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BMW i3

Discussion in 'Electric Vehicles' started by gregincal, Jul 23, 2013.

  1. woof

    woof Fluffy Member

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    • Like x 1
  2. Neel

    Neel New Member

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    Hi,
    Did you have any luck deciphering the CAN_matrix of BMW I3 ?
    It would be awesome if you can share your findings with us. I am presently in urgently in need of the CAN-matrix for this car for some research work.

    If anyone else can help, will really appreciate it.
    Thanks .

    Regards!
     
  3. Mookuh

    Mookuh Member

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    I did have some luck in deciphering the CAN Bus indeed. Given that your location is "Aachen, Germany", however, I presume that you're my successor at the ISEA institute and you thereby have all of my work, anyway :p
     
  4. RubberToe

    RubberToe Supporting the greater good

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  5. hockeythug

    hockeythug Active Member

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    Yep.

    BMW's i3 electric car is getting a bigger battery, 114-mile range
     
  6. zag2me

    zag2me Member

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  7. Saghost

    Saghost Well-Known Member

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    Hmm. Less electric range than a Bolt or 3, for more money. Still has a tiny gas tank so it can't be used like a Volt, and likely the same hobbled extended range mode.

    Doesn't seem like a game changer to me, or like any threat to Tesla at all. They are making the minimum viable changes to keep up with the industry, which I applaud, but that's all it is.

    Going to be very hard to sell this car against the 3, unless it improves before that comes out.
     
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  8. McRat

    McRat Well-Known Member

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    I'd reserve judgement until the new i3 is released. I'm suspicious of sudden range increase of over 2x. EPA has the BMW listed in the 80 mile area.

    The norm today in the EV market is issuing press releases to increase range. It's a lot cheaper than actually using engineers and bigger batteries.
     
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  9. jbcarioca

    jbcarioca Well-Known Member

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    It is educational to read the i3 foraa regarding pitiful tire longevity/road hazards and REX reliability issues. Overall the i3 seems to have been conceived well but executed with too little attention to practically. In the end BEV's are still cars and should be able to perform adequately as cars.

    I cancelled my own i3 order when I found six owners in a row who had had serious reliability problems with REX, long waits for parts and poor dealer service. I wanted one as a second car but I will just wait for the Model 3, I guess, and ICE along until then for the second car.
     
  10. AnOutsider

    AnOutsider S532 # XS27

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    Tesla loyalty aside... BMW: You go gurl. That's a significant increase, and it just may show that they're getting more serious about BEVs. It's very possible they're planning a new car, but to get this huge range increase out the door ASAP, is a smart move IMO.
     
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  11. gregincal

    gregincal Active Member

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    They've increased the battery by 50%. Anything else is hype in my opinion. The i3 will have only a slightly larger battery than the new Leaf (it went from 22 to 33 kWh, the Leaf went from 24 to 30kWh). That's nothing like the Bolt with a 60kWh battery. They are not claiming 195 EPA miles. They are claiming 195 miles in "everyday driving", whatever that means. This places the i3 and Leaf in sort of modern EV "version 1.5" territory, as opposed to "version 2" territory of the Bolt and Model 3.
     
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  12. Jeff N

    Jeff N Active Member

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    #1172 Jeff N, May 3, 2016
    Last edited: May 3, 2016
    BMW USA has announced that the new battery is not available as an upgrade in the US for existing 60Ah i3 cars.

    That 184-195 miles is NEDC. The US EPA estimate of the same car with the new 94Ah battery is a mere 114 miles. The i3 rex is about 102 miles EV range.

    The author sloppily compares this to the Bolt EV at "200" miles. If you applied the i3's NEDC to EPA adjustment to the Bolt EV it would imply a Bolt NEDC estimate of 326+ miles. Unstated NEDC vs EPA range estimate usage by or comparisons by automobile writers is one of my pet peeves.
     
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  13. Jeff N

    Jeff N Active Member

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    It's a European NEDC estimate of 300 km or 312 km apparently depending upon the wheel diameter option.

    See the details here:

    BMW i3 : Range & charging
     
  14. SageBrush

    SageBrush REJECT Fascism

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    The 2016 or earlier i3 had a 22 kWh nominal capacity battery good for 81 miles by EPA testing. This 2017 model has a 33 kWh nominal capacity battery good for 114 miles by EPA. It works out to a 40% bump in range, I presume less than the 50% battery size difference due to weight gain.

    The reported ~ 200 mile range is probably with the ICE "range extender."
     
  15. Jeff N

    Jeff N Active Member

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    The TopSpeed article sez:

    That happens to be the km to miles conversion of BMW's announced 300-312 km NEDC range estimate so I think it's pretty clear the ~200 miles being referred to is without the ICE-extender. It is the NEDC equivalent to the EPA 114 mile range estimate.
     
  16. SageBrush

    SageBrush REJECT Fascism

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    I haven't seen the 300 - 312 km report, but if the 33 kWh battery capacity is correct and we presume at most 30 kWh usable, that works out to 30,000 Wh/ 200 miles = 150 Wh/mile.

    I know NEDC is easier than the EPA test, but is it that much easier ?
     
  17. Jeff N

    Jeff N Active Member

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    The usable capacity is reported to be 27.2 kWh. So, that would be 139.5 Wh/mile.

    The 300-312 km is right on BMW's website:

    BMW i3 : Range & charging

    Pretty much.

    NEDC is basically measuring ideally efficient city speed driving. The i3 is especially efficient at city driving and not so relatively great at highway driving so that exaggerates the difference between the NEDC estimate and the EPA combined city&highway estimate even more than usual.
     
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  18. SageBrush

    SageBrush REJECT Fascism

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    #1178 SageBrush, May 3, 2016
    Last edited: May 3, 2016
    Jeff, right you are.
    Below is a snippet from a BMW brochure for the 22 kWh model

    Screenshot 2016-05-03 at 6.47.29 PM.png

    Interesting how they report NEDC and then report something they deem "everyday use."

    As an aside, I was mulling over the differing EV tracks that Tesla and BMW took on EVs:
    Tesla bet on Cd and dropping Li-X battery prices;
    BMW bet on low weight manufacturing.

    I presume it in part reflects the higher urbanization of Europe and perhaps each company playing to it's own strengths rather than necessarily wrong choices. One thing I am sure of though: the i3 is not going to average 140 Wh/mile in somewhat typical (65 - 75 mph) US highway driving. 250 Wh/mile sounds more ballpark to me.
     
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  19. woof

    woof Fluffy Member

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    The ActiveE (precursor to the i3, with the exact same drivetrain and battery type) had a 32kWh battery. Many of we ActiveE drivers were quite annoyed BMW went backwards when the i3 came out. So now they've upped it a whole kWh. Color me unimpressed.
     
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  20. zag2me

    zag2me Member

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    Very interesting, thanks for the clarification.

    Over here in the UK, the vast amount of driving is done on small roads in cities. I've seen a fair amount of BWM i3's already on the roads so this will be a nice improvement for new buyers anyway.

    The governments should really have a single worldwide test so people(and journalists) don't get confused on range.
     
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