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eNate

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Well, I done did it, I bought a new i3. But getting it home to Oakland from San Antonio was an effort.

(a) cheapskate (b) impatient (c) up for a challenge, ABRP gave my plan a (mostly) thumbs up, so I decided to wing it. So did my wife, for the purchase, but I "neglected" to disclose the San Antonio aspect of it with her until after I paid my airfare. Her thumbs-up turned into the stink-eye.

Tuesday 4:00 AM wake up for a 5:45 flight out, and drove away from the dealership at 4:30 under the afternoon Texas sun, a cling-wrapped spare tire and change of underwear in the trunk.

Electrify America charge stations dominated my route, particularly along I-10 which would take me through El Paso, Tucson / Phoenix, and into LA. On rough average they were spaced maybe 100 miles apart, more than doable for the i3's 150+ mile range. But with posted speed limits of 80 MPH, in addition to elevation gains up to 5,000 feet, ABRP had its doubts, and it gave me five "speed restricted" legs -- one suggesting I drive no faster that 45 MPH!


  • Let me just say something about ABRP: this was my first time using it, and that was a mistake on my part -- I should have practiced with it. But I was also driving a new-to-me car, and ABRPs estimations of its efficiency were off. They were WAY off. The base value was 3.6 mi/kWh. Suggestions on the ABRP forum were to increase this to 3.9 mi/kWh. By the time I got it dialed in, I landed on 4.5 mi/kWh as a good value. How that corresponds to reality, well... the car's trip meter disagrees, but this setting got my battery state of charge and ABRPs estimate of what it should be roughly in line. Yes, a OBD dongle and the Electrified app would have been good to have, but as I said, this was my first go at this, so I wasn't prepared.


  • And a further comment, ABRP drove me nuts. It would reboot at the most inconvenient times. It would plan a leg then "this route is no longer valid" would pop up. Often, "a faster route is available" would display, but when I selected "replan" to okay the new suggested charging stop, the destination charger would remain unchanged, and keep navigating me to the old one. And urban freeways -- UGH! -- instead of saying "take 35 West" it would say "take the Pasadena freeway" and nowhere on any overhead sign is "Pasadena freeway" annotated. The name of the next charging stop is displayed in a FONT SO BIG that I can't read all of it, so it's next to impossible to decipher and plug in to Waze or Nav. ABRP seems like a pretty solid planner (once the car specs are dialed in), but really just awful as a real-time navigator. I'd love some Waze integration.

Most of the EA stops were in Walmart parking lots. But I was surprised to find one at a run-down off-the-highway EconoLodge in Junction TX, another in a nicer Hampton Inn parking lot in Ozona, and others at truck stops, Shell & Chevron stations, and one under the neon red glow of a Target sign in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Park. But Walmart ruled the roost. That was fine -- Walmarts tend to have early/late opening hours, restrooms at the front of the store, fresh fruit and/or McDonalds inside, and sundries such as toothpaste, deodorant, sunglasses, USB-C phone chargers (mine died out of the gate), and always the best prices on Mobil 1 Synthetic, which I needed two jugs of for my Flex's oil change once I arrived home.

I quit caffeine two days before departing. ABRP predicted a 38 hour trip including 11 hours of charging. I wanted to try to nap while charging to avoid any long overnight shut-downs, to make this trip as quick as practical. Surprisingly, it worked! I didn't keep any detailed logs, but the Timeline feature of Google Maps does a pretty good job of tracking my whereabouts, and these are my charge & rest stats:

  • 17 charging stops total averaging roughly 1 to 1.5 hours, where at many I'd throw a t-shirt over my face and at minimum try to get a short nap
  • charging to 100% took near double time time as a charge to 80%, resulting in a higher likelihood I'd actually get a nap
  • 2 of those charging stops were about 2 hours, both in the 2 am to 4 am slot, where I think I got a solid 90 minutes of sleep
  • 3 "pull-offs" to a rest area, a random isolated off-ramp, and a community center parking lot, where I got 15 minute naps
  • 1 pull-off just to get out and walk in circles
  • I tried to combine my food stops with my charge stops, but picked foods I could eat while driving so I could nap while charging
  • 0 loitering fees for not disconnecting upon completion of charge
  • at least twice I woke to find the charge was exceedingly slow, and I'd have to restart -- once I woke to find it completely stopped (charger error)


I really didn't know what to expect with this "plan" not a plan, but it worked amazingly well. I didn't set an alarm clock, I pulled over if I felt drowsy, and getting into LA just ahead of the morning rush, I picked a charging stop closer than what I needed because I wanted to nap.

The i3's adaptive cruise control was indispensable! I've used it regularly at home on my 2017, despite its shortcomings, and on a long highway trip like this it reduced my workload so much that I'm not sure how I would have done without it. On my speed-limited legs, ACC made sure I stuck to the plan. On regular legs, rather than play the lane changing game, I'd just find a big-rig also on cruise going about my speed and fall in-line behind it. If I had slow reaction times (and lets face it, I probably did), it was there as a tailgating prevention device as well as a panic-braking sensor (although it never came to that).

On the topic of the car, it's worth noting that the LCI headlights are dazzling. The refreshed bolstered seats are... are... not as uncomfortable? The steering wheel texture is grippier.

What seemed like an intolerably long journey as the first day settled into night, and the silent desert lightning was beautiful yet eerie. It very quickly seemed manageable mid-morning of Wednesday as I crossed into New Mexico and approached the 700 mile mark. I felt alert despite the my scattered sleep. The first two "speed restricted" legs were behind me and the car was performing well, beating ABRP's estimations (I didn't really get the app dialed in until day three). My biggest concern up front was that one single out-of-service charge station could land me on the bed of a truck, but to my relief, only single dispensers were out of service or acting up. This luck would prove to hold up (mostly) for the rest of the trek.

Morning commute hour traffic into El Paso showed one of ABRPs weaknesses. The app decided my planned charging stop was no longer valid. I was sure it was wrong, and I hadn't yet had an opportunity to replace my non-functioning USB charger. So I plugged "El Paso Walmart" into iDrive nav and meandered across the city as directed. Upon reaching, I circled the store, looking for the telltale green glow of a bank of EA dispensers. Nothing. After quick consult with the EA app, I discovered to my amazement (gasp!) that the city is big enough to warrant more than one Walmart, and the one I wanted was 8 miles in my rear view mirror. After acquiring a new USB cord and a banana at the wrong Walmart, I backtracked with about 16 miles charge remaining, and got back to the business of charging and dozing.

Transiting the bottom of New Mexico was brief with only two charging stops, and about 170 miles of highway. State borders are great mileposts, so that was two down, one to go. The other notable change was the cost of charging: Texas and NM EA stops were costing me 12¢ per minute; crossing into Arizona this reverted to the 31¢ / kWh I'm more familiar with at home. (I joined EA Pass+ just for this trip, a $4 monthly fee.) If you're wondering, the price per minute structure into the i3 worked out in my favor, averaging out to 14¢ per kWh.

All told my driving expenses were $135 for 470 kWh of electricity.

On my approach to Tucson, the sunny skies developed into a broken overcast. A gray brushstroke of virga looming ahead of me gradually touched the desert, and within 30 minutes became a dark curtain which I had to penetrate. Once inside I was treated to a brief, torrential, near zero visibility downpour. Driving away from Phoenix, my phone alarmed with a severe weather alert, proclaiming there may be zero-viz dust storms ahead, instructing drivers that, if encountered, to pull off the highway, turn off any lights, and stay strapped in. I don't get such invigorating weather in Oakland!

The final night I took my 2-hour nap in Indio, California, at a somewhat posh strip mall just off the Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway (albeit anchored by a Walmart). The flavor of the drive changed, as I descended the high desert into the LA Basin, my so far linear route exploding in front of me into a dozen freeway choices and even more dozens of charging options, and the big rigs that had been escorting me were slowly outnumbered by thousands of commuters all in a hurry -- just like me -- to get to where they need to go before the real LA rush hour traffic began.

This was a weird sensation as a city guy who is comfortable navigating busy freeways, because in the predawn chaos with few visible cues, I basically lost any innate sense of direction. I gave all authority over to my dueling navs -- iDrive on the left, ABRP on the right, neither doing a great job, one talking over the other. As if I had transitioned from meandering down a slow and stead river to a stick being sucked along in a fast moving stream, at this point I just wanted to wash ashore on a nearby embankment to stop, charge, nap.

A 75 minute stopover / nappy-nap outside of LA did the trick to refuel me for the for the morning slog. Actually, LA traffic wasn't too bad. However, despite daybreak and having a clear view of the landscape, my sense of direction hadn't yet returned, so I continued to rely on the arguing twins to guide me out. Until I got to the Grapevine. Then I knew I was in the home stretch.

I don't actually know if the Los Angeles side of the Grapevine is known as such. Doesn't matter, it's the route out of the basin where Highway 5 stops being a freeway (sort of) and gives me a straightish shot towards home. This is where ABRP could have gotten me into trouble. The app kept insisting on me charging at Harris Ranch, the second of three planned stops for this final leg. Yet ABRP simultaneously showed the charger here as grey, "status: unknown." Except it should have known -- the EA website listed this stop as "sorry, unavailable." I'm happy to have checked; I might have been stranded otherwise. Instead, after my first stop in Bakersfield, I charged again a mere 35 miles away, insurance to make it to my next planned stop near Tracy, where Interstate 5 connects to 580 and doglegs towards the Bay Area.

This unplanned EA stop -- Lost Hills, Ca -- was the most unusual one. It consisted of a single charging stand, one solitary dispenser, accompanied by a unassuming fire extinguisher standing sentinel for the next exploding battery. Thankfully the charger worked perfectly. PlugShare lists toe location as "partial repair" and photos show there were three dispensers at this location, but other photos show just the one that I experienced. Had it been inoperative, I wouldn't have been stranded -- as noted, the previous stop was a 35 mile back track, but I probably could have conservatively driven to another stop, maybe out of the way. Maybe there was a separate bank of stands elsewhere nearby? Very Twilight Zoney as I know I'm not mis-remembering, despite neglecting to take a photo of this stop.

Leaving Lost Hills with Patterson, CA in mind, I let a platoon of fire trucks in ahead of me on the highway on-ramp. I was in "pace mode" trailing big rigs for this leg, so the fire trucks stayed ahead of me. 45 minutes in, a messy rollover accident occurred 20 cars ahead of me, right in front of the fire brigade. The freeway stopped cold while emergency responders tended to business, and I was cocooned in my meek little i3 amongst angrily idling tractor-trailers. After expending some kilowatts keeping the car cool while not moving, I decided to hit a closer station in Firebaugh then press onward to Pleasanton for my final charge, mere miles from home.

Feeling giddy and carefree to be so close to home, I got a little loose with my throttle for this last portion of the journey, but I also felt like I knew the car well enough that I wasn't **too** concerned. But familiarity didn't prevent ascending the Altamont Pass at 80 MPH from vociferously gobbling electrons, and descending it didn't recover nearly what I expected. This turned out to be my closest cut — I rolled into the Pleasanton EA with less than 8% remaining. I've routinely driven my 2017 down to less, so this wasn't really a big deal, and yet it demonstrated how big a role speed management plays into EV range.

I rolled up to the front of my house at 2:30 Thursday afternoon. Given the 2 hour time zone difference, almost exactly 48 hours after pulling away from the dealership 1,708 miles of asphalt behind me. Granted, I was 10 hours over ABRP's predicted "perfect" trip time. I felt great. After a quick nap, dinner with the family, and book time with the kiddos, I got a solid nearly 8 hours of sleep that night, and hit the ground running like it was just another day.
 
Congrats on the new car and quite the roadtrip for a little i3!

I'm a bit of a sucker for trip reports because they always include a glimpse into the human condition whether intended or not. For example, one phrase that particularly amused me was:
eNate said:
Walmarts tend to have early/late opening hours, restrooms at the front of the store, fresh fruit and/or McDonalds inside

As different as they are, I believe I have absolutely been in a situation where I've thought: "I could go for a banana, OR a 6 piece of chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce... and nothing in between those two will do!" :lol:

A few questions:
What prompted you to upgrade from the 2017?
Is your 120ah "new-new" or "new-to-you-new"?
Do you use Plugshare at all? Recent checkins show the EA station in Harris Ranch is under repair but also suggests there is a Chargepoint CCS station at Chevron "For Customers Only" (what does that mean for charging an EV at a gas station???) that seems to be operational. Maybe that's why ABRP was insistent on you trying to charge there? Just curious if plugshare is less reliable in California (or maybe just less necessary) or anything.
 
I few factors combined to drive me to a new i3. I've been keeping my eye on 2019s for the bigger battery and better headlights, but the prices have been insane and there's nothing about my 2017 that hasn't been serving me well.

But the hot market makes my 2017 way more valuable than it should be, and since I don't buy new for myself, I hadn't considered the BMW veteran's discount combined with the various EV tax credits. Add in the news of the US order books closing and I thought I might be able to work out a deal for the most current version of a car I've really enjoyed owning. I had my list of must-have options, and no fooling on the pricing. The pickings were slim, which is why I ended up in Texas.

I do use Plugshare and have relied on it in the past due to its user-sourced data, but not so much on this trip with ABRP as primary. Specifically for the Harris Ranch situation, I checked into it on Plugshare as well, but felt the EA's app would be the ultimate authority as to its status. With the prevalence of Electrify America stops along my route, I selected EA as "preferred" in ABRP, justifying it because of the discount I bought into by paying for Pass+ membership. I'd really love to see Chargepoint or EVGo come on strong and begin filling in the gaps along established routes -- if EA spaces dot every 100th mile on the map, then there ought to be an alternate provider building out stations at the 50-mile marks between them. Thoughtless, provider-agnostic charging should be the end goal. Just not for this trip.

I'm kind of anti-Walmart and was a bit put off by how dominant they were on this drive. But it wasn't as if I was seeking to ventur into small towns to find quaint shops and restaurants, so it would have been dumb to thumb my nose at a Walmart just to buy a USB charger at a Best Buy and a meal at Subway. And I wasn't joking about the motor oil -- I really did load two jugs of Mobile 1 into the back of an EV. :cool: And I learned that "combo" and "meal" are not the same in McDonald's parlance, which is why, on Thursday, I dined on a hot 'n tasty sausage egg mcmuffin for breakfast and again on a cold one for lunch. :roll:
 
Congrats on the new i3 and thanks for a detailed journal of your adventure and what a great adventure it was for a car some discount as not capable. All it takes is a bit of planning and these cars are proving to be capable of making some pretty incredible road trips and all that for a city car.

We added to our garage a few month ago in buying a 2018 Rex, for my wife to drive, to go along with my 2015 BEV. Within the first month she got a call ( for her job ) to make a 200ish one way trip in the mountains of eastern TN. She did use the rex at first to help with anxiety on some of the longer stretches between chargers, but on the return trip to home she called and told me she was confident in going deeper in the battery and go all electric - not to limits you have gone with 7.5% left but she has built and continues to build confidence that she no longer gets panicky when the lo bat alarm goes off when we are driving my car, an event that happens on occasion with having the smaller battery.
 
drivepicbridge2 said:
...she called and told me she was confident in going deeper in the battery and go all electric - not to limits you have gone with 7.5% left but she has built and continues to build confidence that she no longer gets panicky when the lo bat alarm goes off when we are driving my car, an event that happens on occasion with having the smaller battery.

I'll tell you, our phones and laptops have done an admirable job of training generations of potential EV buyers not to trust battery life estimations. I'm very impressed (in my limited EV experience -- BMW & VW) that the manufacturers have taken this critically important metric to heart, and the state of charge estimations as well as linearity of discharge create a reliable, predictable countdown to E.

And unlike our electronic devices, we can take meaningful steps to slow the rate of discharge by reducing driving speed, turning off heat or air conditioning, and limiting our acceleration. I don't have this option on a PC which in one breath gives me a 15% warning, and in the next says "shutting down." Maybe our Lenovos and our Samsungs can learn a thing or two.

I've driven down to zero two or three occasions (the first was sort of accidentally, the others were maybe reckless but intentional). I've been under 5% more times than I can remember. My only hesitation is that it's not so good for the battery, but I've never felt like the battery was going to let me down, and I know that 0% is a "fat" zero with a healthy reserve of usable electrons stuffed inside.
 
eNate, thanks for sharing. It was an adventure! The app you used for the range projections, did it take into account the elevation changes along the route? They affect EVs a lot more than the ICE cars.
 
I don't know enough about ABRP to say with certainty, but I believe so.

After it planned the route for me, I could tap on any individual leg on the map and generate a pop-up window. The window contained an elevation plot of the route against the projected battery discharge curve. It also showed the posted speed limit at that particular point on the route, and a speed restriction (to extend battery life) if one was necessary.

Cool, but causes me some doubt is that the battery discharge curve always appeared relatively linear, no matter if it was on a flat portion of that route segment, a climb, or a descent. In other words, I'd expect the battery discharge curve to increase over ascents and to flatten over descents.

I also questioned the quality of their elevation data, because the plots looked jagged. Are they using generic topographical data depicting all of the peaks and valleys of the landscape, or are they using real highway elevation data that more closely resembles an averaging as a flat highway fills in or cuts through the undulations of a rolling landscape.

But it was clear that it predicted my range as significantly reduced on the hillier portions of the drive.

I'd say it's worth opening their website (abetterrouteplanner.com) and plugging in a fictitious journey to get a feel for some of its features, and decide whether it might be useful to you at some point.

Edit: (not really an edit) I just plugged in a route across the Sierra Nevada, from Oakland to Reno, and the battery plot does exactly what I was suggesting it should do: increases for steeps, flattens for descents. So I guess the hills of west Texas just weren't steep enough to cause much of an upset in the discharge curve. So yeah, ABRP definitely factors in elevation.
 
Thanks, awesome report!

I found i3 to do very well on long trips, considering the battery size, at least in good weather. The car is somehow designed to return good efficiency at normal highway speeds.
 
Nodding my head in agreement.

The efficiency is so good that at near 100% SOC it was predicting 186 miles of range, which as we all know is based on the prior 18 miles driven. That's expected for 45 MPH rural roads, but not 70+ MPH highway travel.

The longest legs per the ABRP plan were 145 miles, with 60 MPH speed restrictions, and I only charged to 100% for the hillier legs, so I didn't really get to put that 186 mile range to the test, but based on my 135 mile range of my 2017, it all sounds entirely feasible

The i3 gets slammed for poor road manners, citing high side profile and narrow tires as contributors, and while I don't disagree I'd have been more comfortable driving my wife's ID.4 or my steady-cruising Flex for a journey this long, it just wasn't a big deal. In fact, it was great having that wide open cockpit floor to stretch my legs and feet a bit, not constrained the same as in a car with a transmission tunnel boxing me in.

That said, unless pressed, I probably won't road trip it again. Not like this, anyway.
 
eNate said:
Well, I done did it, I bought a new i3. But getting it home to Oakland from San Antonio was an effort.
Well done! You really did your research to find one of the few remaining 2021 U.S. i3's. I had considered doing something similar, but the final step of shipping it to Honolulu would have added ~$1,500 to its cost. Hawaii buyers benefit from BMW's standard destination charge.

Instead, I've travelled to Mallorca where in a small town I've seen 2 ID.3's but no i3's. In person, the ID.3 looks really nice and might be a good replacement for our i3 from a size perspective. Maybe some day, VW will change its mind and offer the ID.3 to U.S. buyers.

I've also wondered how difficult it might be to import a European i3 to the U.S. since they continue to be manufactured for the European market. I've imported a U.S. spec Honda Insight to Sweden which was pretty easy. However, when I sold it to a German couple, I had to replace its U.S. headlights with E.U. versions. That was a plug-and-play change that we performed in a parking lot, so no big deal. Fitting a rear fog light was more challenging, but the fussy German TÜV allowed the car to be registered with a requirement that this change be made within some period of time. I know that a European i3's charge port would need to be replaced by the CCS1 version. Hopefully, no expensive electronics modules would need to be changed. Front and rear side reflectors might need to be added. Gone are the days when one could buy a car at its European factory without a U.S. dealer's involvement, so a new European i3 might have to be bought from a European BMW dealer. Probably not gonna happen…
 
Thanks for sharing this delightful tale about your trip. When you said: "I had my list of must-have options, and no fooling on the pricing. The pickings were slim, which is why I ended up in Texas."

I'm curious, and apologies if I missed it elsewhere in the thread, but what exactly were those must have options to prompt such a long distance drive? Was the deal that fantastic in San Antonio?

As much as love my i3, the fact that they don't sell very well is a reminder that we are a niche crowd. Still three of them here in Vegas, for at least a month now.

https://www.bmwvegas.com/new-inventory/index.htm?search=&saveFacetState=true&model=i3&lastFacetInteracted=inventory-listing1-facet-anchor-model-10&_custom%3DATNTracking=%7B%22WTK%22%3A%5B%7B%22key%22%3A%22WTK%22%2C%22value%22%3A%22%22%7D%2C%7B%22key%22%3A%22AID%22%2C%22value%22%3A%22.%22%7D%5D%7D

https://www.bmwhenderson.com/new-inventory/index.htm?search=&saveFacetState=true&model=i3&lastFacetInteracted=inventory-listing1-facet-anchor-model-8&_custom%3DATNTracking=%7B%22WTK%22%3A%5B%7B%22key%22%3A%22WTK%22%2C%22value%22%3A%22%22%7D%2C%7B%22key%22%3A%22AID%22%2C%22value%22%3A%22.%22%7D%5D%7D
 
Sure, must haves were tech + sunroof + HK sound.

Preferences were Tera, 19s, heat pump, and blue or gray paint.

I got my must haves, heat pump and gray paint, had to swap in my old leather interior (looks fantastic with the light/ interior trim), and old 19s (which I've kept pristine; rash-free).

Somebody will be getting a nice 2017 with brand new 20" wheels and tires and a brand new Sensa interior, it lightens up an otherwise dark interior.

I also swapped over my Dark Oak trim.

I continuously searched the 3 big car sites and a local BMW sales manager even assisted with a search after my order fell apart due to the HK option being removed from the July order book. I looked at the Vegas cars but rejected then for some reason. More i3s are in transit, but they likely don't have the HK option.

It was truly thin pickings. A few on the east coast, two in SoCal but I couldn't get the dealer to budge on a $5k markup.

My deal wasn't great, $1500 off sticker plus $11,000 Veteran's discount, lost an instant $1,500 California rebate buying out-of-state. For some reason they were only listing this car on one site and it's a January build with 20 miles and no service history, so no telling why it didn't sell, but I'm happy to have found it.
 
alohart said:
I've also wondered how difficult it might be to import a European i3 to the U.S. since they continue to be manufactured for the European market.

The day after returning, I scooted down to the DMV for "VIN verification." I'm accustom to California being strict with emissions inspections and I've been through this process of bringing used cars into the state (one a TDI during the era when the new ones weren't CA legal -- 2008-ish I think?).

Anyhow, seemed downright silly that I'd have to do the same with an EV, but I did, and it was apparent the DMV inspector wasn't at all familiar with this car. But she was good natured, liked the whimsical doors and open interior and my tunes which wouldn't shut off. But then she asked me to pop the hood so she could inspect the emissions decal.

"Emissions decal? There's no emissions decal. It's electric." Well, she wasn't having it, went in to summon help from another inspector who guided her to the lift gate where, you guessed it, there's an emissions decal.

Anyhow, I'd like to think the i3 would be an easy-to-move "world car" but you already mentioned a few good points about the lights and reflectors, and I can only imagine what else there is to change. I am sure it would be an expensive proposition.
 
"My deal wasn't great, $1500 off sticker plus $11,000 Veteran's discount"

My deal wasn't as good as I would have liked either. But your deal was slightly better than mine in Vegas, but you lost the difference, of course, with the drive costs and the mileage put on the vehicle. I got the $11k too.

Initially, the dealer balked at giving me anything off MSRP because of the "vehicle shortage." Then I got my paperwork out from my last i3 purchase with them and they agreed to give me $750 off for "loyalty." But then in finance, I pointed out they were charging me $350 for window tint that wasn't on the car. That turned into "we'll put it on." I was like "no, you won't. I don't want the tint. So the $350 came off too.

I was happy with the options on this one, no REX like my 2020. Tera world with dark oak, leather seats, drivers assistance/technology package. Black.

Silly question?

What exactly does the heat pump do?

My 2020 REX was driven last winter in low 30-degree temperatures and it had heat?

Is it like a cold weather package?
 
Yeah, it's more popular in northern states, but it's a refrigerator system that runs the reverse of what we're accustom to. It takes the heat energy present in the outside cool air, applies it to colder refrigerant to warm it up, and the pump pressurizes that refrigerant to cause it too become hot. The heat energy is striped out inside the cabin, the refrigerant is then depressurized, becomes cold, and the cycle continues.

The benefit is that driving the pump can be a lower electrical load than feeding a resistive heater. It had a resistive heater, too. It's really only valuable if driving longer distances while it's cold out. It adds range under specific circumstances, but also adds an extra component to break.
 
It is staggering how much of the battery the climate system uses. For example, during the winter when the sun coming through the windows kept the car warm and we could keep it in eco pro plus mode, it was like we could drive the thing for days and days. But when it's 110 outside, the battery goes quick.

The thing I really love about EV's though is in this new world of COVID, my wife can't come inside during my doctors appointments. So she just sits outside with AC going, something that would be disastrous to combustion engines, to do for hours at a time. We probably average two hours a week doing this, where one of us is sitting in the car with the AC on while the other does something solo.
 
eNate said:
With the prevalence of Electrify America stops along my route, I selected EA as "preferred" in ABRP, justifying it because of the discount I bought into by paying for Pass+ membership. I'd really love to see Chargepoint or EVGo come on strong and begin filling in the gaps along established routes

That makes sense. I don't do a lot of road-tripping in my 60ah 2014 but if I were to do any sort of road tripping in an EV, I'd highly prefer Electrify America stations (or Tesla Superchargers I suppose). They are the only ones around here putting multiple chargers in a single location to where I'd feel comfortable relying on at least one charger being available at a planned charge stop. On top of that, the EVGo machines around here occasionally don't work, which takes us back to point #1.

I have yet to see a Chargepoint DCFC in person though I've seen some pictures of some of their locations that look nice.
 
2020i3 said:
"My deal wasn't great, $1500 off sticker plus $11,000 Veteran's discount"

My deal wasn't as good as I would have liked either. But your deal was slightly better than mine in Vegas, but you lost the difference, of course, with the drive costs and the mileage put on the vehicle. I got the $11k too.

Initially, the dealer balked at giving me anything off MSRP because of the "vehicle shortage." Then I got my paperwork out from my last i3 purchase with them and they agreed to give me $750 off for "loyalty." But then in finance, I pointed out they were charging me $350 for window tint that wasn't on the car. That turned into "we'll put it on." I was like "no, you won't. I don't want the tint. So the $350 came off too.

I was happy with the options on this one, no REX like my 2020. Tera world with dark oak, leather seats, drivers assistance/technology package. Black.

Silly question?

What exactly does the heat pump do?

My 2020 REX was driven last winter in low 30-degree temperatures and it had heat?

Is it like a cold weather package?

The heat pump is just like the one in your house. It's an A/C that can swap the condenser and the evaporator to heat or cool the conditioned space. They are insanely efficient, but not as effective in really low temps. I find my 18 uses the heat pump down to about 20f then the resistive heater kicks in.

In those 30 degree temps you wouldn't use the resistive heater at all if you had a heat pump, and you would see range similar to a day where you had some A/C on, but not full blast ice cubes needed.

The heat pump is a must have in my opinion and should be standard on BEV's like it was in earlier years. Especially since it's only $150 dollars for thousands in parts. Seems like an overkill way to drop the MSRP.
 
tjsean0308 said:
The heat pump is a must have in my opinion and should be standard on BEV's like it was in earlier years. Especially since it's only $150 dollars for thousands in parts. Seems like an overkill way to drop the MSRP.
For those few of us living in the tropics where cabin heat is never needed, paying for the heat pump option is a waste of money assuming that one's i3 would never be sold to a buyer in a temperate climate. Our 2014 BEV has a heat pump because it was standard then, but I've never used heat.

I recall looking at the design of the A/C system both with and without the heat pump option. It appears that the heat pump option includes only minor plumbing additions because the A/C system was designed to have this option added easily. The price that BMW is charging for the heat pump option almost certainly covers the cost of installing it which doesn't include thousands of dollars of parts.
 
I think you underestimate the complexity required to make a normal refrigeration unit act as a heat pump.

I see about 4 different shut of valves acting to reverse the flow in the system at ~$150 each. Plus the additional lines, looks like 4 at the same ~$150 each. So that's about $1,200 before we've even gotten the heat pump specific module to control it all and any wiring harness add-ons that may be needed. The heat pump module looks to be $300 by itself.

So $150 is probably the install cost at the factory, I'm sure you're right that BMW isn't losing any money on install labor, but it's still silly to skip out on that amount of parts and the gain in efficiency for the money. Especially in temperate climates where the heat pump would cover 100% of the heat needs. We can't all live that island life, ;)

This is the heat pump front refrigerant lines diagram. https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=7Z23-USA-02-2018-I01N-BMW_i-i3_94Ah&diagId=64_1982

This is the non heat pump diagram. https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sh...s usually cheaper than dealer retail as well.
 
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