Option Stonger Battery

I got a list of available options on a i3. One of them is "570 - Stronger Battery"
Any idea what this is?

How much is this option?

I believe I recall someone in another thread surmising that this option must be for a larger-capacity 12 v. battery. Not sure why one would be needed since there's no ICE starter motor that might need extra power in very cold weather.

I wonder whether this "stronger battery" is the absorbent glass mat (AGM) battery that's standard in U.S. models but might be optional in other markets.

In the US and Canadian order guides, 570 is standard and listed as "Stronger electricity supply"... *shrug* still doesn't help explain what exactly is stronger, but alohart's theory seems plausible

If you didn't use the car on a regular basis and it was not connected to an EVSE, there are still drains on the battery...having a 'stronger' one might allow it to go longer before you ran into issues. Throw in the potential of super cold periods, and a larger battery could be handy as well. Lead acid batteries lose more than the LiOn ones when things get colder. If the 12vdc battery were to die, you'd have to open the door with the key, and wait awhile before the main battery could be recharged. There's an emergency path to charge the 12vdc battery if it's essentially dead and that must operate to bring it back up to a useable capacity before the charging of the main battery (and the 'normal' path for the 12vdc one) can be recharged...all of the regular use electronics run off of the 12vdc battery, so it MUST be operational before anything else can happen.

570 is bigger 12volt battery, and every i3 delivered in cold areas like Norway have it.
I guess Canada have ot too.

jadnashuanh said:

If you didn't use the car on a regular basis and it was not connected to an EVSE, there are still drains on the battery...having a 'stronger' one might allow it to go longer before you ran into issues. Throw in the potential of super cold periods, and a larger battery could be handy as well. Lead acid batteries lose more than the LiOn ones when things get colder. If the 12vdc battery were to die, you'd have to open the door with the key, and wait awhile before the main battery could be recharged. There's an emergency path to charge the 12vdc battery if it's essentially dead and that must operate to bring it back up to a useable capacity before the charging of the main battery (and the 'normal' path for the 12vdc one) can be recharged...all of the regular use electronics run off of the 12vdc battery, so it MUST be operational before anything else can happen.

Click to expand...

What is the emergency charge path? It would have been handy to know this when my 12V battery died a month ago and left the car stranded in my garage. It might have avoided having to wait for a tow and saved some time getting the car to the dealer for repair. Also any special guidelines to follow when having to charge this battery?

The emergency path is all automatic when you plug the car into an EVSE. The computer must be running (the 12vdc battery does this) for things to operate normally. When you plug the EVSE in, and there's not enough power in the 12vdc battery, there's a path that supplies power to that battery. Once it attains enough power to run the computer, things return to normal. Depending on how bad the 12vdc battery is, it can take awhile, but other than plugging in the EVSE, there's nothing else for you to do.

It's an option found across the modern BMW line, not unique to the i3. (Other boards speculate the ICE vehicles include a more robust alternator as well as battery.) Has nothing to do with the car's basic operation. Rather it supports increased use of 12v accessories. I believe BMW NA includes it in all models. Don't know the status in other markets.

It's in the same league as the KLE to allow higher rate level 2 charging, or the CCS (dc fast) charging port, or the standard maintenance for 4-years...in the USA, those things are standard in 2015, but they are optional in many other markets. This can make comparing minimum suggested list price somewhat misleading, since not only will you have currency conversion issues, but 'standard' features verses options. All in all, BMW USA negotiates a good price, but some of that is also because of our low import duties, which can approach 1,000% or more of ours in some places. At least right now, the US$ is pretty strong, too, which doesn't hurt.

stumbledotcom said:

It's an option found across the modern BMW line, not unique to the i3. (Other boards speculate the ICE vehicles include a more robust alternator as well as battery.) Has nothing to do with the car's basic operation. Rather it supports increased use of 12v accessories. I believe BMW NA includes it in all models. Don't know the status in other markets.

Click to expand...

I think you will find that the higher rating of battery and alternators on a lot of new cars is to do with the start/stop engine technology system when the car is stationary. The multiple restarts that the system requires adds a lot of stress on the battery and charging system so it all needs to be up rated.