BMW 330e ordered...

[DragonflyTrumpeter]

Funkydunc said:

Humpy you obviously have one of the older cars. The newer ones post June/July charge to 90% in battery save.

My comments re charging were based on save mode, not Auto E. However even in Auto E although not charging to 90% the effect is the same. Leave work with 20% battery. Within 1.5 miles down to 10%, charging back to 20% takes a fair few miles, and if those miles are hilly that means you get about 15mpg. Then it clicks straight back to battery, uses it down to about 8% (in less miles than it takes to charge), and then the cycle starts again. It cant be efficient.

I agree a button to turn off epower would be best, but would that then mean the car would fail emissions tests etc?

All the comments about being negative about the car, surely with such a new vehicle, any knowledge that is shared helps inform people whether to purchase or not?

Edited by Funkydunc on Tuesday 13th December 13:31

If your comments on 90% recharge were regarding save mode, I am not sure why you bothered. In auto e however my car sits around 12 - 15% range all the time, definitely not the same as yours. Does anyone else get the battery fluctuating from 8 - 20% continually in auto e mode?

I am interested due to the apparent differences with the age of car. My car is 7 months old but unfortunately my battery pack is only 2 months

[humpy999]

In mine, on AutoE the most it gets up to is 12-15% on active charge, it's possible on the motorway with some regen that it gets to 20%. In crawling traffic it quite happily discharges to 1% then when the traffic gets moving again it charges from the ICE.

[humpy999]

DragonflyTrumpeter said:

humpy999 said:

Quick question as I've never measured it but does anyone know how many kWh a full charge is from say 5% to 100%? I know it's a 7.6kWh battery but I also read that 20% is 'hidden' and can't be accessed. is a full charge 5kWh or thereabouts therefore?

Just checked my charging records and the most I have done is nearly 6.4kw.

Thanks

[humpy999]

DragonflyTrumpeter said:

Funkydunc said:

I agree a button to turn off epower would be best, but would that then mean the car would fail emissions tests etc?

Edited by Funkydunc on Tuesday 13th December 13:31

If your comments on 90% recharge were regarding save mode, I am not sure why you bothered. In auto e however my car sits around 12 - 15% range all the time, definitely not the same as yours. Does anyone else get the battery fluctuating from 8 - 20% continually in auto e mode?

I am interested due to the apparent differences with the age of car. My car is 7 months old but unfortunately my battery pack is only 2 months

Doesn't shifting the gear lever to the left into M/S effectively result in ePower being turned off (unless you boot it of course)

[Orion917]

BMW330enut said:

Finally have a build slot! Early Feb so looks like mines going to be a march delivery as the leasing co won't register after mid Feb due to plate change.

Can't wait now it's been a long time

I'm the same through Alphabet, early Feb delivery quoted.

[shep1001]

Chris1712 said:

Just got the 'low coolant level' warning like others had a while ago, car is on 7500 miles now. Anything to worry about? What did you guys do? Just take it to BMW and let them deal with it or should I buy some coolant online to top it up?


They have had 5 goes at fixing my coolant leak & will be having a 6th in the new year. Not a 330e. It appears to be leaking into rather than out of the engine most likely on the exhaust side but they are still fannying about looking for something leaking out which isn't there!

[Denno B]

Thought I'd update my first 6 months of ownership. In the 4K miles I have done so far I have been averaging around 55mpg, my daily commute is 26 miles a day, mixture of roads, half of which is motorway. This is with fully charged car using Eco pro and auto e-drive. Didn't think that was too bad, quite happy with it in fact. On fully charged electric driving only which I've tried on a couple of occasions I have managed between 16-20 miles.

This week my charger seems to have packed in so have been running on fuel alone, same journey averaging 27 mpg. Thought it may have done slighter better, especially considering my previous m135i would average 30 mpg!

Overall I have been quite impressed with the car, I do miss the straight 6 noise though, this thing as expected sounds like a hairdryer when not in electric mode. That aside it is comfortable, relatively quick and economical, a great alternative to the derv equivalents IMO.

Would I go hybrid again? Probably not, the hassle of charging daily becomes a little tedious, think in a couple of years time I will go back to a straight forward petrol in the shape of a m140i or 340i. But for the time being I will enjoy the cheaper overall running costs and am happy I have tried something a little different.

[DragonflyTrumpeter]

humpy999 said:

In mine, on AutoE the most it gets up to is 12-15% on active charge, it's possible on the motorway with some regen that it gets to 20%. In crawling traffic it quite happily discharges to 1% then when the traffic gets moving again it charges from the ICE.

I had a decent run today so took the chance to keep an eye on the battery / mpg etc. I was in town and filled the tank with the battery sitting at only 8% charge. I then did a 256 mile trip from there.

I did approx 140 miles (mainly cruise control) motorway , approx 80 miles dual carriageway open driving, approx 30 miles @ 50 mph open driving and the small balance going through a couple of built up areas. No crawling as such. I recharged once in 'save mode' to 40% before going through a city and left it in auto e mode at all other times. The battery charge increased to 15% more or less as soon as I got going and stayed at 15% for virtually the full 256 miles apart from the save part (50 miles in to the journey) and using it up immediately thereafter. Any time I had to slow down I accelerated hard back to speed and 5 or 6 times, overtaking etc, I used absolutely all the 252hp available from the drive train. I saw the expected dips in charge before stabilising at 15% again immediately after. At the end of the trip I had the same 15% so very consistent and normal for my car.

I necked the tank again and replaced 29.63 litres for my 256.2 miles. Nothing wrong with that, 39.3mpg if my counting is correct, just about spot on the full range bmw claimed and the battery behaved as expected. Next time I will do the same run starting with a full battery charge.

Edit: Comfort mode

Edited by DragonflyTrumpeter on Wednesday 14th December 20:25

[humpy999]

DragonflyTrumpeter said:

humpy999 said:

In mine, on AutoE the most it gets up to is 12-15% on active charge, it's possible on the motorway with some regen that it gets to 20%. In crawling traffic it quite happily discharges to 1% then when the traffic gets moving again it charges from the ICE.

I had a decent run today so took the chance to keep an eye on the battery / mpg etc. I was in town and filled the tank with the battery sitting at only 8% charge. I then did a 256 mile trip from there.

I did approx 140 miles (mainly cruise control) motorway , approx 80 miles dual carriageway open driving, approx 30 miles @ 50 mph open driving and the small balance going through a couple of built up areas. No crawling as such. I recharged once in 'save mode' to 40% before going through a city and left it in auto e mode at all other times. The battery charge increased to 15% more or less as soon as I got going and stayed at 15% for virtually the full 256 miles apart from the save part (50 miles in to the journey) and using it up immediately thereafter. Any time I had to slow down I accelerated hard back to speed and 5 or 6 times, overtaking etc, I used absolutely all the 252hp available from the drive train. I saw the expected dips in charge before stabilising at 15% again immediately after. At the end of the trip I had the same 15% so very consistent and normal for my car.

I necked the tank again and replaced 29.63 litres for my 256.2 miles. Nothing wrong with that, 39.3mpg if my counting is correct, just about spot on the full range bmw claimed and the battery behaved as expected. Next time I will do the same run starting with a full battery charge.

Edit: Comfort mode

Edited by DragonflyTrumpeter on Wednesday 14th December 20:25

That's a good narrative and one my car would follow precisely too... perhaps unsurprisingly as I guess they have the same software. I also enjoy using the full 252...

[ds666]

DragonflyTrumpeter said:

humpy999 said:

In mine, on AutoE the most it gets up to is 12-15% on active charge, it's possible on the motorway with some regen that it gets to 20%. In crawling traffic it quite happily discharges to 1% then when the traffic gets moving again it charges from the ICE.

I had a decent run today so took the chance to keep an eye on the battery / mpg etc. I was in town and filled the tank with the battery sitting at only 8% charge. I then did a 256 mile trip from there.

I did approx 140 miles (mainly cruise control) motorway , approx 80 miles dual carriageway open driving, approx 30 miles @ 50 mph open driving and the small balance going through a couple of built up areas. No crawling as such. I recharged once in 'save mode' to 40% before going through a city and left it in auto e mode at all other times. The battery charge increased to 15% more or less as soon as I got going and stayed at 15% for virtually the full 256 miles apart from the save part (50 miles in to the journey) and using it up immediately thereafter. Any time I had to slow down I accelerated hard back to speed and 5 or 6 times, overtaking etc, I used absolutely all the 252hp available from the drive train. I saw the expected dips in charge before stabilising at 15% again immediately after. At the end of the trip I had the same 15% so very consistent and normal for my car.

I necked the tank again and replaced 29.63 litres for my 256.2 miles. Nothing wrong with that, 39.3mpg if my counting is correct, just about spot on the full range bmw claimed and the battery behaved as expected. Next time I will do the same run starting with a full battery charge.

Edit: Comfort mode

Edited by DragonflyTrumpeter on Wednesday 14th December 20:25

So this just proves how much of a co2 con Hybrids are if used over the sorts of annual mileage they are probably used over ( i.e. say 20000mls p.a.) . My 309bhp 335d does about the same mpg ;as a company car it's BIK would be almost 3 times that of a 330e . How does that work ?

[JonnyVTEC]

Well atleast it's not a dirty diesel.

[DragonflyTrumpeter]

ds666 said:

So this just proves how much of a co2 con Hybrids are if used over the sorts of annual mileage they are probably used over ( i.e. say 20000mls p.a.) . My 309bhp 335d does about the same mpg ;as a company car it's BIK would be almost 3 times that of a 330e . How does that work ?

4 times the bik I think. Means you pay 4 times as much tax, that's about how it works.

[davidab157]

Chris1712 said:

Just got the 'low coolant level' warning like others had a while ago, car is on 7500 miles now. Anything to worry about? What did you guys do? Just take it to BMW and let them deal with it or should I buy some coolant online to top it up?

I've had it come up twice now in 5k miles. Both times it was around 3 miles into the journey at the same motorway slip road just as the engine kicked in. Drove to the destination and when I next started the car I got no warning for weeks. Then the second one came a week or so ago on the same bit of road. Again, next day when I started the car the warning had gone

That slip road is on a reasonably steep hill so not sure if that is playing a part?

If it happens again I'll call the lease provider and get someone to come out to it (company car).

[Soov535]

ds666 said:

DragonflyTrumpeter said:

humpy999 said:

In mine, on AutoE the most it gets up to is 12-15% on active charge, it's possible on the motorway with some regen that it gets to 20%. In crawling traffic it quite happily discharges to 1% then when the traffic gets moving again it charges from the ICE.

I had a decent run today so took the chance to keep an eye on the battery / mpg etc. I was in town and filled the tank with the battery sitting at only 8% charge. I then did a 256 mile trip from there.

I did approx 140 miles (mainly cruise control) motorway , approx 80 miles dual carriageway open driving, approx 30 miles @ 50 mph open driving and the small balance going through a couple of built up areas. No crawling as such. I recharged once in 'save mode' to 40% before going through a city and left it in auto e mode at all other times. The battery charge increased to 15% more or less as soon as I got going and stayed at 15% for virtually the full 256 miles apart from the save part (50 miles in to the journey) and using it up immediately thereafter. Any time I had to slow down I accelerated hard back to speed and 5 or 6 times, overtaking etc, I used absolutely all the 252hp available from the drive train. I saw the expected dips in charge before stabilising at 15% again immediately after. At the end of the trip I had the same 15% so very consistent and normal for my car.

I necked the tank again and replaced 29.63 litres for my 256.2 miles. Nothing wrong with that, 39.3mpg if my counting is correct, just about spot on the full range bmw claimed and the battery behaved as expected. Next time I will do the same run starting with a full battery charge.

Edit: Comfort mode

Edited by DragonflyTrumpeter on Wednesday 14th December 20:25

So this just proves how much of a co2 con Hybrids are if used over the sorts of annual mileage they are probably used over ( i.e. say 20000mls p.a.) . My 309bhp 335d does about the same mpg ;as a company car it's BIK would be almost 3 times that of a 330e . How does that work ?

It works by extracting another £300 A MONTH from you!!

The company car tax on a 330d would be £400 a month for me.

On the 330e it will be £98.

[ds666]

That's my point . Hybrids are just a tax fiddle with little environmental benefit . It will all change in a few years mind .

[Soov535]

ds666 said:

That's my point . Hybrids are just a tax fiddle with little environmental benefit . It will all change in a few years mind .

In the meantime I am taking full advantage! Lord knows I pay enough tax in other ways.

[MrT330e]

ds666 said:

That's my point . Hybrids are just a tax fiddle with little environmental benefit . It will all change in a few years mind .

Thats true if you do 40k motorway miles but as has been said before not if you have the journey profile that suits the car.
I drove to work this morning without using a drop of petrol. And I'll drive home tonight without using a drop either (unless I get a heavy right foot!)

That's 25 miles a day, 125 miles a week and almost 6000 miles a year travelling to work without using any petrol. Not to mention any short journeys at the weekends.
Yes it costs me less in tax but IMHO it's also pretty good for the environment.

[caseys]

Has anyone got CarPlay yet? Or know how to possibly code it in?

[DragonflyTrumpeter]

ds666 said:

That's my point . Hybrids are just a tax fiddle with little environmental benefit . It will all change in a few years mind .

Duly noted. Total motoring costs of £135 a month for a car like that is a real bummer for the tax man And whilst it will change a bit in in the coming years, the 330e is going to be way more income tax friendly for cc drivers than similar options.

The 330e is currently bik 7% then 9, 13 + 16% in 19/20. Compared to 330d, currently 26% then 28, 30 + 33%. So still less than half after 4 years. The e is a cheaper list price than the d as well, even without grant.

As Soov535 says, we pay plenty income tax so may as well enjoy one benefit. Many will choose just to simply take the cut rate whilst it is an option and then change to suit when the rules dictate.

[Nightine]

Car was due tomorrow but it failed it's pre-delivery inspection due to it not holding its charge.

They are fitting a new part (think they said ecu) which makes me nervous as it's brand new and already developed a fault.

Anybody else had this or heard of it?

New delivery date of next week as apparently it's a big job.