[ReturnZero]

I read that the i3 has LED Headlights instead of Xenon. Are they the adaptive LED headlights like what's on the 3 and 5 when you get LED? Do they turn and move around, or is it a different system?

[jordan.egan44]

I can't tell you exactly, but I noticed they are not like cornering lights, so they don't turn when you turn the steering wheel.

They are a different colour to xenon, though. I personally really like it - sort of a purplish dark blue.

[tiburonh]

Originally Posted by ReturnZero

I read that the i3 has LED Headlights instead of Xenon. Are they the adaptive LED headlights like what's on the 3 and 5 when you get LED? Do they turn and move around, or is it a different system?

I was all excited about having LED headlights, only to discover once I took delivery of my car that only the low beams are LED. The high beams (which are located BELOW the low beam lights, in a space that one would normally assume is actually for fog lights) are just halogen. And not even a normal halogen color at that.

There are problems with this approach. Among those problems are the following:

1. The high beams have a completely different color profile (warmer, more old school) from the low beams, so it almost looks like a mistake when you turn on your high beams.

2. The high beams (to this observer's unscientific eye) provide less brightness than the low beams. Which seems totally counterproductive. And less safe.

[jadnashuanh]

There are other halogen bulbs you can put into the high beams to closer approximate the color temperature of the LED's. I'd be careful of using a higher wattage bulb, though. Not sure if there's room enough for xenons and their ballast, but, in theory, you could get more light with lower power. Hassle is, turning them on/off all of the time isn't very good for their long-term survival, not counting the start and warm-up delay.

[ReturnZero]

Interesting, I wonder if this is a cost cutting measure? Seems like putting in halogen bulbs would waste more electricity than having LED high beams.

Are the LED low beams in a projector, or is it like the newer BMW where the "angel eyes" are the headlights?

[jadnashuanh]

The low beams have a very distinctive beam, and aren't just a simple reflector.

Being a car primarily designed for use in a city, not sure how much you'd actually be using high beams, which may have played into their thoughts on what to use there.

[JasH]

I suspect cost saving. I wonder what BMW did in the i8 lights. Anyone know?

[GeorgeJ.]

Originally Posted by JasH

I suspect cost saving. I wonder what BMW did in the i8 lights. Anyone know?

Laser headlights (optional).

[JasH]

Originally Posted by GeorgeJ.

Laser headlights (optional).

I meant the standard lights, which are LED.

Just wondering whether they did some trickery with full/dipped beams, like on the i3 LED lights.

(Laser headlights are £8,000 and main beam only. Dipped is still LED.)

[JasH]

Answered my own question. Per BMW website for i8:


"All lighting elements are completely in LED and low-beam and high-beam are widely spaced."

[Xeins]

If led lights are energetic more Eficiente than halogen why this strange mixture for the i3? Definitely it's not very hi tech as an electric car from bmw should be?

[jadnashuanh]

An LED headlight bulb is in the order of 10x more expensive than the H11 halogen. Considering how often you can use your high beams in a city, it may be a fair compromise. You can retrofit LED bulbs, but with their attached heatsinks and you'd probably need a load resister to keep the monitoring circuit from saying the bulb is bad, it could be tough, since the load resistor typically needs to be mounted on metal to act as a heat sink for it, and there isn't really much of any nearby.

[Kevin_Genius@BMWMtLaurel]

i8's have LED low and high beams and LED cornering lights as well. No laser headlights for the USDM (yet, I've heard some good things for next year but time will tell on this one)

[x5love]

how can the i3 not include cornering lights?

BMW's been a pioneer in this technology for at least a decade.

[jadnashuanh]

Street lights are common in a city...corners aren't a huge issue.

[JasH]

....that...and cost cutting.

It can't be easy to make a city car from aluminium and carbon fibre, and sell it at a relatively low price whilst making some profit.

So, I imagine BMW cut every non essential item they could, and then made it so customers would specify a lot of options - all at a healthy margin.

I don't blame them. The carbon fibre and aluminium are a HUGE part of why it drives so well, which is why I bought one

[Vintage]

the high beams stink as I used them on my 3 day loaner i3 and noticed they were halogen - just keep it on low beam for the led

[Imola.ZHP]

Do you guys remember when HID's were just coming out? At first a car had normal low-beam HID's, and the high-beam lights were still halogen. Then as time progressed, bi-xenon HID's came out where the HID was both the high and low beam. On my e46, however, the "flash to pass" and "DRL's" (disabled on my car) are still a halogen bulb.

Perhaps the second generation LED's will be bi-level, in other words, have the ability to adjust (mechanically) and be used for both low and high beam.

I would probably still choose LED over Xenon but LED is so much cheaper to construct, I would be haggling about the up charge for them.

[JasH]

Originally Posted by Imola.ZHP

Perhaps the second generation LED's will be bi-level, in other words, have the ability to adjust (mechanically) and be used for both low and high beam.

It's just a question of cost saving, not technology. The i8 has every single light on it, in LED. Unless you opt for laser main beams.

[Kevin_Genius@BMWMtLaurel]

Originally Posted by Imola.ZHP

I would probably still choose LED over Xenon but LED is so much cheaper to construct, I would be haggling about the up charge for them.

For smaller LEDs this is true. For vehicle lighting applications requiring such high output LEDs, this is not the case at all

[Imola.ZHP]

Originally Posted by JasH

It's just a question of cost saving, not technology. The i8 has every single light on it, in LED. Unless you opt for laser main beams.

Including high-beam? I guess one would expect that on a $130k car, but it does intrigue me on how they accomplished this, with two separate LED bulbs for high and low beam? Or one bulb with the mechanical ability to serve as high and low beam?

Originally Posted by Kevin_Genius@BMWMtLaurel

For smaller LEDs this is true. For vehicle lighting applications requiring such high output LEDs, this is not the case at all

I apologize for that somewhat incorrect statement, I didn't realize they had the same mechanics as an HID to keep from blinding oncoming traffic. Glad they do now that I've driven one for a few days, the distance is AMAZING.

[JasH]

Originally Posted by Imola.ZHP

Including high-beam? I guess one would expect that on a $130k car, but it does intrigue me on how they accomplished this, with two separate LED bulbs for high and low beam? Or one bulb with the mechanical ability to serve as high and low beam?

It has to be separate bulbs for high and low.

The laser headlight option still has LED for low beam, and laser for high beam.