3.5 mi/kwh

I live in San Francisco and man has driving in the city become so much more enjoyable w/the i3!

Our average speed is probably about 13 mph as in most parts of the city, there are 4-way stop signs on nearly every block. There are some larger streets but they have stop lights.

I don't drive the car in any particular way to increase range, I just drive it and charge it back up.

I'm averaging 3.5 mi / kwh and was wondering if other drivers are getting a similar amount? How about folks that drive primarily on highways?

John

jowall said:

I live in San Francisco and man has driving in the city become so much more enjoyable w/the i3!

Our average speed is probably about 13 mph as in most parts of the city, there are 4-way stop signs on nearly every block. There are some larger streets but they have stop lights.

I don't drive the car in any particular way to increase range, I just drive it and charge it back up.

I'm averaging 3.5 mi / kwh and was wondering if other drivers are getting a similar amount? How about folks that drive primarily on highways?

John

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I'm just across the bridge in Marin. I completely agree the i3 is fabulous for driving in San Francisco. We use the i3 in and around mostly southern Marin and San Francisco, with an occasional hop to the east bay or up to Novato. So the mix of city street and freeway is probably 60/40 or even 70/30. Lately I've been getting around 4.5-4.9 mi/kWhh.

Lots of start/stop in SF will increase consumption, it also depends on your mix of regen vs friction brakes.

If you have the app on your phone, you can see the 'community' average, which has been sitting around 4m/kw almost since new. That's winter/summer, and all sorts of different driving in all modes. SF weather is fairly mild all year, but with lots of hills. Regen will never be as efficient as the power it takes to go up a hill, and then, if you're stopping more, less kinetic energy, so I'm not surprised that your efficiency isn't as great as the average. Lots of shorter trips where the car must recondition the cabin take its toll, too, verses one trip while maintaining. Unless you try to drive it to maximize your efficiency (where's the fun in that?!), that may be about normal for the car in that situation. You can improve on it, but if more range isn't a big deal for your use and required functionality, it's certainly more efficient than most any ICE you could buy! It can out race, out turn, almost anything you might want to drive in a city environment while easily fitting into most any parking space.

I live up a (330m) 1000ft hill and drive up and down it every trip. Mix of highway and suburban roads but mostly suburbs and city, not a lot of slow crawl though.

Average consumption over the life of the vehicle so far is 4.9 miles/kWh (12.7 kWh/100km)

I live in Wisconsin and winter months I take advantage of all the i3 BEV has to offer as far as comfort/heat features. This includes leaving the heat on when making stops of less than 30 minutes. In October 2015 I was averaging 5.7 miles per kwh since leasing in January 2015. By the end of March 2016 this had dropped to 5.0 miles per kwh.

While this has yet to change my last two trip meter sets were 6.1 and 6.4 (each in excess of 200 miles per trip set). Current trip is 6.2 miles per kwh. With temps now in the 70s and 80s I expect continued trip meter sets in the 6+ range. Highest ever was 6.9 miles per kwh August 2015.

By comparison, my son drives a Leaf and he is pleased when he can get 4.5 miles per kwh.

Archie

While I've seen nearly 6m/kw, my average is the same as the whole community - 4. You'd have to be trying to get a lot more than that and be avoiding any higher speed roads. I don't drive mine like I stole it, but I don't let grass grow either! On my ICE vehicles, I almost always have averaged more than the EPA combined values. At 4m/kw, you're going to get about the EPA stated miles out of a charge.

Thanks for all the feedback. Yes the block next to mine, is in our daily route to school and has a 20% grade The school route probably has close to a 1,000 ft of climb and we do it twice a day, so we're probably a bit of an outlier. School is out already, so I'll hit the trip button and see how we do in summer. I've never used the AC in the city :shock: , so it's not a factor. I'm also not shy about feeling the instant torque

Another SF city driver here. 3.5 seems bit low, but that is probably more driving style than anything else, as nature provides the a/c around here. Around town I usually get 4.2-ish, but can get 5.0 on slow-and-steady freeway runs, with a range of 90+. My city driving style must drive others nuts, as I accelerate briskly and decelerate leisurely, and consider it a failure of anticipation to ever engage the mechanical brakes except when coming to a complete stop on the steepest hills. But sure, stop-and-go, up-and-down is definitely sub-optimal for efficiency.
One quirk of our local weather is that the sea breeze, aka fog, picks up in the afternoon, so your commute could be into the wind in the evening without having the offsetting benefit of a tailwind in the morning. For example, you could commute down the peninsula to Silicon Valley from The City in the still of the morning, and then be battling a side- and tail-wind all the way home. On the flip side I once commuted the other way, from SV to SF, in my Honda Insight, and could regularly get 80 mpg in the morning and 100 in the evening.

My car has increased from 3.5mi/kWh to 4.2mi/kWh after the last software update. It has been a few months and a few thousand miles so something must be different, I still drive it like its stolen. So if you haven't had the software updated on the car, I would suggest it, if your dealer needs a reason tell them your EVSE is clicking on and off while preconditioning.

Based on my 2+ years of driving the i3 in SF, I'd say you're very typical. According to the app, I have averaged 4.0 mi/kWh; however, my last 1.9 mile trip translated to 3.2 mi/kWh. Why the relatively modest numbers? I've come to the conclusion that our mild weather is the biggest factor. While we can get by without much cabin heating and cooling, the batteries are another matter entirely. Based on what I've read, the battery pack's preferred temperature is in the mid 80's F. If you're in the city proper as I am, your i3 almost never experiences ambient temperatures that warm so each time you hit the Start button the battery heating system engages. And if you rarely leave the city limits as I do, the batteries likely hit their operating temperature just as you get to your destination, park, and let the car sit (and cool) for several hours. Frequent short trips don't put up great efficiency numbers but you won't come close to needing the maximum range. I average 10 miles per day which means I can get by charging once a week. My advice? Don't worry about the numbers and just enjoy the i3's acceleration and agility.

I'm in Mesa AZ. My 1 way to work is 16 miles and when starting out I have 85 miles showing. It's a little cooler..I mean, not as hot, at 9:30. Fairly flat ride and doing the speed limit I've often missed stopping at a light. I'll arrive at 10 and will have used only 2-4 miles of range. Now, it's been over 110 during the day without covered parking. I leave at 5 or 6, start the car and the range shows 72!! I'll drive a few hundred feet and it will jump up to 75-76. My question. ..why the loss while sitting for 8 hours and then a slight increase once moving?

My other issue. ..I'll start in comfort with say, 85 miles. I'll switch to pro. . . and it goes to about 92. I'll drive a bit and for the heck of it go to pro+ and it goes to 98. When I switch back to pro it goes to well below the 92. Switch to comfort and it goes well below the 85. Any input on why that is?

Have had this for a month and truly enjoy all aspects of it. We get more looks in this than our 98 50th anniversary Discovery. Thanks to all here with your positive responses and assistance.

engineear said:

I'm in Mesa AZ. My 1 way to work is 16 miles and when starting out I have 85 miles showing. It's a little cooler..I mean, not as hot, at 9:30. Fairly flat ride and doing the speed limit I've often missed stopping at a light. I'll arrive at 10 and will have used only 2-4 miles of range. Now, it's been over 110 during the day without covered parking. I leave at 5 or 6, start the car and the range shows 72!! I'll drive a few hundred feet and it will jump up to 75-76. My question. ..why the loss while sitting for 8 hours and then a slight increase once moving?

My other issue. ..I'll start in comfort with say, 85 miles. I'll switch to pro. . . and it goes to about 92. I'll drive a bit and for the heck of it go to pro+ and it goes to 98. When I switch back to pro it goes to well below the 92. Switch to comfort and it goes well below the 85. Any input on why that is?

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The range is based on consumption the last 18 miles and then a projection for the future based on the history, and on the HVAC system. I've also ended up with more range than I started with if my driving on a particular trip was very frugal.

When you punch the Eco or Eco+, you're telling the car that you'll use less HVAC and drive slower, so it increases your range.

Since you are in AZ, the increase in range after starting may be that it usually starts up the battery heater, but in AZ it probably quickly realizes it won't be needed due to the ambient temp, so you're getting credit for the energy you aren't going to use heating up the battery (though you may later end up having to cool it).

I never use Eco or Eco+, but if I turn on the AC, I instantly lose 8mi of range. Then turn off the AC and it jumps up 8mi.

Over the course of the day the range prediction is pretty good. The whole "range anxiety" concern drops away after a few months, especially after you put in a longer day, drive 70mi and get home with no worries. You start to get a real feel for the actual miles, not time, that your travels take you, and at least in our case, we mentally overestimated the actual number of miles and when we got calibrated to the real miles, we realized our driving radius was more than sufficient.

An ICE's mpg and miles to empty values can jump around a lot, too. It's a guess based on what has happened before that may or may not represent what WILL happen. That guess constantly gets updated as the history and current conditions change.

Thanks for that.
I've also noticed that my total "gas" miles fluctuate. I used the Rex on the way home from Tucson a month ago to get home after my delivery, put in a gallon plus and haven't opened that door since. Anyone else notice their number jump up and down?

Just like on an ICE, gas mileage depends on usage pattern. While the REx doesn't vary its speed linearly, it does it in steps of fixed RPM, the bigger your load on the thing, the fewer miles it can go as it will be running faster. So, your driving plays a big role in both the battery SOC and the gas miles.

What I meant was...the Rex hasn't kicked in for a month. Every day my gas miles vary. From 62 to 54 and anything in between. If the Rex is idle, why would the miles change?

The estimated REX miles change just like the battery miles- they adapt for the driving style, weather, etc...

Understood. Thanks