BEV only experiences

I have a i3 BEV on order and have been reading everything I can to be well prepared. There has been a lot of forum space dedicated to know issues with Rex version but I have seen little about any know issues with BEV USA models. Anyone with a BEV i3 care to share your experience? Good or bad. Might be nice to have a sub-forum for BEV i3s.

JPCruising said:

I have a i3 BEV on order and have been reading everything I can to be well prepared. There has been a lot of forum space dedicated to know issues with Rex version but I have seen little about any know issues with BEV USA models. Anyone with a BEV i3 care to share your experience? Good or bad. Might be nice to have a sub-forum for BEV i3s.

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Hey.. you will love it.. no strange messages just pure fun..you need to learn the car and get to know it's personality.. i commute 128 miles a day round trip to work with charging at work.. i love it.

The only negative has been the failure if the charge regulation module in the car two times.. but customer service are awesome and I expect my i3 back this week...

Please post how you get on...

I've had my BEV for a week. I really, really like this car. So far, zero problems for me, so clearly that biases my mood. The i3 has a lot of character (to me, in a chunky-urban-euro-scandic good way, although this is not the car for you if it bothers you if someone calls your kid ugly).

I'm coming from a 2006 (R53) Mini Cooper S (now my 2nd favorite car I have owned). Similar power to weight ratio, both very fun to drive, but completely different driving experiences. Interestingly, wife hated the Mini and loves the i3 (I have to admit I didn't see that one coming, and not overly relevant since its not her car).

Once you've got it in your driveway, I bet you'll agree its hard not to love this car.

Similar experience here. I have managed to put 500 miles on mine during the first week of ownership. All very easy, no error messages, no complication. I certainly think the simplicity of the BEV, where the technology has been thoroughly tested through the active E programme should mean there are relatively few issues. The REX has not had the same level of testing.
Having said that, my air con isn't working, though in Northumberland I only need this a few days a year!

The charging has been a doddle on a 32amp Rolec EVSE installed for free under the UK government's initiative. There are several CCS chargers near me. I have tried one as an experiment, but not needed to use one yet. I simply haven't found the need yet. Even a round trip of 70 miles on the A1 left me with over 20% of charge remaining.
As I am new to EVs, I have been pleasantly surprised how little compromise I have had to make regarding my lifestyle. In fact, I have found I use the car more than I would any previous car. Simply because at 11p per kWh, it costs approximately 2.5p per mile!

Same here!!

I received my i3 BEV end of January (ordered amongst the very first for Belgium on Nov. 16th 2013). Just passed the 5000 mi (8000 km).

Not a single problem or flaw. No clonks and no glitches. Had a couple of charging errors, but only related to my house installation, not the car.

Of course, after almost 6 months of intense usage, there are little "things" that I hope will be corrected/changed in the future. For instance, the suicide doors were fun at the beginning. They still are fun to show to friends. But they are surely not "that" practical in real life.
The other recurring problem, at least here in Belgium, is the accompanying 360° Electric services : 6 months after the first deliveries, the local BMW is still playing by ear.

But as far as the actual car is concerned ..... I'm still in "whow"-mode

Buskraut said:

I'm coming from a 2006 (R53) Mini Cooper S (now my 2nd favorite car I have owned). Similar power to weight ratio, both very fun to drive, but completely different driving experiences. Interestingly, wife hated the Mini and loves the i3 (I have to admit I didn't see that one coming, and not overly relevant since its not her car).

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That's interesting. We're replacing a 2010 Mini Cooper with a BEV. I hate driving the Mini (I got lumbered with it since the wife traded in my Honda Accord (which I loved driving) to get a CR-V) because it just feels overly chunky to me, whereas I loved the feel of the i3 from the first minute of the test drive.

logorrhoea said:

We're replacing a 2010 Mini Cooper with a BEV.

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It seems that we are quite a few to have done exactly that

This will be my first BMW, coming from a Honda CRV. Never consider a BMW until they came out with the i3.

JPCruising, I have had my i3 non-rex since 1st April and have had no technical issues with it at all having covered 3,402 miles. The overnight off-peak charging failed a couple of times but that was down to the clunky electricity supply in rural south east England and not the car.

It's a fun car to drive, especially the boy-racer acceleration from a standing start, and for a company car driver in the UK as cheap as chips to run. It's great not having to pay money to multi-national oil companies for their petrol/diesel although I have had to give up smoking to counteract the weight loss from no longer going to petrol stations and buying munchies (sweets/confectionery) with the petrol/diesel. Had to think twice about how to use a petrol pump last time I had to re-fuel the Intergrale.


Only minor criticisms are the lack of lateral support from the drivers seat when in boy-racer mode and the reflection of the black/grey/white fibre matting stuff across the top of the dashboard that has already been discussed elsewhere on this forum.

You will love your car.

Thanks Soulfulmoaner for sharing your experience with your BEV, seems the non rex version has had less issues. So looking forward to getting mine, been digging a trench today to run the electrical conduit for the Clipper Creek charger that is being installed this Saturday by my electrician. This old boy is definitely not use to doing that kind of labor in the summer heat, but it is done now and ready for the electrician. I like your "boy-racer" term as I think I will fall into that category.

Any BEV owners want to share the range you have been getting? Still waiting for my i3 Tera to start production, briefly considered a fully loaded Rex Tera 110 miles away but it was not the color I wanted, had 20" wheels and I think the BEV is better suited for my needs. I did have my Clipper Creek installed a week ago

It's the middle of summer now and I am still getting very similar ranges to that I was getting back in March which is about 75-85 miles during the commuting week (Eco Pro with limit set to 55 mph, avoiding A/C although that has been difficult recently). I get less at the weekends because I do higher speeds, my commute is along country lanes. I recently reset the onboard trip computer. I get about 4.7 miles/kwh and average just over 30 mph for my commute.

Bill

With a change of color I have become several steps closer to getting my BEV. While checking on the production of my ordered 13 Tera Laurel Gray BEV my dealer did offer me a solar orange with all the options I had order. It actually came into the USA port last Friday. I originally had consider the laurel gray and solar orange. Decided to accept the solar orange that is at the port being prep for delivery to my dealer as the laurel gray is not scheduled for production until 8/04.

JPCruising said:

With a change of color I have become several steps closer to getting my BEV. While checking on the production of my ordered 13 Tera Laurel Gray BEV my dealer did offer me a solar orange with all the options I had order. It actually came into the port last Friday. I originally had consider the laurel gray and solar orange. Decided to accept the solar orange that is at the port being prep for delivery to my dealer as the laurel gray is not scheduled for production until 8/04.

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I have a Tera BEV with the normal 19 wheels and all options besides DCFC waiting at the port. Should be on a boat today.

Looks like I will be taking possession of my i3 Tera BEV Solar Orange all option w/ 19" wheels this Saturday if all goes according to plan. Look forward to posting some of my BEV experiences.

Check out my web page http://www.roperld.com/science/ElectricCarsMusings.pdf.