Guess what Mad_Lad got this time?

Neat looking cable.

You'll definitely appreciate 11 Kw AC , Can get from about 10 % to 90 % in about 2.5 hrs.

DrPhilG wrote: »

Mad_Lad how much would you add per hour on the 11kw speed?

I figured it would be around 40%. I've been plugged into a 22kw post in Derry for half an hour and according to the app I've only added 13% which would be in line with 7kw speed.

Car problem, charger problem or cable problem?

Not sure per 30 mins but it can get from around 10-90% in 2.5 hrs, so lets see if I can work that out quickly.

That's about 80% in 2.5 hrs or about 32% per hour or 16% per 30 mins which sounds ok to me.

80% in 2.5 hrs isn't bad at all mate..... Imaging a 3.5 kw Leaf or 6.6 Kw. ?

We drove to Galway today, stopped in Ballinasloe , the generator kicked in about 2 kms from the charger, and just about then I noticed a Leaf 40 Kwh up my ass , at one point it looked like he put the boot down and moved out as if to over take me but I put the boot down, he knew I was aware he was behind me, there's no way I was letting him get to the charger first. hahaha, nice for a change to be the first in a queue.

We went into get some food and when I got back out I saw an Ioniq waiting so I checked the charge in the car and at 75% I plugged out and let the leaf in, being the good person I am lol, I let many people in to charge when I had enough. We got to Galway city with about 30 %.

I had thought about charging the car later at the fast charger as there are no AC points near me but I said I will charge in the morning but might not bother and use the Rex to Ballinasloe and charge up there, the risk is if someone is charging but either way I can continue on the Rex. It's a great thing to have as a backup. The Leaf driver said it's the last time he's taking the Leaf on such a long drive, I think they came from Dublin. The Ioniq driver too I think. They were both frustrated with the disgraceful charging network.

Hopefully by the time I change the i3 that the network will have greatly improved but I said that when I got the leaf in 2015. It didn't happen.

Oh and some good news about the i3, BMW confirmed or as good as that the i3 will live on after 2020, a 250-300 HP version would be amazing.

On the other hand I can always keep the i3, I forge what the balloon is at the end, I must check the paperwork.

I just checked today and battery capacity is the same as the day I picked it up. So after a total of 1 year 9 months the car is doing really good, I can't say the same for the Leaf which would be showing a few % at this stage but it was always showing +- 3-7% difference from one week to the next but the general trend was down.

The 33 Kwh has the cells that quote something like 3,200 cycle life to 80% which is incredible , the proof of course is in the pudding but current indications are good.

I put new tyres on the rear after 41,000 kms, I notice a decent bit of extra grip, the old tyres were at the limit.

Grip compared to the 40 Kwh Leaf is amazing in the wet, I am not sure I could live with the Leaf with the grip in the wet being so poor, what it would be like with better wet tyres I don't know but I would be very frustrated with it on those stock tyres.

I still love every minute in the i3, would I like the S version ? I don't know the ride and handling are great for Irish roads, you can certainly push it on and it's decently comfortable, get into the Outlander and I want to cry, turbo lag, fumbling for gears , sloppy handling and poor steering feedback make driving a lot of other cars frustrating. But the Outlander is a different beast good for it's intended purpose.

Would I get another i3 ? I really don't know, I think I'd rather put the money into keeping the existing i3, BMW haven't really developed it much beyond the 2014 model, due to uncertainty about it's future, same power with a little upgrade for the S model, I would like more power options, 250+ HP would be a healthy upgrade but I doubt one would be available by the time I'm due to change.

I'm not sure another EV would float my boat, the ix3 looks like it will be impressive with impressive power options, option of 4wd etc but the cost would be high and it won't be available 2nd hand, perhaps I could keep the i3 another year or two or just keep it.

The i3 is a very good and very under rated car.

These are some quotes from the article posted int he link in the post above.


This newer car also offers the REX facility, but it does rather take the gloss off the ‘green-ness’ of the thing. All it really did was make having what was essentially an electric city car work for people who want to travel outside the city occasionally.

Takes the gloss of green how ? it's vastly more eco friendly than a petrol or diesel and a regular hybrid......

I am sure that nearly 200 km is achievable in this car if you drive around at 10kph all of the time and on varying roads — local lanes, city streets, city by-passes, motorways and so forth. We know this to be impracticable — and probably very dangerous — so realistically the claimed range is a pipe-dream.

200 Kms at motorway speed , no but I've got as high as 230 Kms from older national routes , not at the 10 Km/h speed he claimed.......

And, from a safety point of view, when you do take your foot off the accelerator, there are also no brake lights either and this can be very dodgy if the person behind you isn’t fully paying attention.

how did the dumbass establish this ? did he get someone to drive it and brake to see if brake lights come on, or did he drivie it at night and look int he rear view mirror ? yes the brake lights come on in the i3 when it detects a certain level of regen, this guy is an idiot, journalists are supposed to research the facts, this person did not, clearly !!!

Despite my fears about not being able to make the trip successfully, I was consoled by the fact that BMW provide you with a couple of helpful tools to help you stretch the mileage.

Yeah the first great tool is called the Rex.........

Then, after 12 hours (with the three pin plug option) regenerating, I had an indicated 195 km for the return trip.

is this a deliberate attempt to persuade people that the i3 takes 12 hrs to charge ? he could have explained that the car takes about 30 mins to charge on a DC fast charger, 4.5 hrs on 7 Kw AC and 8.8 hrs on 3.5 Kw AC or roughly 3 hrs on 11 Kw DC, these are to 100% 90% is a lot faster particularly on 3 phase 11 Kw AC. Again, poor research or deliberately setting out to give people the wrong information


But no, it still took another multiple of hours to get the thing back up to full capacity. I’m reluctant to say how many in case the landlord ups the rent.

Yeah on your extension lead with a portable EVSE not charging nearly at full potential, muppet !!!

And it is a classic of design too, but it is still limited in terms of its real capabilities — and expensive.

The Rex is not limited, it can travel as long as there is petrol in the tank. Again, he does not mention this, but as a journalist it's his job to report to research the facts and report them but too many so called Journalists today do this.

In the article he also mentioned living in the country, well, so do I and I have a 172 Km commute , yes, I have work charging but if I didn't I can still make my commute and back on 1 charge at decent speeds compared to the 24 Kwh Leaf that was very very difficult and meant taking the back road home at 60-80 Km/h. I have to put back 3-6 Kwh of energy into the i3 in Winter if I really drive it hard but for 20-40 odd cent for electricity who cares ? it still costs me a lot less to run than the leaf in regard to making my commute with work charging.

I should also add that the 230 Kms I got was in Warmer Summer weather.

The i3 has a very useful feature which I use a lot and that's the ability to keep the heating on when nipping in to a shop, I think it keeps the heat on for 20 odd mins. Very useful but does help to use more battery. I use this rather great feature quite a lot. But if you though you could need more range you wouldn't use it but it's a great feature to have all the same.

i3 is a great car, for Me I should add, it's up to each person to make their own minds up. Take it for a day or two, go to frank kean on Naas road, they should let you have one for a few days.

DrPhilG wrote: »

How do you check that? I read there was a way to access a service menu but it was only in the BEV.

https://bmwi3owner.com/2016/01/secrets/

Works in the Rex too.

DrPhilG wrote: »

My tyres only had 4500km on them when I got the car so I'll be fine for a while yet.

Also I'm picking up a set of spare wheels with winter tyres next week. Big outlay but will hold their value in the long run.

I was considering winter tyres but couldn't actually find them, Winter is a bad time to buy Winter tyres. lol.

Looks like this Winter could be a mild one but you never know what will happen for the rest of it.

tuxy wrote: »

I've not read the thread but has anyone let Mad_Lad know the licence plate is viable in the first picture to anyone who's not legally blind :P

lol ah sure depends what the screen brightness is I suppose.

80sDiesel wrote: »

Would the wider tires on the S version negate the need for winter tires ?

Not at all, the same as it doesn't for normal tyres.

When the temps drop or there is snow proper winter tyres are just magic altogether, I drove on them before when I had the vans driving around Wicklow, the difference was the ability to drive or not on snow and ice.

I was thinking about getting proper snow tyres for the i3 but glad I didn't because it looks like it's going to be a mild winter but you never know.

DrPhilG wrote: »

@Mad_Lad have you given your i3 start up screen the seasonal treatment?

https://youtu.be/P0IVSo2yDvk

lol No, never did that, didn't know I could.

Pretty cool !

ELM327 wrote: »

The leaf will not have 100kW charging as the max per current chademo 1 is 62.5kW. And that's with 500v which the leaf will not have.


You couldn't go back to a leaf after owning an i3, it's not in the same league. Leaf and Ioniq are eco boxes, i3 is from a premium segment.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/12/05/60-kwh-nissan-leaf-still-no-liquid-cooled-battery/

According to the above the 60 Kwh won't be liquid cooled at all but air cooled which is seemingly alarming some people but the Ioniq is air cooled.

Leaf 60 also charges just under 100 Kw but yes, the idiots won't budge from ChaDeMo, it's sad really. Imaging 60 Kwh leafs at 45 Kw stuck to the new 100+ Kw chargers ? I hope the ESB really do charge per time and not Kwh.....

If the 60 Kwh has air cooling and the internal resistance is lower than it can easily take a larger current without much issue.

Power has been increased to 200 Hp which is healthy but again front wheel drive, to me that's a no no. Perhaps with better tyres but the i3 has eco tyres also with B for fuel and B for wet and it's got tonnes of grip even in the wet, yes it throttles on take off , sadly, but it still has tonnes more grip than the 150 Hp Leaf so I couldn't imagine 200 Hp with no form of power to the rear wheels.

It would indeed be hard to go back to the Leaf, perhaps the ix3 due for release in 2019 might be a decent price in a year or two after release.

So yeah, I could see myself with the i3 for a while to come, that's not a bad thing really. It's a great car.

peposhi wrote: »

How much worse would the 60Amh i3 Rex be compared to your 94Amh, Mad_Lad?
One poster said he’d do around 125km on leccy only and then the REX kicks in

Depends on how much the battery has degraded, probably somewhere between 100 and 120 Kms maybe this time of year and a bit more in Summer. But the rex is handy to have so it's not a huge issue.

The 60 ah also charges slower than the 33 Kwh, the 33 kwh gets more Kwh into the battery in the same time, but again, if you have the Rex it's not a massive issue as probably most of your charging will be done at home or work anyway same as myself so if I burn a few litres of petrol now and then it's no big deal. Better to have the Rex than want it that's for sure.

unkel wrote: »

Poor grip can most likely be made a lot better by a change of tyres

100kW CHAdeMO charging? Probably never in Ireland. But hopefully Nissan will have switched to CCS by then, like everyone else.

Yes it can but as I experienced with the old Leaf it's still far from perfect even on A rated wet tyres, what I then noticed was less grip in the dry.....

Seemingly Nissan are not changing to CCS at least not yet despite Kia changing the Soul to CCS if they haven't already done it, it's got a battery upgrade I think not sure , didn't read up too much on it.

Nissan just can't/refuse to do things right.

pdpmur wrote: »

Having read up a bit on WLTP test methods, methinks that its more likely that the Rex version is being withdrawn from Europe mainly for marketing reasons. Think about it - if you own a 120ah Rex with, say (280km on battery and 120km on generator) 400km total, where's the incentive to fork out for the new small BMW ev in a few years time if if BMW can only offer a 400-500km range model? By that time you will have already figured out that the i3 range is more than enough and that the rex is genuinely handy in dealing with overcrowded charge points.

Rex isn't just about extending range , it's essential given the state of the DC charging network, the 3 phase AC helps a lot though in that department but there are times the AC points are not convenient to use or too far from where you have to stay when away from home.

280 kms with 42 Kwh , maybe 38 usable, would be a bit of a stretch, possibly off the motorway in Summer but not in Winter and not on the motorway
at mtorway speeds.

50 Kw charging is still a limitation, the 22 Kwh back in 2014 charges at 50 Kw but it ramps down a lot faster compared to the 33 Kwh but still, the 44 Kwh should be able to charge at at least 70-80 Kw with a liquid cooled battery.

I know we don't have any more than 45 Kw chargers but they are not that far away. There's a very good chance the next batch of chargers the ESB install later in 2019 will be 100 Kw maybe more.

Na, I think I'd have to give the i3 a miss next time around unless there's some improvement in battery capacity and charging power.

When I was charging in Ballinasloe on Sunday, I Guarantee the Ioniq driver who had to wait for me and then the Leaf to charge would have given anything for a Rex, I mean come on, who the hell wouldn't ? he was might p1ssed off with the charging network that's for sure. who fancies waiting for two cars to charge with a possible 1 hr 30 min wait including charging their own car ? exactly, no one.

The issue with the BEV is that it's cheaper and yes , 42 Kwh is better than 22 Kwh as in the original but the cost is probably what push more people to choose the BEV only and then they have to make it work or take another car with the Rex you don't it's a go anywhere, any time car regardless of battery charge, it just makes life so much easier.

Yes it's true, most of my driving is done on battery and the Rex is not needed much but I'm bloody damn glad to have it !

42 Kwh and 100 Kw charging and loads of chargers, now that's a different story !

peposhi wrote: »

With the amount of Leafs sold every month I am getting worried of overcrowded CPs. It has not affected me so much yet (perhaps I’ve been lucky) but what guarantees the same in near future...
Don’t need the range every day. Most days I’m back home with 50% battery. But when I go to Dublin or the airport I’d have to charge...
Perhaps I just want something different too. Always loved the i3, but it was not affordable for me. Wanted one back in Feb when we changed my wife’s car, but it would have meant all savings wiped, literally if I had gone for an REx instead of the Leaf...
Now we’ve settled a bit so I may stretch (not!!!, she said)the budget again

I may stretch (not!!!, she said)the budget again

You're joking ? haha, put your foot down !

The ESB plan 100 x 150 Kw chargers I just read , with the Government funding + upgrading existing chargers , in what time frame I don't know. That would make a real difference.

In the meantime, Rex is really excellent especially if you stay somewhere over night and can't charge or preheat the battery and it's cold so charging will be a lot slower and that might not go down too well with the family. It's something to be aware of in any EV which you already are or course.

It's when you're away from home that the public Network becomes essential that's why I believe that even with 40 Kwh , eliminating the Rex is a mistake , it's not BMW engineers that have to endure the poor network or slower charging of a cold battery.

Rex eliminates Queuing at chargers.

Rex eliminates the frustration of broken chargers.

Rex allows you to continue if you don't want to stop to charge.

Rex allows you to maintain the charge in your battery much much longer handy for Motorway trips.

Rex eliminates the slower charging of a cold battery.

Rex allows driving anywhere any time as long as you got petrol in the tank.

ewj1978 wrote: »

I've probably asked this before but whats your maximum range (summer/winter) with both KW and REX near empty?

Do you mean what would I get on battery + Rex together ?

peposhi wrote: »

Yup... Now how do I write all this with capital letters on the walls at home without being killed

Ah grow some balls and Man up ! don't let a Woman dictate to you she's not your Mother and you don't want to live with a mammy do you ? so many Women think and act like their men's Mothers !

If you're managing the bills and food on the table you're entitled to spend some money, if she doesn't like it, tell her where the door is, or has she convinced you you'd be the one going if things went sour ? lol