My BMW 1-Series ActiveE test
Discussion
Today was my first 100% electric car experience. My employer has three BMW 1-Series ActiveE cars on long-term loan from BMW, which are in essence test mules for the new BMW i3 if I've understood correctly. I believe the motors and gearbox are the same / very similar to the i3 although I'd assume the 1-Series is heavier.
Looks normal on the outside, bar the Tron-style graphics!
Something is up with the rev counter though!
Driving it was quite a strange experience. For one it's left hand drive. You pop the key in the dash and press the start button as normal. Only nothing audible happens. The cluster springs to life and confirms the car is 'Ready'. Then you shift to D (exactly as any other BMW auto box of that generation) and it goes!
Slow speed is where I think you get the best of the electric motor. It moves off very quickly considering the weight. It feels like it's running out of puff a little by 50 but I'd say it would beat my ancient e36 323iA to 80. After about 20mph there is no noise beyond tyres & wind noise. Below this there's a whine from the motors that I quite like to be honest!
Around town there is virtually no need to use the brakes. Take your foot off the accelerator and there's quite a lot of retardation as it moves into energy recovery (needle move to 'Charge' on the dash). I think I used the brakes no more than twice each way in my 16 mile round trip across Swindon.
On the motorway the acceleration was subdued (I believe it may be limited to 90 but didn't check!) and you can see it making a real dent in the battery charge. I suspect the 80 mile range wouldn't be achievable on the motorway. Perhaps 60 miles might be closer to it unless you're driving it exclusively round town.
Would I buy one? Affordability aside I think I would strongly consider an i3. However this would depend on a few things:
- Having a car in the family for the 1% of drives where we do need a range beyond 80mph (my commute is 10 miles each way)
- Also owning something for driving pleasure. Great short distance travel but not fun at all.
- Provision of a dedicated parking space with free / very cheap charging at work.
The latter is a possibility for the near future although I'd doubt it would be a long term proposition if these things go mass market. I believe this would suit a lot of people at work who are driving round Swindon only while clogging up their barely warm diesels.
Looks normal on the outside, bar the Tron-style graphics!
Something is up with the rev counter though!
Driving it was quite a strange experience. For one it's left hand drive. You pop the key in the dash and press the start button as normal. Only nothing audible happens. The cluster springs to life and confirms the car is 'Ready'. Then you shift to D (exactly as any other BMW auto box of that generation) and it goes!
Slow speed is where I think you get the best of the electric motor. It moves off very quickly considering the weight. It feels like it's running out of puff a little by 50 but I'd say it would beat my ancient e36 323iA to 80. After about 20mph there is no noise beyond tyres & wind noise. Below this there's a whine from the motors that I quite like to be honest!
Around town there is virtually no need to use the brakes. Take your foot off the accelerator and there's quite a lot of retardation as it moves into energy recovery (needle move to 'Charge' on the dash). I think I used the brakes no more than twice each way in my 16 mile round trip across Swindon.
On the motorway the acceleration was subdued (I believe it may be limited to 90 but didn't check!) and you can see it making a real dent in the battery charge. I suspect the 80 mile range wouldn't be achievable on the motorway. Perhaps 60 miles might be closer to it unless you're driving it exclusively round town.
Would I buy one? Affordability aside I think I would strongly consider an i3. However this would depend on a few things:
- Having a car in the family for the 1% of drives where we do need a range beyond 80mph (my commute is 10 miles each way)
- Also owning something for driving pleasure. Great short distance travel but not fun at all.
- Provision of a dedicated parking space with free / very cheap charging at work.
The latter is a possibility for the near future although I'd doubt it would be a long term proposition if these things go mass market. I believe this would suit a lot of people at work who are driving round Swindon only while clogging up their barely warm diesels.
m444ttb said:
Slow speed is where I think you get the best of the electric motor. It moves off very quickly considering the weight. It feels like it's running out of puff a little by 50 but I'd say it would beat my ancient e36 323iA to 80. After about 20mph there is no noise beyond tyres & wind noise. Below this there's a whine from the motors that I quite like to be honest!
I was driving the Tesla S on Gran Turismo 6 and I just couldn't get used to the lack of noise. My timing was all off. Obviously, I'm speaking in terms of track use (in a computer game, yes yes) so it doesn't really apply here but I do wonder how drivers are adapting to electric race cars. I associate noise with how fast I'm going, the sound of the gear changes, hit the limiter maybe etc etc.Edited by moebiusuk on Monday 9th December 20:26
moebiusuk said:
I was driving the Tesla S on Gran Turismo 6 and I just couldn't get used to the lack of noise. My timing was all off. Obviously, I'm speaking in terms of track use so it doesn't really apply here but I do wonder how drivers are adapting to electric race cars. I associate noise with how fast I'm going, the sound of the gear changes, hit the limiter maybe etc etc.
Absolutely. In some ways the lack of noise was relaxing but I felt like I'd lost some sensation of speed. Usually I found I was going slower than I thought.m444ttb said:
I believe the motors and gearbox are the same / very similar to the i3 although I'd assume the 1-Series is heavier.
I just checked the numbers, the ActiveE weighs 1815kgHow come your company has three on loan ? Assessing the feasibility of EV's for pool cars/leased company cars ?
Wow that really is heavy! I assumed it would be c1500kg, I.e. A little more than my 323. The i3 is quite impressive at sub-1200kg then I suppose.
I'm honestly not sure why we have them on test. We aren't involved in the automotive sector in any way, two of our main offices are outside the range of the cars, and the new company car scheme apparently had even fewer cars on it and they are all diesel! I can't see that the cars do an awful lot of miles as they must be effectively stuck in Swindon. The car is borrowed had 3.5k on the clock and I don't think they were brand new when they arrived.
I'm honestly not sure why we have them on test. We aren't involved in the automotive sector in any way, two of our main offices are outside the range of the cars, and the new company car scheme apparently had even fewer cars on it and they are all diesel! I can't see that the cars do an awful lot of miles as they must be effectively stuck in Swindon. The car is borrowed had 3.5k on the clock and I don't think they were brand new when they arrived.
It's the same where my brother works, they do some stuff for Nissan so about 18 months ago a charging point was installed and a LEAF loaned to them for a few months where people could borrow it for up to a week at a time. Apparently it just sat in the EV bay for most of the time not being used.
mids said:
Apparently the power of the regen can be up to 50kw feeding back to the battery. To put that into perspective the fast charger that you get installed at home (for 3 hour charging) is rated at 7kw.
I doubt it's 50kw into the battery - they'd probably melt! 
50kw into a set of capacitors used as a buffer for the battery, I suspect?
m444ttb said:
According to Wiki once they finish their two year lease the car will be taken off the road. Is this likely to be a condition of a development car? You honestly wouldn't know it wasn't a full production car though.
Sounds about right, it will probably end up being crushed! There are very strict rules for pre production cars that get road registered.m444ttb said:
According to Wiki once they finish their two year lease the car will be taken off the road. Is this likely to be a condition of a development car? You honestly wouldn't know it wasn't a full production car though.
I've just noticed you work in the same place as me! I saw you drive past a couple of weeks ago, so figured you must work there.I did wonder about our BMW ActiveE cars, but never looked into it as I never need one. Interesting stuff.
Pulse said:
I've just noticed you work in the same place as me! I saw you drive past a couple of weeks ago, so figured you must work there.
I did wonder about our BMW ActiveE cars, but never looked into it as I never need one. Interesting stuff.
Booking it was a right pain in the arse. Sorted eventually. You'll usually find my car hiding in the multistory car park where a few other PHers like to park. May bring out the Westfield over Christmas if the weather is reasonable.I did wonder about our BMW ActiveE cars, but never looked into it as I never need one. Interesting stuff.
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