i3 REX - Question

[poordecisions]

Hi All,

I am hopefully (!) moving house in 8 weeks or so from a house with no drive or parking, to one with a drive.

I currently have a 530e on order, but each time I am updated the month moves back again. I am currently in the ridiculous position where my company is renting me a Kia Rio (£500 per month) whilst I wait.

I believe that I can get an i3 REX within 3-4 weeks. I have been warming to these recently, and considering the majority of my mileage for this car would be zooming up the A3 (from Hampton Court) and into SW London - this seems like not a st choice.

With that in mind though, if the house takes a little longer than expected, there might be a short period of time where I have no plug socket at either end of my journey. For 2-3 months, how well would an i3 REX suit using the REX engine only?

Will

[RossP]

Using an i3 on REx ONLY for 2-3 months wouldn't really be feasible. Will you have no access to charging at all? Not even a standard plug socket?

No public chargers en route our nearby?

Lots of i3 info on the UK i3 FB group here - http://bmwi3owners.uk

[sjg]

I think you'd be fine. There's plenty you can google about "reduced power mode" and how/when it happens. Effectively when the battery gets totally depleted you can only draw what the range extender can generate, so high speeds or steep hills can be a problem. However - for some reason in the US they don't get the "charge hold" mode that we do. Whenever the battery is under 75% you can force the range extender to start and burn petrol - then when you do need to supplement that from the battery it can. So the US folks that complain do so because to do a long roadtrip in the i3 Rex they have to deplete the battery then rely on staying within the Rex limits - we don't.

But for a SW London commute you'd probably never hit those limits, and there's plenty of options to charge the battery too. Fill it once, maybe use charge hold on the faster A3 sections, run on battery in the heavy traffic and that charge will last ages.

Have a look on https://www.plugshare.com/ - there's a few rapid chargers around Hampton Court and on the way inwards, if you can stop at one for 30 mins while you do some shopping or errands then you'd have a load of battery to use over the following days.

Edit: forgot to mention, if you include it in the filters, you can see residential locations that people are offering - you may have someone nearby that you can park and charge on their driveway for a small fee.

Edited by sjg on Tuesday 8th May 15:37

[modeller]

If you want something a little sportier , get the I3S REX instead. It looks the part and is a lot of fun to drive.

[poordecisions]

modeller said:

If you want something a little sportier , get the I3S REX instead. It looks the part and is a lot of fun to drive.

It does look good doesn't it?

Unfortunately I got a quote yesterday and current delivery times are September - October. It's also £80 per month less than the 530e that I have on order and whilst cool, I wouldn't think it is half the car.

So the wait continues. I have this morning received an email with a target delivery of mid-next month, but I'll believe it when I see it!

[poordecisions]

sjg said:

I think you'd be fine. There's plenty you can google about "reduced power mode" and how/when it happens. Effectively when the battery gets totally depleted you can only draw what the range extender can generate, so high speeds or steep hills can be a problem. However - for some reason in the US they don't get the "charge hold" mode that we do. Whenever the battery is under 75% you can force the range extender to start and burn petrol - then when you do need to supplement that from the battery it can. So the US folks that complain do so because to do a long roadtrip in the i3 Rex they have to deplete the battery then rely on staying within the Rex limits - we don't.

But for a SW London commute you'd probably never hit those limits, and there's plenty of options to charge the battery too. Fill it once, maybe use charge hold on the faster A3 sections, run on battery in the heavy traffic and that charge will last ages.

Have a look on https://www.plugshare.com/ - there's a few rapid chargers around Hampton Court and on the way inwards, if you can stop at one for 30 mins while you do some shopping or errands then you'd have a load of battery to use over the following days.

Edit: forgot to mention, if you include it in the filters, you can see residential locations that people are offering - you may have someone nearby that you can park and charge on their driveway for a small fee.

Edited by sjg on Tuesday 8th May 15:37

That's a really good website - I'll bare that in mind for the future. I will go full electric with the next "second" car.