mindmachine
Well-known member
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.
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.