i3 Rex sufficient for 150 mile commute ?

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LMJ125

Member
Joined
May 11, 2017
Messages
6
I am seriously thinking about moving from my diesel to an i3 Rex. I live in the South West and travel to Reading twice a week - this is a 150 mile commute. About 120 miles are dual carriage way and motorway (speed limit 70mph).

I have been assured that the car can do this trip without the need for a charge at work i.e. At 75 miles because I don't have work place charging. I could charge at a service station but I don't want the added hassle of this twice a week.

Is this commute possible in the winter (when temps could be 0 or less) with pre conditioning at home only? It's likely I will be driving 65-70 mph most of the way with radio on and some degree of heating.

I love the car but don't want to buy and then realise it does not work for my commute.

Thanks in advance for your replies / thoughts.
 
I think it's highly uinlikely you'll be able to get anywhere near 150 miles on a single charge. Even with the 2017 battery size, 105-110 miles would be more likely. That means you would need to use the Rex for around 40-50 miles each trip - about a gallon of fuel. The car will handle this fine (we do a weekly trip needing 30-40 miles of Rex) but be aware you won't be fully electric.

Could you not look for a 13 amp socket at your workplace?
 
In not-cold weather, our 2014 BMW i3-REx often shows a 150 mile range. However, our hard requirement is 120 mile drive to Nashville TN and the car handled it perfectly. When I reached Nashville, the gas ran out and the EV car easily got me to the office. Dinner while the car was on an L2 charger brought it back up enough that will a full tank, again, all the way home.

Bob Wilson
 
Hi

Thank you for your replies - I understand will need to use the REX just wanted to ensure that would be enough plus electric to do 150 miles in really cold weather?

Also is there a right time to turn on the REX - for example on the motorway during journey to work for 40 miles and then all electric on way home. Or would this not be possible on basis need to be at a certain level of battery before you can manually put REX on.

There are fast chargers in Ikea Reading and on services so I could do all electric but I tend to leave very early and late and therefore another 30 minutes charging would be a pain in the winter. I am looking at charging in car parks but it's still really limited and main train station NCP has no chargers which is odd given they charge £24 for a day parking!

Thanks
Lorna
 
I don't have a REx, but especially if you drive where there are fees for ICE use, definitely run the REx on the motorways, and use EV mode in the city. Except in the USA, well, maybe NA, you can turn the REx on any time the SOC is 75% or lower. Keep in mind that high speeds with the heat on, lights, etc. your battery charge could still be dropping while using the REx. On average, it will be able to hold, but extended heavy use will cause it to drop. That's not a huge issue unless your SOC gets really low, then you'll have the equivalent of around a 38Hp (I think the 2017 added a few HP - it is 34Hp on earlier versions) car...just how fast can you go with 34/38Hp? That is plenty, on average, to keep the battery up, and momentary needs for more comes out of the battery, but not when the battery gets low. When low, the computer will limit the max drain on the battery, and that can mean it will shut down some things like climate control, and finally, limit speeds or acceleration, depending on how low you actually let it go.

IMHO, and from BMW docs, the car is designed for commuting and around the city. While, especially with the REx, it can go longer distances, as many have demonstrated, it is not the same as driving an ICE, where you have full performance until you run out of fuel, and you can refill that tank in a few minutes verses maybe hours, depending on the charging equipment available to you. England has a better network of CCS charging stations than most of the USA (well, the square miles it needs to cover is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller), and some areas, like CA in the US have fairly decent coverage, that is mostly the current exception. That is slowly changing (thank the lawsuit against VW for some of that pending infrastructure), but not fast enough for most. Your maximum economy is to run the vehicle in EV mode all of the time. The REx is only good for the low-mid imperial 40MPG or so. Lots of ICE, especially numerous diesels, can best the i3 REx when running in that mode with the batteries mostly discharged like you might have when trying to travel longer distances.

Some of it depends on your tolerance for the realities. When running in EV mode, or when you blend the ICE running in REx mode plus what you get with recharging the batteries, it still is fairly efficient, but no where near as efficient if you can stay in EV mode all of the time. Mine is a BEV, but I don't need to travel that far...when I do, I use my ICE. It's nice to have that choice. Personally, I'd not go that route, but your question was could you, and I think the answer is yes, but at what cost in convenience? Are you willing to have to refill the gas tank daily? If an anticipated charging facility is non-op for the day, will that seriously impact your life and schedule? It will be a long time before charging opportunities are as common as petrol stations, if ever in our lifetimes.
 
Hi LMJ125,

I commute from Bournemouth area to Stansted Airport every week 145-150 miles each way), presently by diesel. Like you the idea of an i3 REX is an interesting idea so I'll be very interested to hear your final decision. Sadly the Long Stay Car Park and the employee Car Park at the Airport have zero charging facilities but there is a Tesla Supercharger nearby (Birchanger Services). The local BMW dealer has offered the use of their i3 REX for 24 hours so at some point I may have a try.

Jfm
Holt, Dorset.
 
Unfortunately, while every once in awhile Tesla and others talk about possible sharing of services, that has not happened, and theirs is not compatible with the i3. While, yes, you could do this on a regular basis, it is stretching the city car design parameters. You won't hurt the car, but you may grow tired of the restrictions. It would probably end up being more economical on a cost/mile basis, though.
 
Thank you Jim, I didn't realise they we incompatible, the old Samsung / Apple standoff! May look at the Tesla 3 but much prefer the BMW build quality. John
 
Jfm said:
Thank you Jim, I didn't realise they we incompatible, the old Samsung / Apple standoff! May look at the Tesla 3 but much prefer the BMW build quality. John
This is one of the hassles of this relatively new industry...there are three different DC fast charging standards: Tesla's, CCS (that the i3 and most European and American cars utilize), and the system originating in Japan that the Nissan Leaf and others from that area comes with. Conversion from one to the other is not all that simple or inexpensive, so not readily available. Plus, Tesla's system looks at the vehicle's serial number to decide if it is free, or paid, or compatible, so only Tesla vehicles can use it. The two other systems are vehicle agnostic...they don't care as long as the protocol is right. Sort of like VHS or Betamax...it may get sorted out in the end, but it may be a hot battle. Currently, Tesla's system supports faster charging, but the CCS standard allows more...it's just that nobody currently supplies it or are there any cars capable of using it (although there have been some prototypes). FWIW, to prevent overheating the batteries, they all slow down considerably once the battery approaches full, and the last bit takes only a little less than it would on an EVSE - lots faster at the beginning, though!
 
I've had a 94 ah Rex for just over a year now and I have a commute of about 135 miles from North of Oxford down to West London with home charging only.
If the weather is reasonably comfortable and doesn't require heating or air conditioning I'm doing the round trip with anywhere from 8.8% to 12% battery left which means the rex doesn't kick in at all. In winter (with coat on) and when it was really hot and needed air conditioning I was using the Rex an getting through 9 litres of petrol about every two weeks (one week at the extreme).
This is driving abot 45 miles each way on motorways.dual carriageways, 10 miles on country A roads and the rest in 30 zones.
The big variation I've noticed is speed on the faster roads - the normal range I'm getting is doing 65-70 (mostly 65 with a bit of traffic on the M25) at 70-75 it'd be reduced by about 2o miles.
So, for a 150 mile round trip that should be easily doable with some rex usage - the amount will depend on your speed.
 
LMJ125 said:
Hi

Thank you for your replies - I understand will need to use the REX just wanted to ensure that would be enough plus electric to do 150 miles in really cold weather?

Also is there a right time to turn on the REX - for example on the motorway during journey to work for 40 miles and then all electric on way home. Or would this not be possible on basis need to be at a certain level of battery before you can manually put REX on.

There are fast chargers in Ikea Reading and on services so I could do all electric but I tend to leave very early and late and therefore another 30 minutes charging would be a pain in the winter. I am looking at charging in car parks but it's still really limited and main train station NCP has no chargers which is odd given they charge £24 for a day parking!

Thanks
Lorna

Be aware that over time, our cars are expected to lose its range due to a decrease in battery capacity. If your commute is long term and if you can just barely make the 150mi on a single charge, the duration that the car can do that should be something to consider.
 
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