Hi folks,
After a few months of lurking and picking up good information here, I've finally joined the forums.
I ordered my BEV i3 in December (UK customer) and it is due to be built in June with estimated delivery in July.
I didn't choose any of the battery/cabin preheating options but am now considering adding them.
The only problem is, I'm not entirely sure what they do, whether I can even add them and whether they will be of any use to me.
As I understand it the two options are the 'winter package (HV battery preparation & seat heating)' at £260.00 and the 'auxiliary cabin heating system' at £530.00. The HV battery preparation seems to me the more critical of the two, in that it will *definitely* preserve the car's range (because the battery *must* be at the optimum temperature to function correctly) whereas the auxiliary cabin heating system will *probably* help to preserve range but not necessarily (in that a warmly dressed driver might not be blasting the heat too much on every trip). Have I understood correctly or is there more to it than that?
My build has the standard interior. Is the auxiliary cabin heating system available with that or only with one of the pricier interiors? (I think I might be confusing this problem with one of the other options.)
I have already had my home charging point installed and it's a 32A Chargemaster unit. The iGenius at my BMW dealership says she thinks some of the preheating options will work with the BMW Wallbox only (something to do with software/the app EDIT: she also said my options would be restricted because I plumped for the standard Business satnav/whatnot instead of the Professional version, even though the latter is showing up as costing *nothing* in the build configurator now, but that's a whole different bone of contention). Is this correct and if so, do the restrictions affect the 'winter package (HV battery preparation & seat heating)' at £260.00 or the 'auxiliary cabin heating system' at £530.00 or both? I would obviously prefer to pre-heat from the mains rather than drain the battery. The iGenius knows I've already had my Chargemaster unit fitted so it's not as though she's trying to sell me a BMW Wallbox but equally, I wouldn't expect BMW to have trained their iGeniuses as fully with regard to non-BMW units. Is she right about the restrictions?
In short, is there any point in me adding either or both of these options to my build?
I've searched for answers here but it is difficult to be sure that I have understood everything correctly so I'd be grateful if any of you more knowledgeable people could shed some light on things.
After a few months of lurking and picking up good information here, I've finally joined the forums.
I ordered my BEV i3 in December (UK customer) and it is due to be built in June with estimated delivery in July.
I didn't choose any of the battery/cabin preheating options but am now considering adding them.
The only problem is, I'm not entirely sure what they do, whether I can even add them and whether they will be of any use to me.
As I understand it the two options are the 'winter package (HV battery preparation & seat heating)' at £260.00 and the 'auxiliary cabin heating system' at £530.00. The HV battery preparation seems to me the more critical of the two, in that it will *definitely* preserve the car's range (because the battery *must* be at the optimum temperature to function correctly) whereas the auxiliary cabin heating system will *probably* help to preserve range but not necessarily (in that a warmly dressed driver might not be blasting the heat too much on every trip). Have I understood correctly or is there more to it than that?
My build has the standard interior. Is the auxiliary cabin heating system available with that or only with one of the pricier interiors? (I think I might be confusing this problem with one of the other options.)
I have already had my home charging point installed and it's a 32A Chargemaster unit. The iGenius at my BMW dealership says she thinks some of the preheating options will work with the BMW Wallbox only (something to do with software/the app EDIT: she also said my options would be restricted because I plumped for the standard Business satnav/whatnot instead of the Professional version, even though the latter is showing up as costing *nothing* in the build configurator now, but that's a whole different bone of contention). Is this correct and if so, do the restrictions affect the 'winter package (HV battery preparation & seat heating)' at £260.00 or the 'auxiliary cabin heating system' at £530.00 or both? I would obviously prefer to pre-heat from the mains rather than drain the battery. The iGenius knows I've already had my Chargemaster unit fitted so it's not as though she's trying to sell me a BMW Wallbox but equally, I wouldn't expect BMW to have trained their iGeniuses as fully with regard to non-BMW units. Is she right about the restrictions?
In short, is there any point in me adding either or both of these options to my build?
I've searched for answers here but it is difficult to be sure that I have understood everything correctly so I'd be grateful if any of you more knowledgeable people could shed some light on things.