Ahead of our first long journey in the i3 tomorrow I thought it best to test the rapid charging for the first time. Connected up to the Ecotricity charge point at Newport Pagnell Northbound – worked first time!
Not sure about speed of charging, will do some calculations later.
So just how important is the BMW i3 as it reaches its second generation? On the one hand, this is a near-£30,000 battery car from a premium car maker, whose very existence keeps it out of reach to most folks. On the other, BMW has probably done more than most to address the fundamental problems of battery electric travel; weight; range; price; practicality; battery cost; and technology adoption.
… The i3’s lightweight carbon-fibre and aluminium chassis reduces inertia, but it’s expensive.
To reduce costs, BMW and German specialists, SGL separated carbon-fibre from its aeronautical traceability. Using Mitsubishi-produced polyacrylnitrile imported from Osaka, Japan, their $300 million hydro-electric-powered plant in Moses Lake, Washington State, processes it into carbon-fibre at low cost, thanks in part, to electricity costing four cents a kWh. The fibres are transported to Wakersdorf, Germany where they are woven into cloth. And it’s a measure of success that Moses Lake is now the world’s largest supplier of carbon-fibre, it’s 200-strong workforce producing up to 9,000 tonnes a year.
It’s that carbon-fibre passenger safety cell, with aluminium subframes, that carry the 168bhp/184lb ft BMW-designed and built motor, plus the battery pack with its 96 Samsung lithium-ion cells, which makes the i3, at 1,245kg, one of the lightest and most efficient battery electric cars on sale in the UK.
Read more: Telegraph
It’s one of the most striking cars you can buy and thanks to its engine refresh, will take you further than before, too
More and more premium brands are beginning to invest in electric cars. At this month’s Paris Motor Show, Mercedes announced plans for a new sub-brand called EQ, which will contain a whole fleet of EVs in years to come.
Rival BMW already has its own sub-brand for plug-in and electric cars. It’s i stable is currently headed by the flagship i8 sports car, with the small i3 positioned as the company’s electric hatchback.
The i3 features a concept car-like design using high-tech materials, a space-age interior and cutting-edge electric powertrain technology. It’s been on sale since 2014, but BMW has recently updated the car to keep it fresh and competitive.
Like its bigger i8 brother, the i3’s overall shape strongly resembles the concept car from which it came.
As a result, it one of the most unique and futuristic-looking small cars you can buy, with Evo saying there’s nothing else on the road that looks like it. It’s still unmistakably a BMW, though, and keeps key traits such as the kidney grilles at the front in place.
Read more: The Week
The 2016 BMW 330e is a plug-in hybrid without compromise.
It’s equipped with a 2.0-liter Twin Power turbocharged inline four, paired with a lithium-ion powered electric motor and mated to an eight speed automatic transmission. The combined hybrid system output is 248 horsepower and 310 pound feet of torque, which delivers a respectable 0-60 mile per hour time of 5.9 seconds.
Driving the 330e is a very cool experience. Put aside your preconceptions you might have about hybrids. The 330 moves when you stomp on it. It’s pure electric – super smooth and quiet – when it needs to be, and delivers plenty of turbo punch when you put your foot in it.
The four drive modes meet your moods: EcoPro, Comfort, Sport, and Sport+.
Needless to say, I indulged.
Read more: MPGomatic
After my recent attempts at testing the range of the BMW i3 94Ah achieved 130 miles and 150 miles per charge I decided to go all-out for a final ‘ultimate’ test and see if I could reach 200 miles on a charge, something of a milestone for any electric car.
The method was the same as ever; commute to work for 4 days in a row driving 40 miles each day for work plus an additional mileage up to 10 miles each evening for family trips. This time I used Eco Pro+ Mode which limits the acceleration, the climate control system and the top speed. Moreover I made a lot of use of the cruise control set to 37mph for the faster stretches of the route, but 27mph wherever I could (e.g. passing through villages). Towards the end of the test I used the 27mph limit most of the time.
After two days, halfway through, the car was teasing the possibility of 200 miles on the charge, with 100.3 miles achieved and only 49% battery used. After the third day, however, it wasn’t looking quite so good with 147.2 miles achieved on 74.5% battery used. I believe this was largely my fault as during the day I had ‘shown off’ the i3 to a colleague, including demonstrating its acceleration, and that had cost me precious range.
And so it was that I failed. At the end of the fourth day, using up the last remaining bit of charge driving around a loop near my house, the range display changed from blue to orange and instead of showing a projected range it read ‘low mi’. I finally gave up and let the car drive down the local hill to home once the battery charge read 0%.
After 4 days driving on a single charge the i3 had achieved 196.3 miles of range, with a displayed efficiency of 4.9mi/kWh. I had failed to achieve the intended 200 miles. So near and yet so far…!
Given how long the test had taken, and how slowly I had had to drive to achieve the mileage, I currently have no plans to repeat it (at least not this year, perhaps next summer).
So I lay down the challenge – who is going to be the first i3 94Ah BEV driver to achieve 200 miles on a single charge?
After my previous attempts at getting a good range out of the i3, and achieving 130 miles then 150 miles, I thought I’d go all-out for the longest range I could achieve.
After two days this is what the dashboard showed:
So, yes, our i3 is saying it has done just over 100 miles on just under half its battery…
Following my encouraging achievement of 130 miles on a single charge of the i3 without too much trouble, last week I decided to make a more determined attempt to get a good range. The process was the same as ever – commuting to work in a careful way. The journey is about 40 miles return but with additional errands in the evening (e.g. picking up children) I typically do 50 miles per day.
The approach was therefore simple – commute with gentle driving for three days in a row, and on the evening of the third day do some local driving until the charge had almost gone. I made sure I was driving in Eco Pro Mode, and also adjusted this so its maximum speed was reduced to 70mph. Doing that this time I was rewarded with a range on one charge of 152.7 miles (and a consumption figure of 4.4 mi/kWh).
I’m very pleased with that, but it has also encouraged me to try harder – particularly as that 4.4 consumption figure is still not as high as I’ve achieved with the (heavier) ZOE – so watch this space!
With the ZOE we had before getting the i3 I used to enjoy the challenge of seeing how far I could get on a charge. While it was exciting when our ZOE first promised 100 mile range, such a distance should be no challenge for the ‘94Ah’ (longer-range) version of the i3.
When I collected it and first switched it on it very encouragingly promised 120 miles of range – a very good start, I thought. However, I did a lot of ‘testing of its performance’ on that first day and, as previously described, showed it off in the same vein to a number of colleagues at work. Later that day I went to another office and repeated the exercise.
Furthermore, that evening after work, I went out with friends and, partly to show off the new car, volunteered to drive. Again I couldn’t resist the urge to demonstrate its fast acceleration at every opportunity. The end result was that afterwards I was barely able to coax the car home – which served me right of course – having achieved just 100 miles range on that first day’s charge.
The following week I decided to attempt instead to see what range it was capable of. I commuted to work in a more relaxed manner over the next couple of days, keeping the car in Comfort Mode – and achieved 130 miles before putting the car on to charge. A much more respectable result!
According to the dashboard the consumption was 4.0mi/kWh over that long distance. On the ZOE it was possible fairly easily to get 4.5mpkWh (and I once achieved 6mpkWh, 142 miles) so I’m sure there’s more range to be had from the i3 yet.
New battery pack gives BMW’s appealing electric hatchback a useful increase in driving range but it doesn’t come cheap
The BMW i3 94Ah is the first major upgrade of the German company’s radical city car since it was launched two and a half years ago.
The ‘94Ah’ in the name refers to a brand-new battery developed by BMW and made up of cells manufactured by Samsung. This lithium ion battery pack, which is mounted under the cabin floor, is the same size as the previous one but the energy density of the unit has been improved by an impressive 50%.
BMW claims the resulting 33kWh capacity significantly improves the i3’s range, boosting it from 118 miles to 195 miles when measured by the official New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) test.
However, BMW acknowledges that the official test regime for electric vehicles is flawed and says the real-world range for the i3 94Ah on a full charge is actually 124 miles. It claims this driving distance can be achieved even in tough conditions, such as the depths of winter (when the heating system is on) or during the height of summer (when the air-con is being used).
The i3’s charging system has been upgraded along with the battery pack. A specialist DC charger can be used to charge the new battery to 80% of its capacity in around 40min. That’s sufficient to give a real-world range of around 100 miles.
A bespoke BMW wall-mounted charging box with high-power 11kWh three-phase charging can be fitted to an owner’s home and offers the same 80% charge in less than three hours.
The rest of the i3 is pretty much unchanged. It’s still driven by a rear-mounted electric motor, which is designed and manufactured by BMW in Germany. By developing its own batteries and motor, BMW claims the i3 is the most energy-efficient electric vehicle on the market, consuming 12.6kWh per 100km (62 miles) of travel.
This is an immensely likeable vehicle, but it’s hard not to wish that BMW had opted to make it a little longer, especially in the wheelbase, when you drive it. The i3 is a finger’s width under 4.0 metres long and, in that context, the 2.57m wheelbase sounds reasonable, but on the road, it’s clear a more generous footprint would have helped with the i3’s two biggest failings: its ride on rough roads and access to the rear seats.
On a very poor surface, the i3’s chassis finds it difficult to settle down. It reacts rather harshly on the very roughest surfaces, joggling the occupants as it thumps and crashes. It’s true that the chassis is relatively stiffly sprung, so the situation is more exaggerated that it might otherwise be. The 19in wheels probably don’t help.
In stark contrast, on a very well-surfaced stretch of road – and there were a few of those on the test route in southern Germany – the i3 is uncannily smooth and swift. And the serenity of the progress makes using the full potential of the i3’s electric motor hard to resist.
The i3’s performance is pretty eager even with the energy-saving EcoPro setting switched on (it subdues the throttle response and cuts the cooling power of the air-con) but fully unleashed it is a remarkably quick machine.
Read more: Autocar
Following our family’s successful test drive of an i3 we decided to order one, and I looked around for a good deal. I contacted the dealer closest to my work in Milton Keynes but the only deal they could offer us was very expensive (ca. £600 per month).
Online there was a mix of offers available, most at very high prices but a couple at a good price. I researched these further and settled on a particularly attractive Personal Contract Hire (PCH) lease deal. I eventually took one, for a base i3 but with Loft interior and optional wood dash.
All of this took place about the time of, and was prompted by, the launch by BMW of the i3 version known as a ‘94Ah’ (because its new battery cells have a higher capacity than the old 60Ah ones). We are therefore receiving one of the first examples of this longer-range i3 to be produced, and the i3 was on the shortlist to follow our ZOE precisely because of the increase in range it would provide.
I was surprised but pleased to learn that although the car would be on lease, it could be supplied through our local dealer (closest to home), Wollaston BMW in Northampton. That was particularly appropriate as that was where we had our test drive.
After waiting was seemed like ages (but was actually only a couple of months) I went and collected the car last Friday. There was a minimum of paperwork but a long and detailed handover in the showroom covering all the main points of operating the car (my thanks go to Ben at Wollaston for his patience and attention to detail).
I then drove it out of the showroom and straight to the office in Milton Keynes. There I didn’t even get to sit down before I was asked to do test rides, and eventually took out a dozen people. It was no hardship, though, as it’s such a pleasure to drive.
I’m loving the new i3 and haven’t stopped smiling since I picked it up!