Getting a BMW I3s

[Sebba]

Hi All - am due to get my BMW I3s next week, guess it is something to distract me from the lockdown boredom....although actually driving it anywhere might be prove a bit of a challenge....

Anyhow, I digress....was wondering if someone could help me with some questions on charging as I am getting conflicting info.

As I do not have a driveway, I will have to charge the car on the public networks but I have heard that the BMW is only capable of handling 11kW AC power (i.e. if connecting to a 22kW or 50kW AC power point (eg Source power points), it will still only charge at 11kW as that is what the onboard convertor is capable of handling) - is this correct?

However, if I go to a supercharger point (eg Shell) then I will be able to benefit from speed as it delivers DC?

Any light would be appreciated & if anyone can provide any tips on living with the public networks etc...

[rdj001]

Hi Sebba,

we have an i3S in the household (cracking little car).

AC charging will top out at 11kw. DC charging will top out at 50 kw.

Thanks

Rod

[Phunk]

Brave getting an i3 and relying on public charging, I tried similar before and it was a nightmare.

Look on Plugshare in your local area, your i3 will charge in around 30 minutes using the CCS plug on the 'rapid' chargers (orange icons)

And will charge in around 4-6 hours on the 'Fast' chargers (green)

Generally it's best to leave your car for no longer than 30 minutes at a rapid charger, but it's OK to leave your car overnight etc at a fast charger.

I'd recommend reading the comments on the chargers in your local area to identify any issues. Approx 50% in my council area are faulty constantly, the other 50% can be a battle to use with others using them.

[ZesPak]

Iirc the older ones are limited to 7kW (1 phase), if you've got a new one it'll do 11kW (3 phase) on an AC plug.
Poster above is right, they'll both do 50kW on DC so deffo worth it when you actually need to get somewhere.

Spec sheet for the new one:
https://ev-database.org/car/1149/BMW-i3s-120-Ah

[Daaaveee]

Just a small piece of advise, if you plan to use an 11 or 22kW AC charge point, these are 3 phase so make sure you have a 3 phase Type 2 cable if you want the highest AC charging speed the i3 is capable of, 11kW.

Most cables are single phase, if you use one of these you will only get 3.6 on an 11kW charge point, or 7.3kW on a 22kW charge point.

Hope that makes sense!

It may be a non-issue for you, but I know some people have been disappointed when plugging in to an 11kW post, not realising their single phase cable will only give them 3.6kW!

Edited by Daaaveee on Friday 29th January 16:08

[Sebba]

Thanks so much guys - very useful information, particularly re the cables so will look into it. I assume the car comes with a single phase cable from BMW?

Re the public charges points, there are quite a few around me & a few rapid charge ones not too far away so fingers crossed....2/3rd car so will have fall back options.

Edited by Sebba on Friday 29th January 17:33

[Cabbage Patch]

It’ll only come with a granny charger, not a type 2 cable. As Dave says, go for a 3 phase if you’ll be using it regularly.

[Heres Johnny]

If you want to cover all bases you need a 3 phase 32a cable. Charging is the lowest combination of what the car, cable and charge point will deliver. A 3 phase 16a cable might give 11kw on a 3phase 16a charge point but on the more common 1p 32a charge points that cable will only charge at 3.6kw because of the 16a current limit of the cable.

I’ve only come across 1 public charge point that didn’t have its own cable in over 5 years and was 3 phase so personally, if I had to chose I’d go 1p 32a over 3p 16a every time. A 3p 32a cable is a big hefty cable.

[ZesPak]

Heres Johnny said:

I’ve only come across 1 public charge point that didn’t have its own cable in over 5 years and was 3 phase so personally, if I had to chose I’d go 1p 32a over 3p 16a every time. A 3p 32a cable is a big hefty cable.

Here in Europe the general rule seems to be that DC charges have attached cable, while AC chargers usually don't (except for the Tesla ones).

But indeed, go for the best cable (32A 3 phase). 5m is about enough to use without any hassle.

Odd that they don't include it, I was fairly certain the EU obligated it?

[Heres Johnny]

ZesPak said:

Heres Johnny said:

I’ve only come across 1 public charge point that didn’t have its own cable in over 5 years and was 3 phase so personally, if I had to chose I’d go 1p 32a over 3p 16a every time. A 3p 32a cable is a big hefty cable.

Here in Europe the general rule seems to be that DC charges have attached cable, while AC chargers usually don't (except for the Tesla ones).

But indeed, go for the best cable (32A 3 phase). 5m is about enough to use without any hassle.

Odd that they don't include it, I was fairly certain the EU obligated it?

Tethered cables seem to mandatory on any charge point over 22kw. The rapids with AC and DC charging have tethered cables for the AC as they typically support >32a charging like the ecotricity points in the UK. Its becoming less of a thing now and if you have CCS like the i3 then you'd use that anyway at such a charge point.

Sometimes its difficult to give an answer that explains the variety of things out there that may be becoming legacy.

I think they will include a cable too, our i8 came with one although that was I think 16a 1p as thats all the car could take.

[MrC986]

You’ll find the likes of Tesco’s with their large superstores (the Tesco Extra ones) have charging points at many locations and they are free to use although they are only 7kw/Type 2 and managed by Pod-point (which charge at the same rate as the granny charger you would plug in to a normal wall socket) so you can get a small top up whilst doing the weekly shopping.

Get the Zap-map app to see what’s where/the cost of use so that you can get the relevant apps on your phone and any RFD cards as not all use the phone or just a normal credit card. If you are buying a new I3, you should ask for a free Type 2 cable as most BMW dealers will include this when asked.

The likes of KFC have fast charging points appearing at their drive-thru sites and McDonalds and other fast food outlets are promising a roll out as well.

I suggest you also get your self onto the FB page for EVs as some of the guys on their were the first to own I3 cars in the UK (one is a PH member as well).

The I3 is a great car....I’ve had my I3S for 12 months (from new) and managed 9k miles, even with 3 lockdowns and working from home

[Phunk]

MrC986 said:

You’ll find the likes of Tesco’s with their large superstores (the Tesco Extra ones) have charging points at many locations and they are free to use although they are only 7kw/Type 2 and managed by Pod-point (which charge at the same rate as the granny charger you would plug in to a normal wall socket) so you can get a small top up whilst doing the weekly shopping.

The 7kw supermarket chargers will charge a lot faster than a home granny charger. The granny chargers are only around 2-2.2kw

[SWoll]

Phunk said:

MrC986 said:

You’ll find the likes of Tesco’s with their large superstores (the Tesco Extra ones) have charging points at many locations and they are free to use although they are only 7kw/Type 2 and managed by Pod-point (which charge at the same rate as the granny charger you would plug in to a normal wall socket) so you can get a small top up whilst doing the weekly shopping.

The 7kw supermarket chargers will charge a lot faster than a home granny charger. The granny chargers are only around 2-2.2kw

You will still only get 30mph at best so dependent on how far you travel to shop and how long you take still not a viable primary charging source I'd have thought.

All going to be down to usage and local charger availability, we ran an i3 for a while just charging once per week at a local 50kW rapid whilst shopping as it was free to us and covered our weekly usage (until it broke down in Jan 2020 and still hasn't been fixed). Any more than 150-200 miles per week and can see it being a real pain in the arse without the ability to plug in at home/work.

[Sebba]

Thank so much for all the responses, whilst some bits re the cables are overwhelming, all very useful information.

I am leasing the car & have asked them if they will be including a type 2 cable.

Also, useful info on the free charging; we are only looking to do about 200 (maybe 300) miles a month at most so hoping that relying on the public network charges won't be too much of a pain!

Very much looking forward to getting the car tomorrow - will keep you all posted/bored

[so called]

Cant help on the charging activities as charge at home all the time but just to say I love my i3S.
Had an i3 Rex before and then upped to a new i3S in 2019.
Great fun to drive.
Be careful on accelerating on greasy roads off roundabouts.

[ZesPak]

Sebba said:

Also, useful info on the free charging; we are only looking to do about 200 (maybe 300) miles a month at most so hoping that relying on the public network charges won't be too much of a pain!

Just don't put all your eggs in one basket, it's nice to have options. As Smiljan pointed out, if one you use on a regular basis stops working, it shouldn't stop you from getting anywhere.

My sister is in a similar predicament (low mileage and no possibility to charge at home), but she has plenty of options in her routine:

1. Charger at my parent's house, which we both visit once a week to have dinner
2. Fast charger at Lidl
3. public charger in front of gym
4. 2 public charging spots (one at the train station) walking distance from home
5. charging spot at work, but she usually takes the bike

These are in order of convenience for her. Between those she never has to worry if she needs a charge for the weekend or whatever. The first three don't inconvenience her at all.

@200 miles/month you'd need about 2-3h charging per week @7kW. See that you have options to do so. I'm aware that the infrastructure in the UK is a bit worse though. But over here when you got to a theme park, zoo, Ikea, train station, it's hard to pick one without a charger available. So could be handy to use something like ZAP map to check it out beforehand.

[Sebba]

Yes, thanks very much. There are quite a few public chargers walking distance from me - three or four ubitricity ones (although they are lamp post ones & dependant on someone not parking infront of them), one Source one (which is always empty but I am told works out much more expensive - you pay per min for 22kW but its AC so the car only gets 11kW) - not sure if this is completely true but I will check out and see.....but my fall back is the Shell supercharger which is about 1/2 mile away.

so called said:

Cant help on the charging activities as charge at home all the time but just to say I love my i3S.
Had an i3 Rex before and then upped to a new i3S in 2019.
Great fun to drive.
Be careful on accelerating on greasy roads off roundabouts.

How did the i3sS compare to the older i3 Rex?

[so called]

Sebba said:

How did the i3sS compare to the older i3 Rex?

I think that the ride is better.
I very much enjoyed the i3Rex and only found one area that I didn't particularly like.
That was with respect to the rear end suspension.
With it having the 600cc charging motor, I found that when going over one of those small sharp 'shopping centre' speed bumps, I would get a secondary suspension reaction at the rear end.
I put this down to the motor mass secondary shock on its engine mounts.
During my commute, I realized that occasionally I could feel this on certain ' rough' corners.

The i3S is far more balanced and reassuring.
I don't find the ride any more firm than the i3 as they are both firm.
Before the 'working from home' thing kicked in I was doing a 100 mile/day commute and found them to be perfectly fine.

The Sports mode turns the car into a mad little go-kart.
That's why I mentioned being careful when accelerating off roundabouts on greasy roads.

[off_again]

so called said:

I think that the ride is better.
I very much enjoyed the i3Rex and only found one area that I didn't particularly like.
That was with respect to the rear end suspension.
With it having the 600cc charging motor, I found that when going over one of those small sharp 'shopping centre' speed bumps, I would get a secondary suspension reaction at the rear end.
I put this down to the motor mass secondary shock on its engine mounts.
During my commute, I realized that occasionally I could feel this on certain ' rough' corners.

Thats fair. We have the Rex and its got a different suspension setup at the rear from what I can feel. Certainly soft and going up over the pavement to get to my drive with 3/4 people in the car, it will scrape at the rear. So the weight does affect it and its softer at the rear. And it does result in a different feel in certain situations. But, its a small thing for the extra flexibility that this provides us (out in the country with limited charging options).

I would also say that the short(er) wheel base does mean that it can pitch a bit over repetitive bumps with the Rex model. Again, rare, but does occur on the rough roads around here. Its NOT the smoothest riding car, but with a nice sporty feel and a RWD balance, its still a lot of fun to drive.

so called said:

The i3S is far more balanced and reassuring.
I don't find the ride any more firm than the i3 as they are both firm.
Before the 'working from home' thing kicked in I was doing a 100 mile/day commute and found them to be perfectly fine.

The S model does have changed suspension setup and its stiffer as a result. Its supposed to be a better balance overall that solves some of the bump / rebound issues that were in the previous models. But it does result in a rougher ride, so its all about balance for what you are looking for. I guess they wanted to make the S model feel differently, and it does.

so called said:

The Sports mode turns the car into a mad little go-kart.
That's why I mentioned being careful when accelerating off roundabouts on greasy roads.

Yeah, that was something that I was tipped off on too! Potentially got some snow / winter driving coming up in ours and I was warned about the regen braking and getting a little too heavy on the go-pedal! It can be easy to spin in slippy conditions and that regen braking can be a little too aggressive for the tires some times. Cold wet rain the other day allowed me to get it to trigger the traction control pretty much anywhere I wanted! Shows that its still a zippy little rocket that needs consideration.

Though I am told that the winter tires REALLY make a difference in cold / wet / snow conditions on the i3! Well worth doing if its a concern. Not done it myself as I am down a mountain and dont really get rain. But will look to sort this out if we need to.

[so called]

Actually, I've not had a rear wheel grip issue for a few weeks now.
I ran out of sand while laying some concrete and bought three bags.
The weather changed and so the three bags are still in the boot of the i3S.