Why the BMW i3-REx

This afternoon, I realized there is something else different from Prius and EV driving, running out of gas:

1. Prius community - there are self-appointed, rabble rousers ready to burn in effegy (if they just had some gas) driver who accidentally or deliberately runs out of gas.
2. EV community - doesn't really care except for that one lawsuit who is suing BMW. If we could just get some the 'Prius rousers' to submit 'friend of the court' letters, the suit would soon be over.

Bob Wilson

 

Last time I'll look at Prius accidents: Vehicle crashes into back of Semi-trailer on I-74 - Wandtv.com, NewsCenter17, StormCenter17, Central Illinois News-

State authorities were called to the scene after a Prius rear ended a Peterbuilt semi-truck towing a flatbed trailer in a construction zone. The semi-truck driver was slowing down due to backed up traffic on Interstate 74 west, just west of the ramp to Interstate 57 south, where there was construction taking place. While it was slowing down, the Prius failed to reduce speed and hit the back of the trailer.​

I'm changing my Google news filter to look for "BMW i3" accidents. But these are the types of accidents that have been so irritating since the 2010 came out. Still pissed because the 2016 Level 2 ECO does not have the TSS-P option but the Level 3 has TSS-P and a moon roof instead of MPG.

Bob Wilson

 

I'm not doing a statistical analysis. What I am curious about are the individual nature of i3 accidents ... for 'lessons learned.' It was exactly what my earlier interest in Prius accidents was ever about. In the case of Prius accidents, it revealed the role of the windshield supports, the "A" pillars, in obscuring pedestrians in cross-walks. Then there are the avoidable accidents if you have a driving assistant.

BTW, I learned by experience something today about the BMW three driving modes:

• Comfort - max power and fully environmental controls
• Eco Pro - more efficient operating mode, upper speed limit and moderated climate controls
• Eco Pro+ - power reduced enough to be noticable and disable some climate control operations

If you are late to work and have no time for silly traffic, "Comfort." If you need to remember what driving the Prius was like, "Eco Pro+" will do. But around town, "Eco Pro" is well balanced.

A new BMW game is 'how many free miles can you drive?' It is learning where to get a 'free' charge and then incorporating it in your choices for dinner, shopping, and entertainment.

Bob Wilson

 

FYI, just ordered Electric Motor Werks, Inc. - JuiceBox™ Pro 40 - Smart 40-Amp EVSE with 24-foot cable. Although $100 more expensive than others, it provides both WiFi management and is removable. This should allow use at campgrounds on the road.

We have an electrician coming out to work up an estimate:

• Exterior transfer switch - no generator or solar, yet, just want it on the electrical service access wall
• NEMA 14-50 plug - for the "JuiceBox Pro 40"

The exterior, electrical service wall is adjacent to the driveway and car port. This will provide plenty of access to charge the BMW i3-REx and in the future, bring in solar power and/or a natural-gas powered generator.

Bob Wilson

 

Found defect: unlike the Toyota wipers that seem to require hand tools to remove, the BMW wiper easily twists off ... And the unsupported arm is a great glass knocker.

$600 on Thursday to replace.

Bob Wilson

 

I've been running an extension cord from a 120 VAC outlet in the kitchen to the portable EVSE that came with the BMW i3-REx. Since I used a kitchen outlet, I set the Level 1 charging to a maximum of 10A, ~1kW/hr. But I have this dryer outlet, 240 VAC in the exterior utility area.

Our house has 'single split-phase, 240 V, features a neutral and two hot legs, 240 V to each other, and 120 V each to the neutral.' So I bought an exterior box with a pair of ground-fault protected, 120 VAC sockets. I bought a dryer replacement cord for NEMA 6-50 that connects to the two hot legs and neutral but does not have an earth ground needed for the ground fault detection. I added a ground wire to a water pipe clamp and the case ties the ground-fault wiring. But how to test?

A ground fault circuit needs 120 VAC to work, to support the reset function. But if there is an unexpected short, there will be sparks, smoke, and a circuit breaker trip.

So I bought a sacrificial, three-prong extension cord and light bulb socket. This provides an earth ground, neutral, and one hot leg. With an oven light wired on the hot leg, any short will light the bulb and limit the current to ~0.5 A. A practice short and it worked perfectly. Wiring the hot to both hot legs of the dryer plug; the neutral, and; ground, the test and power box worked perfectly ... no short and no problem.

I turned on the dryer circuit breaker and plugged in my adapter and no smoke. Then I plugged in the portable EVSE ... no drama. Finally, I set the car Level 1 to 'Maximum' or 15 A and plugged in the car. So instead of showing full charge by noon Saturday, it now shows 6:00 AM to full charge, much nicer.

I had run the SOC to under 40% as part of another test. Ordinarily I would drive the car to a shopping center with a free, high capacity charger and use the 1 kW mode to top it off over night. Now I can charge at 1.5 kW which should shorten the charge time significantly. I still need to properly mount the box and the job is done.

Bob Wilson

 

Although it took awhile, eventually I was able to get the last feature turned on, the "Connected Assist" to interact with the "BMW i" App:

Monitoring the SOC from inside the house.


Here is the location of the BMW i3-REx and some charging stations. I have not visited them, yet.


Yes, that is my BMW i3-REx sitting in the driveway. It is one of the reasons stealing a BMW i3 is not a good idea.


So the blue shaded area is the expected, battery only range. Of course the range extender makes that a moot point, especially with the 'coding' that allows enabling the REx at 75% SOC. Given the BMW i3-REx has a battery roughly the same size as the Leaf, it shows why a Leaf would not meet our range requirement, Nashville and Birmingham.


Not sure how to interpret these metrics but it looks like a last-trip, statistics.


So these functions are available from the "BMW i" app.


From the inside of the house, I commanded the car to start the A/C so it will be tolerable.

Bob Wilson

 

It turned out the Safelite part was the wrong one as I need the windshield+camera part. I had thought the camera was part of the rear-view mirror assembly but it is affixed to the windshield.

Camera alignment is important for correct operation of the automatic cruise control and accident avoidance. This is a critical reason why we did not go with a 2016 Prius ECO. So I decided to have BMW do the repair, $1,500.

Bob Wilson

 

I agree about their 'charger map.' It seems they have a special relationship with 'Charge Point'.

So tonight, I took my wife on a dinner date to the shopping center with the free, high-capacity chargers. When I first rolled by, one spot was open. So I dropped my wife off by the door and when I got back, a Ford had taken the free spot. But we had the dogs in the car.

Periodically, I would 'go check on the dogs' and sure enough, the Ford party arrived and took off ... and I slipped in. By the time we left, 100% charge. <GRINS>

Getting lots of spontaneous, positive comments about the car ... and everyone loves our dogs.

Bob Wilson

 

This afternoon I realize the difference between driving a Prius and BMW i3-REx

• Approaching the Prius (Gen-3) - I begin thinking about how to drive 'gentle' in the first 1-2 miles. This allows the engine to warm-up to hybrid temperatures so I can achieve +50 MPG.
• Approaching the BMW i3-REx - I don't care because there is no warm-up. Yes, I can enable preconditioning so the cabin is warm or cool and the battery in operating temperature BUT it is not required. If I decide on a whim to do some errand, warming up the car is the least of my worries.

So this evening I did the wash and it was straight forward. Once I had the washing machines running, I had 22-23 minutes and drove to a nice bar. I returned before the last washer completed and spent the next 30-40 minutes drying and folding. Then I drove to the high-power, free chargers before heading home.

On the way home, I practiced with the automatic parallel parking system. There is no comparison of the BMW i3-REx even with the 2016 Prius ... which is the next best car!

Understand I was lucky to find the BMW i3-REx I bought. They are not at every BMW dealer and please don't think every one on eBay is worth buying. I was VERY VERY lucky!

Just there is no way I'll ever look back. It is very likely this BMW will allow me to replace our 2010 Prius and I won't even look back. It won't mean any bad feeling for the Prius family. Just I've found a new ride and it is to the Prius what the Prius has been to every other ordinary gas or diesel car ever built.

Bob Wilson