213.1 Miles in My 94Ah BMW i3 Range Extender - Full Range Tested
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2016
- Want to see how far a 94Ah BMW i3 can travel when pushed to the limit... Well with a full charge and a full tank of petrol I managed to achieve 213.1 miles, which is almost 10% more than BMW's claimed 200 mile range. Here's my video log of the day's driving. I hope you like it, and please subscribe to my channel for more BMW i3 videos. Footage taken with GoPro Hero 5 Black edition and edited in FCPx.
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At last!! Someone finally answered the 'what's the total range?' question.
me too, no-one ever mentions it do they
Not really. He drive it in ecopro mode not normal mode.....so no a/c no heat...
Very nice to see more videos from you on the i3. Was hoping for more! Thank u for making this :)
Some awesome ... you pushed it to the limit and we really appreciate you seeing what this car can do. Nothing less than super impressive- Cheers !!👍🎉
Very informative, I now realise I can do the journeys I need with ease using the range extender version, thank you.
Thanks for a great experimental video of your new 94Ah Rex I3 BMW.
I were looking all over TH-cam and rest off Internet for review on this new 94Ah powered i3, and you got one with Rex and in my favorite blue color it's a huge double bonus !! Thanks man, appreciate you shearing it with me and community off other electric cars enthusiasts.
Subscribed.
Keep those videos coming it's the best way for people get to know more about EV and what choices they have when it comes to more fan and sustainable personal transport .
This series of videos is the most informative and interesting I have found on this car and far better than the "professional" channels. I had a brief test drive myself earlier this week in a Rex and was most impressed with it. If you have time an update would be most appreciated on how it has coped with the British winter and how you have used/enjoyed it after the honeymoon period. In the meantime many thanks for making the effort to share your experiences
Top video: it's the type of journey I make so of great value to me. Thanks a lot.
yes, I like your video, and cant wait to test drive one. it makes a lot of sense with a new larger battery and range extender.
Nicely done. Your videos are very helpful. Thank you and cheers.
That was pretty cool. I never expected an i3, even with R/ex to get that range on the motorway. It’s definitely great for short to medium journeys.
Great post. Thanks, Fella, safe driving.
Great vid, only just down the road in WGC from you. Just taken the Leaf 24kw into central London, disappointed at the new Source London charging structure, only found out when I couldn't charge on a new post. Rex sounds like a great idea!
Nice video and very well explained. I will drive a i3 tomorrow and lets see.
Brilliant video!
Really great video lots of info. Nice job 👍
Great confidence builder
great demo. You should repeat the exercise during winter to see how is the charge/mileage affected by the cold.
Roadracer if you programme HSOC to button 8 on the dash you can activate REX at the touch of a button, without going through the menu.
I think when discussing the BMW i3 it should be mentioned what the car was built for. It is not a vehicle for long distance driving, although with careful planning it can be done. This is an urban car by design and intent. It has one of the best turning radius of all vehicles, it parks itself, it's running cost is extremely low, and finally the quality is fantastic. The car was designed from the ground up, not an alteration to any existing combustion vehicle and the use of carbon fiber works well for safety and providing light weight. What sold me the most was how fun it is to drive! It has so many features that most sales people don't know about, like holding the lock button down will retract the side mirrors and roll up the windows (all of them). The software is really helpful in saving destinations, giving directions and updating when the next maintenance is needed. (although it would be rare to need any mechanical maintenance) You can download the i3 app and allows you to start the car's heating or air conditioning before you enter. On the con side, the tires wear quickly (about 20K miles) and cost about $700 to replace, and the back passenger doors take some getting use to. Although this car is more of a two person vehicle.
Thanks for the video posting - most informative BMW i 3 promo i have seen so far. But I wonder about how the battery fares in traffic jams or slow moving traffic queues. Can you advise me.
Excellent
Just a tip : I short cutted the range extender function to radiobutton nr. 1. That way, it's very easy to activate it when you need it.
Are you still driving these great cars. Perhaps you’ve updated them both. What are your thoughts now that you’ve had them for a while. Great videos. Love the pull aways at the lights. We’re ordering three of them shortly.
Great video..thanks for posting. Are you logging your fuel consumption in anyway to determine costs of actual petrol and electricity from your home supply. Really thinking of taking the plunge next year when I move to a new home as most of my driving is in the city. I am also lucky that I can install solar power in Australia which will make a difference to running costs.
I have a lot of calculations to make as the car he is about $85000 AUD and there aren't a wealth of charging points in Australia as yet.
I have just bought a 2019 i3 42Kwh and have just performed a long range test at 10-17C. I started with 100% battery and a predicted range of 158miles on the GOM. I have driven hybrids now for 12 years and I am aware what a light pedal foot has on economy. So off we set on the 84 mile trip with a mix of motorway (60%) A road (40%) . Outbound heading for the coast there's more negative gradients but it will all level up on the return. As this is a max range test I put the car in Eco PRO and turn off the heating/cooling. I get between 10 - 22Kwh/100Km and a light foot also mean that I see quite a bit of regen. When I arrived at my destination I had a GOM range left of ! 130 Miles (84 + 130) = 214 miles.
I charge to 100% again and then on the return when I arrived home the GOM said 100 miles so a return range of 184 miles. I expect these ranges to drop by switching to Comfort and adding some heating however even if these settings suck 20 miles of range that's still 194 and 168 miles so taking the worst case 168miles that's very close to what BMW expect this car to achieve and by switching to ECO PRO 180 is also possible for most of the year and for most journeys. Remember my home journey was full of positive gradients to reach the destination at 333m.
So with this I have confidence this car can easily achieve its 160 mile range as quoted under these temps which in the UK is pretty standard. I am well impressed with this car it drives likes its on rails and accelerates like a rocket. :-)
You forgot to say if you were in Eco Pro on the way up - it appeared that way. It was apparent you were in Eco Pro Plus on the way back.
REx eliminated range anxiety because you can fall back to gasoline at any time. But as a general rule, you don't want to run on the REx with a low-low battery level - since the REx only puts out 26kW of power.
An option to be able a jerry can on the rear hatch would be a winner.
Well done, I guess you could have gone further if you were on your own. Whats your thoughts on having a gallon of petrol stowed in the boot for emergencies ? something you would consider or not ?. I have been eyeing up these 94Ah Rex's but it will be a real wrench to come out of my TT !. I have had a Nissan Tekna Leaf in the past on a 3 year PCP but pure EV was a constant strain on my nerves
hello, your video is really very good, did you made video on fast charging?
Well you were able to use the Pro + which turns the a/c off. Most people can't use that (high humidity and heat). BUT I was able to get 139 electric miles out of the i3 with 94A battery and 84 Rex miles. So the total would have been 227 but my trip ended with 7% battery left. It was done with Eco Pro not the Eco Pro+ mode and in moderate heat - 88-89F max. but at all times the a/c was working. Some highway at 65mph and the rest is on back roads, city streets and in town. I had done some careful acceleration, not smashing the pedal and used the coast on downhill method. Overall speed was 51mph and I kept it at 70mph on the highway. It was about 20 % highway and 40% back roads and 40% in town. 2 person in a car.
very useful video thanks. we have a Zoe but I fancy the i3 rex for range security, if you just top up the petrol do you have in effect an infinite range ? tia Andrew
I have a REX and the answer to your question is yes.Plus it is more practical than hanging around for 30 minutes for overpriced 80% rapid charge en route.
This car fits the bill perfectly with zero range anxiety!
Any idea what you drew in kWh from grid at home and on rapid ccs chargers? I guess that was around 15 deg C with no aircon or heating? Be interesting in mid winter to do same trip!
I am wondering why the "Ground Present" LED on your EVSE is lit when you first enter your garage and not lit when you bend down. It should be lit at all times. Do you have an earth fault in your garage electrics?
For my i3 I got a Rolec 32A EVSE fitted. Only £199 with the OLEV grant. Much faster charging and no danger of overloading a 13A socket.
When your range extender fuel is empty, you can use all of the battery, down to 0. Also, you will not damage the battery if you recharge as soon as possible after the battery is low.
I have a question about Regen Braking, where the brake pedal is only used at the last moment, Do the brake lights operate when using this method of braking?
Good vid
You don't want to flap around scrolling through the menu to reach the Hold State of Charge function. Most of us i3 drivers have set up one of the preset buttons (usually no 8) for a quick one button on/off
Would love to see a video or steps to program 'button 8' to make this happen.
Just go to menu option to switch on hold state of charge (can only be switched on if battery capacity below 75% charge) then place finger over no 8 key on dashboard (most use these keys pre select radio stations) and it will show as unassigned or assigned function. It is then a case of pressing the key and holding down for a second or two.
These vehicles are a bargain on the used car market in the US. A new i3 REX retails over $55K USD, but can be picked up used with less than 20K miles for $16K.
Did leaving in the dark use much range? Is the range extender more efficient at different battery levels?
Oh, Interesting post; Thanks.
Great video! I do wonder wonder whether the regenerative breaking helped towards the extra 10%? Either way, it's useful to know that it can do 213 miles without stopping given that most other reviews claim the i3's range as a lot less.
I use the M1 quite often (with a petrol car), and it's notable how there are few fast charging stations there are at the services. I'll be interested to know whether you find it easy to find a charging spot and whether it is available at the time that you stop.
There are Ecotricity Rapid chargers at every motorway service station, although not all of them have chargers with the CCS connector the i3 uses. Since Ecotricity started charging for charging there is little problem with chargers being occupied which was an issue before with people taking advantage of the free electricity. The biggest problem remains drivers of petrol cars parking in the charger spaces because they are too lazy/ignorant/antisocial.
Have you driven the 330e at all? If so, how do they compare?
Sorry if this is a dumb question. Why would you put the range extender on when you have 75% of battery remaining, I understand it when you want to save the battery for driving in the city but why here, what am I missing. You could have run the battery down let the range extender kick in, couldn't you ????
Great video and thanks for the test.
I wonder if the range would be the same if you'd let the battery deplete before allowing the petrol generator to kick in?
What are your thoughts about boot space for my Labrador?
I had the same question..... About accomodate a medium size dog. Despite scouring TH-cam I could not get an answer. Well, I can now confirm, after having a 24 hr test drive in one of these that it is a no-go-er. The only way to transport a dog of this size ewould be with both rear seats down. However there is no facility to fit a dog guard to secure the dog carrying area. The rear lip height is also very high, so if your dog is old or has arthritis it would be difficult to enter/exit.
For this reason I could not buy the car. I very small dog would be OK without dropping the rear seats so long as a dog guard could be fitted.
I'm gutted actually as both myself and partner loved everything else about the car and would otherwise have bought it without hesitation.
A great no nonsense review which answers the first question that every potential owner wants answering.
I calculated during my testing that the cost per mile running solely on battery was £0.0407 pence per mile (electricity cost @ £0.12 pence per kW). This is car is perfect for low cost urban transport, with the petrol back-up generator to remove the stress and worry from longer journeys... If you are happy paying the high BMW price tag.
XLNT! Thanks.
You’re welcome 👍🏼
Its 2022 now and what is the range of a 2018 i3 ? And what is the performance in Winter?
Really useful video, thanks for that.
In theory....could you hop from petrol station to station, top up the range extender tank and keep running ?
Or is that not possible ?
Thanks.
3795 Mpower Yes you can but it’s not meant to be good for the battery which should ideally be charged as soon as you get to a fixed location, like home.
but couldnt you have put more petrol in on the way back and held the range ?
Great Video, glad to hear that you will be using the chargers on the motorway as i use a car quite heavily and would like to know exactly how long it takes to charge maybe using the Ecotricity DC Chargers. Hope to see that soon. I can then look at the plunge
Well that is the video I done yesterday... But will be a week or so for me to edit and upload.... long and short of it is that with the Ecotricity DC CCS Charger (the fastest type) it'll take about 50 minutes to an hour to charge the battery from 6%(ish) to 100% / full.
Wow that is different to the published BMW of 30 Minutes, thats food for thought looking forward to the video thanks
Well BMW state 'around' 30-40 minutes for up to 80% charge... Which is probably possible with the 60Ah car, but there is nearly 50% more capacity to charge in the 94Ah version.
Ok i get you so you can get more before you have to recharge. so better option thanks for this is it still £6 per 30 minutes with ecotricity
A full jerry can can alleviate the anxiety :)
I have a 2017 i3 with REX. I don't have the Range Extender choice in my Settings. Anyone know why or how I can get it?
At last I’ve someone who’s demonstrated a proper test of range including the peril from extender. I notice you said the battery range reduced from 75 to 60 when petrol ran out. Could you reduce this drain by driving more slowly and would it be greater if you drove more quickly?
Yes, the slower you drive the more chance the ReX has to charge the battery.
Great video - a question from a novice who hasn't taken the plunge into the world of EV's yet. Why did you switch to REX so soon in your journey? My head thought you would run down the electric and then switch to Rex only when necessary - please educate me!
Whilst the range extender isn't obtrusive in terms of noise, it's less noticeable when driving on the motorway. The default for UK REx i3's is that the Rex will switch on at 6% battery charge, but if you are driving a long distance you can turn the range extender on when the battery is under 75% state of charge which holds the battery's charge until it's run out of petrol... Hope that helps!
The Hippies in California decided that being able to switch at will to the range extender would be too much responsibility for US drivers. The range extender here will only start when the batteries are depleted down to about 5% and then it starts on its own.
Sorry to be late to the party but one question. Nobody tells you, or perhaps nobody records the noise level of the petrol motor, be interested in how noisy it is, or isn't. I suppose it would be possible to carry an extra gallon of fuel with you for an emergency.
How does it drives with the range extender on? Is it much noisier? Is the speed is limited? Does it cut the air condtioning off? Is there any difference or drawback?
This is a question that I have asked every i3 owner on youtube without an answer. I simple want to know...I battery is all used up and you have to run on the range extender, what is the highest speed you can maintain? None of them want to answer this?
Is that a Monaco?
How much will that trip of cost you please?
Can you just top up petrol and carry on 500 miles?
Hi, could I ask how the reliability has been with both your i3's
I have one that has put up 120,000km. Never gave any mechanical or electrical issues at!!
I'm a bit confused...at last, how many miles did you do either on battery or gasoline ?
Distance from turning on Rex to RV Show: 64.4 miles
Gained 19 miles of battery range (he did not show battery percentage)
Used 33 miles of fuel range
What about normal mode???not ecoplus....
So if I was to get this car and put it on hold charge, then keep topping up petrol on an extra long journey, I should never have the battery die on me. Is that right? Thank you.
The Truth Reviews if I’m not mistaken he said the range extender was turned with 75% battery remaining and it was turned off with 60% battery remaining so it seems not to be able to keep the battery constant but rather a slow drain, which I think is good enough?
The Truth Reviews that’s correct as long as petro is available
BMW says you need to drive 70 mph or less, reduce speed when going up hills and the range extender will be able to maintain the charge level but what he demonstrated was he did not exceed 70 mph and gained 19 miles of battery range and used 33 miles of fuel range to drive 64.4 miles.
You should invest in getting a 240v outlet closer to the front of the garage so you can benefit from faster charging. I'm just sayin...why not if u believe in the cause.
Is that a Super Seven in the garage?
Sure is!
@@DanielFrench Great cars...Both the i3 and the Super Seven
Could the car have gone on a much longer journey by just refilling the rex?
Yes, you can almost keep re-filling the REX and continuing on. We've been on over 300 mile trips in the car with just re-filling the petrol tank.
whats the size of petrol tank??
9 litres 🤣
In usa my i3 rex doesnt allow turning on rex manaully to maintain state of charge--rats!! But i still love my i3
That's a configuration setting that can be altered. I've seen several videos where there are companies that will make the changesfor less than $200. Also enables full gas tank capacity to be reported as used.
we want caterham
I was tempted to buy one, I do 140 miles to work and back weekly. you used £12 worth of petrol plus a fully charged battery. yet my £3 astra dirty diesel can do 200+ miles for £15
That’s the elephant in the room. And sadly it means the price of diesel will go right up
Why have any kind of anxiety on range if you have a range anxiety and all you have to do is put gas in it so the range extender can do it thing. People with EV that have no petrol assist should be the only people that can claim range anxiety. I do get that you were testing though.
Interesting... 75 miles (120km) with the range extender (from 2.4 gal (9 litres) of petrol) gives a fuel burn of 7.5 litres per 100km. As petrol has an energy density of about 10kWh per litre, your consumption of energy by using the range extender is a whopping 75kWh per 100km - it just goes to show how inefficient & wasteful internal combustion engines really are. The electricity only consumption of the i3 is a measly 13kWh per 100km...
With DC fast charging stations, even if they're only partly powered by renewables, it really makes little sense to get a REx version, particularly with the larger capacity 33kWh (~29kWh usable) battery and the fact that most of the maintenance is going to be for that ICE!
Realworld more like 24kWh/100km (from grid) on motorway - i3 is not a very aero design and quite heavy cf older eco cars. Normal driving in Spring UK temps about 18kWh/100km. See: bmwi3.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/an-aerospace-engineer-from-uk-compares.html Nissan Leaf charged from petrol generator around 30 mpg(US).
Sorry but nobody drives 50 miles on a motorway, you will get hit off the road here in the US
Range anxiety? In the age of cell phones? Really?
what kind of talk is that? any small diesel car with a 30 liter tank does around 600 kms; and costs under 20000, or 5000 if it's a used one.; and NO batteries to replace after 5 or 6 years, and some cost of those batteries 10000!!! forget it.
Foolish.