Reasons for get I3 - my daily commute is roughly 50 miles ?

Hi All, thank you for this community and all the resources available to potential owners of i3. Here is my situation.
My current vehicles are Acura TSX Sport wagon, Chrysler Pacifica minivan & Hyundai Elantra.
My daily work commute is roughly 50 miles roundtrip. I live in Upstate NY so we do get snow and winters are cold here.
I want to know if i3 with range extender is good choice for me or not ? Also I see that 2017 have bigger battery compared to 2016 model but I'm seeing good deals on 2016 model years with less than 10,000 miles on it. So question is, is it worth buying 2016 model year used i3 or should I wait one more year and get 2017 ?
Also in terms of maintenance and long term reliability how good is i3 ? I'm looking into getting used one as cannot afford $50K on new i3.

Thanks in advance.

IMHO, with the other cars available for longer trips, the 2017 i3 BEV would be more than adequate. The BEV is more efficient in the winter than the REx since it uses a heat pump most of the time for heat, whereas, the REx must get each watt of heat directly from the battery. Plus, being heavier than the BEV, it gets slightly less efficiency as well verses the BEV. The BEV is both less expensive and less complex, and, if you decide to keep it beyond the warranty period, you won't have oil, filter, muffler, ignition, etc. components to maintain. Given the plastic, CFRP, and aluminum in the chassis, there's almost nothing to corrode, so it could be kept a very long time. You will want to probably pick up a set of winter tires for the car, though. You have two choices: the OEM Bridgestones, or the R2 from Nokian Tires (I think the Nokian may be a better winter tire...if I wear out my Bridgestones, I will probably buy a set of those). If you could precondition the smaller battery on the pre-2017 models, and your speeds weren't high, you could probably get by with one of those, but the REx might be a good crutch. If you can precondition, and you're not doing lots of short hops where it can cool off in between, you can maximize the battery and you won't see as much of a cold weather range reduction. If you could charge, even if with a 120vac socket while at work, that would be fine.

Of course the REx gives the option of doing cross country trips driving motorcycle style ... frequent stops every 70 miles. But the BEV is a fine car too.

I would recommend looking at your charging options: http://plugshare.com. Areas have different densities of chargers with different hours.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

Thank you all for taking time out to respond to my request. Someone who is new to this whole electric vehicle genre there are few things to learn for me.
Pardon my ignorance but first and foremost what is BEV ? I can understand REX stands for Range Extender.
Second question, is it good idea to buy used i3 specifically 2015 or 2016 year model ?
Third - Can you charge your i3 at any charging station ? And do you need to install something special at home to charge your i3 ?

As I mentioned most of my trips are within 50 miles range during normal everyday commute. But I also like to travel and I never ever shy away from driving longer distance if opportunity arises. So just trying to understand if I need to make longer trips once in a while - is i3 capable of handling those ?

Thank you all.

mjoshi said:

Thank you all for taking time out to respond to my request. Someone who is new to this whole electric vehicle genre there are few things to learn for me.
Pardon my ignorance but first and foremost what is BEV ? I can understand REX stands for Range Extender.
Second question, is it good idea to buy used i3 specifically 2015 or 2016 year model ?
Third - Can you charge your i3 at any charging station ? And do you need to install something special at home to charge your i3 ?

As I mentioned most of my trips are within 50 miles range during normal everyday commute. But I also like to travel and I never ever shy away from driving longer distance if opportunity arises. So just trying to understand if I need to make longer trips once in a while - is i3 capable of handling those ?

Thank you all.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum.
BEV stands for Battery Electric Vehicle...there is no gasoline engine like the REx.
Regarding buying used, there are pros and cons. Remember, though, that starting with the 2017 models the battery range was increased 50%. That may not be technically correct but you can research the specs. There are some good deals on used cars out there.
Regarding charging, I have the "Plugshare" app on my phone which will show all the charging stations in your area, or anywhere in the US. BMW's cannot use the Tesla charging stations because the charge plug is different. There my be an adapter that you can get but there are plenty of non Tesla stations around so I wouldn't worry about it.
I believe a 50 mile commute is doable with a BEV if you can charge at your destination. Just my 2 cents worth.

mjoshi said:

Third - Can you charge your i3 at any charging station ? And do you need to install something special at home to charge your i3 ?

Click to expand...

A North American i3 can be charged by any non-Tesla alternating current (AC) electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), but only by combined charging system (CCS) direct current (DC) fast chargers. DC fast charging was an option on 2014 i3's, so not all 2014 i3's can use a DC fast charger. All North American AC Level 1 (120 V) and Level 2 (208 - 240 V) EVSE's except Tesla destination chargers use the same J1772 protocol and plug. All North American EV's can be charged by an AC EVSE (Tesla EV's include an adapter to do so). DC fast chargers that cannot charge an i3 include CHAdeMO fast chargers (compatible with Asian EV's such as the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV) and Tesla Superchargers.

AC Level 1 EVSE, called by BMW an Occasional Use Cable (OUC), is included with all i3's. If you have a 120 V 15 A circuit (all North America homes have several) that is not being used by any other appliance, you could charge any North American i3 by plugging an OUC into this circuit. Its maximum charging rate expressed in miles of range gained per hour of charging time is ~5 mph. So replenishing the energy used on a 50-mile commute would take ~10 hours (longer in cold weather). If you need to warm the battery pack to increase its range, an OUC would be unable to do so because the battery pack heater takes essentially the OUC's entire charging power leaving nothing extra to charge the battery pack.

So if the OUC is insufficient for your needs, you'd need to have AC Level 2 EVSE installed where you park overnight. To minimize the charging time, you'd need to buy EVSE that is capable of supplying at least 30 - 32 A at 240 V. Any AC Level 2 EVSE can charge any North American i3, so your choice of EVSE would depend on which features you would like (e.g., WiFi, built-in delay timer, display). The maximum AC Level 2 charging rate is ~25 mph, or ~5 times faster than the OUC. AC Level 2 EVSE's are powerful enough to warm the battery pack in cold weather while still increasing its charge (albeit at a bit slower rate). So replenishing the energy used on a 50-mile commute would take ~2 hours (longer in cold weather).

My commute is around 52 miles round trip. I just purchased a 2014 BEV and I love it. Works fine for my commute. I am fully charged and while at work I do have the opportunity to charge (just installed a Level 2 charger at work) so I am always topped off. But honestly I really do not have to top off at work, I usually have over 50 miles to get home on. Just top off in case of a traffic issues.

My commute is a bit over 40 miles and that includes a 2,000' of elevation change. My car usually has well over 50% battery left when I get home. I used to drive in Eco mode, but now stick in Comfort to drive like a "BMW driver". I had to sell my E46 M3 (fantastic car) to get a used 2014 BEV i3 and for commuting, it is fantastic and stupid cheap. In the past two months, I have averaged $0.03 per mile. That puts my round trip to work and back at $1.20. With my M3, that was closer to $9. My only worries about the i3 are the tires and the battery. I still have 4 years on the battery warranty. As for the tires, I am used to spending $1,300 a year on my M3, so $500-600 every couple of years is still good to me. I do have one more problem with the i3. My wife keeps taking it.