Wow this is amazing! From my knowledge the i3 is meant to be a short trip city car. Just to the grocery store and that's all. The fact that it could take 13 hours of driving and over 650 miles in 113 degree heat really shows its true capabilities.
Vinnie Vierra You said it perfectly! Even when this car was taken out of its comfort zone, it still performed very well. Considering that this is a 100% electric car with an optional generator in the back, it worked quite well considering it’s only a 0.6L 2-cylinder. Let’s see what comes next!
John Edwards Yes only the grocery store my be an overreaction but this car was definitely not designed with 650+ mile road trips in mind. A daily commuter is its best form
John Edwards Yeah I think what he is saying is that the i3 doesn’t look like it would be good for road trips with its skinny tires and features like that, but it turns out that the car is like an EV with a backup plan, and in this case, the car will run all day long on the REx without any issues. However, none of this would be possible in a short amount of time with a BEV i3, but the i3 REx is great because you can drive it on battery power most of the time, but you always have the REx there if you want to go on a road trip or if you are about to run out of battery power. Sounds like the perfect car! Also I think that BMW didn’t market the i3 REx to its full potential in the US because they had to get around certain regulations to allow it to qualify for the BEV-X category, where it is actually still considered a zero-emissions vehicle even with the REx, and they did this by limiting the fuel tank capacity to 1.9 gallons and by removing the Hold SOC mode. Since I coded these features back into the car, it is now much more capable, but BMW didn’t market it that way since they removed these features for the US market.
Stan L No problem! It really isn’t as bad as people make it seem. We have had this i3 for around 3 months now and have put at least 2,000 miles on it just from road trips so far. However, I would really recommend coding your i3 if you haven’t already (provided that you have a US version with Hold SOC removed and an electronically limited fuel tank capacity). When I went on a separate 600 mile road trip with this car a month ago, it involved climbing from sea level to 9,000 ft. of elevation, so the REx was unable to maintain the SOC of the battery, but since I had the Hold State Of Charge feature coded back into the car, I was able to hold it at 75% and let the battery drain slightly while the REx was still running. Could you imagine what would have happened if I had let it sit at 6.5% and then the battery had drained to 0%? Then it would have cut power and I wouldn’t have been able to quickly get up the mountain. But, since I had a reserve left in the battery, I could still have full power at all times. Many people complain about the i3 REx being unable to maintain highway speeds, but although I was purposely going slowly in the video to improve efficiency, I have found that it’s easily possible to maintain higher speeds with the REx without having to take extra power from the battery. One final thing I would like to mention is that although many people have done shorter i3 road trips with small gas cans in the front compartment, I have never done this and relied entirely on just fuel stations to fill up. So, basically what I am saying is that once you get used to it, it’s really not as bad as people make it seem, and I really enjoy it! Good luck road tripping your i3 REx!
As a passenger, I was never worried about running out of electric charge because we always had the gas backup to charge the battery. We could switch off using the range extender using only gas mode to charge it for 100 miles, and then fill it up again! Super comfortable car for a road trip.
Christine Kipp I agree that it was very impressive and easy due to adding the Hold State Of Charge feature and being able to have the reserve battery power if needed.
arguestreet Thanks! All of the songs are from the TH-cam Studio audio library. I have used them for all of my i3 road trip videos in the past and they worked out well for this one too. I agree that they were placed in the correct parts of the video to make it more dramatic. Thanks for watching!
arguestreet That would be great! It’s really not too bad as long as you can code in the Hold State Of Charge mode so that you can enable the Range Extender at as high as 75%, so that you won’t experience any power cutting from the battery dropping below 6% and you will have a reserve left over if you run out of gas like I did several times on this road trip. Good luck!
Graham McRae Yeah I actually thought about it for a while, but I usually plan out all of my fuel stops on i3 road trips, much like how people plan out charging stops, so when I ran out of gas, it ended up being around a mile or so away from the gas station each time. I still think that bringing extra gas in the frunk is a very smart idea, especially because the fumes can vent out since the frunk isn’t fully sealed shut. I will probably end up bringing some in a 2-gallon gas can like most people do on my next i3 road trip just in case, and then I don’t have to worry as much. Ever since I did a 600 mile road trip in this i3 from sea level up to 9,000 ft. of elevation a few months ago, I always make sure that I know where my fuel stops will be on the trip, since when the REx was revving at maximum RPM when climbing, I was only able to go around 30 miles on a tank of gas.
The i3 comes as a fully electric vehicle, but there is an optional ~$3,000 2-cylinder range extender which acts like a generator and maintains the state of charge of the battery. This setup is not connected to the drivetrain - it only puts energy in the battery. However, to get around certain regulations, BMW had to make the gas range shorter than the electric range, so they software limited the 2.4 gallon fuel tank to 1.9 gallons. They also removed the Hold State Of Charge feature, where you can engage the range extender at any time as long as the battery is under 75% SOC. This means that the range extender automatically engages when the battery is at 6.5% SOC. I added these features back through coding the software and now it can be used for road trips!
attila kovacs It was technically about 90 miles on the REx for the first fuel stop since I first had to use 25% of the battery in order to engage the REx in the first place. 90 miles on the REx was possible due to the fact that I was driving slowly and efficiently, as I was hovering around 58-65 MPH, so that allowed the REx to be much more efficient. In addition to this, I coded the car to increase the fuel tank capacity from the software limited 1.9 gallons, to the full 2.4 gallons of the tank, however when filling it up from completely empty, I only managed to put just shy of 2.1 gallons in the tank, which was strange.
Kay Choi I would have to agree with you, especially when there are crosswinds or you get passed by a truck. What I have noticed is that the car feels like it’s being pushed to the side when someone else passes you, and you have to correct it by steering back into the center of your lane. This is most likely due to the car being very lightweight because of the carbon fiber construction and because of the narrow tires having a smaller contact patch with the road. However, although it might not be great on the highway, it’s an excellent car for city driving because of the small size. On my road trips with this car, I usually like to cruise around 62-67 MPH, since the car is more efficient at those speeds and also because it helps the car feel more stable. So yes, I agree that the car is unstable on the highway, and especially when there are large crosswinds or trucks are passing you.
Your speed at ~48mph when climbing, is that at full throttle? I've read on other pages that the car is almost like at limp mode when climbing uphill with the REX on. That could be a bit dangerous on a 65 mph highway.
Great question. On this road trip, I climbed a 3,000 ft. mountain with a 55 MPH speed limit, so the 48 MPH speed wasn’t too slow. So, I will use a more extreme example to explain it better. I previously went on a road trip in this car from sea level up to 9,000 ft. of elevation. Normally at over 9,000 ft. of elevation, the REx would be working as hard as it could, and the car would definitely go into limp mode. However in this case, I had coded the car so that I could engage the REx at 75% or below, so I would have been able to climb the hill going 65 MPH with no problems since the car could use the battery buffer as well. However, at the beginning of the climb, I was going around 70 MPH up the hill with no issues still with the REx enabled, but the battery was draining very quickly so I slowed down. I ended up going up the hill at around 58-61 MPH so that the battery wouldn’t drain as fast, but I could have gone faster if I wanted to. So, in both examples, I was able to go as fast as I wanted, but I chose to go around 5-7 MPH slower than the speed limit to not drain the battery as much. However, if the REx was engaged at 6.5% as it comes from the factory, I would have had to go well under the speed limit, even if I wanted to go faster.
Yeah it was pretty hot outside too, as the highest outside temperature I saw on the trip was 113°F (45°C). You can imagine how hot it was inside the car...
@@TheVlad0000 I recently sold it after a year of ownership. The dealer maintenance was expensive, since there were some parts of it that could only be completed at the dealer with special tools. The car was very reliable with no issues though.
Wow this is amazing! From my knowledge the i3 is meant to be a short trip city car. Just to the grocery store and that's all. The fact that it could take 13 hours of driving and over 650 miles in 113 degree heat really shows its true capabilities.
Vinnie Vierra You said it perfectly! Even when this car was taken out of its comfort zone, it still performed very well. Considering that this is a 100% electric car with an optional generator in the back, it worked quite well considering it’s only a 0.6L 2-cylinder. Let’s see what comes next!
John Edwards Yes only the grocery store my be an overreaction but this car was definitely not designed with 650+ mile road trips in mind. A daily commuter is its best form
John Edwards Yeah I think what he is saying is that the i3 doesn’t look like it would be good for road trips with its skinny tires and features like that, but it turns out that the car is like an EV with a backup plan, and in this case, the car will run all day long on the REx without any issues. However, none of this would be possible in a short amount of time with a BEV i3, but the i3 REx is great because you can drive it on battery power most of the time, but you always have the REx there if you want to go on a road trip or if you are about to run out of battery power. Sounds like the perfect car! Also I think that BMW didn’t market the i3 REx to its full potential in the US because they had to get around certain regulations to allow it to qualify for the BEV-X category, where it is actually still considered a zero-emissions vehicle even with the REx, and they did this by limiting the fuel tank capacity to 1.9 gallons and by removing the Hold SOC mode. Since I coded these features back into the car, it is now much more capable, but BMW didn’t market it that way since they removed these features for the US market.
Thank you sir! You have given me hope and restored confidence that my REx can go on a road trip.
Stan L No problem! It really isn’t as bad as people make it seem. We have had this i3 for around 3 months now and have put at least 2,000 miles on it just from road trips so far. However, I would really recommend coding your i3 if you haven’t already (provided that you have a US version with Hold SOC removed and an electronically limited fuel tank capacity).
When I went on a separate 600 mile road trip with this car a month ago, it involved climbing from sea level to 9,000 ft. of elevation, so the REx was unable to maintain the SOC of the battery, but since I had the Hold State Of Charge feature coded back into the car, I was able to hold it at 75% and let the battery drain slightly while the REx was still running. Could you imagine what would have happened if I had let it sit at 6.5% and then the battery had drained to 0%? Then it would have cut power and I wouldn’t have been able to quickly get up the mountain. But, since I had a reserve left in the battery, I could still have full power at all times.
Many people complain about the i3 REx being unable to maintain highway speeds, but although I was purposely going slowly in the video to improve efficiency, I have found that it’s easily possible to maintain higher speeds with the REx without having to take extra power from the battery. One final thing I would like to mention is that although many people have done shorter i3 road trips with small gas cans in the front compartment, I have never done this and relied entirely on just fuel stations to fill up. So, basically what I am saying is that once you get used to it, it’s really not as bad as people make it seem, and I really enjoy it! Good luck road tripping your i3 REx!
As a passenger, I was never worried about running out of electric charge because we always had the gas backup to charge the battery. We could switch off using the range extender using only gas mode to charge it for 100 miles, and then fill it up again! Super comfortable car for a road trip.
Christine Kipp I agree that it was very impressive and easy due to adding the Hold State Of Charge feature and being able to have the reserve battery power if needed.
Like your choice of songs. Goes nicely with the trip.
arguestreet Thanks! All of the songs are from the TH-cam Studio audio library. I have used them for all of my i3 road trip videos in the past and they worked out well for this one too. I agree that they were placed in the correct parts of the video to make it more dramatic. Thanks for watching!
@@BrandonKipp Thanks for replying. I'm thinking of taking my i3 on a real road trip. You''ve inspired me!
arguestreet That would be great! It’s really not too bad as long as you can code in the Hold State Of Charge mode so that you can enable the Range Extender at as high as 75%, so that you won’t experience any power cutting from the battery dropping below 6% and you will have a reserve left over if you run out of gas like I did several times on this road trip. Good luck!
Brandon Kipp did you consider bringing extra gas in a jerry can stored in the frunk?
Graham McRae Yeah I actually thought about it for a while, but I usually plan out all of my fuel stops on i3 road trips, much like how people plan out charging stops, so when I ran out of gas, it ended up being around a mile or so away from the gas station each time. I still think that bringing extra gas in the frunk is a very smart idea, especially because the fumes can vent out since the frunk isn’t fully sealed shut. I will probably end up bringing some in a 2-gallon gas can like most people do on my next i3 road trip just in case, and then I don’t have to worry as much. Ever since I did a 600 mile road trip in this i3 from sea level up to 9,000 ft. of elevation a few months ago, I always make sure that I know where my fuel stops will be on the trip, since when the REx was revving at maximum RPM when climbing, I was only able to go around 30 miles on a tank of gas.
How do you put gas in an electric car?
The i3 comes as a fully electric vehicle, but there is an optional ~$3,000 2-cylinder range extender which acts like a generator and maintains the state of charge of the battery. This setup is not connected to the drivetrain - it only puts energy in the battery. However, to get around certain regulations, BMW had to make the gas range shorter than the electric range, so they software limited the 2.4 gallon fuel tank to 1.9 gallons. They also removed the Hold State Of Charge feature, where you can engage the range extender at any time as long as the battery is under 75% SOC. This means that the range extender automatically engages when the battery is at 6.5% SOC. I added these features back through coding the software and now it can be used for road trips!
How did you get 106 miles on the range extender??
attila kovacs It was technically about 90 miles on the REx for the first fuel stop since I first had to use 25% of the battery in order to engage the REx in the first place. 90 miles on the REx was possible due to the fact that I was driving slowly and efficiently, as I was hovering around 58-65 MPH, so that allowed the REx to be much more efficient. In addition to this, I coded the car to increase the fuel tank capacity from the software limited 1.9 gallons, to the full 2.4 gallons of the tank, however when filling it up from completely empty, I only managed to put just shy of 2.1 gallons in the tank, which was strange.
U didn’t DCFC anywhere? Thought there were some new EA sites along 101.
I would have liked to do that, but I wanted to get there quickly and didn’t think about it.
J'adore vos vidéos
Thanks!
I personally own an I3. Have you ever felt car is unatable when u are on a highway? I feel it every single time I drive on a highway over 65mph..
Kay Choi I would have to agree with you, especially when there are crosswinds or you get passed by a truck. What I have noticed is that the car feels like it’s being pushed to the side when someone else passes you, and you have to correct it by steering back into the center of your lane. This is most likely due to the car being very lightweight because of the carbon fiber construction and because of the narrow tires having a smaller contact patch with the road.
However, although it might not be great on the highway, it’s an excellent car for city driving because of the small size. On my road trips with this car, I usually like to cruise around 62-67 MPH, since the car is more efficient at those speeds and also because it helps the car feel more stable. So yes, I agree that the car is unstable on the highway, and especially when there are large crosswinds or trucks are passing you.
Your speed at ~48mph when climbing, is that at full throttle? I've read on other pages that the car is almost like at limp mode when climbing uphill with the REX on. That could be a bit dangerous on a 65 mph highway.
Great question. On this road trip, I climbed a 3,000 ft. mountain with a 55 MPH speed limit, so the 48 MPH speed wasn’t too slow. So, I will use a more extreme example to explain it better. I previously went on a road trip in this car from sea level up to 9,000 ft. of elevation. Normally at over 9,000 ft. of elevation, the REx would be working as hard as it could, and the car would definitely go into limp mode. However in this case, I had coded the car so that I could engage the REx at 75% or below, so I would have been able to climb the hill going 65 MPH with no problems since the car could use the battery buffer as well. However, at the beginning of the climb, I was going around 70 MPH up the hill with no issues still with the REx enabled, but the battery was draining very quickly so I slowed down. I ended up going up the hill at around 58-61 MPH so that the battery wouldn’t drain as fast, but I could have gone faster if I wanted to. So, in both examples, I was able to go as fast as I wanted, but I chose to go around 5-7 MPH slower than the speed limit to not drain the battery as much. However, if the REx was engaged at 6.5% as it comes from the factory, I would have had to go well under the speed limit, even if I wanted to go faster.
I wonder how many miles before rex will need a rebuild
?
I’m not sure, but most drivers don’t use it very often anyway so it’s not a huge deal. It’ll probably outlast the car.
yes
[TeamBacon] WindowsAnims Yes, this was an amazing test with this car!
Brave man driving with no AC
Yeah it was pretty hot outside too, as the highest outside temperature I saw on the trip was 113°F (45°C). You can imagine how hot it was inside the car...
@@BrandonKipp you still got the car? If so how many miles you got on it now and how is the reliability and maintenance
@@TheVlad0000 I recently sold it after a year of ownership. The dealer maintenance was expensive, since there were some parts of it that could only be completed at the dealer with special tools. The car was very reliable with no issues though.