I so appreciate your videos.😊👍 ...It really adds an extra dimension to owning these unique cars. It seems like i3 intro ran headlong into the fracking revolution, which ushered in cheaper oil. I'm expecting history will look back on these cars kindly. Future classic. ...
I traded in a petrol mini to buy a secondhand 94amp/h i3 with REX. I love it and can get 140 miles without the Rex. The REx gives about 80 miles extra when needed. BUT what I like is that the road holding is far superior to the mini.
That's great mileage for a 94Ah! For me it's a game to stretch out the range (but I think the ICE cars behind me are not happy campers!). I've also been experimenting with 'solar only' charging the past month with some limited success. Interesting info regarding better handing than an ICE Mini... Thanks for sharing/watching!
Very interesting. This is the typical story of a company where the top management gives the freedom to their best ingeniers to develop the best technology and then because of poor stability of management was not able to follow the initial good decision ... XEROX was probably also a sad example :-)
Should bmw open the source code after they stop support the i3 beyond 2026. 3rd party company should easily make a good battery from that point of time to fit in the vehicle. Or even upgrade the motor.
Good idea. There's people in the EU, Hong Kong (and one group in the US working on it) doing battery upgrades now, So there is some hope of being able to keep these cars running longer. I would be worried that some parts of the source code may be used by newer 'i' vehicles and therefore still be kept proprietary. Thanks for the comments!
There are several factors they stopped. First almost all main designers of this car have left. Low volume, safety rating not that great. They don’t want to spend time and resources on this project anymore
Great data, thanks for sharing! Maybe with more battery range the vehicle still un production. It's a great car, handling, materials, design, etc. Not sure if BYD or even TESLA can have the same futurist vision of the EV in terms of quality and reliability.
Great points! You can see some of the unique design elements showing up in modern EV's (the VW ID3 being one of them), but nothing that seems to pull so many innovative ideas together for the first time (and have relatively few issues). Thanks for the comment.
I looked up the average miles per kwh in the US for EV's and it is around 2.9. I typically average around 5 to 6. I just finished a 'back of the napkin' calculation for my local county, and based on the number of registered vehicles and avg miles driven per year, if all vehicles were converted to EV's at this poor rate (2.9) & avg miles driven remains unchanged, the power consumption will nearly double (5.47TWh/yr added to the household consumption of 6.11 TWh/yr - nearly double! ) Even worse, if gas water heaters and stoves are converted to electricity, that's another 6.91 TWh/yr electrical consumption added to the grid (could be ~1/3 of that with heat pump water heaters & space heaters). That will likely require a significant infrastructure improvement to generate/store/deliver 2-3 times the current electricity average homes use now. In fairness, the Tesla model 3 efficiency is is noted to be quite good, including a few Hyundai models, but if Trucks & SUV's with sub 2mi/kwh continue to be built instead of even higher efficiency vehicles, I think we will have a electricity problem (or shortage driving up costs) in the future! Curious if anyone else is concerned... Thanks for the comment!
here in Sweden you only get 7 kW out of your 22 kW home charger wallplug at home. The infratructure clearly can't cope with more than that. @@bmwi3diy782
The i3 & i8 were ahead of their time & way overpriced. BMW misread the market & EV economics. In 2023-25, we have the option to take advantage of steals on these gr8 used Evs. Buyer beware though ;-)
Great point... Based on what we now know regarding EV design, reliability & batteries, which used EV is (will be) the best value / coolest tech car to buy in 2023-25? I'll have to think about that...
I so appreciate your videos.😊👍
...It really adds an extra dimension to owning these unique cars.
It seems like i3 intro ran headlong into the fracking revolution, which ushered in cheaper oil.
I'm expecting history will look back on these cars kindly. Future classic.
...
You have a good point, that I didn't even touch on... Thanks for the insight, and kind words.
I traded in a petrol mini to buy a secondhand 94amp/h i3 with REX. I love it and can get 140 miles without the Rex. The REx gives about 80 miles extra when needed. BUT what I like is that the road holding is far superior to the mini.
That's great mileage for a 94Ah! For me it's a game to stretch out the range (but I think the ICE cars behind me are not happy campers!). I've also been experimenting with 'solar only' charging the past month with some limited success. Interesting info regarding better handing than an ICE Mini... Thanks for sharing/watching!
My 2014 i3 Rex is my favorite car ! I have an Honda S2000, Miata NB and Porsche Cayenne for reference
They are quite unique, and their quirkiness grows on you! I find mine to be my favorite choice to drive around town for sure.
Very interesting. Thank you. I still like the i3 and wish it could have continued but with upgrades all round. It is a great runaround car.
Totally agree. It's my favorite car for daily errand running. Thanks for the comment.
Very interesting. This is the typical story of a company where the top management gives the freedom to their best ingeniers to develop the best technology and then because of poor stability of management was not able to follow the initial good decision ... XEROX was probably also a sad example :-)
Should bmw open the source code after they stop support the i3 beyond 2026. 3rd party company should easily make a good battery from that point of time to fit in the vehicle. Or even upgrade the motor.
Good idea. There's people in the EU, Hong Kong (and one group in the US working on it) doing battery upgrades now, So there is some hope of being able to keep these cars running longer. I would be worried that some parts of the source code may be used by newer 'i' vehicles and therefore still be kept proprietary. Thanks for the comments!
There are several factors they stopped. First almost all main designers of this car have left. Low volume, safety rating not that great. They don’t want to spend time and resources on this project anymore
I sure seems like there was a big shift in the company focus for the ' i-program ' in 2015. Thanks for your comments!
Great video with deep analysis!!
Glad you liked it!
Great data, thanks for sharing! Maybe with more battery range the vehicle still un production. It's a great car, handling, materials, design, etc. Not sure if BYD or even TESLA can have the same futurist vision of the EV in terms of quality and reliability.
Great points! You can see some of the unique design elements showing up in modern EV's (the VW ID3 being one of them), but nothing that seems to pull so many innovative ideas together for the first time (and have relatively few issues). Thanks for the comment.
Isn’t it strange that anno 2023 we get heavy SUV EV’s instead of lightweight technically advanced EV’s like theBMW i3.
I looked up the average miles per kwh in the US for EV's and it is around 2.9. I typically average around 5 to 6. I just finished a 'back of the napkin' calculation for my local county, and based on the number of registered vehicles and avg miles driven per year, if all vehicles were converted to EV's at this poor rate (2.9) & avg miles driven remains unchanged, the power consumption will nearly double (5.47TWh/yr added to the household consumption of 6.11 TWh/yr - nearly double! ) Even worse, if gas water heaters and stoves are converted to electricity, that's another 6.91 TWh/yr electrical consumption added to the grid (could be ~1/3 of that with heat pump water heaters & space heaters). That will likely require a significant infrastructure improvement to generate/store/deliver 2-3 times the current electricity average homes use now. In fairness, the Tesla model 3 efficiency is is noted to be quite good, including a few Hyundai models, but if Trucks & SUV's with sub 2mi/kwh continue to be built instead of even higher efficiency vehicles, I think we will have a electricity problem (or shortage driving up costs) in the future! Curious if anyone else is concerned... Thanks for the comment!
here in Sweden you only get 7 kW out of your 22 kW home charger wallplug at home. The infratructure clearly can't cope with more than that. @@bmwi3diy782
The i3 & i8 were ahead of their time & way overpriced. BMW misread the market & EV economics. In 2023-25, we have the option to take advantage of steals on these gr8 used Evs. Buyer beware though ;-)
Great point... Based on what we now know regarding EV design, reliability & batteries, which used EV is (will be) the best value / coolest tech car to buy in 2023-25? I'll have to think about that...
@@bmwi3diy782
Steals: Bmw i3 / i8 & kia soul EV
If you can get 1 for a decent price: model Y & BOLT