My BMW i3 -- My First Long Trip

I leased my BMW i3 Rex from Chapman BMW on Camelback in Phoenix, AZ, but was wary of driving it the one hundred miles to my home in Prescott.  My sales agent drove it up and we signed the papers at my home.

I was due for a routine warranty maintenance that had to be done in Phoenix because there is no BMW dealer in my area.  Depending on the outside temperature, I can typically get a charge of about 80 miles from my level 2 charging station, and the range extender motor scooter engine (Rex) can add about another 70 miles when the battery charge goes below 6%.  However, many of us know that the actual mileage you get is also a function of how fast you drive, the topology of the terrain you're driving on, the mode you select for driving (Comfort, Eco Pro, or Eco Pro+).  Rex relieves us of some range anxiety, but since my trip would be up and down some serious mountains on an interstate highway, some range anxiety still was with me.  I suspected that the downhill drive (from about 5500 feet elevation to about 1500 feet elevation) would be okay, but I was clearly worried about the trip back up to my home even though my sales agent did it last Fall.

When I first started the trip, the speed limit is about 45 mph, so I selected Eco Pro+ to save a little charge.  When I got further to the 65 mph and 75 mph speed limits, I changed to Eco Pro (governed to 76 mph) and drove at about 60-65 mph.  Going down to Phoenix, my battery lasted for about 96 miles, so I only had about three miles to go on Rex to reach the dealer.

Chapman BMW then charged my i3 back up (at no "charge" to me!) and my wife and I started back home.  One thing I was fearing was if I had to resort to Rex on a very mountainous and winding region, knowing that I could be forced to drive a 35 hp i3, that would probably limit my speed to about 40 mph.  Again using Eco Pro driving mode for the entire trip, I managed to get 63 miles before being switched to Rex, and this occurred beyond the scary mountainous and winding section of the interstate.  When I finally pulled into my driveway in Prescott, I had about a quarter tank of the 1.9 gallons remaining, showing about 18 miles left.

Whew!  I made it!  This will probably be the longest trip I'll take in the i3 since I have driven only about 2500 miles since I got the car in late September last year.  The idea of worrying about gas stations every 65-70 miles to refill my gas tank for a longer trip that didn't leave four hours for charging would give me "gas anxiety."  I'm hoping BMW increases the battery range with more efficient batteries in the 2017 model and that they can find a way to give us a larger gas tank and maybe a more efficient Rex.  Since I'm leasing my i3 for two years, I may either decide to buy the one I'm currently leasing or lease again with the new model.

My BMW i3 -- "Cradle to Grave" Carbon Emissions

A recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/11/Cleaner-Cars-from-Cradle-to-Grave-full-report.pdf) describes the "Cradle to Grave" carbon emissions for battery-electric cars and shows that they are twice as good as conventional cars.  This link goes to a pdf document that you can download.  A more readable summary of this is found in a Green Car Reports article (http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102307_once-again-electric-cars-have-lower-lifetime-carbon-emissions?fbfanpage).

For those of us who are pro-electric-car proponents, this information might be useful when your friends ask questions about carbon emissions.

As those of us who own or are leasing a BMW i3, we also know that the car contains recycled and sustainable material.

Here's a link to BMW that gives you more information about sustainability in the i Family:  http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/corporation/bmwi/sustainability.html .

Another interesting article describes the manufacturing process used when a BMW i3 is created:  http://www.compositesworld.com/articles/bmw-leipzig-the-epicenter-of-i3-production-

My BMW i3 -- Range Extender Maintenance

The Range Extender is really a motor scooter engine that runs a generator to add charge to the battery.  Of course, it also generates emissions when running, so most of us would like to avoid using it.  However, it needs to run occasionally to maintain operation and to burn some of the premium fuel before it deteriorates.  Kymco in Taiwan supplies the engine, shown below:



BMW has provided a way for this maintenance, an automatic cycling if the engine has not been run in the last seven or eight weeks.  You are notified that this is happening on your display, and it takes about ten minutes to complete.  If my drive is shorter than ten minutes, my experience is that the cycle was repeated.

While cycling the engine, the BMW i3 still runs from the battery.  Here is what I received from BMW's concierge:

To ensure the functional reliability of the range extender, even during long periods of non-use, the range extender is automatically activated for approximately 10-15 minutes. This occurs approximately every 7 weeks. The vehicle will notify you when it will run maintenance on the range extender. Please note that a maintenance run is not possible if the battery is above approximately 75% or if there is too little fuel in the tank.

Even though this detracts from the zero-emission operation of the BMW i3, it is important to make sure the engine is exercised and some of the fuel is burned.