport mode.

If you want performance then keep it in sport and it will give you about 30mpg. If you are in less of a hurry then keep it in comfort and you should get about 40-50mpg but if you call for it then the full power is still there. Eco Pro will blunt the performance and the extra economy is not breathtaking compared to comfort mode. The energy recuperation is much more aggressive in Sport Mode than Eco Pro mode.

On short journeys of under 20 miles you should see between 60 and 100mpg when in hybrid mode on a fully charged battery. I have seen over 100mpg on a couple of 20 mile runs in Eco Pro mode.

[Maybei8]

So do most owners charge their cars regularly from home/work?

[Maxxsirrah]

Originally Posted by Maybei8

So do most owners charge their cars regularly from home/work?

Yes, whenever possible. Most of my journeys start with a full charge.

[Mr.SugarSkulls]

Originally Posted by Maybei8

So do most owners charge their cars regularly from home/work?

Rarely, if ever.

I'd let mine charge on sport mode.

[FrequentFlyer]

Charge at home overnight if I know I will be using it the next day (preconditioning benefit as well as mpg) otherwise happy to let it sit at partial charge. When I first got it I would look for charging points when out and about but don’t bother these days.

If you are really into details then you should look up the battery chemistry and this will say that having it fully charged at all times is not great for long term capacity. However this is theory and with an 8 year battery warranty most people are not concerned and those using sport mode which caps the charge at 75% are hitting the spot!

People with battery capacity worries tend to be the pure EV drivers where the range hit is more significant.

[NGR]

There's another mode just to complicate things
You can set "Hold Charge" option, which when in comfort mode, will basically use the gas engine more often for propulsion and minimise e-drive, keeping the battery better charged via regen coasting and braking. It will still cut the gas engine when stopped and use e-drive for slow moving in sop/start traffic.

I find this a good way to get the gas engine fired up more often in order to warm-up at the start of my drive, ready for a good thrashing later. The first few miles from my house are downhill so the gas engine doesn't usually want to engage. Light driving in sport mode would do something similar but worse fuel consumption.

It took about a year to get used to all of the modes on this car (admittedly only about 4000 miles)!

[JasH]

Originally Posted by FrequentFlyer

up the battery chemistry and this will say that having it fully charged at all times is not great for long term capacity.

Not an issue on i3 and i8.

BMWi set the system such that the battery never normally goes to either extreme (100% full or 0%). There is reserve at both ends of the range.

Tesla on the other hand do charge to 100%, and I think also deplete to near 0%.

[Sophisto]

To mode no. 1:
In edrive mode the electric engine is using the first gear of its transmission.

All other modes are only using the second gear.

[iHyperMiler]

My alternate fuel saving zippy cruise mode is sport mode put manually in 6th gear. If starting from a full charge, consumption and noise is similar to comfort mode. Not a good idea for potholed B roads, though.