Official BMW i3 thread

[TonyWilliams]

 

[surfingslovak]

http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss92/TonyWilliams/BMW/null_zpscd07a0b9-1.jpg

Oh, I love this one.

Tarnung - ENTFÄLLT.

I didn't realize that camo was a factory option! I want it on my next EV. It would look so much more interesting than your average commuter car ;-)

 

[TonyWilliams]

 

[TonyWilliams]

 

[Berlino]

Are results available for range tests on the i3?

 

[Boomer23]

Are results available for range tests on the i3?

Not yet, not even European range numbers. The car goes on sale in Europe next month, though, so expect Euro numbers for the BEV version soon. I've read that indications are that delivery of the range extended version will be delayed several months, so they may still be tweaking that system.

 

[Valdemar]

Is anyone expecting a miracle given a 22kWh battery to start with? I certainly don't.

 

[Boomer23]

Is anyone expecting a miracle given a 22kWh battery to start with? I certainly don't.

No miracles, but light weight and better aero than LEAF might give good efficiency. I'll guess 90 miles EPA.

 

[evnow]

Is anyone expecting a miracle given a 22kWh battery to start with? I certainly don't.

No miracles, but light weight and better aero than LEAF might give good efficiency. I'll guess 90 miles EPA.

Better aero ? How ?

 

[Boomer23]

Is anyone expecting a miracle given a 22kWh battery to start with? I certainly don't.

No miracles, but light weight and better aero than LEAF might give good efficiency. I'll guess 90 miles EPA.

Better aero ? How ?

The tall narrow tires contribute to better aero, and I think that the body will be more aerodynamic than the LEAF is, which isn't hard to do since the LEAF is no paragon of aero.

 

[TomMoloughney]

Are results available for range tests on the i3?

Nothing official but some of the journalists that attended the test drive is Amsterdam last week said the EPA rating is done and will be announced soon.

 

[Berlino]

According to an article by the Quebec Association for EVs, BMW announced seven inaugural Canadian i-dealers, but a Tesla owner pointed out that their geographic distribution makes little sense.

British Columbia -3
Ontario - 3
Quebec - 1

Quebec has about double the population and three times as many EVs on the road than BC. Even being smaller in population doesn't stop QC from having more EVs than Ontario. It was stated that BMW chose this distribution based on where they sell the most ICE vehicles, but it is also possible that the other eight BMW dealers in Quebec didn't want the i3 or i8.

Another reason it's strange that there are relatively many BC i3+i8 dealers is that BMW's plug-ins suffer in competition to LEAFs and Teslas there because they don't support CHAdeMO.

In Quebec, there are currently no Level three chargers and the ones that are coming are dual-standard, but in BC they have several CHAdeMO chargers in operation

 

[ELROY]

Saw an i3 on the way to Costco yesterday.
I will say that on the road, the narrow tall stature of the i3 does kind of stand out as being awkward...especially in the rear:

It just seems so slab sided, tall and narrow. The tall narrow tires don't help. It just doesn't have the sturdy stance:
Even when on the fwy and looking in my rear view mirror, the thing looks tall and skinny on motorcycle size tires.

Perhaps this view is the best, as you don't see the skinny tires from the front when looking from above:
I could see the bright LED headlights lighting up the concrete on the FWY though from under the car between us, so pretty bright I believe.

 

[mkjayakumar]

Is this a two door car..? or are my eyes playing trick on those pictures ?

 

[dgpcolorado]

Is this a two door car..? or are my eyes playing trick on those pictures ?

I believe that it has "suicide" doors. See the bottom picture in this post by Boomer23:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=721&start=707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For a definition of the term:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=721&start=715" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[kmp647]

BMW really made a huge error in using this door design instead of conventional doors. In addition they did a poor job of designing the seatbelts, the drivers and passengers shoulder belt retractors are mounted on the REAR doors. anyone who owned a Honda element built in 2007 or earlier knows how much this sucks.
Everytime you go to let a rear seat passenger out you must remeber to remove your seatbelt before you open the front door( the rear door cant be opened til the front one is opened a bit)

if you forget to remove your belt yu get a huge yank on the neck as the rear seat passenger attemps to open the door.

it sucks and BMW should have studied other cars like the 2008 and up HONDA Element which solved the issue with a new seat and seatbelt design with the shoulder belt integrated into the driver and paseenger seat itself.

 

[TomT]

I don't think anyone will ever call the i3 pretty, let alone attractive...

 

[Deleted member 9549]

The tall narrow tires contribute to better aero, and I think that the body will be more aerodynamic than the LEAF is, which isn't hard to do since the LEAF is no paragon of aero.

The LEAF has a reported drag coefficient of 0.28
The BMW i3 as a reported drag coefficient of 0.29

The LEAF is quite aerodynamic. Thats a very good value. Between the two, depends on the surface area which I was not able to find, but I assume the i3 is narrower and smaller so it probably has a smaller frontal area and thereby somewhat less air resistance.

 

[ELROY]

Just the next night, I see another one going to the same destination as me again! This time I talked to the engineer for about 1/2 and hour. He showed me inside the car, etc. At first I thought it was the same one I saw at Costco, but he told me it wasn't. This one also did not have the range extender. He said he really enjoyed driving the car. He also said the battery system was very stable thermally, and that the pack temps would cool off very quickly with the active battery thermal management system. I showed him my LEAF battery app with the temp readouts, etc. He was pretty impressed, LOL.
Although in California right now, the engineer said he had met Tom M from the forum while back east. I think his name started with an "A". (Arndt? or something like that).

You can see the i3 parked next to me. One thing I realized was how tall the i3 actually sits next to my 335d. Looking straight out my window, I took a picture comparing the window sill height comparison.

 

[MrIanB]

Call me crazy but I like the look of that BMW.

Ian B