Why the BMW i3-REx

I haven't read all your posts yet, but Blink (Blink) sucks. Their equipment is often not working and not repaired promptly. Blink is the leftover carcass of Ecotality that went bankrupt. CCGI bought them out but they're not doing well financially either: How is Car Charging Group / Blink doing in your area? - Page 4 - My Nissan Leaf Forum.

You MUST use PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge your car! to check out charging sites ahead of time, otherwise you'll waste a bunch of time.

You should find out what are the major charging providers in your area and sign up for accounts and probably an RFID card for them. For me, it's Blink, NRG evgo and Chargepoint. There's also Semaconnect (very expensive too) and a few others. I have an account and cards for Blink (never used it) and Chargepoint (use every weekday since my employer has their stations and we get free charging at work).

For DC FCing, since BMW decided to adopt CCS, J1772 CCS aka Frankenplug aka SAE Combo, there aren't that many of those. In the US, there are 3 incompatible DC FC standards: CHAdeMO, Tesla Supercharger and SAE Combo. See pics of plugs at Chevy Spark EV Forum • View topic - DC fast charging: J1772 CCS vs CHAdeMO vs Supercharger, etc. (Tesla USA/Canada plug, CHAdeMO and Combo1). In terms of charging stalls in the US, in descending order: Tesla Supercharger, CHAdeMO and SAE Combo (distant 3rd).

And, NO, there's currently no adapter to allow enable ANY vehicle to DC fast charge on on Tesla Superchargers. There's also no adapter to enable SAE Combo vehicles to charge on
CHAdeMO Association DC FCs.

BTW, back to Blink, AFAIK, their DC fast chargers are CHAdeMO ONLY, so those are incompatible w/your i3. The only BMW i3's that ship w/CHAdeMO inlet are the ones for the Japanese market. So, if you use Blink, it'll be on their level 2 (208 to 240 volt) EVSEs, NOT DC FCs.

Fortunately, for level 1 and 2, everyone's standardized on J1772(-2009). Tesla Model S and X (probably) come with a free J1772 adapter to enable their vehicles to charge on J1772 EVSEs.

 

Fortunately, you have the "patch" (referred to by BMW folks as "coding" ). Without the ability to engage the REx earlier than when the battery's nearly dead, the experiences going up a hill on the REx be scary.

Some are below. You'll need to be a member of the i3 FB group to see the FB links. Some have gotten it down to a point where the car would go only 9 mph.

Code:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BMWi3/permalink/764362933637570/?comment_id=766242970116233&offset=0&total_comments=5

Code:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BMWi3/permalink/651964284877436/ 

BMW i3 Forum • View topic - US i3 Rex dangerous when climbing hills

Code:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BMWi3/permalink/1050421328365061/?comment_id=1050833724990488&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R2%22%7D

 

congrats bob, all the best! eat more slowly, chew your food.

 

Re: the DRCC unexpected disengaging, yes, there used to be a TON of chatter on the BMW i3 FB group about that, esp. when going into the sun. I don't know if the behavior has changed but from The Electric BMW i3: BMW i3 Overactive-Active Cruise Control and the chatter afterward, it sounded like its behavior was very dangerous since on the i3, when you lift off the accelerator, VERY strong regen (braking) kicks in. So, you could get rear-ended or cause collisions behind you.

The second to last paragraph of the above describes a good solution.

As for check engine light... have fun w/that. There are numerous possible causes, and some of them are spurious. You should get BMW i3 Software Update 15-11-502 Fixes Flaws, Adds Features applied, if it hasn't had it already.

 

Back to the 3 standards, I haven't seen an update from GRA at MNL lately as to count, but from Tesla Supercharger Network - Page 117 - My Nissan Leaf Forum, as of 1/1/2016, there were 1672 Supercharger stalls at 248 locations across 44 states. Of course, this does nobody any good other than those who drive a Model S w/Supercharger access enabled or a Model X.

Previously, they'd leapfrogged CHAdeMO and probably are still ahead.
CHAdeMO Association says there are 1686 CHAdeMO DC FCs in the US. This does the i3 no good as well, since only Japanese market i3's are compatible with it + other CHAdeMO cars (available on vehicles like these: Leaf, Kia Soul EV, i-Miev and Teslas with Tesla — CHAdeMO Adapter).

SAE Combo is way behind, but I don't have a count. Unfortunately, some of the Frankenplug players aren't very serious like GM Won't Fund CCS Fast-Charging Sites For 2017 Chevy Bolt EV.

 

Be careful. There have been many reports that it's buggy. I've seen reports of it hitting curbs and possibly causing curb rash damage to wheels.

As for public charging adding 7% while eating, you should make sure your charge rate is set to max via the car's UI and see if you can plug into an EVSE where you can see how many kW the car's pulling. If it's a 30 amp EVSE (most are) and most commercial power is 208 volts, not 240, I'd expect to see somewhere north of 6 kW rate. (For others here since I'm sure Bob knows: 208 volts * 30 amps = 6,240 watts = 6.24 kW).

If you have a blown KLE, your charge rate will be in the 3.x kW range. Chargepoint public EVSEs will tell you in their app or their web UI. But, if you're on ChargePoint Introduces CT4000-Series Charger with Unique Power Sharing Option - Inside EVs and there's another car charging AND the site only has a single 40 amp feed instead of 2 40 amp feeds (1 for each handle), the charging rate will be halved until 1 car finishes. (We had CT-4000s with power sharing at my work until they added a second feed.)

The reason why I keep mentioning EVSE is because of
Talk to me about charging/EVSE and charging stations - Page 2 - My Nissan Leaf Forum.

If you charge on Blink L2 public EVSEs, you may not get full charging rate due to their crap defective REMA handles.
While Under Threat From OEMs, ECOtality Turns Down The Output On Chargers To Avoid Failures - Inside EVs
Ecotality Reduced Current on Level 2 Blink Electric Car Chargers | PluginCars.com
CarCharging Promises To Bring Blink Level 2 Back To 30 Amps - who knows about this promise?

TonyWilliams at Toyota Rav4 EV Forum • View topic - Blink EVSE blows out a pin on the Rav4 connector was probably one of the first ones to discover the faulty handles, the hard way.

 

For level 1 and 2 AC charging over J1772, the charger is on-board the car. Unless you're plugging into an SAE Combo DC Fast Charger (has the 2 extra pins below, see Combo1 pic at Chevy Spark EV Forum • View topic - DC fast charging: J1772 CCS vs CHAdeMO vs Supercharger, etc.), you're using an EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), including that brick w/a J1772 handle on one side and a NEMA 5-15 plug (NEMA connector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) on the other). The 120 volt EVSE that came w/your car BMW calls an OUC ("Occasional" Use Cable, per
360 Electric - Home Charging - BMW North America
). Other automakers use terms like trickle charge cable or cord set.

EVSEs aren't chargers. They don't alter the supply voltage nor convert AC to DC nor do they have knowledge of what's going on w/the batteries (e.g. state of charge, temp, etc.) EVSEs are mainly just smart safety switches. Protocol at Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting. and primer at http://www.sae.org/smartgrid/chargingprimer.pdf.

For DC Fast Charging, the OBC is bypassed and the (expensive) external unit is a charger, supplying DC to the car.

i3 has a weird setup where they basically have two on-board chargers. One is/is part of the EME. The second one is/is part of the KLE. As I mentioned, blown KLE == L2 charging rate cut in half. You can see what they stand for (in German) at BMW i3 REx One Year Review.

All the initial i3's for the US market had faulty KLEs and were blowing if you charged at their max rate (on level 2), so as a band-aid turned down the charging rate until a redesigned part was available. Looks like BMW To Finally Replace i3 Onboard Charger To Restore Promised 7.4 kW Charging Rate is from late Dec 2014 (as is BMW Starts Replacing i3 KLE Onboard Charger To Achieve A 7.4 kW Charging Rate).

From Monthly Plug-In Sales Scorecard, the first i3's shipped in the US in May 2014.

I believe there is some UI on the i3 to turn down the charging rate, for whatever reason. You should make sure it's set to max. The car should only draw no more than the EVSE advertises anyway (via the pilot signal).

As I mentioned, the Chargepoint app and their web site will show you a graph showing the power level when the car's plugged into their EVSEs. See ChargePoint: Find EV Charging - Android Apps on Google Play and ChargePoint: Electric Vehicle Charging On the Go on the App Store.

Re: evgo, earlier they had a ridiculous and seemingly antiquated billing system. See below. In comparison, w/Chargepoint, you can easily via their web site see all your sessions w/info like start and end time and date, station, kWh dispensed, address of station, fee (if any), etc.

$450 bill from NRG / eVgo - My Nissan Leaf Forum
Worst customer services from Nrg and incorrect bill - My Nissan Leaf Forum

I'm glad I'm not a customer of NRG evgo.

Unrelated: If the motor mount bolt has hasn't been replaced (I believe there's a campaign), you should get that time. Numerous folks have had theirs break (one guy multiple times), which often results in major damage afterward (covered by warranty, but still).

new engine mount bolt recall/campaign/TSB ? | The Circuit: The Official BMW i Forum
BMW i3 Forum • View topic - Engine Mount Recall - SIB 22 04 15, just for 2014? - don't know about the id
Log into Facebook | Facebook (but you need to be part of the group)

 

From a charging standpoint, the Clipper Creek EVSE's are good options with excellent support from what I've seen and experienced. I've purchased and installed 4 so far.

I'm in a rural area without much public charging buildout, with the exception of Tesla destination (and super) charging. What interests me most right now are the Tesla HPWC to J1772 adapters that would make owning something closer to full EV more palatable. A BEV80 can't currently get me out of my area based on J1772 availability alone.

With these adapters available, a used Leaf might be an option to add to our stable. Without them, my options are only the Volt and i3 REx to maintain a high EV use percentage.

 

it's nice that some whole foods have chargers, but it's usually a short trip, and i've suspected that people leave their cars there and do other errands.

last week, there was a gti there with the charging cable stuck under the hood. when they came back, an older women with a bev in the other space gave them a good talking to.

 

I'd suggest investing is a tire plug kit until a spare is found. Plus some cheap pliers and a boxcutter, both are needed for pulling out any nails, and trimming the plug. That will probably fix all the tire damage that the inflater and goo could handle, without wrecking the TPMS sensor.

 

• I haven' t read the articles but yeah, that was a big complaint (not sure if it's been fixed now) that BMW didn't learn their lesson from the Leaf and for North America decided NOT to include a % SoC display, instead basically saying, "we think our GOM (guess-o-meter, they didn't use these terms) is good enough". This lack was complained about bitterly and we got thru to the Leaf Chief Vehicle Engineer + other Nissan folks in Dec 2011 at a meeting at Google (I was there). It was added on '13+ Leafs.
  
  '11 and '12 Leafs only had a crappy guess-o-meter that was all over the place and 12 digital fuel bars that weren't granular enough. The led to projects like a "gid meter" by Gary Giddings (not the guy in the picture featured at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/automobiles/nissan-leafs-true-believers-wont-leave-well-enough-alone.html?_r=0, Google for The Electric Leaf’s True Believers Won’t Leave Well Enough Alone and click thru from there, if you get their paywall). He discovered something on the CAN bus that was ~281 on a full charge and went down as the battery discharged. That was the proxy for % SoC. People still use that number today (even WITH the % SoC display on '13+ Leafs) for more visibility as to what's going on.
  
  I'd been annoyed as to lack of AM radio. I actually DO use it in my Leaf and Prius sometimes to catch the news and realtime traffic, while driving. The hardware is actually in the i3 (can be enabled by "coding"), however I don't know if it actually works properly w/o massive interference while moving. I've heard conflicting reports.
  is what happens if you use a portable AM radio inside the i3, while driving.
• 
  
• The tires apparently are quite fragile and people have blown them pretty easily. I'm not counting anything about people getting nails or screws in tires.
• Some people outside the US (who can have a sunroof) have complained about returning their car to be drenched on the inside due to what is supposedly buttons on the fob being pressed, causing the sunroof and windows (?) to open.

• The lack of creep to me can be a safety issue due to the lack of directional cueing (Federal Register, Volume 68 Issue 94 (Thursday, May 15, 2003)). It startled people per my post at BMW i3 vs Leaf - Page 3 - My Nissan Leaf Forum.

The first vehicle to ship w/a charging handle lock for L1 and L2 was the 2013 Leaf. From day 1, they had a switch w/3 choices:
- LOCK (stay attached like a parasite)
- middle/nothing (don't lock)
- AUTO (unlock when charging is done).

BMW should've done that. Instead, they gave the driver no choice and only provided the equivalent of LOCK. Later, in the Nov 2015 update, they decided to unlock when charging is done, giving the driver no choice.

They should've provided all 3 choices. LOCK can make sense if the user is trying to prevent theft of the L1 EVSE or if they may get ticketed for not being plugged in. (Yes, we have such an ordinance in CA provided there's proper signage.) AUTO or don't lock can make sense for plug sharing.

It's as if the BMW engineers/product planners were asleep and didn't consider the US use cases. In Europe, apparently, drivers bring their own Type 2 Mennekes cables (they don't use J1772, usually). The level 2 EVSEs (stations) don't have a cable. But, you can detach the cable on the station side... so, of course what they provided in Europe makes sense as it prevents cable theft and doesn't prevent plug sharing.

Side note: If one wants to be able to quickly tell if an i3 is a REx vs. BEV (pure electric), look for the filler flaps on the passenger side. The BEV only has 1 hole on the rear fender for the charging inlet. REx has that + the gas hole on the front fender, as the gas tank is in the front! Some have called that gas hole flap the "Freedom flap" or "flap of shame".

 

Bob, other than all this, how are you liking the new ride?

 

that's engineering language for 'it's not too bad'.

 

LOL!

FWIW, I recall privately trying to point Bob towards used Leafs since they have such crappy resale value. But alas, they're pure BEVs and have no engine... so that doesn't work for everyone.

The crappy resale value is why I have a used '13 Leaf now after I returned my '13 Leaf that was on 2 year lease.

In July 2015, I considered the $10,500 + tax and license '13 Leaf SV (middle trim) w/premium package w/only 12K miles at Wholesale value of the 2013 Leaf @Auction-March '16 - Page 7 - My Nissan Leaf Forum. But, I passed on it. I ended up getting a '13 for $9,325 + tax and license w/the same equipment level but almost 24K miles on it which I posted at Wholesale value of the 2013 Leaf @Auction-March '16 - Page 8 - My Nissan Leaf Forum.

My hardly driven 06 Prius is my "range extender". We have free L2 and L1 charging at my work, although at my current location, L1 charging is a bit of a walk. My commute's only ~12 to 13 miles each way, so it's well within a Leaf's range.

The i3 is MUCH faster in acceleration than the Leaf and is RWD. It's highly likely it handles better than the FWD Leaf. But... ummm... reliability of the i3 REx is usually errr.... not good. Let's just hope Bob's holds up well and doesn't become a headache and money pit.