Category Archives: i3 94Ah

The taxi service that’s free… as long as you keep singing

July 11, 2018BMW, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94Ah, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

Do you enjoy singing in front of strangers in a confined space? Like the interior of a BMW i3?

Are you going to be in Finland next month and want a free ride to a music festival?

The i3 on our drive (Image: T. Larkum) — BMW i3 (Image: T. Larkum)

Well, if you can say ‘yes’ to all of those increasingly obscure questions, then you are in luck – a Finnish clean energy company is providing a taxi service to the Ruisrock festival that is free, as long as you keep singing.

The Fortum Singalong Shuttle is a taxi service that only accepts singing as payment – as the company says, combining ride sharing with Carpool Karaoke – and only uses pure electric BMW i3 BEVs.

It’s The Business!

September 24, 2017Blog, BMW, Charging, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94Ah, POD PointTrevor Larkum

We’re in Skegness for the aquarium, our youngest is diving with the sharks! While she waits to go in I’m off to get the car charged.

The i3 has plenty enough range to get back to the Peterborough services. In fact it’s suggesting we could get 160 miles out of this charge which theoretically could get us all the way back to Northampton.

However Zap-map.com says there’s a free POD Point charger in Skegness so I’m going to investigate.

It’s in the Aura Business Park and it turns out to be easy to find. I plug in and it’s charging immediately, nothing else required.

While in the Aquarium the car gets fully charged. The dive has just finished and we’ll be heading back to the car in a minute. There’s a Pizza Hut next to it so I suspect that’s what we’ll be having for dinner tonight!

Update: We did eat in Pizza Hut. We also got home all the way from Skegness to Northampton without needing to charge (in fact, with about 40 miles left on the clock) – and for free!

A1 Service

September 24, 2017Blog, BMW, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94AhTrevor Larkum

We’ve just had A1 Service from Ecotricity. We’re on our way from home in Northampton to the Skegness Aquarium and charged up at the A1 Services at Peterborough.

We used an Ecotricity CCS rapid charger. There was no queuing and it worked first time.

It was quick, with the i3 fully charged in half the time it took us to have lunch. A1 service!

Next: on to Skegness.

Battle of the electric family cars: 2017 BMW i3 REX vs Volkswagen e-Golf

September 13, 2017BMW, e-Golf, Electric Cars, i3 94Ah, News, Reviews and Comment, VolkswagenJo

BY 2040, if the government gets its way, drivers looking for a new car will have a simple choice: buy an electric car or a hybrid car.

The Volkswagen e-Golf and BMW i3 REX give a taste of things to come. The former is Britain’s best-known family hatchback first, and a pure-electric car second. It should mean it’s user-friendly and doesn’t require as big a leap of faith as a high diver jumping from a cliff top.

The i3 REX is an electric car for pragmatists. In addition to having an electric motor and a battery pack, it has a two-cylinder petrol engine, packaged beneath the boot floor, in the same space as the car’s electric motor. This acts as a generator, to maintain battery charge when it gets low.

The e-Golf, which is propelled under battery power alone, has been revised for 2017 as part of the updated Golf range, and can officially travel 186 miles on a single charge. The i3 REX has a battery range of around 140 miles, but the REX motor allows it to travel a total of 200 miles before you need a top-up of electricity or petrol.
The e-Golf, which is propelled under battery power alone, has been revised for 2017 as part of the updated Golf range, and can officially travel 186 miles on a single charge. The i3 REX has a

We put the pair to the test, on a trip to the seaside. Needless to say, it rained; could the electric cars keep our spirits high?

2017 Volkswagen e-Golf review

Words: Will Dron

Well, it’s a Golf, isn’t it? VW sold 5,236 of its ever-popular hatchback in July alone, just 15 short of the best-selling Ford Focus. In order to create its electric car, all VW had to do was strip out the petrol or (whisper it) diesel engine, along with its transmission, and bolt in a few Duracell batteries and an electric motor. Oh, and change the alloys and tweak the styling of the lights slightly.

When you climb inside, it looks like a Golf, too. The instruments are the same, the switchgear is the same, the seats are the same, the infotainment system is the same (albeit with updated software to show electric energy flow and driving efficiency).

The i3, on the other hand… now that’s an incredible achievement. Designed from the ground up as an electric car, with a carbon fibre tub to save weight and carefully considered packaging, for optimal weight distribution. And the interior of the i3 — totally original and full of reclaimed wood and other dolphin-friendly materials. BMW put a huge amount of research and development into coming up with that car.

But then you remember… being a Golf is no bad thing.

The moment the penny really dropped was when James Mills, having parked his totally original, very clever little i3 REX next to the e-Golf, was having a little root around the back of my car. He quickly pointed out that the i3 has only four seats, whereas the VW has five, just like a normal Golf. Yes, the transmission tunnel houses the battery pack, so it doesn’t have a flat floor in the rear, but other than that, it’s a Golf.

Electric Cars are Getting Too Popular!

August 18, 2017Blog, BMW, Charging, Ecotricity, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94AhTrevor Larkum

As sales of electric cars keep increasing we are seeing more and more of them on the road. That simply reflects the rising demand as everyone now knows they will be transitioning away from fossil-fuel cars.

We saw one result of that today. We’re on our way to Devon on holiday in our i3, and called in at Chieveley Services to charge.

On arriving, there was a Tesla Model S charging at one of the Ecotricity pumps, the one with the CCS connector that the i3 needs. After a brief discussion he kindly agreed to move to the other pump so we could charge.

Once we were charging we went inside for lunch, and I monitored the charging on my phone. As it approached 100% we headed back to it only to find a charging queue for the first time ever!

The Tesla had gone and been replaced by a Nissan Leaf. Waiting to charge were a second Leaf and a Renault ZOE. We moved out of the way for the second Leaf, but the ZOE probably had a half hour wait ahead of it.

This type of situation will probably become increasingly common as more EVs hit the road, at least in the short term. Eventually it is hoped that we’ll see all petrol stations, and perhaps most parking spaces, changed over to be charging points.

Electric Cars to Test Drive at the Experience Centre – How Many Can You Name?

July 27, 2017Blog, BMW, e-Up, Electric Cars, EVEC, Golf GTE, i3, i3 94Ah, Kia, Leaf, Milton Keynes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Outlander PHEV, Passat GTE, Renault, Soul EV, Volkswagen, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Trevor Larkum

There weren’t cars only on display inside the Electric Vehicle Experience Centre (EVEC) at the launch. There were also a large number charging up outside, presumably getting ready for test drives for the public for the opening the next day.

Electric cars ready for free test drives in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)

The large numbers and broad range of EVs available was impressive.

How about a quick quiz: can you identify them all? The answers are given below.

Of course, whether you own an EV or are considering your first, you’re welcome to test drive any of the vehicles on show for free. Just get in touch and we’ll help arrange it.

Answers to the Quiz: these are the electric cars waiting to give test drives (from nearest the camera to furthest away):

Renault ZOE ZE40
Nissan Leaf
Volkswagen e-Up
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Kia Soul EV
BMW i3
Volkswagen Passat GTE
Volkswagen Golf GTE

The Milton Keynes Electric Vehicle Experience Centre (EVEC) has Launched

July 26, 2017Blog, BMW, BP Chargemaster, Charging, Electric Cars, EVEC, Golf GTE, i3 94Ah, Leaf, Milton Keynes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Outlander PHEV, VolkswagenTrevor Larkum

Last weekend saw the long awaited opening of the Electric Vehicle Experience Centre (EVEC) in Milton Keynes. It officially opened to the public on Saturday 22nd July. It is funded through a government scheme awarded to the local council and is managed by Chargemaster, the company that has installed the majority of charge points around Milton Keynes.

The Preview Event at the Electric Vehicle Experience Centre (Image: T. Larkum)

The EVEC is essentially a car showroom for electric cars but is located in a shop space on Crown Walk in the main centre:mk shopping centre (it’s close to the middle and next to Boots). It doesn’t resemble an out-of-town dealership so much as the boutique style shops developed by Tesla, Apple and most mobile ‘phone companies.

EVEC Purpose

The aim of the Centre is to both showcase existing electric models and be an information point for EV ownership in general. Visitors will be able to talk with staff about all elements of owning and running an EV, with test drives available too. It has been established to increase the number of EVs sold in the area. Milton Keynes’ target is for 23% of all new cars registered locally to be electric by 2021.

We are grateful to Chargemaster for inviting us to the Preview Event on Friday Night (Jo’s thoughts: A Little Bit of Zen). Most of the other guests appeared to be existing EV owners. The showroom housed examples of the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Volkswagen Golf GTE and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. There were drinks and snacks, and then introductory speeches by David Martell, Chief Executive of Chargemaster, and Ted Foster, the new EVEC Manager. After the talks we had an opportunity to talk to Ted and the other staff.

EVEC Test Drives

As well as providing help and guidance on electric cars and EV driving, the EVEC is also making cars available for test drives. These can be short accompanied drives, however there is also the option of week-long extended test drives. For these there will be a charge (we understand about £70) largely to cover the inevitable cost of insurance. That’s seems fair to us – £10 per day to drive a new car, particularly considering the fuel costs will be negligible.

The Preview Event at the Electric Vehicle Experience Centre (Image: J. Pegram-Mills)

The enthusiasm of the EVEC ‘gurus’ is clear and we certainly appreciate the enthusiasm and resources that have gone into building and staffing the first dedicated electric vehicle showroom in the UK (and probably in the world). We wish it every success and will be supporting it by passing local customers to it for test drives.

If you live near Milton Keynes and are interested in taking a test drive in any one of a large range of new electric cars (including the Renault ZOE, Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Golf GTE, and others) just get in touch with us on 01908-904020, or by email at sales@ fuelincluded.com.

Premier Used BMW i3 Available Today for £499pm

July 21, 2017Blog, BMW, Electric Cars, i3, i3 94AhTrevor Larkum

As many people are starting to learn, the downside of increasing interest in and sales of electric cars is that the manufacturers are struggling to keep up. In particular both the BMW i3 and Hyundai IONIQ Electric have increasing lead times, heading towards 5 months from order to delivery.

Used BMW i3 94Ah with Range Extender (Image: T. Larkum)

One side effect of this is a shortage of used i3’s, particular the longer range i3 94Ah which was only launched a year ago. We are very fortunate, therefore, to be able to offer a used i3 REx that just came into stock this week and, after preparation, became available to sell today.

It has a very high specification – it’s a top-end i3 with all the bells and whistles. It is available from now to the first person to complete the paperwork.

Used BMW i3: Specification

The complete specification is here:

BMW i3 94Ah with Range Extender (REx)
Mineral Grey Metallic with Highlight BMW i Blue (£530)
Aragats Grey Neutronic Cloth
i3 Sport Package (£1700): alloy wheels, LED headlights, Harman Kardon Hi-Fi, Sun Protection Glass
Media Package – Professional (£960): Navigation system Professional and Online Entertainment
Park Assist Package (£790): Park Assist, Park Distance Control (PDC) front and rear, Reversing Assist camera
20″ BMW I Double-spoke Style Alloy Wheels (£520 on top of Sport Package)
Comfort Access (£330): Open front vehicle doors and tailgate without having to use the car key
DC Rapid Charge Preparation
Electric Glass Sunroof (£780)

The current prices and specs for the options are included just to give an indication of how well featured this vehicle is.

In my personal view (as an owner of an i3) this could represent an electric car to keep for life. It has the longer range battery (120+ miles), it has the Range Extender (a small petrol engine in the boot to keep the battery charged on longer journeys – adding another 100 miles or so per fill up), it has a great look inside and out (sport package, alloy wheels, sunroof), and it has the larger screen satnav and nearly all the other gadgets you can think of.

Used BMW i3: Price

This is a car that would have cost an impressive £37,350 when bought new last year. It has only done a little over 4000 miles so it’s virtually new (I do that in ten weeks). It is now available on 4 year PCP for £1200 deposit plus £499 per month, and that includes servicing until 20 May 2019 or 36000 miles. That’s for a high 15000 miles per year PCP – of course we can do it for a lower mileage at a lower price if that would suit better.

Do get in touch if you want to know more: trevor.larkum@ fuelincluded.com, mobile 07920 790600.

BMW i3 Diary: How Easy Is It To Own An Electric Car?

June 28, 2017BMW, Electric Cars, i3 94Ah, News, Reviews and CommentJo

Range anxiety? What range anxiety…

Is owning an electric car a statement or simply good financial sense?

In the beginning it was most definitely the former. Electric cars were expensive, limited in range and thanks to a complete lack of infrastructure impossible to make long journeys in.

To find out if these cars are now living up to our expectations we spent two weeks with BMW’s i3. We drove to work, did the weekly shop and generally found every possible excuse to use it over our own two legs.

To begin with we’ll run though the model we tested. This was a BMW i3 94ah with range extender. That meant that if we drove it in BMW’s COMFORT mode we could, just about, squeeze out a top range of 205 miles.

The first few days…

Getting into the car for the first time you’re struck at just how pleasant everything is. It’s BMW alright, but if BMW lived in California and went to yoga four times a week.

It’s all very minimalist and the cabin itself feels incredibly spacious, despite the small dimensions of the car.

Halfway there…

Electric cars are absolutely perfect for city driving, especially small ones like the i3.

Thanks to the i3 having plenty of punch in the acceleration department we found weaving through the central London chaos to be almost, and we do mean almost, enjoyable.

The silence is also something that becomes really hard to give up. The i3’s cabin has just the right amount of sound isolation to make sure that the only thing you’re going to hear is either the gentle whine of the electric motor or the radio. It’s a blissful oasis in a sea of livid cyclists.

The last stretch…

We’re on to the last week week now and despite having driven over what feels like every road hump in London our love for this plucky little car is growing.

The styling continues to be a real winner for us, especially this two-tone fabric against what looks like a black recycled composite. It looks futuristic and yet acutely homely at the same time, like a Bang & Olufsen speaker.

Another thing that’s really starting to dawn on us is that not once have we worried about range anxiety. The car’s range readout is accurate enough that you never feel like it’s suddenly going to steal 5 miles from you.

While an owner will have a charging point installed in their house we couldn’t and so had to rely on a plug socket. Naturally the plug socket was too far away and so for the last two weeks we’ve actually been solely charging the car using what’s available around the city.

Verdict….

The i3 is a superbly built car. It feels and behaves in every sense like a product that is at the top end of what BMW is capable of. The interior build-quality is second to none while the enormous windscreen at the front gives it perfect visibility for city driving.

Its electric motor is powerful and responsive and while the ride itself is a little hard the seats are incredibly comfortable.

The i3 doesn’t feel like an experiment any more, it is simply a BMW that’s electric. Most of this is down to the car while the rest is absolutely down to the fact that we finally have a substantial charging network here in the UK.

The BMW i3 – Transform your journey

Rowena’s BMW i3 has taken her city commute in a whole new direction