Guess what Mad_Lad got this time?

08-01-2019 7:25pm

Silent Running wrote: »

Well the drugs seem to be working.

HAha good one missed that one lol

Correction , was supposed to say , " I was told it would hurt worse after the injection " :rolleyes:

11-01-2019 11:32pm

I plugged in at around 18% in work tonight around 8:50pm, 3 phase AC 11 Kw now at 97% at 22:30, last few % take a good while. Probably got to 90% at about 10 PM.

11-01-2019 11:32pm

I plugged in at around 18% in work tonight around 8:50pm, 3 phase AC 11 Kw now at 97% at 22:30, last few % take a good while. Probably got to 90% at about 10 PM.

oodles19 · 11-01-2019 11:42pm

Silly question Mad_Lad, would be answered by a quick Google no doubt, but I saw your post and thought I'd ask the expert! What's the cable situation to look out for? Most i3's come with a "granny" cable right? Is another cable required for public/fast charging? What would I be looking at to be set after a home charger installation?

Gumbo · 11-01-2019 11:49pm

oodles19 wrote: »

Silly question Mad_Lad, would be answered by a quick Google no doubt, but I saw your post and thought I'd ask the expert! What's the cable situation to look out for? Most i3's come with a "granny" cable right? Is another cable required for public/fast charging? What would I be looking at to be set after a home charger installation?

Fast chargers have the cable attached to the charger itself. You don’t need a cable for that. The trick is to make sure the i3 your buying is fast charging capable as it was an option on some.

oodles19 · 11-01-2019 11:55pm

kceire wrote: »

oodles19 wrote: »

Silly question Mad_Lad, would be answered by a quick Google no doubt, but I saw your post and thought I'd ask the expert! What's the cable situation to look out for? Most i3's come with a "granny" cable right? Is another cable required for public/fast charging? What would I be looking at to be set after a home charger installation?

Fast chargers have the cable attached to the charger itself. You don’t need a cable for that. The trick is to make sure the i3 your buying is fast charging capable as it was an option on some.

I'll be getting a 162+, all 94ah Rex i3's from then are fast charging capable I think?

DrPhilG · 12-01-2019 12:17am

oodles19 wrote: »

I'll be getting a 162+, all 94ah Rex i3's from then are fast charging capable I think?

I believe so, mine is anyway and it's a 162.

Patser · 12-01-2019 12:21am

oodles19 wrote: »

I'll be getting a 162+, all 94ah Rex i3's from then are fast charging capable I think?

Think you're right but if you want to double check ask is the car DC ready (it'll have a 2nd small 2 prong plug below the main charging plug)

Also just to elaborate on Mad Lad above. Yes all i3s come with a granny cable (which you shouldn't really ever need to use). Instead make sure you're getting an AC cable as well - this wasn't standard with very car, but essential so most cars will have one. This is what you'll be charging with mostly- 90% of public chargers are AC. The fast DC chargers (also called CCS) will have their own cables, and connect with those 2 extra prongs a DC ready car will have. DC chargers are much rarer than AC ones, and mostly clustered on motorways.

oodles19 · 12-01-2019 12:26am

DrPhilG wrote: »

oodles19 wrote: »

I'll be getting a 162+, all 94ah Rex i3's from then are fast charging capable I think?

I believe so, mine is anyway and it's a 162.

Yeah, I think they standardised it after moving to the 33kwh battery, I'm now trapped in a hell of sussing spec for the mother, I think the i3 94ah Rex is the perfect car for her needs, and there's real value in the UK at base spec, but if you want an extra or two it starts climbing quickly!

oodles19 · 12-01-2019 12:30am

Patser wrote: »

oodles19 wrote: »

I'll be getting a 162+, all 94ah Rex i3's from then are fast charging capable I think?

Think you're right but if you want to double check ask is the car DC ready (it'll have a 2nd small 2 prong plug below the main charging plug)

Also just to elaborate on Mad Lad above. Yes all i3s come with a granny cable (which you shouldn't really ever need to use). Instead make sure you're getting an AC cable as well - this wasn't standard with very car, but essential so most cars will have one. This is what you'll be charging with mostly- 90% of public chargers are AC. The fast DC chargers (also called CCS) will have their own cables, and connect with those 2 extra prongs a DC ready car will have. DC chargers are much rarer than AC ones, and mostly clustered on motorways.

Ah! So the i3 can charge from AC and DC chargers? This is really an element I should have checked out in advance, the use case for the car being bought is mostly pootling about within range and back, but you never know. The AC cable wouldn't be standard then?

Patser · 12-01-2019 12:46am

oodles19 wrote: »

Ah! So the i3 can charge from AC and DC chargers? This is really an element I should have checked out in advance, the use case for the car being bought is mostly pootling about within range and back, but you never know. The AC cable wouldn't be standard then?

I got caught with this too. All blurb will talk of fast charging, and how you can charge in 30 minutes etc (not just BMW i3) but vast amount of your charging will be AC (about 4 hours from flat - again as Mad Lad mentions above. Your car will charge quickly to about 80% then slow down for last 20%. Takes pretty much even time for both)

So granny cable is standard, but incredibly slow. It's there for emergencies as you can plug in to any 3 pin socket anywhere. So visiting someone else and staying overnight- Grand.

AC charging - your home charger will be this, as are 90% of public chargers. You'll need an AC cable for this but very good chance your car will have it already as it's essential. You also have an option to buy a tethered home charger - ie cable is built on.

DC charging - great if you're in a rush and on a long trip. 30 minutes will give you 80% and get you on the way. But those charge points still uncommon and getting increasingly popular (as in expect queues). Also DC charging to full all the time can hurt your battery (newest Leaf is getting crucified for this)

So ask whoever your buying off Is it DC ready (extra little sockets) - handy to have. And how many cables are with it. Hopefully 2, as a good AC cable will cost few hundred euro. But if guess it'll be there as previous owner would have needed it.

oodles19 · 12-01-2019 12:57am

Patser wrote: »

oodles19 wrote: »

Ah! So the i3 can charge from AC and DC chargers? This is really an element I should have checked out in advance, the use case for the car being bought is mostly pootling about within range and back, but you never know. The AC cable wouldn't be standard then?

I got caught with this too. All blurb will talk of fast charging, and how you can charge in 30 minutes etc (not just BMW i3) but vast amount of your charging will be AC (about 4 hours from flat - again as Mad Lad mentions above. Your car will charge quickly to about 80% then slow down for last 20%. Takes pretty much even time for both)

So granny cable is standard, but incredibly slow. It's there for emergencies as you can plug in to any 3 pin socket anywhere. So visiting someone else and staying overnight- Grand.

AC charging - your home charger will be this, as are 90% of public chargers. You'll need an AC cable for this but very good chance your car will have it already as it's essential. You also have an option to buy a tethered home charger - ie cable is built on.

DC charging - great if you're in a rush and on a long trip. 30 minutes will give you 80% and get you on the way. But those charge points still uncommon and getting increasingly popular (as in expect queues). Also DC charging to full all the time can hurt your battery (newest Leaf is getting crucified for this)

So ask whoever your buying off Is it DC ready (extra little sockets) - handy to have. And how many cables are with it. Hopefully 2, as a good AC cable will cost few hundred euro. But if guess it'll be there as previous owner would have needed it.

Great info this! I didn't look into the public charging/charging in general element at all really tbh, because the car will be used for short hops or trips that can handle there and back within range handily. There is the very odd time where a longer trip from Clare to Mayo or Kilkenny might be called for, to a normal home without any EV setup, but I figured the granny cable would suffice for that as the car would be staying overnight (+15 hours), you reckon I should be looking for an AV cable in addition to the granny cable? I'll be going over to the UK to look at cars in the next week or so, so it would be good info to have either way!

Patser · 12-01-2019 1:02am

The rex system is great for those longer trips, absolutely ideal.

As for AC cable, yes definitely ask for one you'll need it at some time. What time of home charger are you looking at?

oodles19 · 12-01-2019 1:10am

Patser wrote: »

The rex system is great for those longer trips, absolutely ideal.

As for AC cable, yes definitely ask for one you'll need it at some time. What time of home charger are you looking at?

It's a 162+ 94ah Rex I'll be looking to import, purely as a "just in case" cos' I'll be getting the phonecall if she runs out of juice! Haven't looked at type of home charger yet, there's an outside regular socket that will do for now where the car will be kept as is. I know there's a €600 grant for an upgraded charger which I'd be looking to go for, what would you recommend yourself?

Thanks again for all this info by the way, this kind of stuff is invaluable to noobs like myself!

DrPhilG · 12-01-2019 2:03am

Patser wrote: »

Also DC charging to full all the time can hurt your battery (newest Leaf is getting crucified for this)

Sorry I have to disagree there.

The 40kwh Leaf is getting slaughtered due to #rapidgate, which means that on multiple fast charges in the same journey, the battery sometimes overheats and restricts the charging speed.

It has nothing to do with DC charging to full, it is all about DC charging 2 or more times on the same trip.

Besides, (1)unlike the Leaf, the i3 does actively cool the battery and (2)nobody in their right mind ever charges any EV to 100% on a fast charger because all cars taper the charge speed towards the top end so charging to 100% would be painfully slow. Like half an hour for the last 3% slow.

The various Leafs taper badly at anywhere from 80-90%, the Ioniq at 94%, the i3 at 93%.

DrPhilG · 12-01-2019 2:07am

In the off chance that you find a good deal on a car but the AC charging cable isn't included, either contact Phil at Electric Autos, or check the "Irish EV Owners buy and sell" page on Facebook. There is an official BMW one on there at the minute for sale.

oodles19 · 12-01-2019 2:16am

DrPhilG wrote: »

In the off chance that you find a good deal on a car but the AC charging cable isn't included, either contact Phil at Electric Autos, or check the "Irish EV Owners buy and sell" page on Facebook. There is an official BMW one on there at the minute for sale.

Thanks very much for that, it could be very useful! The plan was to wait until the Brexit vote on Tuesday, and see what it it does to Sterling rates (already favourable I know), then go over with Currancyfair or Transfermate already paid in. That said looking at trade prices on something like ukcarimports.ie has my head turned, plus the eternal desire for spec has me somewhat in a tizzy, didn't think of possibly additional cables at all!

DrPhilG · 12-01-2019 2:28am

Speak to Phil in Electric Autos, he can source a car to match your spec and will sort out the import process too, for not much more (or maybe even less) than you could do it for yourself.

PS, don't forget that on a 162 REx you will face a VRT bill. I paid around €1600.

liamog · 12-01-2019 2:56am

DrPhilG wrote: »

It has nothing to do with DC charging to full, it is all about DC charging 2 or more times on the same trip.

This! These days its nigh on impossible to 100% charge an EV anyway. Most manufacturers build in a buffer at the top of the battery. The Ioniq for instance will only rapid charge to 94%. However the actual battery pack will be at 90%. Charging on AC regularly to 100% is likely to have to little to no effect on degradation for most cars.

12-01-2019 3:31am

Just to make some things clear on the I3 "94Ah"

The i3 94 Ah is supplied with a single phase charge lead which is good for up to 7 Kw.

My first post today or yesterday evening was in relation to AC "3 Phase" 11 Kw here in work but the 3 phase lead is not supplied with the car I had to buy it separate but I made the mistake of buying a 16 amp instead of a 32 amp, why does it matter ? because while the 16 amp provides full power on 3 phase , being 16 amp it will pull about 3.5 Kw max on single phase so that's something to watch, it's no big deal really because I can bring my single phase lead with me and both leads fit in the Frunk.

So the i3 charges at.

3.5 Kw AC
7.5 Kw AC
11 Kw 3 phase AC with separate 3 phase lead.

50 Kw DC.

11 Kw is dead handy, imagine all the older ev's with 3.5 Kw on AC ?

AC at 11 Kw or even 7 Kw can save a lot of time spent waiting at fast chargers.

While Carlow Town has no CCS or no CCS within 50 Km of me I can plug in in town and it's charged in 2.5 hrs to 10 - 90-95%. but even in 1 hr I can get a decent charge on 3 phase AC @ 11 Kw.

12-01-2019 3:36am

DrPhilG wrote: »

Sorry I have to disagree there.

The 40kwh Leaf is getting slaughtered due to #rapidgate, which means that on multiple fast charges in the same journey, the battery sometimes overheats and restricts the charging speed.

It has nothing to do with DC charging to full, it is all about DC charging 2 or more times on the same trip.

Besides, (1)unlike the Leaf, the i3 does actively cool the battery and (2)nobody in their right mind ever charges any EV to 100% on a fast charger because all cars taper the charge speed towards the top end so charging to 100% would be painfully slow. Like half an hour for the last 3% slow.

The various Leafs taper badly at anywhere from 80-90%, the Ioniq at 94%, the i3 at 93%.

Doesn't have to be multiple fast charges, throttling can begin on the first DC charge depending on the ambient temp and how hard the car is driven but I expect most of the time it's not a big issue for many people.

People forget cold charging can also be slow, slow as 30 Kw or perhaps lower if the battery is very cold even in the middle of an Irish Summer night time temps can get to 10 Deg C or below regularly and if the battery is 10 Deg C charging isn't going to be very fast for most if not all electric cars.

So cold and heat is an issue.

oodles19 · 12-01-2019 10:59am

DrPhilG wrote: »

Speak to Phil in Electric Autos, he can source a car to match your spec and will sort out the import process too, for not much more (or maybe even less) than you could do it for yourself.

PS, don't forget that on a 162 REx you will face a VRT bill. I paid around €1600.

I imported my own car so I'm familiar with VRT and the Revenue calculator etc. It's coming out at €1300/€1400 now, which makes sense with the new year ticking over, I might give him a bell just to see what he's coming in at!

There's a decent selection of cars at what I would call very low mileage, sub 20k, anything to be wary of with an i3 that hasn't been used much? Conversely, should I steer clear of cars with say 40k miles plus on them in your view?

DrPhilG · 12-01-2019 12:49pm

oodles19 wrote: »

There's a decent selection of cars at what I would call very low mileage, sub 20k, anything to be wary of with an i3 that hasn't been used much? Conversely, should I steer clear of cars with say 40k miles plus on them in your view?

My car had 4500km on it and was 2 years old. Still excellent overall battery condition. They seem perfectly happy at high mileage too. The attraction of a low mileage car for me is simply that selling again in 2-3 years, the car will still have nice low miles.

That said I didn't specifically seek out such a low mileage car, I was looking for a certain spec and this one fit.

oodles19 · 12-01-2019 3:14pm

DrPhilG wrote: »

oodles19 wrote: »

There's a decent selection of cars at what I would call very low mileage, sub 20k, anything to be wary of with an i3 that hasn't been used much? Conversely, should I steer clear of cars with say 40k miles plus on them in your view?

My car had 4500km on it and was 2 years old. Still excellent overall battery condition. They seem perfectly happy at high mileage too. The attraction of a low mileage car for me is simply that selling again in 2-3 years, the car will still have nice low miles.

That said I didn't specifically seek out such a low mileage car, I was looking for a certain spec and this one fit.

The car will be for my mother, she's rather morbidly calling it her "last car"! She wanted an automatic, higher driving position and comfort, she doesn't do many miles, so I suggested a 94ah Rex as being perfect really, with the bonus of the low overhead on it.

She only put a hair over 100k km on her last car in 10 years, so I wouldn't be scared of 30k miles or under for a 2 year old car

Patser · 12-01-2019 3:26pm

Since this appears to be best 'have i3 question' thread, I'll ask here.

Have my i3 almost a year now - pure BEV - and it has the little service due reminder pop up now and again.

Now it has a full BMW service history prior to me getting it - so I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep that running. But what exactly should I be asking BMW dealer for, and how much will they charge for it.

Was lead to believe it only needs a service every 2 years and visual check every year in between. So hardly want to rock up to bmw to have a mechanic kick tyres, say she's Grand and charge €200. Anyone know what's involved.

12-01-2019 10:04pm

I presume for warranty purposes it's best to have a BMW service at required intervals.

If I remember correctly service is every 2 years regardless of mileage think also for the Rex but mine is showing oil change and brake fluid after 1 yr 10 months old and about 44,000 kms probably due to to usage of the Rex not sure.

Probably change pollen filter , I must RTFM.

Battery is still perfect but the Rex can always make up for any loss of battery capacity in the years to come.

DrPhilG · 13-01-2019 2:49am

oodles19 wrote: »

higher driving position and comfort

Has she had a test drive? The i3 seats are a bit of a debate, some say they're horrendously uncomfortable while I quite like them.

13-01-2019 2:57am

I don't think the i3 seats are uncomfortable at all. I like them a lot. Could drive forever and not have a sore back.

DrPhilG · 13-01-2019 3:02am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I don't think the i3 seats are uncomfortable at all. I like them a lot. Could drive forever and not have a sore back.

Likewise, but there are a lot of people who say they're terrible. So best to make sure his mother isn't one of them before she shells out €20k+.

13-01-2019 3:04am

Personal preference , lots of people say the seats in lots of cars are comfortable/uncomfortable.

My Mother never complained about the seats in my i3, no one has that's been in it.

Guess what Mad_Lad got this time?

Comments