I’m going to link you to a report on i3s batteries that provides
some general comments up at the top also, then focuses on the BMW i3s
battery in particular.
It will cover the warranties. It will cover projected range.
https://www.bmwblog.com/2017/04/24/bmw-i3-long-term-battery-capacity-report-better-expected/
I’ve had my vehicle for 1.5 years now, and I see no evidence
of degradation since. That’s more a rather well supported
gut feeling than anything.
I keep some pretty extensive notes on a ledger I set up to track
such matters.
I’m judicious about maintaining proper charging procedure to insure
the longevity of the battery. If I can achieve the same results
over the next year and a half, it could indicate I could expect
long term battery charge integrity.
New battery tech is coming. A number of promising tech ideas have
been touched on, and I do think some of these will come to market
over time.
I expect Lithium to be a dead issue in 3-5 years, and perhaps
less. It’s a problem for everyone, so there won’t be any love lost
there.
Quicker charging dynamics and extended numbers of times they can be
charged will also be coming online.
There are efforts to extend range also, and I do believe these things
will be
achieved over
time.
Some people don’t agree with me, and try to make a case using aspects
of physics in their arguments. I’m in a wait and see mode just like
anyone else. Developers are some pretty driven creative people.
I won’t be surprised at all if they move the goals much farther than
some folks now thing they can.
When the time comes, I’d like to replace my batteries with ones that
will give me longer range and a quicker charge. I’d also like it to
be one that will not use lithium.
I’ve not noticed a high end loss, but cooler weather does seem to
impact the charge range.
I’ve not kept an ambient temperature record along with the normal things
you’d think of on a travel log book. It does seem like there is a
10% loss, but it’s hard to pin down.
If I drive normally, I get certain miles. If I really watch it and
concentrate on it, it get better miles. Then you add to temperature
to the mix, and you have to ponder if the loss of miles was solely due
to the temperature, or if you just weren’t very judicious in your driving
skills. (a mention of the impact of a down grade follows lower down.
I’ve not seen anything approaching a 15-30% loss of driving miles due
to low temperatures. I live in Southern California, so the temps here
are mid 30s and 40s. In the daytime when I’d drive, the temps would
be between 40 to 50 generally, so it’s not a big deal for me here.
(in the cooler months of the year here)
I would be reluctant to purchase this car for northern climates where
temps drop below 30. Even then I’d certainly ask around what others are
experiencing before I bought off on a purchase.
Those functions run off the battery.
There are different modes for driving:
Sport
Comfort
Eco Pro
Eco Pro+
In eco pro+ you get the best mileage, least power. Don’t let that
fool you. It is robust even at a 20% plus grade. It will provide
power for driving the car up to 57 MPH. For the freeway, you’ll need
to move up to eco pro. There you can drive up to 75, and use the A/C.
If you need heat, you’ll need to go into the comfort mode. This will
provide power to the heater*.
Each level increase you make, you’ll burn off charge at an accelerated
rate.
Last night I tried a go around so I wouldn’t have to make a setting
to the comfort mode to get heat. I set the air conditioner to 76 degrees and turned it on. It seemed to take the chill off nicely.
I’ll mess around with that a little more. I may be on to something there that won’t cost me a loss in mileage.
Going down hill, the vehicle shows a marked improvement in higher
mileage figures. This is a third consideration when you’re trying to
evaluate lower temperature, driving more aggressively, and then thinking
about going down or up hill during the burn off of your charge.
The complexity of this car would drive some folks nuts. I really enjoy
playing with all the options.
Thanks for the info and perspective. To me it feels like we’re one or two tech breakthroughs away from EVs being viable as an all-round replacement for ICEs. The question is whether those breakthroughs will happen or if we’re up against a hard wall of physics. We’ve heard about battery breakthroughs for the last half century or so but they never quite seem to pan out. OTOH that’s the way things work sometimes. Things aren’t possible until they become possible, and there may be a lengthy process leading up to that point. The idea of digital computing existed decades before it could be put into practice. The advent of vacuum tubes made it kinda sorta doable on a practical level but then semi conductors happened and all the sudden what hadn’t been possible suddenly was. Examples like that give reason for hope, but of course it has to be tempered with the fact that some technologies truly do reach an outer limit beyond which breakthroughs simply don’t happen. It’s hard to predict which path EV tech will go down but one thing for sure is there are a whole lot of very crafty people who are very motivated to solve the EV problem, as you mentioned.