Featured Toyota Falls In Brand Loyalty Rankings After Customers Defect To Tesla

Let me offer some buyer tips unique to the BMW i3-REx:

• Use the VIN lookup to identify body style I01 (basic) or I02 (with dynamic cruise control)
• Battery warranty, 75% after 60,000 miles or 8 years
• Any 2017 or later car has the larger battery, avoid 2014-2016.
• Field test charging at L2 station:
  • Note indicated miles and State of Charge %
  • Put on L2 charger for 2 hrs (or use ChargePoint App for fast DC charging) RECORD kWh at end
  • Note change of indicated miles and State of Charge %
  • kWh / (range_2 - range_1) - gives battery kWh per mile of charge, charge to 100% and see indicated miles
  • kWh / (SOC_2% - SOC_1%) - gives estimated battery capacity, does not need 100% charge
  • There is a secret menu to get the "Kapa" value but I prefer more direct metrics
• Expect to get a smartphone BIMMERCODE OBD device ($50-80) that will also work with BIMMERLINK
  • Contact me as I may have an extra for an excellent price.
• GOOD, FAST, CHEAP ... pick two
  • Use eBay completed sales for true market value
  • Use other car finding services to locate potential vehicles you can visit
    • If your are 100-200 miles away, I'll let you and family drive it around for a day. Like comfortable shoes, your ride should be a happy time, every time.

GOOD LUCK!

Bob Wilson

ps. Why I bought my first BMW i3-REx sight unseen:

 

I passed a Chevy Stealership a few weeks ago. They had at least 6 new Bolts sitting across the front of the lot.

 

If they tripled the fast DC charge rate to 150 kW, even if triangle taper, I would look at one. But 50 kW is too slow.

Bob Wilson

 

It will be interesting to see if the charging rate goes up with the new battery.

 

i'm looking for one, where?

 

a lot of people use them for commuters only, 250 miles available every morning

 

150kW should be possible. Ultium packs in most current EVs are 190kW to 200kW.

 

I personally could make 50kW work, as long as the car had more than 200 miles of range.

But I do believe a lot of people feel the same as you do, and charging rate is one think keeping the masses from adopting EV's. Let's hope they get this down quite a bit. If charging were 5, 10 or even 15 minutes with 300 miles of real world range and the car's price were comparible to an ICE car, then I think we'd start seeing mass adoption of EV's. But if it takes 30 minutes or more to charge the battery to full or near full, there will be a lot of people not going to want an EV.

 

I always have a tough time with that term.
What do you mean by “start seeing mass adoption”?

In my mind, we have already seen the ‘beginning of mass adoption’.
Last year, as I recall, the sale of EVs in the USA hit 6%. I believe hybrids are about the same.

Worldwide, BEVs are at about 10% market share.

Just when does the “start of mass adoption”… start?

 

When it's obvious that the majority of consumers are going to buy an EV as their next purchase. 6% or 10% is not a majority.

EV adoption growth is apparently slowing, perhaps to a hault. The majority of people still aren't convinced. Many are basing "everthing will eventually be an EV" off of government mandates, not popular demand.

So the future will be EV because governments will force everyone to abandon ICEV's? That seems like something voters will protest, lobby against and try to overthrow.

Now I'm not trying to be all doom and gloom, and the people I know are a small part of the world population.

1. But from the people I know personally, only one has bought EV's and will continue to do so. I'm kind of second on the EV adoption list in my circle of friends, family and aquaintances.
2. I bought an EV once, and it didnt' work out. I've tried to buy another one, but so far can't find anything that will work for me, for the price I want, and that makes more sense than an ICEV option.
3. One other lady followed my example and also bought an EV. She's determined to never buy an EV again after her experience.
4. Everyone else I know hasn't or won't consider an EV for various reasons such as range, charging issues (apartments, charging times, etc.) and especially cost.

That's why I say, when point 4 is made better, range charging issues and cost become less of a problem, then I'll see more people wanting to buy EV's. Not just one other person and myself, who in my case I consider myself a bit of an odd one, willing to put up with things I know other people would not be willing to put up with (like stringing an extra long exention cable from my appartment window down to my EV out in the middle of a parking lot, or staying at a camp site charging off of 120V for a day or two along my trip because there is litteraly no other place to charge along my trip routes).

 

'Mass adoption' has to mean it's the thing the majority of consumers will buy?

On that standard, iPhone only reached mass adoption this year in the US (and still hasn't, overall).

Unless, maybe, someone could have said last year that it was 'obvious' most consumers were going to buy one next. That's a little harder to pin down.

 

Interesting, that would be my definition of the midpoint of mass adoption. Thank you for defining what you meant so I understand you better.

Adoption seems to be continuing at a brisk pace. In Jan-July of 2022, 4.9% of car sales were BEVs. In Jan-July of 2023 that number was 7%.
https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/over-7-percent-of-the-cars-sold-us-are-evs-1234898490/

We all form bias from our own personal experience. It ca be difficult to not allow personal experiences color our impressions of what is happening in the whole country.

From my personal experiences, every member of my immediate family has bought an EV in the last 2 years.
I have many friends who own EVs, and more who are planning to make their next vehicle an EV.

I know numerous people who bought an EV after experiencing mine. All of them have told me they will never go back to ICE.

I do know some people waiting for more infrastructure improvements, the majority are considering a BEV though.

 

you can't really define mass adoption, but i'd like to see california eliminated from the equation to get a better picture of hoe the rest of the country did in the first 1/2 of the year.

i consider myself ready for a bev, but the options are extremely limited, and these concerns being overcome will certainly increase uptake imo:

1) price (and tax credits available on all mfg's)

2) range

3) charging speed

4) number of chargers and locations

 

On 34th Street in St Petersburg FL

 

Most people buy used cars. So do you mean when the majority of new car buyers are going to buy an EV?

Mike

 

You can't really identify mass adoption until it's already happened. We could be in a period of EV mass adoption, but I'm not too sure you can say it is mass adoption yet.

I wouldn't call the iPhone mass adoption yet. Using the internet, having email, owning a smartphone are all things that have been mass adopted. You are by far the minority, the weird one, the stubborn one of society, if you refuse to use the internet, have an email account or own a smartphone. It may be that way with the iPhone some day, but not yet, and we don't know if it ever will be that way. With a push against monopolization, I'd imagine it would be pretty hard to fully mass adopt the iPhone. Owning a car has been mass adopted in the USA, though not worldwide. Ask someone from some African tribe if cars have been mass adopted there.

Mass adoption takes time. Take email for an example. The process of mass adoption of email took several years, if not decades. But back in the early 90's, there were other parts of technology that were, at some point, just as adopted as email. That doesn't mean ZIP drives ever got mass adopted, but how could you prove back then that email was being mass adopted and ZIP drives weren't?

On the same line of reasoning, how can you prove BEV's are being mass adopted? Ok, so 10% of new cars globaly are EV's. That may grow some, but could also go the other way in the next several years. And even if it became 25% or 50%, that's not full mass adoption. Not until the majority of people adopt them. There are a lot of things only 6% to10% of the population uses. Does that mean most everything is mass adopted? Or at least the ones that 6% or 10% of the population or more own or use? I disagree.

 

Sounds like someone's not keeping up with current events. This past year China has stats showing 37% new car sales are plugins.

China Set Massive Record Of Plug-In Car Sales In June 2023 - Over 700,000

And since prior years sales have also been significant ... and the fact that this is the largest country buying cars in the world ... if someone can't see that as no longer a niche market then someone's living and an alternate reality.

Oh - then there's Norway selling 79% plugin per year

2022: 79.3 percent of all new cars sold in Norway were fully electric.

Once Upon a time the horsey may have only been partly replaced ... but anyone with both eyes open could see how things were going
.

 

Basically yes. If something is mass adopted most likely it is within reach of most everyone. EV's are not within reach of the majority of the population, and 10% or 6% isn't going to cut it. Now yes, that 10% could be 20%, then 30%, then 40%, clear up to enough that people who want an EV can at least get an EV.

I still don't feel the iPhone is mass adopted. But let's say the iPhone is mass adopted. Can I get an iPhone, either new or used, that makes sense for me to buy an iPhone? Why yes of course. It might be a bit more price than I like, or lack a feature like a headphone jack. But overall, an iPhone is prefectly obtainable.

I make a median wage. Can I buy an EV. Yes, but not like an iPhone. With my wages I can barely get a used EV that has a very short range and probably no quick charging. And it will cost nearly the same as, or more than, my main ICE vehicle. Basically it's like buying a clunker for around town, only the clunker costs the same as the nice car I take to the in-laws'. That doesn't make sense unless I'm an all out EV enthusiast.

 

I'm not saying it's not heading in that direction right now. But that's still not mass adoption proof. 99.9% of families in Mexico eat tortillas every day. That doesn't mean the world is going to mass adopt tortillas as their staple food.

Edit: For any sort of lasting adoption, whether it's a mass or majority adoption or just a niche that a few people adopt and keep going, there has to be an S curve. But you don't actually have an S until you finish drawing it. When a person starts drawing what looks like an S it could turn out to be a cursive small r.

The same with EV's. I do believe EV adoption could be an S curve of mass adoption. But there are still things I feel that need to be overcame before there's not only an S, but the top of that S means nearly a 99% of the population or close to that. With companies like Toyota "lagging behind," and others like Chevy, Ford, Stelantis and perhaps even VW seeming like they want to back out, either our future is full of Teslas and Chinese EV's or there's going to still be a lot of ICEV's from companies like Toyota, Chevy, Ford, Stelantis, VW and others for a very long time.