[tommyb13662]

Hello,

Ill link the article from when the i3 and i8 were introduced. Apparently they were supposed to use the same motor/electronics etc. However the i3 is 170-181HP and the i8 is only 130ISH horse. Im strictly speaking to the battery run motor. Now is there a way to bump the juice for the e-motor to the 170hp range? er-safely/safe-ish? seams on full battery could really bump the 1/4 mile times tuned + extra 40 E-horses. I saw a thread somewhere about this ages ago... cant find it now that I have a serious engineer friend interested in helping see if we can or not.

Also thought of buying a wrecked i3 and seeing about swapping in the new lump if there is a difference. (also fast dc charging system!!!)

https://www.motortrend.com/news/deta...20of%20torque.

[Coastali8]

It would be interesting to see if the electric motors were actually the same.
However I wouldn’t give that article much credit. It also states the i8 will be introduced in 2012 before the i3 and will be powered by a Diesel engine with a combined electric and diesel HP of 170.
They got a lot wrong.

[Redbullah]

I had the same idea, except I was thinking of using a tesla motor. Battery pack is alredy there. In my opiniin upgrading the Electric motor would make this car really fast with a combustion engine sound....
I emailed Rich rebuilds on you tube a while ago, but haven't gotten a response yet. He has an i8 and he's really good at modifying electric cars.

[MGRMLN]

Imagine if we had this!

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a3...lectric-motor/

[tommyb13662]

I found a number of pictures of salvaged i3 and i8 motors and they look extremely similar. My concern about swapping in a tesla motor would be an extreme change in motor controls etc.

I'm hoping that swapping to i3 controls and systems would allow fast DC charging and also higher output with less work etc.

[Obioban]

I would bet the battery pack can't put out the power needed to drive the i3 motor. In my i3, driving it hard on a backroad for any sort of extended period overheats the battery, as is (car goes into a reduced power output mode), and that's with the 33kwh battery.

[ronbot]

Old thread, but the small battery in the i8 would have insufficient "C-rate" to supply the current required for 170hp. This is also why the early 60Ah i3 can't sustain the 184hp of the i3s.

Hopefully the reduced power output of the i8 motor will prevent this from happening, like it did my i3...

It's been a nightmare... and of course BMW won't admit that they know it's a design fault, because they'd have to stand up and do what's right.

They used sealed (permanently lubricated) ball bearings... a bad choice for an electric drive motor that's expected to see billions of revolutions... but they changed the bearing style in the 2018 and later, then used that motor for all repairs - all years... so obviously they fixed the problem.

But oddly, many i3 owners who have had this happen HAVE received a free motor from Corporate via Goodwill, the customer only had to pay installation charges... and these cars were all out of warranty.

It was my first BMW... finally reached that point in my career where it was possible (I had just reached 60, married with children), but want to guess if I'll let them do this to me again?

[cfm56d7b]

One can only imagine the sales numbers (and dealer markup) if i8 were offered with S58 engine ...