Heat

Morning. I use a BMW i3 Rex at work. Due to my work I'm trying to educate myself on how the batteries charge the heater. Like traditional vehicles you can generate heat by running the car and drawing the heat from the petrol or diesel engine. There are times where I maybe sat in my i3 for 3 hrs without moving and without the vehicle on charge whilst I wait for a client. Currently the weather where I live is 3 degrees sometimes 1.5 above freezing. Whilst sat waiting the outside temp drops and by turning the heater on blows only cold air until I set off with my client. Currently writing this with a blanket over my legs due to the cold but whilst waiting wondered if this is normal as no heat is created from the standard blower even on 28 degrees setting in the heater whilst stationery for long periods. Thanks for the info.

I was about to answer your question when I realized that you are probably not in the US since you are using Centigrade. I can't imagine the climate control works differently elsewhere, but thought I'd mention that just in case there's a difference.

In the US model i3, at least, the heat and AC will be available whenever the car is on (in the READY state). The heater is all-electric, so it doesn't have anything to do with the REx engine at all. It's basically a fancy electric space heater. It will draw electricity from the high-voltage battery, slowly depleting it if you aren't plugged in, but it should work fine for a few hours. If the battery gets depleted too low, the REx engine should start to recharge the battery, just as it does when you are driving around.

You can also temporarily turn on the climate control through the iDrive screen, or through the ConnectedDrive phone app even with the car off, but it eventually times out if you are not in READY state (this feature is called "Climatize Now" in the app). There's no need to worry about that, though, for your situation. If you are sitting in the car waiting for hours on end, I'd just turn the car on (leave it in Park, obviously!) set the climate control to Auto, and set the temp you want.

In addition to ensuring the car is actually "on" and in "Ready" state, if you put the car into PARK, then exit via the Driver Door for a moment, the car will switch out of "Ready" state into Standby. If you get back into the car you will have to put your foot on the brake pedal and press the Start/Stop Button again to return the car to "Ready" state and it should then maintain the Climate as you like.

Look for the following checkbox under , I think , Main Menu - Settings - Climate

[] Activate Climate Control Now


Once you have it highlighted , Select it , then the Checkmark should appear in the box . This should turn on Climate Control .

Then press and hold one of the unused Buttons (1-8) to save the action to that button .


Then whenever you need it , just press the button that you saved it to .


I hope this helps