electric orange

[nostatic]

Well, far be it from us to not do the experiment. Last week we picked up the wife's new BMW i3. Yesterday we had a 240V outlet installed in the garage and now she has fast overnight charging available.

So far so good. It was a bit of a pita before getting the fast charger as her work commute takes about the whole battery and on 120V it is about 18 hours to fully recharge. Now it is about 3-4 hours. The range extender is seamless. There is an app that allows you to check charging status, location, gives you trip statistics, and enables remote locking, horn blast, and you can turn on the climate control before you get to the car (or set it to automatically happen). The adaptive cruise control is, in her words, "made for the 405." Stop and go traffic is way less annoying.

I've only driven it once - and like on the test drive, it remains a hoot. We're keeping my X1 for the time being as doing long road trips on the i3 would be a challenge. Public infrastructure isn't there and with the increase in electric cars in CA, open chargers are getting harder to find depending on the location. But if you've got a level 2 charger at home and/or work, for commuting it is a pretty cool solution.

And somehow we ended up as an all BMW household...first pic is someone else's car - a professor from main campus who was out at our work for a meeting. Others are my wife's car with my car as reference, as well as the GS.

[vash]

love it.

somewhere, some BMW company bean counter is touching himself...

[red-beard]

Kill it! With FIRE!

How far is the wife's commute? I think an electric is great for commuting.

[nostatic]

66 miles round trip. Some steep hills that eat the battery going, but fill it back up coming back. A typical commute day can be done on a full charge. If she runs errands at lunch and has to run the AC she'll just be at the end of the electric range getting home, but then the Rex seamlessly kicks in. She does that 2-3 days a week, then the other days she's at her studio which is about 10 miles each way.

[asphaltgambler]

....................there's an app for that..............................Luv it!

[biosurfer1]

Make sure you check with local electric utility companies who might have chargers that dont show up on public lists. The one I work for here in Sacramento has 2 fast chargers and 10 regular ones that don't show up for some reason on Tesla's map. All are free, btw.

[nostatic]

The app is slick. As is the user experience inside the car. Very different from a typical car - especially one that will pin you back into the seat off the line. No engine rumble/vibration, but it will squeal the narrow tires when you blast around a corner. Plus the one-footed driving (heavy energy recovery off-throttle) gets to be second nature. Interesting drive...

[Tobra]

There is an electric Fiat 500 I see most days when walking the dog. It is a better shade of orange than yours. If I had something like that, I would probably not buy more than 20 gallons of gas a year from driving IC cars on the weekends.

[Seahawk]

After having driven one, I wouldn't hesitate if I lived in a city.

Well done.

[Gogar]

Nice!

I enjoy the technology but I'm still a little mystified by the . . . unique . . . . look of it.

[ledhedsymbols]

Electric Orange... Must be a step up from the clockwork variety, now you both need some "Droogs."

[LeeH]

I was behind an i3 a couple of days ago. All I could remember was thinking... OMG, those are some narrow tires! Just looked them up - 155/70 19?

[nostatic]

She's rolling on the 20s - wife didn't like the 19"s (which are the stock wheel)

Yes, narrow rubber. Evidently a rolling resistance thing...

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by vash

love it.

Somewhere, some bmw company bean counter is touching himself...:d

rofl!

[jyl]

An i3 would be perfect for our usage too. Keep the reports coming. How about some interior shots?

[kaisen]

She didn't opt for the Range Extender version?

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by kaisen

She didn't opt for the Range Extender version?

That's what we've got. Her commute is cutting it too close for the straight electric version. The Rex is about 250 lbs heavier so it has a bit lower electric range - which is offset by about 60-70 miles of "gas" range. It has a 650cc scooter motor that recharges the battery rather than driving the wheels directly.

I drove it home from the Y tonight. I need to not do that - I like driving it too much. Very different experience than the X1. It is oddly involving yet peaceful. Kinda hard to describe. I think we still need a longer range vehicle but you can work around it depending on the details.

I'll try to take some interior pics. Here is the EVSE doing its job.

[john70t]

First, congrats to the new ride.
....
(And now, I'll ante up and serve as the debby-downer/party-pooper to our most-esteemed-and-glorious-mod's new uplifting thread.)

Originally Posted by nostatic

Yesterday we had a 240V outlet installed in the garage and now she has fast overnight charging available.

Batteries don't usually like to be fast charged.
Especially at different heat scenarios.
Chemicals are specific to their nature.

Originally Posted by nostatic

...her work commute takes about the whole battery

Danger. Danger Will Robinson.
Please research charging station networks.
Transportation should be reliable.

Originally Posted by nostatic

There is an app...

No.
There is hardware.
'Errant codex' should never affect a fully purchased product contractually-stated to deliver "X".
Everything else .is negligence/sabotage

[kaisen]

Are you taking part in So Cal Edison's Off Peak EV program?

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by kaisen

Are you taking part in So Cal Edison's Off Peak EV program?

Going to see how the bill changes with the charging then we may switch to the off-peak program. Not going to install a second meter though - that is evidently the cheapest way to go but since we rent and likely will move in a year or so it isn't worth the effort.