Recent content by BobDowser

That's the case with one neighbor's Chrysler Town & Country van. Every time she wants to use her bigger vehicle for hauling something large the thing won't start and it's repair time again. But no reports of rodent squatters in the heating/A/C vents?

Future, very rural, 2017-2018 BMW i3 REx Volt owner with, hopefully, an unusual question about rodent damage in wiring. For those of us without airtight garage space, does anyone out there have any problem with your i3's engine air intake or air ducts/filters getting furry guests, or perhaps...

Since the REx engine provides electrical power to the batteries, and since that power is used to provide electrical resistance heating both to the cabin and the battery pack at outdoor temps under 14F, is there an easy way to lock the REx engine ON for at least sufficient time to warm the...

That's an interesting trick! Can the cabin pre-heat wattage be reduced like the charging rate, or do you just set a cabin temp for it to reach?

All of the above plus you're going to sacrifice acceleration, have top-heavy handling with the extra battery weight higher than the current ones, and the front-rear balance would suffer. You might also have more of a "boat" feel to the steering with more weight stuck at the front or rear instead...

Very helpful, especially if the battery preconditioning is a mere 1.3 kW. My inverter can handle that with ease. And it's nice to hear from someone who knows what cold actually means! One question about that graph, what do the numbers on the right-side vertical axis mean?

One last question: Any idea how much wattage travels into the battery resistance heaters, and when the battery is heating will it do so on both level 1 (120-volt) or level 2 (240-volt) charging sources? I've seen the 3 levels that charging can be set for on level 1, so I'm wondering if that can...

Very helpful, thanks!

Exacly why both the Insight and i3 are no longer produced. Too much in research and production costs. Our Insight has the MIMA/PIMA system onboard, although for short trips it's not of much use. I found what I was looking for in the PDF tech papaer on heating and cooling systems. Two heat pumps...

Yes, I have been keeping the Insight's cells equalized using an external charging source, making it nearly a plug-in hybrid. But I plug into a set of nine series-wired, 5 -watt PV panels. That provides about 180 volts at half an amp, just enough to trickle-charge all 120 cells into slight...

It seems that there are disparate opinions about the construction and wiring of the i3. For instance, only the BEV version has heat pump capability? Does anyone have an overall wiring diagram of the i3 REx? If I can't figure this out I may just have to stick with my gas guzzling (55-75 mpg) 2001...

A trip to town and back in mid-Winter would typically be around 30 miles in total. I'm more concerned about cold weather "lithium plating" on one of the elctrodes more than I am about Winter range. I've read previously that the i3 uses the A/C system to both heat and cool the battery pack. So...

I am searching for a 2017-2018 BMW i3 REx but I have a big concern about charging/driving the car in the dead of winter here in SE Minnesota. We live off-Grid, so using limited home battery power to do preconditioning of the car batteries may be limited at times. Does the REx system fire up and...