Bmw 530e ordered?

[raspy]

Pintofbest said:

I got mine a month ago now but have been travelling a lot so not too many miles, love it so far. The refinement is excellent and being on electric through our village has surprised a few people, as it has in car parks too when you are pottering along and someone is walking down the middle of the road!

Pretty basic spec - M-Sport plus, heated rear seats, Carbon Black with black interior,

Did you not get the chance to choose the "eDrive Exterior Sound" option when ordering? I was browsing a broker's website, and that option seems to be showing up as free.

Do you wait for the pedestrians to finish their pottering or do you toot your horn to let them know a car is approaching?

[Pintofbest]

raspy said:

Did you not get the chance to choose the "eDrive Exterior Sound" option when ordering? I was browsing a broker's website, and that option seems to be showing up as free.

Do you wait for the pedestrians to finish their pottering or do you toot your horn to let them know a car is approaching?

I've never even heard of that so will have a google. I just let them finish their pottering as it doesn't really impact my day and when people realise they apologise and we both laugh, I could put the gearbox in to S as that start the engine but it's more fun pretending I'm Blue Thunder on Whisper Mode [/80's]

I have only charged it once and am driving in battery control mode to give the battery some charge (the plugs are being installed at work now) so only seeing 34mpg average, with the very small fuel tank I am filing it up a lot but as on a fuel car it's only an inconvenience not costing me. Loving it though, did the cheap apple car play upgrade which I like and the family love it to the point if we go any further than an hour they all fall asleep! I also hadn't realised it wasn't M Sport suspension so even on 20's it is very comfortable.

[L500]

Hi all,

I've just ordered the 530e also (due in April). I'm totally new to PHEV ownership so a couple of quick questions. Has the government grant ended for home charging point installations (I think it was £500)? and also, at national charging points how do you pay - is it a tap of the credit card or do you need to sign up to anything? Apologies for the basic questions, and lack of patience to Google this, but I thought I'd get the answers quicker on here. Thanks.

[Ohgo0nth3n]

Pintofbest said:

I've never even heard of that so will have a google. I just let them finish their pottering as it doesn't really impact my day and when people realise they apologise and we both laugh, I could put the gearbox in to S as that start the engine but it's more fun pretending I'm Blue Thunder on Whisper Mode [/80's]

I have only charged it once and am driving in battery control mode to give the battery some charge (the plugs are being installed at work now) so only seeing 34mpg average, with the very small fuel tank I am filing it up a lot but as on a fuel car it's only an inconvenience not costing me. Loving it though, did the cheap apple car play upgrade which I like and the family love it to the point if we go any further than an hour they all fall asleep! I also hadn't realised it wasn't M Sport suspension so even on 20's it is very comfortable.

Sounds good. Getting mine in March hopefully. Have you retrofitted the Apple Carplay - didn't seem a particularly 'cheap' extra when I was ordering (over £200)?

[caseys]

L500 said:

Hi all,

I've just ordered the 530e also (due in April). I'm totally new to PHEV ownership so a couple of quick questions. Has the government grant ended for home charging point installations (I think it was £500)? and also, at national charging points how do you pay - is it a tap of the credit card or do you need to sign up to anything? Apologies for the basic questions, and lack of patience to Google this, but I thought I'd get the answers quicker on here. Thanks.

The grant is still available. You can use it from 4 months before delivery date to 6 months after.

There's a lot of charge schemes - Polar, GeniePoint, pod-point, Ecotricity. Some are PAYG with an RFID card or a smartphone app. Some require a monthly subscription to - though for the size of the battery some charges aren't cost effective as charge £4ish/hour rather than by the kWh consumed.

go check out zap-map.com for chargers around your areas and their prices.

[L500]

That's very helpful, thanks Caseys.

[Pintofbest]

Ohgo0nth3n said:

Sounds good. Getting mine in March hopefully. Have you retrofitted the Apple Carplay - didn't seem a particularly 'cheap' extra when I was ordering (over £200)?

Yes, it was around £100 and lots of places do it and it is very simple (5 minute job via USB and rebooting i drive a few times). BMW now actually charge a subscription service which is an absolute con. The version I have is not time limited, pm me if you want details.

They don't take long to come - mine was 8 weeks order to keys in hand and you'll love it.

[Ohgo0nth3n]

Pintofbest said:

Ohgo0nth3n said:

Sounds good. Getting mine in March hopefully. Have you retrofitted the Apple Carplay - didn't seem a particularly 'cheap' extra when I was ordering (over £200)?

Yes, it was around £100 and lots of places do it and it is very simple (5 minute job via USB and rebooting i drive a few times). BMW now actually charge a subscription service which is an absolute con. The version I have is not time limited, pm me if you want details.

They don't take long to come - mine was 8 weeks order to keys in hand and you'll love it.

Thank you. Think I'm going to see how I get on with the BMW iDrive first. I have the Carplay at the moment - TBH I find the Spotify very hit and miss - however, the Google Maps IS very good.

[Ohgo0nth3n]

Home charging points for the 530e - pondering whether to get one installed.

Has anyone got any tips - dos or don'ts etc?

Do they all basically cost the same or should you get like for like quotes etc

I would imagine one of the major considerations would be whether to 'future proof' by installing one of the faster chargers? Assuming they cost more, otherwise it would be a no brainer. If the same cabling could be used one would assume it wouldn't cost too much to retro fit one a few years later if needed etc

[WestyCarl]

I got a pretty basic one with a tethered cable so I don't have the faff of getting it out of the boot every night.

Whether you get a faster than 7kW charger will depend on your house electrics and current junction box. Most companies will do a free survey and give you the option.

[L500]

I've just ordered the Rolec 32A @ £249 with government grant. ChargeMaster is the same price. As caseys mentioned above, zap-map.com is a good starting point.

[Jayyy]

I got £50 off through ChargedEV a week or so ago using code OVO50 making it £199 for a 7.2kw charger with tethered cable - installation next week.

[Bill4San]

Quick question for fellow owners: Do you have Screen Mirroring and Spotify available in your media menu?

I have seen these during my 6 months of ownership, but these options have now dispappeared.

Want to check if it's just my car or a BMW 'update' before I go to the dealer.

Thanks

[WestyCarl]

Not sure about screen monitoring but it leverages spotify / deezer on your phone.

It should be available on the media media (assuming it's on your phone)

The previous F10/11 was a much better integration as it was loaded onto the vehicle and didn't leverage the phone

[Stupeo]

I’m in the market for 2 hybrids, ideally PHEVs and as a long time BMW fan, thought I’d settled on the 530e.

I picked on up yesterday for the weekend and I must say overall, it seems the perfect car. It’s plenty fast enough, has great equipment and feels very comfortable to drive. But, I’m only getting 13 miles or so in Max eDrive. That was driving as carefully as I can - is this normal? I am presuming it’s the cold weather?

Also, what public charging networks does everyone use here? I’m looking at Charge your Car?

[BMW330enut]

Stupeo said:

I’m in the market for 2 hybrids, ideally PHEVs and as a long time BMW fan, thought I’d settled on the 530e.

I picked on up yesterday for the weekend and I must say overall, it seems the perfect car. It’s plenty fast enough, has great equipment and feels very comfortable to drive. But, I’m only getting 13 miles or so in Max eDrive. That was driving as carefully as I can - is this normal? I am presuming it’s the cold weather?

Also, what public charging networks does everyone use here? I’m looking at Charge your Car?

I’d say quite normal. These cars are great but they are only really designed a bik tax dodge. The battery size chosen to be just enough to get emissions below 50g

If you really want to e drive I’d suggest looking at a proper ev. Even if your commute is short you’re committing to plugging the car in twice a day and it’s really just a pain in the arse after a while.

I have the 330e and it’s no different and I only chose it for tax reasons. We run a few on our fleet and I know the fleet manager has been fuming due to 2 coming back to hq from employees leaving to find the charging cables in the boot in sealed packets. Cars had never been charged since they were delivered and this is why the government are taking some action around these cars and their tax savings.

[Bill4San]

Stupeo said:

I’m in the market for 2 hybrids, ideally PHEVs and as a long time BMW fan, thought I’d settled on the 530e.

I picked on up yesterday for the weekend and I must say overall, it seems the perfect car. It’s plenty fast enough, has great equipment and feels very comfortable to drive. But, I’m only getting 13 miles or so in Max eDrive. That was driving as carefully as I can - is this normal? I am presuming it’s the cold weather?

Also, what public charging networks does everyone use here? I’m looking at Charge your Car?

I agree that 13-15 miles is about all you'll get in the winter on Max e-drive. However, I think it's quite inefficient to do speeds higher than about 40mph purely in e-mode. In my mind you should switch it to Auto e-drive at those kind of speeds and save the battery for slower/higher traffic situations. Auto e-drive always seems to switch to petrol power at about 40mph.

I tend to switch my car between modes as I go.

[Crossbot]

I seem to be having a different experience than everybody else, I've had the car 6 weeks and haven't seen less than 16 miles on a charge with a best of 20.5. I also don't find that auto e-drive switches over to petrol over 40mph.

My commute is probably ideal for efficiency, it's rougly 6 miles at 30mph and another 6 at at 50mph and I rarely get caught in much traffic. This morning 95% of my 12.4 miles was done on electric and i have 37% charge remaining and I've seen that as high as 46% when it was a little milder.

[WestyCarl]

Crossbot said:

I seem to be having a different experience than everybody else, I've had the car 6 weeks and haven't seen less than 16 miles on a charge with a best of 20.5. I also don't find that auto e-drive switches over to petrol over 40mph.

My commute is probably ideal for efficiency, it's rougly 6 miles at 30mph and another 6 at at 50mph and I rarely get caught in much traffic. This morning 95% of my 12.4 miles was done on electric and i have 37% charge remaining and I've seen that as high as 46% when it was a little milder.

My 530 is the same (the battery in the 330e is smaller), I can between 16-22 miles in the morning on a full charge.

[L500]

Random question and can’t find the answer in the manual... Can you change the dash to have a numbers reading odometer? Perhaps replacing the temperature reading?