BMW i3 at a Supercharger

[jcaspar]

Looks like they will have to say anything to sell those things. An expensive Leaf that isn't quite as good looking, with some carbon fiber. PT Barnum said it best...

 

[Popsmuf]

HI John,

I feel for him... I bought an i3 and within the first week, I was pretty disappointed at what the car had to offer.... I sold the car and bought a Tesla. Its truly a night and day difference

 

[reechardli]

Here's an interesting video on YouTube comparing and testing EVs driving through some water. Really just seems like a bunch of owners out there having fun, but the BMW i3 looked seriously awful in these test runs. After watching this, I could never recommend that car to anyone. Might be a fun EV to drive, but I imagine it to be horribly unsafe in rain.

http://youtu.be/1pTZQF1DHyk

 

[No Tailpipe]

My new favorite quote from non-Tesla owners. "I should have bought a F-ing Tesla".

This example just goes to show you, buying an all electric car/SUV requires dealers to be committed to provide appropriate training and education. Traditional ICE dealers selling all electric vehicles just doesn't make sense as they won't invest in the time and energy to do it right when the percentage of non-ICE vehicles is so small.

 

[highfalutintodd]

I've always been surprised at the number of times I've heard someone on a forum (non-Tesla EV owner) say they don't have a home charger and it happened to me the other day. Was picking up some dinner and a woman asked me if that was my Tesla outside. I said yes and we talked about it for a while. She had a Leaf and said that she didn't have a charger at home - that she just relied on the level 2 chargers around and the "Superchargers" (by which I assume she meant CHAdeMO). She was extremely complementary of the Tesla and it was just interesting to hear how very different her charging experience is from mine. SO glad I don't have to rely on public charging stations to get my juice!

 

[wycolo]

For bouncing around the Beach Towns the OPerp is probably much better off with the BMWi3 considering space is at a premium and distances are short. For longer trips wifey can ferry him in her suv. By now he's likely figured out how to charge the thing.
--

 

[shrink]

I'm really surprised at how many people are laughing at this driver's misfortune. Poor guy just spent a good chunk of money and was clearly poorly educated. This does not help the EV movement.

I really feel for the guy. Hope he can learn to appreciate his car for what it is. If it doesn't fit his needs, hope he finds himself in a Tesla rather than an ICE vehicle. I'm sure he appreciated the help and education from the OP much more than getting laughed here.

I think we Tesla owners are classier than mocking non-Tesla EV's.

 

[TexasEV]

I've always been surprised at the number of times I've heard someone on a forum (non-Tesla EV owner) say they don't have a home charger and it happened to me the other day. Was picking up some dinner and a woman asked me if that was my Tesla outside. I said yes and we talked about it for a while. She had a Leaf and said that she didn't have a charger at home - that she just relied on the level 2 chargers around and the "Superchargers" (by which I assume she meant CHAdeMO). She was extremely complementary of the Tesla and it was just interesting to hear how very different her charging experience is from mine. SO glad I don't have to rely on public charging stations to get my juice!

Has Tesla trademarked the term "supercharger"? Chademo and whatever the SAE fast DC charging standard is called shouldn't be referred to as superchargers. I can picture the car salesmen calling them that. It will cause confusion among the masses who buy EVs without knowing too much about them, such as the people described in the above posts.

 

[highfalutintodd]

I'm really surprised at how many people are laughing at this driver's misfortune. Poor guy just spent a good chunk of money and was clearly poorly educated. This does not help the EV movement.

I really feel for the guy. Hope he can learn to appreciate his car for what it is. If it doesn't fit his needs, hope he finds himself in a Tesla rather than an ICE vehicle. I'm sure he appreciated the help and education from the OP much more than getting laughed here.

I think we Tesla owners are classier than mocking non-Tesla EV's.

+1 Agreed

- - - Updated - - -

Has Tesla trademarked the term "supercharger"? Chademo and whatever the SAE fast DC charging standard is called shouldn't be referred to as superchargers. I can picture the car salesmen calling them that. It will cause confusion among the masses who buy EVs without knowing too much about them, such as the people described in the above posts.

Yeah, I tried to gently correct her terminology but she'd obviously never heard the term CHAdeMO before (and I can't blame her - as I've said in other posts that's the dumbest, least memorable tech name I've ever heard) and to her it really was a "supercharger" because it could charge her Leaf in 10 minutes. And she'd also obviously never heard of Tesla's supercharger network either. All of this will be corrected with time and exposure, of course. I still meet PLENTY of people in this area who don't even know what a tesla is, much less do they understand the intricacies of EV charging. The Leaf owner I met was amazed at 1) the range of my Model S, 2) the fact that it could use level 2 charging with an adapter, and 3) most of all that the charge port was so cunningly hidden (she kept coming back to this point which surprised me - guess she liked it being hidden after living with that giant trap door on the front of her Leaf).

 

[IceAge]

My local service center said they recently took in an i3 on a trade in...

 

[Zroiron]

About a week ago I was at the Supercharger at San Juan Capistrano, CA charging up and a BMW i3 pulled in next to me in a Supercharger slot. I thought to myself, "This will be interesting". The car looked new and was driven by a man about 40 years old and had his son, about 5 years old, in the back. He pulled out the Supercharger cable and looked at the plug with a confused look on his face. He then looked at the plug on his car and went back to look at the Supercharger plug. I felt I needed to stage an intervention.

So I introduced myself to the man and explained that this was only for Tesla's and that his i3 would not be able to charge here. He was a pretty ticked off. He told me that the dealership told him that there were 6 "hi-power" chargers in the area that he could charge his car. He then proceeded to mess with his phone to show them on a map to me. After a few minutes of fiddling with apps he found the Charge point app and showed me the "combo" chargers that BMW told him were the "hi powered" chargers. I told him that some had combos and others didn't. I then explained the costs, opening a Charge point account and my experiences and times needed to charge. He had not set up a charging system at his house.

He was getting more and more ticked off with every minute that passed. His wife then rolled up in their SUV, who I guess was following him in his journey to get his car charged. He had about 20 miles of EV range and with a "full" tank of gas he would get about 40 more miles in normal driving. I was feeling range anxiety for him, and I didn't own the car.

He then told me that he owned the car for about a week and replaced his x5 with the i3. There was an absence of excitement in his voice that you'd expect from someone telling you that. We chatted a few more minutes and he was off to find the next Charge point. The funniest part of this story was his last sentence he said to me!

"I should have bought a F-ing Tesla" And he drove off.

(no exaggeration!)

John

Just think, I've seen a half dozen commercials today on the Big 10 Network featuring the BMW i3 and BMW's assertion that the i3 is the "official luxury automobile of the Big 10 Conference"...Big 10' you've made a horrible mistake!!

 

[Electricfan]

I'm really surprised at how many people are laughing at this driver's misfortune.

I think we Tesla owners are classier than mocking non-Tesla EV's.

+++1

 

[ecarfan]

I'm really surprised at how many people are laughing at this driver's misfortune. Poor guy just spent a good chunk of money and was clearly poorly educated. This does not help the EV movement.

He was "poorly educated" by the BMW dealer. Sounds like they lied to him. I doubt he will ever buy another BMW EV.

 

[TexasEV]

Just think, I've seen a half dozen commercials today on the Big 10 Network featuring the BMW i3 and BMW's assertion that the i3 is the "official luxury automobile of the Big 10 Conference"...Big 10' you've made a horrible mistake!!

Luxury automobile? The interior looks and feels plastic. I don't get how Germans complain about the Model S interior not being luxurious enough and BMW builds the i3 interior out of recycled bottles or something like that.

 

[Ven Rala]

I went to dinner next to a Mercedes dealer who had a chargepoint station. Though I would plug in while at dinner, of course the spaces were taken up by two ICEs, both Mercedes, am I to guess they were the dealers' cars. How do they ever expect to sell EVs if they ICE their own chargers. That is why I plan on only buying Teslas.

 

[Rebel44]

I'm really surprised at how many people are laughing at this driver's misfortune. Poor guy just spent a good chunk of money and was clearly poorly educated. This does not help the EV movement.

I really feel for the guy. Hope he can learn to appreciate his car for what it is. If it doesn't fit his needs, hope he finds himself in a Tesla rather than an ICE vehicle. I'm sure he appreciated the help and education from the OP much more than getting laughed here.

I think we Tesla owners are classier than mocking non-Tesla EV's.

While I am not laughing at this driver, I would expect person paying significant ammount of money for single item to research it properly (and not depend on dealers, who are very often dishonest liars).

So, unless cost of i3 is pocket change for him, it shows poor judgement on his part, not to properly research cars he is considering to buy (which doesnt take very long if you can use Google).

 

[paulkva]

I went to dinner next to a Mercedes dealer who had a chargepoint station. Though I would plug in while at dinner, of course the spaces were taken up by two ICEs, both Mercedes, am I to guess they were the dealers' cars. How do they ever expect to sell EVs if they ICE their own chargers. That is why I plan on only buying Teslas.

Something similar happened to me at a BMW dealer in the Philly suburbs. It happened to be next to a hotel that I booked for a night, so I emailed to see if I could charge there overnight. No reply. I got there and the charger was accessible but the space was ICEd by their service loaner. Fortunately the cable was long enough to reach my car, although I had to park halfway into a handicapped space to do so. (I definitely wouldn't have if the dealership was going to be open at all while I was there. But if they were open I could've talked to someone about it.)

 

[Just a Reader]

While I am not laughing at this driver, I would expect person paying significant ammount of money for single item to research it properly (and not depend on dealers, who are very often dishonest liars).

So, unless cost of i3 is pocket change for him, it shows poor judgement on his part, not to properly research cars he is considering to buy (which doesnt take very long if you can use Google).

Exactly. Nice display of double standards in this forum. Whenever some journalist or whoever got stranded with a Tesla this forum was livid about how this person dared to drive a Tesla without prior extensive study of charging options, impact of weather on range etc. etc.
Yet when someone who drives a BMW is clueless, then it's all the fault of the dealer.

It's also quite ridiculous how this forum compares the Tesla to an i3 as if a price surcharge of some 60% were irrelevant.

 

[MassModel3]

I'm really surprised at how many people are laughing at this driver's misfortune. Poor guy just spent a good chunk of money and was clearly poorly educated.

You know what, dude, you're absolutely right. As I said, I couldn't help but laugh at the situation and the "I should have bought a F-ing Tesla." It truly is a priceless sentiment, and that should be the tagline in ads run in newspapers and magazines across the country. But I do feel so very bad for the guy having purchased a beautiful car in good faith and with the best of intentions, and having ultimately felt like he was screwed because the dealer didn't fully explain everything to him.

And when I finally have my Tesla, I'll try not to wear the smug "I have a Tesla and you don't!" look on my face everywhere I go. But some things can't be helped...

 

[TonyWilliams]

Has Tesla trademarked the term "supercharger"? Chademo and whatever the SAE fast DC charging standard is called shouldn't be referred to as superchargers. I can picture the car salesmen calling them that. It will cause confusion among the masses who buy EVs without knowing too much about them, such as the people described in the above posts.

BMW released a press release calling their $6500-ish Bosch built 25kW (480v3phase) "Frankenplug" as a Supercharger.

No joke... from BMW.

- - - Updated - - -

Something similar happened to me at a BMW dealer in the Philly suburbs. It happened to be next to a hotel that I booked for a night, so I emailed to see if I could charge there overnight. No reply. I got there and the charger was accessible but the space was ICEd by their service loaner. Fortunately the cable was long enough to reach my car, although I had to park halfway into a handicapped space to do so. (I definitely wouldn't have if the dealership was going to be open at all while I was there. But if they were open I could've talked to someone about it.)

I wonder how much a ticket for handicap parking is? Wouldn't it be great to have a J1772 extension cord in those situations?