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.
