Front Radiator Louvers?

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Arm

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2020
Messages
332
Hey folks. Have any of you noticed the difference between REx and BEV models lower front air dam louvers?

I noticed today that my 2018 BEV has what looks like automatically controlled airflow louvers that looked like they were almost fully closed off during charging while my 2019 REx has no louvers at all.

See the images below:

2018 BEV
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZJMFG4EqbEpQVpWp7

2019 REx
https://photos.app.goo.gl/61fo75s6nY2cS32KA
 
These louvers are a mystery to me. Our 2014 BEV doesn't have louvers while a fellow i3 owner's 2019 BEV has them. Maybe someone can explain what they do and why some i3's have them and some don't.

Your photos show that only the lower 2 of the grill's 3 horizontal rows are open on BEV's whereas all 3 horizontal grill rows are open on REx models. This must be due to the greater need for cooling air when the REx engine is running. On those i3's with louvers, they must be controlling the flow of cooling air. Closed louvers likely decrease aerodynamic drag a bit.
 
alohart said:
These louvers are a mystery to me. Our 2014 BEV doesn't have louvers while a fellow i3 owner's 2019 BEV has them. Maybe someone can explain what they do and why some i3's have them and some don't.

That would be interesting. It's definitely active because I looked really closely and the louver ends have angle markers on them...0 to 90 degrees.
 
This is really interesting!

BMW loves to PR the heck out of every technical feature so I'm surprised they didn't make a point about this "Active Aero Cooling" tech! :D
 
With a 2019 BEV I have found that to get the the vanes in an open position so I can examine the condenser area, I have to start the I3 and turn on A/C full with the temperature set to the lowest level (I think it is 60 degrees). After about after 1-2 minutes of this, I shut the car off without changing any of the A/C settings, get out to look and the vanes are open. My experience has been that they will stay in the open position until you restart the I3.

Note: This is with the ambient temperature here usually in the 80's, your results may vary if attempting this procedure in colder weather.
 
OLDBMWGUY said:
With a 2019 BEV I have found that to get the the vanes in an open position so I can examine the condenser area, I have to start the I3 and turn on A/C full with the temperature set to the lowest level (I think it is 60 degrees). After about after 1-2 minutes of this, I shut the car off without changing any of the A/C settings, get out to look and the vanes are open. My experience has been that they will stay in the open position until you restart the I3.

Note: This is with the ambient temperature here usually in the 80's, your results may vary if attempting this procedure in colder weather.

So clearly it's a BEV feature...the REX has a different vaneless system.
 
The BEV has 2 cooling components, one for the battery/electronics and the second fir the generator, there is also the cooler for the aircon system
 
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