Does anyone have any experience with the 120aH i3?

I need a 130 mile of motorway range out of it….hopefully the I3 can do it, but tempted by the i3s, just concerned if I’m sacrificing too much range!

I’ve got a 41kWh Zoé which has the same range WLTP as the BMW. At 70mph it wouldn’t get anywhere near 130miles this morning. About 100miles range 70mph at 0°C with the heater on. However if you slow down to 50mph you get 150miles under the same condition.

Use this calcualtor for the Zoé 50 and muliply by .8

https://group.renault.com/RCW_BINARIES/ZE_Simulator/autonomy.php?country=france&locale=fr

I suggest you need a Zoé 50, Leaf+ or Kia Niro

In my experience, I’d say no. Although I’ll add I don’t have a 120.

I’ve a 90 Rx. In spring and late summer/early Autumn I’ve had 120+ miles on electric only but…. things that kill it

A/C
Heating (more than A/C)
Motorway speeds (I drive at 75j

My journey to drop my kids at school is 26miles each way, 70% motorway speeds. In perfect conditions I’m getting there and back easy with over half the better left, this time of year not much over 1/4.

I’d say you going to be fine on the good days, but you’ll be very close on the bad ones.

All that said, love our i3, way more than I thought we would. 3 years old next month, 56k on it and never had any issues.

This is a handy reference.

https://ev-database.uk

Mate has one, has to plan a charge from Emsworth to Lymington..and one stop to charge to get back… that’s a 48mile one way trip… 96miles round trip.

Dont ask me why, because even I think that’s not much range out of it.

Aren’t electric cars generally great at short runs etc and you’d be better with a really economical diesel or a hybrid for long runs like that regularly? It might just be too much in the winter for battery only?

Your mate must have the old 30kWh car, Bikebouy or perhaps the even older 23kWh car.

There are too many variables for generalities Burko. Long runs are fine with enough battery capacity and/or conveniently placed reliable fast chargers.

Interesting views! Cheers! Maybe it will be 56 in the slow lane!

Or more likely a coffee and sausage roll stop to charge up half way!

I’ve got one booked for a test drive beginning of next month hopefully.

Commute is either 27 or 35 miles each way and electric seems a perfect way to do it.

And through work I can get one for £290/month for 12k miles which will cover the commuting mileage.

WLTP on new ones is 193 miles (https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/all-models/bmw-i/i3/2019/at-a-glance.html) so should be ok for 120+ with no range anxiety.

Phil556 – This was my exact thought process, the low BIK rates from next year are making it very attractive.

I just couldn’t resist a few extras on there!

I think the WLTP figures are supposedly more accurate than the older guestimates, so i’ll have to wait and see!

Is the 120ah the newest one with the stated 150ish mile range? If so you should be okay providing you stick to the speed limits.

I had the 100/120 mile i3s for a weekend and found it pretty much gave the range it told you when you first got in. I found it handy that it would immediately tell you how A/C etc affected the range by dropping 10/20 miles off the clock as soon as you switched it on rather than the gradual decline a ICE car gives you so the stated distance was always pretty accurate. It was such a fun thing to drive that I certainly didn’t try to conserve power but that didn’t really seem to bash the range much.

Lovely little thing and I plan to order one soon. Go for the ‘S’ though as I read that the standard one feels much slower.

Phil556 – This was my exact thought process, the low BIK rates from next year are making it very attractive.

Same here. When I test drove back in the spring the figures didn’t quite add up but from April I should be able to get the i3s with a few extras, fully maintained, tyres, insurance and taxed for £280ish. That’s not far what it ultimately costs me to run my 15 year old ST170 once fuel savings and maintenance are taken in to account.

The 120aH is the latest one, I think they are quoting a real world range of something like 163, and the WLTP of 193, or 177 for the i3s.

Now comes my predicament i3 or i3s.. is the extra fun going to cost me to much in mileage!

Aren’t electric cars generally great at short runs etc and you’d be better with a really economical diesel or a hybrid for long runs like that regularly? It might just be too much in the winter for battery only?

He has an A4 Diesel estate for the longer journeys yes.

I think it might be the smaller output EV yes, he’s had it about 2years so quite likely to be the lower output one. I’m watching him put a load of Boat cushions and sails in it as I type, it’s eminently capable of throwing tons of stuff in it with the doors opening as they do…

He does love it.

i3S owner since March, having covered now 7K miles.

Due to an issue with the entertainment system on the i3S (eventually fixed under warranty) , we had a loaner i3 for a few weeks. Having driven both then, I prefer the more planted handling of the i3S (wider track, revised suspension) and the Sport mode is just hilarious. When driven in the “eco modes” the range difference was negliable to me.

In terms of range , it increased in the warmer weather to 180+, now we are seeing a realistic 150-160 miles. We precondition the battery in the morning and warm the cabin before leaving which probably also helps the road range. I have the Aux heating but have not really used it yet.

Have a look on the EV form, BMW i3 board which is useful information source.

Hi Mudder,

What sort of driving are you doing on those ranges? Are they single journeys, or is that an accumulation of short trips?

I’ll take a look at the forum, thanks!

Lewis

For a typical week, it’s an accumulation of motorway commuting (20 miles each way for me or 10 miles for my Wife), family taxi duties and misc weekend driving.

According to our BMW app we are getting 4 mile kWh on average for all trips. But we tend to look at actual miles travelled and the cars predicted battery range. As it’s colder in the morning we tend to plug in every evening for the mornings precondition and defrosting.

I think I would be able to do the preconditioning, which makes me question if the auxillary cabin heater is worthwhile?

i3s with a few extras, fully maintained, tyres, insurance and taxed for £280ish

Sauce / Figures?

@matt_outandabout my work offers them through Zenith as a salary sacrifice scheme. About £290. I couldn’t find anything on PCH that low when I was looking a couple of weeks ago.

👍

Revisiting this as I’m close to ordering one, unfortunately my test drive never happened, I’m going to go to BMW tomorrow and see if I can try one.

Couple of things before I order though, can someone set my mind at ease that 70miles up the motorway in the winter won’t be an issue for the current 120 i3?

Do I need the aux heater, it’s an extra £10 a month.

And chargers for home – should I just get Scottish power to fit one and switch to their EV tariff or use one of the companies that I can find online to come and do? Fixed or remove able cable?

Cheers 👍

On the aux heater then I’d say probably not if you’ve got heated seats. My wife diesel X3 hard gets warm on the 10 mile journey to work when its cold, but with the heater seats you’re perfectly comfortable, so if you’ve got heated seats and even better a heated steering wheel then I believe they consume alot less energy than heating and work fine and more quickly.

Also the normal electric heater may be very inefficient, but one of the benefits of an EV is you can warm the car up before you get into it while it’s still plugged in, so you’re getting into a nice warm and defrosted car anyway.

Couple of things before I order though, can someone set my mind at ease that 70miles up the motorway in the winter won’t be an issue for the current 120 i3?

Trouble with electric cars is that range is so dependent on the journey that day. You can’t predict it from 1 test drive, or someone else’s data. To be ‘safe’ I’d be knocking 50% of any quoted range off.

As for charging. Get a dedicated charger installed with untethered cable. But at least a 10m charging cable.

Not a problem if you’re leasing but I wouldn’t want to own an EV where I was deep cycling the battery so often. Ideally, you’d want to be able to manage the between charge usable in the 20-80% range.

@matt_outandabout my work offers them through Zenith as a salary sacrifice scheme. About £290. I couldn’t find anything on PCH that low when I was looking a couple of weeks ago.

Missed your question Matt but mine is also through Zenith and work. Just ordered so with the April reduction it should come in at £280/285.

Phil..

Do you need it to go 70 miles or 140? Either should be fine but if it’s 140 I’d defo go for the aux heating as that will improve the range in winter. I went back and forth on this option but ultimately ordered it as the forums seem to suggest it’s worth while.

Not sure I agree with Doc on the 50% thing. I tried my hardest to affect the range when I had my weekend test, tried every mode, thrashed it for a charge in sport, drove like a saint for a charge in eco, turned everything on, turned everything off etc and yes it made a difference but no where near 50%. I reckon if you get the aux heating you will have no worries going 140 miles most of the year driving as you wish and for the other bit you might need to drive a little more economically.

As for the charger you defo want one fitting but I guess what sort depends on what you want. If the Scottish Power one competitive? If so it’s probably as easy as anything else. Think I will go for a socket rather than a cable but I have not really investigated yet.

Oh, and get the i3s!

you’d want to be able to manage the between charge usable in the 20-80% range.

I’m pretty certain that the batteries are managed so that they are protected. BMW give 8 year guarantee on batteries and if capacity drops below 70% they replace for free.

50% – I’m just saying it’s impossible to gauge as it’s so dependent on where you live etc. But there will be a recognised variance that you will be able to find from googling

Fair enough but I live in a very hilly area that kills ICE quoted MPG figures so still think electric cars hold up better than people think.

@chestrockwell what’s the lead time from Zenith? And did you just order it on the website? I nearly did it this morning at work but think I’ll wait until Monday so I can talk to them & check when it would be likely to be delivered. Any time before May is good, the Polo it would be replacing is 3 years old in May so seems like a good time to sell it.

To be ‘safe’ I’d be knocking 50% of any quoted range off.

50% seems a bit much. Yes I wouldn’t expect to get the BMW quoted 180miles but I’d expect well over 100. I think.

Do you need it to go 70 miles or 140?

70 return. My journey is either 35 miles each way motorway or 27 on A roads.

Oh, and get the i3s!

£10 ish more a month it’s very tempting 🙂

As for charging. Get a dedicated charger installed with untethered cable. But at least a 10m charging cable.

noted ta

So I had a drive of my mate’s 66 plate one today, I think it’s the 93Ah one? He reckons he gets pretty much 100 miles range in all but the coldest weather. Driving like a tit doesn’t seem to affect range too much and reckons it’s only really a headwind that kills it. Only took it for a 5 minute drive but it’s great fun, so easy to drive and felt planted enough for what looks like a top heavy cube.

I could have an S in white with Car Play for £316. I’d rather have a white S but wife wants a different colour, which is an extra tenner.

And one more question for anyone without carplay and an iPhone…. Can you control your Apple Music through iDrive? I currently can on my 2012 3 series so hope it would be the same?

Not sure on the lead time yet but if you want it by May get ordering asap as takes a good month or so for them to talk to your lot and get the relevant permissions. I ordered mine 3 weeks or so ago and am waiting for confirmation of delivery ETA. Our HR reckon it could easily be 3 months which suits me as I want it after the April BIK reduction. I’ll let you know when they tell me.

If your journey is 70 miles all up you could thrash it all day and still get home!

I considered the white as it’s a second car and I wanted to keep the cost down but decided against in the end and went mineral grey. As for Carplay I decided against and got the enhanced bluetooth instead as all I want either for is music and the enhanced bt seems to offer that along with wireless charging. Got a feeling the Carplay has a subscription cost after the first year? The car I tested had standard bluetooth. I could stream Spotify and change track but couldn’t get in to the menu so change playlist etc.

I have a 66 plate i3 94ah REX. We get about 100 miles at motorway speeds in the winter months without tapping into the REX. In the summer it’s closer to 120 and in mixed driving in t(e spring/summer its 140-160.

Done 😃
I3s ordered, in red with the leather “suite” interior. 3 or 4 months to wait unfortunately.

Anyone want to buy a nice little Polo GTI?

Ooooooo, bravo! Is the Suite interior the poshest one and if so didn’t push the list price past 40k so jumped up the cost? Seem to remember that happening when I originally ordered last summer but things might have changed. I’d have had the top spec if it wasn’t for the premium cost. I went for the base in the end because the middle two are too light coloured for a 3 and 6 year old!

Yes the suite is the posh leather one. It was about £10/month for each option I think. I only added car play, made it red and interior. Oh and front sensors were £2.50.

I could have saved a bit of money but I spend up to 2 hours a day in it so don’t mind paying a bit extra.

If I hadn’t gone for the leather I would have gone for the base grey too, I quite like it. In fact leather was another wife chosen option, I would have just had the base S probably.

I think if it goes over £40k then there’s a VED implication but as it’s all absorbed in the single payment I’m not sure?

Nice car Phil but don’t end up “gobsmacked” like poor Jacky!

https://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/traffic-and-travel/worthing-electric-car-driver-gobsmacked-by-tax-bill-on-40-000-vehicle-1-9139403

@chestrockwell

didn’t push the list price past 40k so jumped up the cost?

Actually I’ve just checked the confirmation, £39,800 so just under the £40k. Which is a lot of money when you see it written like that, glad I’m not buying it!

And chargers for home – should I just get Scottish power to fit one and switch to their EV tariff or use one of the companies that I can find online to come and do? Fixed or remove able cable?

Do some research I suppose. NB I don’t know Scottish situation. My current preference would be either Ohme smart charger (it’s reasonably cheap with OLEV grant) and Octopus Agile Tariff or cheapest possible smart charger with OLEV grant and maybe Octopus Go tariff. EDF now have an EV tariff proposition as well.
I currently have a dumb Rolec untethered (no cable, removable cable) 7kwh charger, ohme smart cable (bought from Octopus Energy @ £199), Octopus Agile electricity tariff.
As it currently stands type 2 tethered cable (fixed) will be good for the next years at least. Having said that, having a untethered (removable cable) charger has allowed me to upgrade my dumb charger to smart charger by just purchasing a smart Ohme cable rather than replacing the whole charger.
It’s still fast moving, so pick your route and if everyone else moves down a different route, don’t beat yourself up. I’ve made a few bum decisions already.