Range Suprise: First real trip

I had a real nice trip yesterday, I was surprised by the way the i3 performed with the range estimates the car was showing me. First let me back up, when I left home the range estimate was sort of low showing only 77 miles upon charge complete; but, when I turned on the car that dropped to 75 miles and as I backed out of the drive it went down to 74 miles. Then as I drove the range started nudging up, ie) the range used was less than the miles traveled. Very minute though, if you weren't paying attention you would not really even notice it. So upon arrival at Kelly BMW I had 41 miles left after driving 40 miles for a total range of 81 miles at that point. Efficiency was 4.8 miles/kw for those 40 miles. Well while at Kelly I charged the car a little over an hour (75 minutes, 7.3 kwh) and picked up 14 miles additional range. So I left with 55 miles range to get home on. Now for the surprise my trip home was 52.8 miles, now remember I drove 40 miles to get to Kelly so total trip was 92.8 miles all EV. Guess how many miles were left when I arrived home; ok give up, 15 miles. So in theory I could have made the whole trip in a BEV without recharging. Of course had I not recharged, the Rex would have had to run for about 4 miles since the SOC would have been down to the 6.5% before reaching home.

Now you must remember the following additional key items that are pertinent to my overall range, after dinner we had 38.5 miles left to travel after dark so the lighting was on for those miles, more electricity used for that but as an offset we did not need the AC since outside temp was down to 66 F. Also for about 8 miles I was on I-71 and driving around 65 mph. Efficiency for the trip home was 4.3 miles/kw. On the trip over the AC was on low as it was in the mid 70's.

That is good news. I have my first real trip on Sun and am hoping for similar.

Up to now my experience has been a little frustrating. Like you the car normally indicates a range which promptly drops when I turn it on and drops again when I reverse out of my drive. My average full range has never shown more than 82 miles at the start and in fact I have just plugged the car in and it states that the full range will only be 77 - which is more like the average indicated range that I get! I know that this indication is not supposed to be really accurate but despite getting 4.3 to 4.7 miles per kWh which should equate to more than 80 miles I never seem to get that much!? So much for BMWs 100 mile range (and the weather rid optimum at the moment). Makes me wonder if my battery really has a 18.8kwh capacity?

So I’m hoping for a similar experience to yours on a trip - not that that makes a lot of sense as there is no engine to warm up (just the batteries).

MikeS said:

That is good news. I have my first real trip on Sun and am hoping for similar.

Up to now my experience has been a little frustrating. Like you the car normally indicates a range which promptly drops when I turn it on and drops again when I reverse out of my drive. My average full range has never shown more than 82 miles at the start and in fact I have just plugged the car in and it states that the full range will only be 77 - which is more like the average indicated range that I get! I know that this indication is not supposed to be really accurate but despite getting 4.3 to 4.7 miles per kWh which should equate to more than 80 miles I never seem to get that much!? So much for BMWs 100 mile range (and the weather rid optimum at the moment). Makes me wonder if my battery really has a 18.8kwh capacity?

So I’m hoping for a similar experience to yours on a trip - not that that makes a lot of sense as there is no engine to warm up (just the batteries).

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I have a similar problem, but I just put mine on charge and it is predicting 88 mile range to full. Yesterday it indicated 82 miles but then when charge completed it indicated 75 miles. Hard to figure how the algorithms that calculate this number really work.

I've had my i3 five days. I had it on timer charge last evening with 14 miles remaining. This morning when I left for work, it showed 129 mile range in EcoPro+. My one way commute is 9.8 miles and I arrived with 101miles remaining. Still a interesting scenario and I have 100 mile range left, I hope?

DAZ said:

I've had my i3 five days. I had it on timer charge last evening with 14 miles remaining. This morning when I left for work, it showed 129 mile range in EcoPro+. My one way commute is 9.8 miles and I arrived with 101miles remaining. Still a interesting scenario and I have 100 mile range left, I hope?

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Is your commute all 35mph roads?

DAZ said:

I've had my i3 five days. I had it on timer charge last evening with 14 miles remaining. This morning when I left for work, it showed 129 mile range in EcoPro+. My one way commute is 9.8 miles and I arrived with 101miles remaining. Still a interesting scenario and I have 100 mile range left, I hope?

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Well I am sure you remember the PIP "EV range estimates" curious to hear how you like the i3 and how your range estimates work out. I just love mine, 310 miles on it so far.

Just to reiterate, comfort mode will use the most energy/mile. Per the specs, going to EcoPro should add 12% to your total range, all other things being equal, and EcoPro+ another 12%. So, it depends on your situation and tolerance for creature comforts...using one of the Eco modes will add to your overall range should you decide to use one.

I plan to use EcoPro+ as much as possible since the weather is cooler, but not cold. Interesting tip I picked up here, you CAN use EcoPro+ above 56MPH. I use the cruise control on the interstate in EcoPro+ and just toggle up to a cruising speed of 62. Even though charging Level 2 is no problem at home or work, I plan to conserve as much energy within reason to cut down on charging. My goal is to only fully charge every third or fourth day. I ventured out yesterday putting 75 miles on a full charge, arriving home with a range of 14 miles available.

Regarding EcoPro and EcoPro+, for highway driving using cruise control, how can they possibly extend range beyond reducing or turning off the A/C (or heat)? It seems to me that if you have the HVAC on "fan only," that physics would dictate that maintaining a fix speed (cruise control) will use the identical amount of juice irrespective of any magic setting.

Am I confused?

DAZ said:

Even though charging Level 2 is no problem at home or work, I plan to conserve as much energy within reason to cut down on charging. My goal is to only fully charge every third or fourth day.

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If your daily use is only 1/4 or 1/3 of capacity, I think (from an efficiency/cost perspective) you'd be better off charging every other day, but only charge to 85% SOC. In this way you are maximizing charging efficiency by only using the linear fast-charge portion of the charging cycle.

Chrisn said:

Regarding EcoPro and EcoPro+, for highway driving using cruise control, how can they possibly extend range beyond reducing or turning off the A/C (or heat)? It seems to me that if you have the HVAC on "fan only," that physics would dictate that maintaining a fix speed (cruise control) will use the identical amount of juice irrespective of any magic setting.

Am I confused?

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:shock: Using EcoPro+ at this time of the year doesn't require the use of heat or air. Setting the cruise control at a constant speed of 62mph, less than the speed limit, on level ground, is fairly efficient driving.

jadnashuanh said:

Just to reiterate, comfort mode will use the most energy/mile. Per the specs, going to EcoPro should add 12% to your total range, all other things being equal, and EcoPro+ another 12%. So, it depends on your situation and tolerance for creature comforts...using one of the Eco modes will add to your overall range should you decide to use one.

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When I toggle between comfort/ecopro/ecopro+ I do see a difference in the predicted range but not by those margins.

Here is another strange quirk - I plugged my car in yesterday and before I went to bed checked its status on the app. Showed 100% charge with 92 mile range. Checked again this morning (still plugged in and nothing altered) and now the range shows 80 miles!

I think the range calculations are complex and seem to take into account temperature, driving style and recent history. I've done nearly 9000 miles in my i3 BEV since May and couldn't claim to be any the wiser! Right now the app shows the car with 100% SOC and a 64 mile range (on comfort).

Compared to comfort setting I usually see a very small increase in range on Eco Pro (maybe 1-5 miles) and a bigger one on EP+ (10-15 miles). There is a noticeable power reduction in EP, which you overcome by flooring the accelerator and as noted elsewhere on this thread you can override the EP+ 55mph setting either with the cruise control or by pressing the accelerator a bit further.

What I have seen is that since the dreaded software update in August, which fixed inoperative aircon, the indicated range fell quite dramatically, but then on the road, particularly motorway, it seems to consume only half a mile of indicated range for each mile travelled. I've taken to monitoring the gap between the remaining distance on my trip per the satnav and the indicated range. I see this increase over the course of most trips. I also think the regen is less aggressive since the upgrade.

Since the weather got cooler in Blighty, the pre-heat is very important to maximise range (by getting the batteries up to operating temp before setting off).

Ive used the car a lot now on the motorway since the CCS chargers began to appear, which is great. I find cruise control is very good at managing the power consumption which is a LOT higher at 60-70mph than at 30 mph. When I drove across central London yesterday, the range actually increased by 1 mile over the course of 3-4 miles stop-start. I've also experience some strange recalls so the other day for example I set off with an indicated range of 83 miles and after about 1.5 miles it suddenly dropped to 65! Like I say, best to monitor the "spare" range by comparing the range indicator with satnav distance to go.

Overall, this car has totally changed my driving experience (for the better) in just about every way.

Hope this experience is helpful

I posted on another thread that I'd thought the range (predicted, at least) seems reduced since the s/w update. Obviously, I'm not the only one to have noticed this so maybe it's not in my imagination!

This post from Sweden clearly shows the impact of speed on range: http://bmwi3owner.com/2014/05/range-for-speed-2/

Just done an 80 mile trip (40+40) with 20 miles range remaining... 100 miles exactly yeee. Am very proud of myself.

I did a similar trip the other day. 69 miles with 21 predicted remaining = 80 miles.

*However*, the REx menu showed that I had 31% of battery charge remaining - which would imply 31 miles remaining and 100 miles total.

The range predictor was seriously pessimistic throughout the journey. At the halfway through the battery point (ie half the blue bar had gone - judged by eye), the predicted remaining range was 31 miles - yet on the half of the battery I had just used, I'd covered 47 miles.