BMW i3 94ah ordered

[sicourt]

Am soon to come off one of the legendary Golf R lease deals and going a bit left field I have ordered a BMW i3 94ah Rex to replace it! A bit different, but am looking forward to a couple of years of the electric expenrience. Mine will be Fluid Black, suite interior and 429 turbine alloys. Anyone else been tempted and ordered one with the new improved battery capacity?

[chandrew]

I think you'll love it. They seem to be getting quite quickly to the level where the limiting factor is not the range but the density of DC chargers. I believe the UK is better than here in Switzerland. Given all the german manufacturers (I include Opel etc) making a big push for CCS I think we'll see that being 'fixed' soon. I believe Japan now has more fast chargers than petrol stations.

I have a i3 BEV and love it. I do decent mileage (6000km in 3.5 months) but would have appreciated the extra range (or range extender) on 3 days. I still keep a petrol car for the long trips (e.g. we did 1500km last weekend).

The only thing I don't love about the i3 is iDrive & specifically the UI.

[oop north]

I am six months into a three year contract hire (6500 miles so far, of which only 200 are Rex) and would very much have liked to have the higher capacity battery - the model I have is borderline in the winter months for the 78 miles or so round trip I do into Manchester 2-3 times a week

[anonymous-user]

nice machine

how much is it costing out of interest?

my previous review, following a 24 hour test drive, was that it was better than the Zoe, but not sufficiently better to justify the price premium for my use of it

[sicourt]

JPJPJP said:

nice machine

how much is it costing out of interest?

my previous review, following a 24 hour test drive, was that it was better than the Zoe, but not sufficiently better to justify the price premium for my use of it

£225p/m on a 9+23 lease for the Rex with 'suite' interior (full leather.) About the same I am currently paying for my Golf R, but I guess I will be saving on fuel with the i3 too.

[chappj]

That seems like a pretty good deal. Who was that with?

[Rich135]

I am thinking about one too, as I have a daily commute of 150 miles, but I can top up the charge when I am at work, so should be able to do it all with Rex(??) with the new battery. Test driving one soon to find out.

I guess my lease cost would be a bit higher, as I do 30,000 miles a year, but I would also be grateful to hear who your lease is through?

Thanks

Rich

[sicourt]

Rich135 said:

I am thinking about one too, as I have a daily commute of 150 miles, but I can top up the charge when I am at work, so should be able to do it all with Rex(??) with the new battery. Test driving one soon to find out.

I guess my lease cost would be a bit higher, as I do 30,000 miles a year, but I would also be grateful to hear who your lease is through?

Thanks

Rich

Whitewater Contract Hire & Leasing (am guessing that a weblink would be deleted, but Google it, they are based in Kent - other leasing companies are available!) My local BMW dealer wanted more per month and more up front, but you never know, perhaps they would be willing to deal depending on where you live.

[MaximumJed]

I'm trying one out at the weekend with the intention of it becoming my replacement commuter car. 82 miles per day generally with occasionally more due to traffic so I'm glad someone with the smaller battery has managed similar distances in the winter as that.

[Pickled Piper]

What is the latest thinking on home charge points for an i3?

I've researched several threads and I am none the wiser. I just know I would prefer something tethered. I'm not sure what is best value at the moment.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

pp

[Rich135]

sicourt said:

Whitewater Contract Hire & Leasing (am guessing that a weblink would be deleted, but Google it, they are based in Kent - other leasing companies are available!) My local BMW dealer wanted more per month and more up front, but you never know, perhaps they would be willing to deal depending on where you live.

Thanks very much.
Rich

[sicourt]

Pickled Piper said:

What is the latest thinking on home charge points for an i3?

I've researched several threads and I am none the wiser. I just know I would prefer something tethered. I'm not sure what is best value at the moment.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

pp

I am looking into this too. I have decided on tethered after researching the pro's and cons of this vs a socket set up. The BMW official unit is MASSIVE, and seems to have gone up in price since the 94ah model was introduced. My current shortlist is led by www.rolecserv.com/ev-charging/product/EV-Charging-... Seems a good price with some good reviews.

[modeller]

Pickled Piper said:

What is the latest thinking on home charge points for an i3?

I have a tethered Rolec unit, bought via the OLEV scheme. No issues so far. Plug in every day for an overnight charge using Economy7.
BMW offered their unit for free in Q1, not sure the current status of that.

Make sure you join the BMWi3UK forum - massive amount of info there.

[Pickled Piper]

Cheers everyone. The Rolec tethered unit looks good. I note there is a brick coloured unit on their website. This would be nice and discrete.

The BMW unit is now £600 to £700 according to the BMW dealer. The dealer suggested looking at the British Gas offering as it is a lot cheaper. However, the BG units looks like a real carbuncle. There is a vid on youtube. It's not pretty!

[gansstraat]

I've just had the (32 amp, tethered) Rolec unit installed at the house.

The installation price was £1,045 and originally the OLEV grant was going to cover £700 but - rather quicker than I'd expected - the grant dropped to £500. As my new car is a petrol hybrid and I get a petrol card via work, this meant it was getting pricey for something that was a 'nice to have' for someone trying to be a bit greener.

I had put the whole thing on a back burner back in March but then out of the blue last month, the installation company emailed me to say that the Scottish Government had set up a new fund that will give a grant of up to £500 on top of the OLEV grant.

3 weeks later, it's all installed and has cost me a grand total of £45. Bit of a no brainer really if you live in Scotland and have an EV.