I took delivery of a new, 2014 BMW i3 (plug-in electric car) this past week. It was a rather belated 50th birthday present to myself. It's an absolute BLAST to drive, and it's sold as strictly as a commuter or "city" car. The car features an all-electric range (depending on how it's driven) of up to 60 miles. Mine has the "range extender" option, which is a gas powered BMW motorcycle engine which will activate when the electric range gets low, and charge the battery for another 55 miles, or until it runs out of gas. The gas tank for the range extender is 1.9 gallons, so it's not designed for cross country cruising. The range extender doesn't drive the wheels, it just charges the battery.
Curiously enough, this car is the fastest 0-30 MPH car that BMW manufactures. When you step on the pedal, you (can be) pressed back into the seat, but the range will definitely take a hit. There are 3 driving "modes", or electronic driving style settings. There is the default setting of "comfort", which is normal driving response as in any BMW, but it's also the most battery intensive mode. I've been driving around town in what's known as "Eco-Pro" mode, which throttles back acceleration, and cuts the HVAC output by half, to save battery power. There's also an "Eco-Pro Plus" mode, which cuts out all HVAC action, and really throttles back the acceleration. You can, of course, step on the accelerator in an emergency, and override the electronic throttle back action.
What's amazing is the regenerative braking on this car. Take your foot off of the accelerator, and the car IMMEDIATELY starts to slow down with purpose..there's no gentle coasting in this car. That is done to take advantage of the brake system's ability to recharge the battery, like in a hybrid, only much more noticeable.
The car also features some unique (to me) electronic goodies. One of them is a self-parallel parking feature. Using a mirror-mounted camera and sensors mounted in the fenders, when switched on, it will detect an empty parking space, and then proceed to parallel park itself with no input from the driver. It takes over steering, braking and...parking, damnit!, then it chimes when you're parked. I haven't had the courage to play with that yet. It has camera-based cruise control, which detects cars ahead of you, and slows your speed down so as to not get too close to a car that may be slowing on the freeway. I've tried that, and it's neat. It just flashes an icon on the dash screen, and brakes the car gently. This same camera "reads" street speed signs, and compares your speed to the legal posted speed. When there are no speed signs, it gets information from satellite input about what the local speed is on the road you're driving. Sounds a little heavy-handed, and it works.
Another trick I've not yet tried, is ACC, anti-collision control. It senses (again cameras and fender sensors) pedestrians in your path, and will brake the vehicle to avoid hitting them. The same sensors can kick in when you're backing up the car, so you don't hit any objects in your path. It also has low speed front parking sensors, so you don't hit a wall or curb. All of these nannies can be manually switched off.
Charging is accomplished either via 240v charger (which BMW will happily sell to you as a $1,080.00 un-installed accessory, installation by BOSCH), or the provided 120v home use charger, which takes about 11 hours to completely recharge a completely spent battery. I don't go that far daily; 30 miles to and from work, and a little shopping, so I'm going to try the 120v charger for a few months to see if my needs are met that way.
I bought a unique color; solar orange. It was a close to a red car as BMW makes in this model. I told my husband that at age 50, it was time for a red car, or a red-headed 20 year old. We both agreed that the red car would be less aggro in the short term, and it's under warranty for 4 years or 50 K miles.
Curiously enough, this car is the fastest 0-30 MPH car that BMW manufactures. When you step on the pedal, you (can be) pressed back into the seat, but the range will definitely take a hit. There are 3 driving "modes", or electronic driving style settings. There is the default setting of "comfort", which is normal driving response as in any BMW, but it's also the most battery intensive mode. I've been driving around town in what's known as "Eco-Pro" mode, which throttles back acceleration, and cuts the HVAC output by half, to save battery power. There's also an "Eco-Pro Plus" mode, which cuts out all HVAC action, and really throttles back the acceleration. You can, of course, step on the accelerator in an emergency, and override the electronic throttle back action.
What's amazing is the regenerative braking on this car. Take your foot off of the accelerator, and the car IMMEDIATELY starts to slow down with purpose..there's no gentle coasting in this car. That is done to take advantage of the brake system's ability to recharge the battery, like in a hybrid, only much more noticeable.
The car also features some unique (to me) electronic goodies. One of them is a self-parallel parking feature. Using a mirror-mounted camera and sensors mounted in the fenders, when switched on, it will detect an empty parking space, and then proceed to parallel park itself with no input from the driver. It takes over steering, braking and...parking, damnit!, then it chimes when you're parked. I haven't had the courage to play with that yet. It has camera-based cruise control, which detects cars ahead of you, and slows your speed down so as to not get too close to a car that may be slowing on the freeway. I've tried that, and it's neat. It just flashes an icon on the dash screen, and brakes the car gently. This same camera "reads" street speed signs, and compares your speed to the legal posted speed. When there are no speed signs, it gets information from satellite input about what the local speed is on the road you're driving. Sounds a little heavy-handed, and it works.
Another trick I've not yet tried, is ACC, anti-collision control. It senses (again cameras and fender sensors) pedestrians in your path, and will brake the vehicle to avoid hitting them. The same sensors can kick in when you're backing up the car, so you don't hit any objects in your path. It also has low speed front parking sensors, so you don't hit a wall or curb. All of these nannies can be manually switched off.
Charging is accomplished either via 240v charger (which BMW will happily sell to you as a $1,080.00 un-installed accessory, installation by BOSCH), or the provided 120v home use charger, which takes about 11 hours to completely recharge a completely spent battery. I don't go that far daily; 30 miles to and from work, and a little shopping, so I'm going to try the 120v charger for a few months to see if my needs are met that way.
I bought a unique color; solar orange. It was a close to a red car as BMW makes in this model. I told my husband that at age 50, it was time for a red car, or a red-headed 20 year old. We both agreed that the red car would be less aggro in the short term, and it's under warranty for 4 years or 50 K miles.
