REx thread

the_amazing_raisin

Deleted User wrote: »

All the PHEVs with tiny batteries are mostly connected to them these days anyway so they are much harder to find available now.

Like those pesky i3 owners with their generators?

cruisey1987

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Like those pesky i3 owners with their generators?

Indeed, what a great invention, more electric cars should have them to be honest and it would remove the need completely all this charging madness. Small backup generator that can generate electricity on-the-fly, if it could only take bio fuel but even so, I drive around 750 Kms a week and have used 4 litres of Petrol in 2.5 weeks over around 1800 kms.

I filled up last Saturday and haven't used a drop yet so the need for Petrol is greatly reduced with the Rex so the use of Bio Fuels is not really needed but it is a perfect solution really, no need to build out charging infrastructure either which has proved to be painfully slow, no need to wait for a charge, no queues and no need to endure increased charge times in Winter when the battery is cold.

A small fuel cell in the future perhaps ?

the_amazing_raisin

Deleted User wrote: »

Indeed, what a great invention, more electric cars should have them to be honest and it would remove the need completely all this charging madness. Small backup generator that can generate electricity on-the-fly, if it could only take bio fuel but even so, I drive around 750 Kms a week and have used 4 litres of Petrol in 2.5 weeks over around 1800 kms.

I filled up last Saturday and haven't used a drop yet so the need for Petrol is greatly reduced with the Rex so the use of Bio Fuels is not really needed but it is a perfect solution really, no need to build out charging infrastructure either which has proved to be painfully slow, no need to wait for a charge, no queues and no need to endure increased charge times in Winter when the battery is cold.

A small fuel cell in the future perhaps ?

I'll confess if I was doing a road trip across a continent, I'd consider bringing a generator and a granny lead as backup. I think it's extra weight otherwise, but I can see how it's reassuring and I'll say the i3 did it best in that the generator is only for range extending, unlike a PHEV which pours in the dinosaurs whenever you want to drive at motorway speeds

cruisey1987

cruisey1987 wrote: »

I'll confess if I was doing a road trip across a continent, I'd consider bringing a generator and a granny lead as backup. I think it's extra weight otherwise, but I can see how it's reassuring and I'll say the i3 did it best in that the generator is only for range extending, unlike a PHEV which pours in the dinosaurs whenever you want to drive at motorway speeds

No just driving around a small Island with a bad charging infrastructure is reason enough to have a rex though I admit the usable battery capacity is a lot smaller than today's 60 odd Kwh batteries but still all the same, I see these 60 odd Kwh cars in queues still today meaning the infrastructure isn't good enough, and if I go to the West or North West it's even less than perfect, charge times are not ideal either.

You carry the weight of a large battery that still needs to fast charge or the lesser weight of the Rex but the difference is that the Rex is a lot more practical because it's there, immediately when you need it, don't have to stop and pull in, suffer queues, charge times or increased charge times due to a cold battery.

So in many ways the extra weight of a much larger battery is actually worse than burning a few litres of Petrol now and then.

But there's 2 things I do know, it's better to have it than want it and it's easy to knock it when you don't have it lol.

redcup342

cruisey1987 wrote: »

I'll confess if I was doing a road trip across a continent, I'd consider bringing a generator and a granny lead as backup. I think it's extra weight otherwise, but I can see how it's reassuring and I'll say the i3 did it best in that the generator is only for range extending, unlike a PHEV which pours in the dinosaurs whenever you want to drive at motorway speeds

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113735291&postcount=2

You guys are crazy .. the only thing I don't like about the i3 is that they didn't reclaim the boot space that stupid generator took up :pac:

Didn't use a granny lead once on a 3200km trip through Austria/Italy/France/Switzerland/Germany

Only time I did use a Granny lead on the previous 1700km trip was in the Czech Republic and even then it was because the hotel offered the use of a 2 prong socket for free.

The range extender isn't necessary anymore.

redcup342

redcup342 wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113735291&postcount=2

You guys are crazy .. the only thing I don't like about the i3 is that they didn't reclaim the boot space that stupid generator took up :pac:

Didn't use a granny lead once on a 3200km trip through Austria/Italy/France/Switzerland/Germany

Only time I did use a Granny lead on the previous 1700km trip was in the Czech Republic and even then it was because the hotel offered the use of a 2 prong socket for free.

The range extender isn't necessary anymore.

Complete and utter boll1cks.

Not necessary if you're prepared to wait to charge, queue, suffer cold battery charge times or a dodgy infrastructure and have the time for such a trip.If you're prepared to do all this and you're happy then happy days, all is grand. But the majority of People are not.

But anyway back to reality. Rex means no charging necessary and eliminates all the charging issues we have in Ireland today. Sure you can live without it but if you already have it and know then benefit then hanging around chargers, waiting at queues, possible broken chargers, far too few chargers etc etc seems rather ridiculous when the solution to all this is really rather simple. Small onboard generator or small fuel cell.

If I got another BEV only then I would take the Diesel for most of the longer drives, I just wouldn't be bothered on a week travelling around Ireland and neither would my missus, she's go insane.

redcup342

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Complete and utter boll1cks.

Not necessary if you're prepared to wait to charge, queue, suffer cold battery charge times or a dodgy infrastructure and have the time for such a trip.If you're prepared to do all this and you're happy then happy days, all is grand. But the majority of People are not.

But anyway back to reality. Rex means no charging necessary and eliminates all the charging issues we have in Ireland today. Sure you can live without it but if you already have it and know then benefit then hanging around chargers, waiting at queues, possible broken chargers, far too few chargers etc etc seems rather ridiculous when the solution to all this is really rather simple. Small onboard generator or small fuel cell.

If I got another BEV only then I would take the Diesel for most of the longer drives, I just wouldn't be bothered on a week travelling around Ireland and neither would my missus, she's go insane.

Didn’t have any waiting times, didn’t queue for chargers.
If you have decent infrastructure and charge when you stop then it’s totally relaxed.

Etron and the IPace are another story, I’d never take either of them on a plus 1000km road trip outside of Germany ever again

Ireland’s infrastructure might work for a REX but on most of the developed countries on the continent its not necessary.

REX was available here some years back (we had them down in our Munich office) never used them for long range trips, you’d have to get off the autobahn since it limited to 110km/h when the extender kicked in

redcup342

redcup342 wrote: »

Didn’t have any waiting times, didn’t queue for chargers.
If you have decent infrastructure and charge when you stop then it’s totally relaxed.

Etron and the IPace are another story, I’d never take either of them on a plus 1000km road trip outside of Germany ever again

Ireland’s infrastructure might work for a REX but on most of the developed countries on the continent its not necessary.

REX was available here some years back (we had them down in our Munich office) never used them for long range trips, you’d have to get off the autobahn since it limited to 110km/h when the extender kicked in

The Rex does not limit speed to 110 Km/hr, I can drive all day at 120 - 130 Km/hr and it's perfectly fine.

If you're prepared to put the effort into finding and planning this is great but chargers need to be in every petrol station and charge times have to greatly improve.

And there's plenty of People driving at 100-110 Km/hr on the Autobahn you wouldn't have to get off driving at 110 Km/hr you'd be still faster than the convoys of trucks that drive up each others asses causing accidents.....

redcup342

Deleted User wrote: »

The Rex does not limit speed to 110 Km/hr, I can drive all day at 120 - 130 Km/hr and it's perfectly fine.

If you're prepared to put the effort into finding and planning this is great but chargers need to be in every petrol station and charge times have to greatly improve.

And there's plenty of People driving at 100-110 Km/hr on the Autobahn you wouldn't have to get off driving at 110 Km/hr you'd be still faster than the convoys of trucks that drive up each others asses causing accidents.....

We had issues going south with a gradient (Down south in Germany/Austria is rather hilly) , wouldn't maintain speed and couldn't estimate range correcly at all.

But for the past 3 years using the i3 and i3s 120ah didn't need to plan anything other than where we where going, just pick off a charger on Chargemap DC or AC depending on if it was a short or long stop and plug in on AC whenever we had a spontaeous stop.

If you are driving in the right hand lane with the trucks you'll be bouncing all over the place as the right hand lane is destroyed by trucks and it makes the i3 with it's short wheel base like a bouncy castle.

The main complaint I have about i3 is it's a 4 seater car with only enough luggage space for 1.5 people, lift up the boot carpet only to be disappointed by a metal plate covering a load of empty space behind it.

Very few charging stops are at Petrol Stations .. why would they need to be there ?

jhegarty

redcup342 wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113735291&postcount=2

You guys are crazy .. the only thing I don't like about the i3 is that they didn't reclaim the boot space that stupid generator took up :pac:

Didn't use a granny lead once on a 3200km trip through Austria/Italy/France/Switzerland/Germany

Only time I did use a Granny lead on the previous 1700km trip was in the Czech Republic and even then it was because the hotel offered the use of a 2 prong socket for free.

The range extender isn't necessary anymore.

It's still as necessary as the day any 60ah I3 was brand new.


I still have petrol in the tank I topped up on Christmas eve last year, but they are journeys I wouldn't have made without knowing I had a backup available.

redcup342

jhegarty wrote: »

It's still as necessary as the day any 60ah I3 was brand new.


I still have petrol in the tank I topped up on Christmas eve last year, but they are journeys I wouldn't have made without knowing I had a backup available.

Thats understandable since Ireland is probably one of the worst countries in Europe for Charging Infrastructure.

For the rest of Continental Europe it's not really an issue

Calahonda52

redcup342 wrote: »

Thats understandable since Ireland is probably one of the worst countries in Europe for Charging Infrastructure.

For the rest of Continental Europe it's not really an issue

I reckon the worst, unless Rockall is a country!

redcup342

redcup342 wrote: »

We had issues going south with a gradient (Down south in Germany/Austria is rather hilly) , wouldn't maintain speed and couldn't estimate range correcly at all.

There were reports of issues with early i3s but the Rex in the 94 Ah is more powerful and this issue does not occur. The idea with the Rex is to turn it on before the battery runs down when it allows at 75% charge then use the battery for slower roads and town driving.

redcup342 wrote: »

But for the past 3 years using the i3 and i3s 120ah didn't need to plan anything other than where we where going, just pick off a charger on Chargemap DC or AC depending on if it was a short or long stop and plug in on AC whenever we had a spontaeous stop.

Again, that's all fine and dandy if you want to stop and if you want and are happy to charge and endure longer charge times in winter, however, the i3 does pre-heat the battery but only to 10 Deg C but if you set off from 100% with pre-heated battery and drive to 20-30% the battery should be plenty warm, however, if away from home and can't plug into AC and have a pre-heated battery and next day go to a charger it will be very slow to charge and this is not unique to the i3 of course. The Rex eliminates cold battery charging entirely. So no matter how good the charging infrastructure is in Europe on the continent there are still issues that the Rex eliminates completely and also the time needed to charge in the first place. This fact is inescapable.

redcup342 wrote: »

If you are driving in the right hand lane with the trucks you'll be bouncing all over the place as the right hand lane is destroyed by trucks and it makes the i3 with it's short wheel base like a bouncy castle.

The Autobahn isn't perfect of course but it's not that bad, most of the Autobahn I've been on has a much better road surface than anything we have except for the upgraded M7, the i3 is a lot of fun on Irish back roads so the suspension/wheelbase isn't an issue if it can handle this

redcup342 wrote: »

The main complaint I have about i3 is it's a 4 seater car with only enough luggage space for 1.5 people, lift up the boot carpet only to be disappointed by a metal plate covering a load of empty space behind it.

Why complain about that at all when we're discussing the Rex ? it works for us as a family of 4, we can manage to go away for a weekend with all the luggage for a Family of 4, no point complaining about it being a 4 seater after you buy it.

redcup342 wrote: »

Very few charging stops are at Petrol Stations .. why would they need to be there ?

Because Petrol stations are everywhere and you don't have to go out of your way to find them, I've been in Germany loads of times and I don't see charge point hubs like I see Petrol stations. IF People are to adopt to EV they need to know they can charge anywhere like with a Petrol or diesel car.

Kramer

Deleted User wrote: »

I drive around 750 Kms a week and have used 4 litres of Petrol in 2.5 weeks over around 1800 kms

So you've driven approximately 60km on petrol over 2.5 weeks & 1800kms?
Wouldn't an ever so slightly larger battery have negated the need for that petrol component entirely then?

Isn't your i3 the 33kWh version?

Your experience over that 2.5 weeks & 1800kms, clearly illustrates why BMW dropped the range extender from the 44kWh version. Added to the fact you're a non typical, very high mileage driver - the rex is dead Mad_Lad, extinct, defunct, outdated, consigned to the annals of history.

Let it go man .

redcup342

Deleted User wrote: »

There were reports of issues with early i3s but the Rex in the 94 Ah is more powerful and this issue does not occur. The idea with the Rex is to turn it on before the battery runs down when it allows at 75% charge then use the battery for slower roads and town driving.




Again, that's all fine and dandy if you want to stop and if you want and are happy to charge and endure longer charge times in winter, however, the i3 does pre-heat the battery but only to 10 Deg C but if you set off from 100% with pre-heated battery and drive to 20-30% the battery should be plenty warm, however, if away from home and can't plug into AC and have a pre-heated battery and next day go to a charger it will be very slow to charge and this is not unique to the i3 of course. The Rex eliminates cold battery charging entirely. So no matter how good the charging infrastructure is in Europe on the continent there are still issues that the Rex eliminates completely and also the time needed to charge in the first place. This fact is inescapable.




The Autobahn isn't perfect of course but it's not that bad, most of the Autobahn I've been on has a much better road surface than anything we have except for the upgraded M7, the i3 is a lot of fun on Irish back roads so the suspension/wheelbase isn't an issue if it can handle this



Why complain about that at all when we're discussing the Rex ? it works for us as a family of 4, we can manage to go away for a weekend with all the luggage for a Family of 4, no point complaining about it being a 4 seater after you buy it.



Because Petrol stations are everywhere and you don't have to go out of your way to find them, I've been in Germany loads of times and I don't see charge point hubs like I see Petrol stations. IF People are to adopt to EV they need to know they can charge anywhere like with a Petrol or diesel car.

A. I've worked/lived in Germany since 2008, the Autobahn is comparitively terrible in the West of Germany Last weekend for example I drove down to Muno in Belgium from Dusseldorf via the A2 through NL, then did a spin over to Charleville in France and then back to Dusseldorf via Traben-Trarbach back up to Dusseldorf.

The German part is the worst, you'll have to endure rhythmic bumps with the concrete slabs in the road and alot of it is warped from heavy traffic.

B. Chargers are all over the place, you just weren't looking for them.

C. I don't want to go near a Petrol Station everything there is expensive, even going to the jax costs 70 cents

redcup342

redcup342 wrote: »

B. Chargers are all over the place, you just weren't looking for them.

No, you're wrong, Petrol stations are all over the place, chargers are not, no matter how many you think are in Germany.

And that's the point, I don't want to go looking or have to do extra planning to find them, I want them to be at every Petrol station, I want to know wherever I go there's plenty of chargers like Petrol/Diesel pumps and so do the majority of the motoring public.

I don't want to have to look up maps or mess around with apps or different access cards for the different providers, register with this provider and that provider, I pay for Petrol with Euro's, with my card, should be able to do this at every EV charger.

Rex means I don't have to do all this messing about if I don't want to or wait 30 mins to 1 hr to charge the 120 Ah i3 if the battery is cold etc etc, to say the rex is not needed or not useful is just pure ridiculous. IF it's not needed for you I am really happy for you but a lot more people could benefit by having the Rex if they wanted it.

Such a difficult decision to make, turn on the rex and save time or sit at a charger ? if someone has the Rex they will use it when it's more convenient to do so.

redcup342

[Deleted User] wrote: »

No, you're wrong, Petrol stations are all over the place, chargers are not, no matter how many you think are in Germany.

And that's the point, I don't want to go looking or have to do extra planning to find them, I want them to be at every Petrol station, I want to know wherever I go there's plenty of chargers like Petrol/Diesel pumps and so do the majority of the motoring public.

I don't want to have to look up maps or mess around with apps or different access cards for the different providers, register with this provider and that provider, I pay for Petrol with Euro's, with my card, should be able to do this at every EV charger.

Rex means I don't have to do all this messing about if I don't want to or wait 30 mins to 1 hr to charge the 120 Ah i3 if the battery is cold etc etc, to say the rex is not needed or not useful is just pure ridiculous. IF it's not needed for you I am really happy for you but a lot more people could benefit by having the Rex if they wanted it.

Such a difficult decision to make, turn on the rex and save time or sit at a charger ? if someone has the Rex they will use it when it's more convenient to do so.

ok man, will I live here and you don’t so there’s that.

Also once you have a card in ladenetz you are pretty much covered on all the local stadtwerken.

My local petrol station is a wine shop now.
https://goo.gl/maps/HN8MSpm1rk2kAM4R7

I never sit at a charger, i just park plug in and walk away majority of my charging is AC.

Been doing that for a number of years with no issues, switched to a Model 3 so it’s even easier to do long trips (and lots of Extra storage to go do some homeoffice down in Sud Tirol)

And I live in the City Center.

As I said already if you have little to no infrastructure I can see how it’s frustrating

redcup342

redcup342 wrote: »

ok man, will I live here and you don’t so there’s that.

Also once you have a card in ladenetz you are pretty much covered on all the local stadtwerken.

My local petrol station is a wine shop now.
https://goo.gl/maps/HN8MSpm1rk2kAM4R7

I never sit at a charger, i just park plug in and walk away majority of my charging is AC.

Been doing that for a number of years with no issues, switched to a Model 3 so it’s even easier to do long trips.

And I live in the City Center.

As I said already if you have little to no infrastructure I can see how it’s frustrating

Lol yeah if you drive a m3 and have access to V3 super chargers I could live with it a lot easier than having to charge 30-45 mins when it's inconvenient to do so chargers or no chargers available and you get a lot more range.

redcup342

Deleted User wrote: »

Lol yeah if you drive a m3 and have access to V3 super chargers I could live with it a lot easier than having to charge 30-45 mins when it's inconvenient to do so chargers or no chargers available and you get a lot more range.

Had the M3 3 weeks now as I said the i3 was just too small and really only a two person car if going away for a few weeks, boot is ridiculously small and we'd have to use the back seats for luggage when travelling down to the south, like I said if they reclaimed that space used by the generator it would be much better.

They are building a new station in Hilden that has the V3 Chargers, I'll probably never use it though as it's too close to where I live to make any sense to use (never know though might use it for 5 minutes or something to get a few kW on the way home)

The clincher for me was having CCS that can use Tesla SC and Others, I use the EnBW Hyperchargers mostly as they are just as fast (300kW)

I haven't really had that problem whereby a charging station is busy anyways.

For road trip holidays in the i3 we generally factored max 4-5 hours of driving a day and then I'd just pick a charging station in the center of town where we wanted to go along the way and at the destination we were arriving at.

Even better if the hotel had charging as well.

But generally I'd just plug in whenever we were stopped for whatever reason e.g. Toilet Break then plug in on DC for 10 minutes and top off.

Our office there's a few lads with the i3s, quite popular lease car, they don't have any problems either.

Kramer

redcup342 wrote: »

then did a spin over to Charleville.

Ah jasus.....I was only there in Charleville myself around the same time - we could have met for a pint :cool:.

redcup342 wrote: »

The German part is the worst, you'll have to endure rhythmic bumps with the concrete slabs

That's true. Very like poor quality US interstates, the join between adjacent slabs make a rhythmic thump. I'd imagine that would become very intrusive in a short, stiff car like the i3. It's certainly not a motorway mile muncher, that's for sure.

Kramer

Kramer wrote: »

Ah jasus.....I was only there in Charleville myself around the same time - we could have met for a pint :cool:.



That's true. Very like poor quality US interstates, the join between adjacent slabs make a rhythmic thump. I'd imagine that would become very intrusive in a short, stiff car like the i3. It's certainly not a motorway mile muncher, that's for sure.

Lol, I drive 30-35K Kms motorway some back roads and as I said it's a lot of fun on back roads.

daheff

jhegarty wrote: »

It's still as necessary as the day any 60ah I3 was brand new.


I still have petrol in the tank I topped up on Christmas eve last year,

Deleted User wrote: »

I have used 4 litres of Petrol in 2.5 weeks over around 1800 kms.

I filled up last Saturday and haven't used a drop yet?

Question on how long can petrol stay good in your tank if you aren't using it?



Not just for Rex -PHEV users who rarely use the engine may have similar issues

redcup342

redcup342 wrote: »

Had the M3 3 weeks now as I said the i3 was just too small and really only a two person car if going away for a few weeks, boot is ridiculously small and we'd have to use the back seats for luggage when travelling down to the south, like I said if they reclaimed that space used by the generator it would be much better.

They are building a new station in Hilden that has the V3 Chargers, I'll probably never use it though as it's too close to where I live to make any sense to use (never know though might use it for 5 minutes or something to get a few kW on the way home)

The clincher for me was having CCS that can use Tesla SC and Others, I use the EnBW Hyperchargers mostly as they are just as fast (300kW)

I haven't really had that problem whereby a charging station is busy anyways.

For road trip holidays in the i3 we generally factored max 4-5 hours of driving a day and then I'd just pick a charging station in the center of town where we wanted to go along the way and at the destination we were arriving at.

Even better if the hotel had charging as well.

But generally I'd just plug in whenever we were stopped for whatever reason e.g. Toilet Break then plug in on DC for 10 minutes and top off.

Our office there's a few lads with the i3s, quite popular lease car, they don't have any problems either.

So you recognise you bought the wrong car for you....progress.

Rex means I don't care about charging or charge times which is a huge issue for the majority of people, some die hard ev owners choose to put up with it, most People won't. A model 3 with V3 charging is real progress though especially the ability to heat the battery before reaching a charger, whether it can pre-heat it for the next morning charge if needed is another story.

Kramer

daheff wrote: »

Question on how long can petrol stay good in your tank if you aren't using it?

BMW PHEVs like the i3 & my 530e will insist on running the ICE after a period of time, to use some petrol forcing you to replenish with fresh fuel.

Possibly 6 months?

Petrol can "gum up" & degrade after a while - BMW thought of that though - clever Germans .

Kramer

Kramer wrote:

It's certainly not a motorway mile muncher, that's for sure.

Deleted User wrote: »

Lol, I drive 30-35K Kms motorway some back roads and as I said it's a lot of fun on back roads.

I liked the i3. Great fun. Carbon fibre chassis, quirky, skateboard platform, rear wheel drive, spacious up front. Well built.

It's not a car designed for high speed motorway commutes & certainly not a car I'd chose if I was spending several hours per day, 5 days per week, on a motorway.

Add in the pram wheels & serious "cold battery" charging issues.........well....:p.

Kramer

Kramer wrote: »

I liked the i3. Great fun. Carbon fibre chassis, quirky, skateboard platform, rear wheel drive, spacious up front. Well built.

It's not a car designed for high speed motorway commutes & certainly not a car I'd chose if I was spending several hours per day, 5 days per week, on a motorway.

Add in the pram wheels & serious "cold battery" charging issues.........well....:p.

Most electric charging slows down in the cold, again, not so with the Rex.

Ah come on, I drive Dub to Carlow every day for work, fine motorway cruiser, no issues at all, I do wish I had better driver assistance though.

redcup342

Deleted User wrote: »

So you recognise you bought the wrong car for you....progress.

Rex means I don't care about charging or charge times which is a huge issue for the majority of people, some die hard ev owners choose to put up with it, most People won't. A model 3 with V3 charging is real progress though especially the ability to heat the battery before reaching a charger, whether it can pre-heat it for the next morning charge if needed is another story.

I never said I bought the i3 I rented it, was far cheaper than owning it. (10-12 euros / day)

Bear in mind now I actually took an i3 on a 3200 km journey when I could have opted for Diesel :pac: I've done that journey with a 3 series estate, it's expensive and parking in Cities (Particularly Italian ones) is a nightmare.

That's how easy it was.

Only pulled the trigger on the M3 now because of the 10k in Grants + the VAT Reduction, the M3 is better bang for buck, forget about V3 Chargers, just having access to the SC Network + Destination Chargers is enough.

Like I said I think the REX made sense some years ago but not today (on the continent at least), I would guess thats why BMW dropped it.

Sorry mate I think you are a bit behind the curve

jhegarty

daheff wrote: »

Question on how long can petrol stay good in your tank if you aren't using it?



Not just for Rex -PHEV users who rarely use the engine may have similar issues

It keeps the tank pressurized to help extend it. It also does a 15 minutes run very few months if don't use the Rex yourself.

80sDiesel

Was looking at the Ariya but since Covid I am for the foreseeable future only working one day from the offfice so looking at buying an I3s plus witth Rex so that in winter I can do that commute .( no work charging and 200k roundtrip) . Hoping to pick up one from the U.K. pre Brexit.

80sDiesel

80sDiesel wrote: »

Was looking at the Ariya but since Covid I am for the foreseeable future only working one day from the offfice so looking at buying an I3s plus witth Rex so that in winter I can do that commute .( no work charging and 200k roundtrip) . Hoping to pick up one from the U.K. pre Brexit.

Have you driven the i3 yet ?

I'm not sure exactly but I don't think the S was ever available with the Rex ? think the S was only available with the 120 Ah from the start and this doesn't have the Rex option. So you'd probably be looking at a 171-172 94 Ah with the Rex.

If you had to go back to the office daily you'd need the Rex in Winter for at least 50-60 Kms on the motorway but at least you wouldn't have to slow down. You wouldn't have to worry about cold batter fast charging either. However the 120 Ah i3 should do that drive no problem on a charge. Worst case you might have to slow down a bit in the worst of weather.

Are you sure that you will not have to return to the office more next year ? a lot of People could find themselves making decisions based on the current situation and of course, the only thing certain is what's written in anyone's contract which will usually state the address which you will be based and I doubt anyone's contracts have been rewritten to reflect that home is now the place of work so on that basis alone I would caution People making decisions based on the current conditions because there's an awful lot of office space being paid for by companies who might make the decision to bring everyone back to normal, they may say they won't but if that's not on paper it's worth nothing.

McGiver

McGiver wrote: »

It's shambles, nothing but.

It is a joke really at this stage. Especially the FCPs. The SCPs were OK in 2015, I guess.

Let's compare with a similar market in terms of EV maturity and in terms of size. We won't go to the UK, Italy, France, they're way more populous countries, and we won't go to the Netherlands or Finland or Norway either, these are more EV mature markets, we can dream about.

So let's look at the Czech Republic - it has roughly the same land area as Ireland, and about 50% longer motorway network, has about the same EV numbers, albeit for a bit more than double the car fleet (5.6M) - it has some 400 FCPs which is 4 times more than here on the same area for the same number of EVs.

What's worse is that a) they're adding 10 FCPs per month in average (we add maybe 1 and that's a conversion!) , b) they already have 20+ 150kW+ non-ionity FCPs (we have 2!) and c) they've several hubs where there are several 50kW and 150kW chargers in one place (we have zero to date - the best is 1x 50 + 1x 150 "hub" ).

So I'm asking - WTF is ESB doing with our taxes (EU and local)?? Ireland will get beaten in infrastructure by Bulgaria if goes on like this.

Yep fully agree, I had high hopes when I got the leaf in 2015 both in the manufacturers and the ESB network, I had high hopes when I got the i3 just over 3 years ago and here we are today and people are still queuing, standing out in the p1ssing rain as there is absolutely no shelter at these chargers whatsoever. It's a complete shambles, lazy semi state company.

Perhaps the ESB had hoped that a couple of private companies would come in and litter the Island with chargers so they wouldn't have to bother ?

It would be great if there were more BMW i3 Rex type cars where you have a big battery for decent EV range and generator to take care of the rest and no need for public charging and all that nonsense at all. In the future they could just burn Hydrogen in the ICE directly, no need for a fuel cell for now it could run on biofuels but even running on Petrol occasionally is dramatically reducing harmful emissions as most of the time you run on battery.

ELM327

It would be so much easier if we didnt bother with this battery faff at all and just run the rex all the time, eh mad lad

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

It would be so much easier if we didnt bother with this battery faff at all and just run the rex all the time, eh mad lad

As more time goes by it gets more annoying how far we are away from having an adequate network of chargers, the Rex offers 100% freedom from the public charging network and what's wrong with that ? freedom from the extended cold battery charge times, freedom from broken chargers and queues.

Some day in the near or far future I'll have no choice but to buy whatever is the best EV I can get and suffer the charging network but I may just end up taking the diesel because as it stands today, 10 years after the release of the Leaf the public network is still crap and charge times still too long.

ELM327

I agree with you re the network.
But if you buy a 85-90-100+ kWh EV then you dont need the network much if at all.

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

I agree with you re the network.
But if you buy a 85-90-100+ kWh EV then you dont need the network much if at all.

I don't need it much at all as it is but only if I were to go on much longer drives and stay away from home like countless others but this is the issue, if I'm staying in the West like we usually do in normal times then the network is completely and utterly inadequate and slow, 50 Kw max chargers simply isn't good enough.

Now imagine all the People with no home charging ? this is why Rex is really the best solution for most People right now, including me, having to take the 2nd car proves both the EV and network are both still inadequate. Suitable for most of my driving isn't good enough but I do accept if I change the i3 that I will just have to make do with taking the Diesel, not the end of the world but still it's sad that since 2011 we're at this point.

AndyBoBandy

Deleted User wrote: »

this is why Rex is really the best solution for most People right now

most people that stay in the West?

AndyBoBandy

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

most people that stay in the West?

Most People who want a car to give them the freedom that an ICE provides while at the same time offering substantial reductions in running costs and that is the majority of People.

ELM327

I can't say I have the same problems. My car has the same freedoms an Ice provides.

optimal

ELM327 wrote: »

I agree with you re the network.
But if you buy a 85-90-100+ kWh EV then you dont need the network much if at all.

Maybe buy a battery size that will do the vast majority of your driving with home charging.
Eventually we will reach an equilibrium between battery sizes / efficiency, public charging infrastructure and the local distribution infrastructure.

As more people charge at home, the pressure will rise on local distribution leading ESB to figure out are they better to upgrade local infrastructure or invest in the network.

Factor in efficiency improvements (see https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/automotive-electronics-and-car-fuel-efficiency-history for what happened to ICEs), a push to micro-generation, improved public transport, driving automation and transport as a service (Uber style) and I can see why investors (including Government) might be a little iffy about investing in the infrastructure.

We just have to face that we are living in that transitionary period from fossil fuel to electric / hydrogen and that people will have to adjust, think, plan and be creative.
Rex, fossil fuel, hybrid, infrastructure..., I think there is no one right answer right now.

ELM327

Let's get one thing clear, there's no hydrogen.

redcup342

Deleted User wrote: »

As more time goes by it gets more annoying how far we are away from having an adequate network of chargers, the Rex offers 100% freedom from the public charging network and what's wrong with that ? freedom from the extended cold battery charge times, freedom from broken chargers and queues.

Some day in the near or far future I'll have no choice but to buy whatever is the best EV I can get and suffer the charging network but I may just end up taking the diesel because as it stands today, 10 years after the release of the Leaf the public network is still crap and charge times still too long.

More AC Points would solve that, it's a shame there is a DC only strategy.
More places to plug in means less time waiting to charge up.

liamog

Mod Note: I've moved the discussion re REX from the eCars Expansion topic into this thread as it's not related to eCars, can we also avoid bringing this off topic and into an AC/DC debate

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

I can't say I have the same problems. My car has the same freedoms an Ice provides.

Same freedom as ICE my ass, you choose to put up with public charging the majority of the public are not willing to do this.

ICE fill up time 5 mins or less another 5 mins to pay or less. That's a lot more freedom than any EV currently provides, and there's no increased filling time either due to a cold tank lol.

redcup342 wrote: »

More AC Points would solve that, it's a shame there is a DC only strategy.
More places to plug in means less time waiting to charge up.

More AC would help but it's going to be hard to convince management companies to install loads and loads of charge points and the residents who don't own any car at all are not going to want to pay increased management fees for EV drivers to have the ability to charge. Then there's the company who will sort all the billing, this won't be free either.

liamog

What does spread of I3's look like here in terms of with/without the REX?
I have the impression that the market is more than willing to put up without it.

ELM327

Deleted User wrote: »

Same freedom as ICE my ass, you choose to put up with public charging the majority of the public are not willing to do this.

ICE fill up time 5 mins or less another 5 mins to pay or less. That's a lot more freedom than any EV currently provides, and there's no increased filling time either due to a cold tank lol.

I have no Rex if thats what you mean?
But I dont need it. Even in these cold days I have 250-300km motorway range. We had 2 long trips this year so far, one for childcare (500km - charged once in Kells at 150kW HPC) and one for medical reasons post surgery (700km, charged twice at Tesla superchargers).


Outside of those once in a blue moon trip, I don't need the public network. Why would I pay to have a rex in my car that is not needed. Extra weight and more inefficiency.


Rex was a great transition tech, one ahead of real PHEVs and one behind a full BEV. But the solution is here now, more range and better charging.

Deleted User wrote: »

More AC would help but it's going to be hard to convince management companies to install loads and loads of charge points and the residents who don't own any car at all are not going to want to pay increased management fees for EV drivers to have the ability to charge. Then there's the company who will sort all the billing, this won't be free either.

I have a "home" charger installed in my apartment complex, given the OK by management company. I know of others that are the same.
But that's for those that can home charge.
If you have AC everywhere in public (paid for of course, free is not realistic) then home charging is not as essential as it is now.

redcup342

Deleted User wrote: »

More AC would help but it's going to be hard to convince management companies to install loads and loads of charge points and the residents who don't own any car at all are not going to want to pay increased management fees for EV drivers to have the ability to charge. Then there's the company who will sort all the billing, this won't be free either.

Sounds like a problem where there isn't a problem.
The Provider take care of the Installation and maintenence of EVSE

Miscreant

I can certainly see the advantage of a REx from a long distance point of view. I would be of the same opinion as Mad_Lad here as I am making a twice monthly trip to the West of Ireland and would rather not have to rely on the public infrastructure for this or a granny lead at the other end if I need to make a sharp exit home again.

Other than the i3 and at one point the Opel/Chevy models, there has really not been much choice in relation to REx vehicles. I believe Mazda are coming out with a rotary powered one soon enough for the MX30 so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

For the moment, and in the absence of a REx I would be interested in purchasing (second hand of course), I have gone for a PHEV that I think will be sufficient for my family for the next 3 years or so.

I do see the advantage to having a REx onboard though as it is the perfect thing to keep you moving when you are running low on battery power. Running at a constant RPM is going to aid in the efficiency of the engine and you can top it up in seconds.

AndyBoBandy

What is the EV range in the Rex?

And what is the petrol tank capacity?

And how much additional range will it give the car?

so full battery & rex tank, what's the maximum range without charging or filling up?

DrPhilG

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What is the EV range in the Rex?

And what is the petrol tank capacity?

And how much additional range will it give the car?

so full battery & rex tank, what's the maximum range without charging or filling up?

EV range depends whether its the 60ah or the 94ah. I have the 94ah and I get anywhere from 145 to 180km before the REx kicks in at 6.5%.

Petrol capacity is 9L I believe.

Again dependant on the usual range factors. Anything from 70-125km extra charge.

Max range for me and my lead foot in the summer, 300km. A more sedate driver could easily get 370+.

AndyBoBandy

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What is the EV range in the Rex?

And what is the petrol tank capacity?

And how much additional range will it give the car?

so full battery & rex tank, what's the maximum range without charging or filling up?

I drive the 94 Ah, Rex was removed from the 120 Ah, BMW said that the Rex has enough range so it wasn't necessary but when I plug in at a fast charger and see only 22 Kw due to a cold battery I'm highly glad I have the Rex, obviously the BMW engineers don't drive the i3 or they wouldn't say charging at 22 Kw justifies removing the Rex But BMW removed it for other reasons I won't get into now.

I get around 130 Kms with a heavy foot, you can't use the last 6.5% but in a BEV you'd normally be plugged in at no less than 20-30%. The 6.5% is used as a buffer to ensure the Motor has plenty of power for the Motorway, Hills etc. The idea is to use the Rex on the Motorway and keep the Battery for slower roads and City/Town driving and if the battery is cold you can fire up the Rex drive and by the time you get to the next charger the battery should be plenty warm for max charge power.

Petrol tank capacity is 8 Litres but you'll squeeze in a litre maybe 2 more good enough for 80-130 more kms depending on speed, you might even get more on petrol, but you can fill up in 8 seconds and drive off again.

There's no reason a Rex can't run on bio fuel or Hydrogen and burn it directly meaning no need for a Fuel cell.

DrPhilG

DrPhilG wrote: »

EV range depends whether its the 60ah or the 94ah. I have the 94ah and I get anywhere from 145 to 180km before the REx kicks in at 6.5%.

Petrol capacity is 9L I believe.

Again dependant on the usual range factors. Anything from 70-125km extra charge.

Max range for me and my lead foot in the summer, 300km. A more sedate driver could easily get 370+.

lol you're a more "sedate" driver than I am lol. Though I can make my 140 Km commute in bad cold weather if I drive 100-110 Km/Hr more in Summer. In Summer I'll get around 170 Kms at that speed.

I've got 220 Kms and still had I think if I remember correctly 20% left but that was off the motorway on slower country roads in the Summer.