Trip planning help!

ryandesign said:

Looks like a 6-hr trip, assuming no stops. I don't recommend attempting that. You can read about my Houston-to-Austin trip in my i3 BEV here: http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2329&start=10#p21551

You'll have a much easier time in a REx than I did in a BEV but you still won't enjoy stopping to charge or refuel every 60 miles, or running in reduced power mode on the REx if you can't find a charging station.

If you get the professional navigation system (part of the technology & driving package) and your BMW client advisor can activate your navigation system before you leave the dealership (mine couldn't), it can help you plan your trip, but has not so far impressed me with its ability (or inability, rather) to find charging stations.

ChargePoint has a trip planner on their web site: https://na.chargepoint.com/cpn_plan_trip

So does PlugShare: http://www.plugshare.com/ (click Trip Planner in the top navigation bar)

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rtanov said:

My PlugShare app is not showing any fast chargers between Atlanta & Memphis, so you might have to rely on the Rex. If that is the case it would be much easier if you had the Rex hold function coded and even better if you also had the hidden 0.5 gal in the gas tank unlocked. Then, after you state of charge falls below 75% you can just turn on the REX and run until dry, then stop at the next gas station, refill and so on. You won't have to worry about limp mode on the long hills as you would have enough charge. The state of charge level will creep down but starting at 75% you would have an adequate buffer. Coding the Rex hold & fuel tank is easy and fast if you know how to do it and have the cable and software. However, it is very dependent on the car SW version as additional files are needed to be able to code newer versions. You can ask the dealer for the SW version, buy the cable and coding software but have to prepare very well to be able to code without any problems. There are web sites that would code these functions fort you for about $150 (I believe you just need to give them the VIN), put it on a flash stick and then all you have to do is plug in the stick to activate the functions. I think this might be a more viable option. I cannot recommend one as I've done my own coding but you can see references in this forum and on the i3 Facebook page. Good luck.
BTW, I got my BEV from Chicago, 300 miles away, but driving it back wasn't an option just rented an U-haul truck&trailer and hauled it home - was pretty painless.

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WoodlandHills said:

See my post about my 500 mile daytrip to Tucson in my REx for tips on techniques.... Just bring the dvdinmotion files on a thumb drive, load them in the parking lot when you pick-up your car, and then turn on the REx at 75% SOC. Then you can just drive home at 65. For a one-off road trip, stopping for gas every hour or so is no great chore and you could always carry a 1.5 gal gas can in the frunk of you are worried about running out between stations. Unless you are stopping for a meal, you should have no need to plug the car into a charger if you use this method: I was able to arrive at my destination with over 50% SOC remaining and did not charge along the way.

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WoodlandHills said:

Google dvdinmotion for i3, it is not coding, but rather a more limited, but much easier alternative. If you just want to unlock your REx and get rid of the U.S. lawyer driven compliance screen in the simplest manner spend the $150 with them. I had it installed on my car, took it in for a software update and it was gone when I picked up the car. I got home, reistalled and it was all back again just as before, plug and play.
Coding seems to be a great thing if you really want to make a bunch of changes to your car: it is cheaper, although you make up for that in it being a more difficult process, and you can change much more of your car in the process than with the dvdinmotion patch. It all depends on what your goals are and how much you like to mess around with computer files and cables.

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imolazhp said:

WoodlandHills said:

Google dvdinmotion for i3, it is not coding, but rather a more limited, but much easier alternative. If you just want to unlock your REx and get rid of the U.S. lawyer driven compliance screen in the simplest manner spend the $150 with them. I had it installed on my car, took it in for a software update and it was gone when I picked up the car. I got home, reistalled and it was all back again just as before, plug and play.
Coding seems to be a great thing if you really want to make a bunch of changes to your car: it is cheaper, although you make up for that in it being a more difficult process, and you can change much more of your car in the process than with the dvdinmotion patch. It all depends on what your goals are and how much you like to mess around with computer files and cables.

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Wow, that looks like the way to go! With coding all of your coding gets wiped out after a software update, but will DVDinMotion push out an update if their method stops working?

Alternatively I could see if someone in the ATL that codes could meet up with me and enable all of those features. Slide them some cash or treat them to a meal in exchange.

All of that trip planning might have been a waste, lol.

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imolazhp said:

Quick newb question that I might have already seen the answer to, but want to verify, will it hurt the REx if you unintentionally run it out of fuel? I would do my best not to, but if I leave the car coded and hold state of charge enabled, it could possibly happen at some point during ownership.

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imolazhp said:

WoodlandHills said:

Google dvdinmotion for i3, it is not coding, but rather a more limited, but much easier alternative. If you just want to unlock your REx and get rid of the U.S. lawyer driven compliance screen in the simplest manner spend the $150 with them. I had it installed on my car, took it in for a software update and it was gone when I picked up the car. I got home, reistalled and it was all back again just as before, plug and play.
Coding seems to be a great thing if you really want to make a bunch of changes to your car: it is cheaper, although you make up for that in it being a more difficult process, and you can change much more of your car in the process than with the dvdinmotion patch. It all depends on what your goals are and how much you like to mess around with computer files and cables.

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Wow, that looks like the way to go! With coding all of your coding gets wiped out after a software update, but will DVDinMotion push out an update if their method stops working?
They have told me that they will, I can only take them at their word. So far, I have had one software update and it reinstalled with no problems
Alternatively I could see if someone in the ATL that codes could meet up with me and enable all of those features. Slide them some cash or treat them to a meal in exchange.
I am sure that a good BMW tuning shop in ATL could take care of it for you if you called in advance to allow them time to research it before you get there.

All of that trip planning might have been a waste, lol.

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ryandesign said:

Yes, the coding software runs only on Windows, but I've had no problems coding my i3 on my Mac running OS X 10.10. I just downloaded a free copy of Windows Technical Preview 10 from Microsoft and a free copy of VirtualBox from Oracle and ran the coding software in that.

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MarkN said:

Note that DVDInMotion says their software requires Navigation Professional so you will need to go the coding route if you didn't get the Technology package on your i3.

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WoodlandHills said:

In NA you can't really "run out of fuel" since just like the battery there is a large amount of unusable capacity. In the case of the fuel tank it is there to comply with CARB regulations and is part of the same arrangement that keeps you from having full control over your REx in exchange for emission credits for BMW. The computer will cut off the supply of fuel to the REx to simulate a 1.9 gallon tank when there is in reality 2.4 gallons in there when full. Since BMW see no harm in a strategy that shuts off the fuel to keep CARB happy there is no reason you cannot do the same. It's not like you could introduce air into the system since there will always be .5 gallons in the tank when the REx stops running

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jadnashuanh said:

It won't hurt the engine since it won't actually run out of fuel! The computer will stop the engine while there is still gasoline in the tank. Now, how much, not sure and that depends on whether you've coded it. The tank holds something like 2.4 US gallons, but the USA delivered software will only let you use 1.9G of it to meet the CARB rules (which, modifying the REx will defeat).

As opposed to a normal vehicle, the REx relies on both a fuel pump and tank pressurization to get fuel back to the engine. As a result, it takes a moment to open the filler since it must bleed off the pressure first.

There are VERY few CCS charging units on the east coast of the US. Some are planned, but it will likely take awhile. The situation is a little better in CA, but it will still be a long time before they're everywhere and reliable.

If you are not pushing the vehicle and aren't trying to fly up long grades, you may never notice any problems with the REx as it is delivered. Otherwise, if you let it get the charge too low, the REx can't keep up except on relatively level cruise.

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WoodlandHills said:

They have told me that they will, I can only take them at their word. So far, I have had one software update and it reinstalled with no problems.

I am sure that a good BMW tuning shop in ATL could take care of it for you if you called in advance to allow them time to research it before you get there.

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janner said:

I don't know the roads you're on but you will have no restrictions with a ReX. Check out the fuel/gas stations and if they're further apart than 60 miles then get a petrol/gas can. Then just drive it. If you think you have some hills coming then slow down a bit to 55mph or so and the ReX will provide plenty of charge.

When you get home you can plan to be more electric but don't worry on this journey.

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alohart said:

Don't forget to set the L1 and L2 charging rates to "Max" and charging to "Immediate" in iDrive. I didn't do this and couldn't understand why L2 charging at a public charging station was proceeding so slowly. I learned later that BMW doesn't deliver the i3 with charging rates set to "Max". However, if your father-in-law's 120 v. outlet is shared with other loads, you might need to reduce the L1 charging rate from "Max" to prevent tripping the circuit breaker. At L1 "Max", the included Occasional Use Charger will draw 12 amps which is fine for an unshared 15-amp circuit.

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ryandesign said:

Yes, the coding software runs only on Windows, but I've had no problems coding my i3 on my Mac running OS X 10.10. I just downloaded a free copy of Windows Technical Preview 10 from Microsoft and a free copy of VirtualBox from Oracle and ran the coding software in that.

When planning your trip, I encourage you to assume everything will go wrong, so that you can be pleasantly surprised when some things go right. In my case, I made a somewhat optimistic plan, and didn't anticipate some of the things that went wrong, so I ended up having a rather long day and stayed awake for 23 hours straight.

For example, BMW advertises that you can recharge your i3's 18.8 kWh battery from empty at a level 2 station in 3.5 hours. That assumes an EVSE that delivers 7.4 kW, in other words 32A ✕ 230V, such as you might install at home in the U.S., or might find in Europe. But the electrical grid in the U.S. is different, and many public EVSEs here provide 32A ✕ 208V, which is only 6.6 kW, which means they will recharge your i3 from empty in 4 hours. I've never seen my car charge faster than 5.7 kW (and I've only seen that once), at which rate it would recharge from empty in 4.5 hours. I had made my plans based on BMW's advertised 3.5-hour recharge time, which is not realistic if you don't know the power specifics of the particular station. I also hadn't understood that some public EVSEs have two ports, and if two cars are charging at the same time, then they share the station's power and each charge at half-speed, so no more than 3.3 kW for a public 6.6-kW EVSE, at which rate it would take 8 hours to fully charge.

The EPA estimated electric range of the 2014 i3 BEV is 81 miles, but is only 72 miles for the REx. Under BMW's advertised ideal conditions, that means adding 20.5 miles of range to your REx each hour charging at 7.4 kW, or 18 miles per hour at 6.6 kW, or 16 miles per hour at 5.7 kW, or 9 miles per hour at 3.3 kW.

The level 1 occasional-use cable uses 12A ✕ 120V at the maximum setting, which is 1.44 kW, which BMW says will recharge the car from empty in 20 hours, adding 3.6 miles of range per hour. At the reduced setting, which you may have to use if you're not sure the wiring can withstand 12A continuous, it's 8A ✕ 120V (0.96 kW), which should mean it would take 30 hours to charge from empty, or 2.4 miles per hour.

This is oversimplified. The charge rate is not constant; it tapers off as the battery gets quite full.

The i3 is designed to be used in city traffic; you won't achieve 72 miles per charge driving 70 mph on the highway. Assume you'll get 10% less range (so let's say 65 miles on a full charge), and that charging will therefore add 10% less range than computed above.

Check which network each of the EVSEs you plan to use are a member of, then get memberships in each network; you may have to wait for each network to mail you an RFID card that you'll be using when you charge. Memberships tend to be free, but some networks take a long time to mail out cards. I didn't receive my Blink card until a month after I had already picked up the car, despite ordering it weeks before. Some networks like Blink let you use your smartphone to initiate charging sessions in lieu of an RFID card. If you don't already have a ChargePoint membership, you can wait to set that up until you're at the dealership; they'll give you ("ChargeNow"-branded) ChargePoint cards with the car.

Also, be prepared for not being able to find an EVSE that's shown on the map (the car's map is probably well-curated, but is far from complete, while PlugShare, ChargePoint and other apps may show chargers that no longer exist or are shown miles away from where they actually are); not being able to reach an EVSE you've found (it's in a parking lot or parking garage that's closed); having the EVSE already be in use by another EV (apps and the car's map may be able to tell you this in advance); having the EVSE blocked by a non-EV ("getting ICE'd"); having the EVSE not work (is damaged; is not powered on; won't read your RFID card; won't actually charge the car).

Keep an eye on the cost of each station too. Free is great, but those that charge a fee are often more expensive than a comparable amount of gas. The REx engine is rated at 37 mpg on the highway, and gas in your area seems to be around $2/gallon, so that's 5.4¢ per mile; compare that to how much it would cost to charge and how much range you would get out of it.

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jadnashuanh said:

The nice thing about the i3 is that if you do get caught in traffic, it's a lot more efficient than an ICE, and actually doesn't use a huge amount just sitting there, unlike an ICE that keeps the motor running (assuming you don't have start/stop). And, at lower speeds, with the less drag, that helps quite a bit, too. IOW, within reason, slower speeds can extend your driving distance a significant amount. The REx will usually stop when you stop. One thing to keep in mind, the REx output is variable, and the slower you go, the slower the REx goes. To keep it running at max capacity, the cutoff speed is around 56mph...go slower than that, the REx slows down, too.

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