After a few weeks of
eDrive40 ownership we took the i4 on a (short) trip from Phx metro to Tucson, est. RT ~ 250 mi. Destination was son’s soccer game so we had a hard arrival time and only budgeted about an hour excess for the unexpected. Someone not-to-be named forgot to charge the car, thus we needed to charge on the way there. I was curious if the car could make it without stopping, if starting with 100% battery. I was unsure how consumption would be affected by highway speeds since my only EV experience was with my Tesla Model 3 (single motor, 200 mi range) and it appeared to drastically consume energy when above the 70-75mph range. I never did it long enough for solid data but during trips from Phx to San Diego I noticed that range almost 'halved' from 2mi per 1% to 1 mi per 1% by observing it over a 10-15 min span (flat hwy).
There is an Electrify America about 40 miles from our start so I decided to charge to 100% and monitor usage from that point forward. Our first experience with Public Charging stations (non-Tesla) was Horrible. I’d read input from other users so maybe no surprise, but this just sucked.
Stop #1: Electrify America: Total 4 stations, 2 unavailable, 1 in-use.
This was the first time I used EA and it stopped a few minutes after starting (2kW added) with a “Charging session error.” I unplugged thinking I needed to reset it and the screen then showed Unavailable. Unsure why it stopped – we tried waiting in the car with the A/C on, could that have affected use?? It was ~ 100 deg F so A/C needed.
Edit: A/C works fine during charging; that was not the issue. So now the only station is already in use. I searched for next closest charger and found one about 4 mi away.
Stop #2: EVgo: Total 1 station, 1 available. (Currently at 38%)
The station had a credit card slot but it didn’t work so I needed to download their App and setup an account. Family unsure if the A/C had anything to do with the first issue so they waited under a tree, pretty unhappy at this point (I wish I had taken a picture). We felt our schedule was now at risk so my wife calls the coach hoping he hasn’t passed us yet and can stop and pickup our son, which he did. An Audi E-Tron pulled up next to me and seemed a bit frustrated there was only 1 station. They leave. After 15 min I noticed it’s only charging at 47 kW and decided to abort; I explained to my family it’s too slow and we’d miss the game. I made decision to continue on the highway toward Tucson and gamble/stop at another EA about 60 miles closer to destination.
Stop #3: Electrify America: Total 10 stations, 7 unavailable, 3 in-use. (Currently at 30%)
Same Lady in E-tron is there at one of the stations and is signaling to me it doesn’t appear to be working for her. A guy in Porsche Taycan appears like he’s about done charging so I ask him status and he says he’s having trouble and tells me only two stations work; including the station with E-tron. He hasn’t started yet, gets frustrated and leaves … his station now states Unavailable. Lady in E-tron isn’t able to get hers to work, moves her car and looks for another station even though the remaining say Unavailable. I decide to give her station a try … after a few minutes my wife bolts into the Outlet Mall (it’s hot outside) and it appears to be charging! Lady in E-tron is out of luck trying other stations and leaves again. EA App doesn’t show my car is charging but MyBMW App shows its charging and I can see % going up so looks good to me .. I go into Mall area looking for wife. 52 minutes later I’m at 99% (61.2 kWh delivered @ $0.43/kWh). TRIP DATA RESET
TRIP SUMMARY:
Starting with 99% Charge I drove to destination and back home, almost all highway miles. I had A/C on, kept steady speed around 80 mph (75 mph speed limit), Eco Pro and Drive mode ‘B’ (and tire pressure at target +/- 1 psi)
- Total Miles driven = 133.6 mi
- Total Battery usage = 40% (started at 99%, ended at 59%)
- Avg 4.0 mi/kWh
I understand consumption isn’t linear across the range, however I can use this info to estimate highway range available: 133.6 mi per 40% = 3.34 mi / %
--> Total Estimated Highway Range = 334 miles
Next road trip opportunity I’ll increase speed a bit and hold at 85 mph to see how/if that impacts efficiency.