EV Owners Shun ICE Loaners

Hopefully more dealers will understand that their EV customers want an EV loaner when their car is in for service and add them to their loaner fleet.

I've been lucky enough to own some nice cars in my life. Like most people, bringing my car in for service was never something I looked forward to. However one thing that I did like was when I got an interesting car as the service loaner. I remember one time when my Mercedes ML430 was being worked on I got a black E430 4matic and I liked it so much I almost told the dealer to keep my car and trade it for the loaner.

Today, many dealers have only a small fleet of in-house loaners and use rental car agencies for the overflow of cars that they need. They do it to save money, and I'm sure it does, but they do miss out on the opportunity to show off the other cars that they sell. I still don't fully understand why a BMW dealer for instance would want to put their customer in a car from another brand while they are getting service, it just seems wrong.

I tried plugging in the 135i loaner I had a when my ActiveE was being serviced. That didn't work too well.

However dealers that are beginning to sell electric cars are now finding they have another problem to deal with. Their EV customers don't want to drive a gas car while their car is in for service, regardless of the make or model. I wrote a blog post about this over two years ago when I was driving my ActiveE and now that the i3 has launched I'm watching many i3 owners say the same thing.  One person recently posted this in the i3 Facebook group:

"Most people would love to drive a new BMW 3-Series for a few days as a loaner. Not me. It vibrates, burns gas, I have to use the brake pedal, makes noise and is slow. All this found during the 2.1 mile drive home. Very much so ‪#‎firstworldproblems‬. Think I'm going to bribe my wife for a ride to and from work."

A 2014 BMW 328i loaner? No thanks.

 Imagine that. The BMW 3-Series is considered one of the best cars on the road. In fact, it has was recently awarded Car & Drivers coveted "Ten Best Cars" distinction for the 23rd consecutive year. One would think just about anyone would love to have a new one for a few days while their car was in for service. That's not so if your car is an i3. After driving an electric car for a while, ICE vehicles seem antiquated. You feel the engine vibrations right up through the steering wheel, you hear the engine noise when you accelerate, gear shifts feel clunky and jerky. Yep, once you get back in an ICE vehicle after driving electric you realize what you've left behind and you don't miss it. You've evolved now, and you don't want to go back to the dark ages of the ICE.

Some BMW dealers have already realized this and are including i3 loaners into their in house fleet. This is a great idea for a couple of reasons. First, they can keep their i3 customers happy while their car is in for service, and secondly they can expose some of their other clients to the electric driving experience. Any electric car owner can tell you, getting people to try electric drive is the hardest part. Once they experience the smooth linear acceleration, the quiet vibration-less cabin and the excitement of the instant torque of an electric motor they too will be thinking about going electric. I'm happy to report my dealer (JMK BMW in Springfield, NJ) - perhaps with the help of some encouragement from me ;)  has decided to include an i3 to their stable of loaners. I think this is a great move and will pay dividends for them in the long run.

Like your Model S loaner? Just keep it!

However this certainly isn't just a BMW issue. I've seen Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt owners lament the fact that they get an ICE loaner car and wish they had an electric option available. Tesla only sells electric cars so they only have electric loaners. In fact, not only do you get a Tesla loaner, but all Tesla loaners are the top of the line P85 Model S. Plus, if you really like the loaner, Tesla allows you to keep it. Of course you have to pay the difference in your car's value and the P85 loaners that you want, but it's a simple process where you just tell them your keeping that car and they tell you how much you owe them for the difference. That's another example of how Tesla is bringing new ideas and improved customer service to the industry.

I am sure that the savvy dealers who provide electric loaners for their EV customers will definitely benefit. The electric vehicle community is pretty close-knit and does communicate amongst themselves. It doesn't take long for a specific dealer to be labeled a "bad" dealer for not being very "EV friendly". Conversely, the dealers who have provided good service to their EV customers have benefited from a high number of referrals. The dealers who train their staff to understand these new cars, provide free on-site charging, and offer electric loaners are the ones who are really going to succeed in the new electric frontier.

Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Scott From California

Hi, my name is Scott Lawson and I was Born Electric on August 11, 2014.

I confess: I am not a ‘car guy’. For me, cars are dirty explosion factories full of toxic liquids and endless grime. Oil changes, frequent fill ups, dusty air filters, and a noisy engine seemed to be an unnecessary evil. If I was to get an EV, I wanted it to be 100% electric, no engine, no gas, no oil, no going back! At times, I have even thought that if I lived in the city I would outsource my transportation to taxis, buses, and trains. But living in the so-called mega-city of SoCal (from San Diego to Santa Barbara) with inadequate public transportation options, a car is required. And since I am confessing, I should say I love traveling fast and zipping around in a driver’s car. Over the years BMWs have fit my needs well but were still powered by gas. I considered the LEAF for a fleeting moment and the Tesla Model S seemed like a car for executives or super models! And costs twice as much as any car I have ever owned.

My i3 in the mountains

BMW decided several years ago to create the BMW “i” sub brand and delve into creating a new kind of transport which they call ‘sustainable mobility’. More than just making an electric car, BMW is looking to change how personal transportation is defined. When the i3 hit the market I was excited to learn more; and the more I learned, the more I felt one with the design principles and philosophy. I am a system architect and strive to make technology useful to people and efficient for business. As I discovered more about the BMW i project and their first product, the all electric i3, I appreciated the innovative use of technology both in the machine and for the consumer.

At the San Antonio dam

The i3 driving machine’s body is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) including fibers from the Kenaf plant (Hibiscus cannabinus), a form of hemp, for the interior. The manufacturing of the car is computer-controlled and ultra clean using robots, clean rooms, heat-activated glue welds, an all aluminum body, and powered by wind and hydroelectric power. As I read how BMW designed the car as ‘electric first’, I appreciated the lack of a large front hood, the use of tall skinny tires for less rolling resistance, that the ultra-light CFRP and aluminum construction allowed more efficient range. The opposing doors are possible because of the structural integrity of the material and the short overhangs on the front and rear help parking the car in a busy city. All of this adds us to a futuristic design not only in looks but in function. All of the thought that was put into the sustainability and design impressed me even before the first torque-filled test drive.

As an explorer of new technology I was impressed with the consumer technology built into the car. Integrated sensors and computers help in safety and convenience from the door locks to the theft protection to active cruise control to the integration with internet applications. The maps not only have traffic, but charging stations, mass transit stations and other points of interest. The i3 can listen to you with voice commands and read news and social media updates. The iDrive controller even has one-finger handwriting recognition so you can spell destinations or peoples names. The 20 GB music storage is fast and you can even play video from a directly connected USB drive (while parked, of course!). All of this adds up to the i3 being more than just the ultimate driving machine and turns it into the ultimate transportation machine. I feel it can transport me in time by delivering information to keep me efficiently connected to my social circle and work activities.

Up at Mt. Baldy

This is a new way of thinking. Just as cloud computing and mobile have changed the way we think about file storage, applications, installing software, and upgrades, the i3 alters the way we think about driving. It is something you have to not only experience, but something you have to work with and adapt to. It is a new way of driving. The “one pedal” experience is awkward at first, almost annoying, until you get the feel of it and think about electric propulsion. Driving one pedal is the best way to accelerate and decelerate and you begin to think about gliding to a stop and working with the force of the car. Your right foot is always active but never leaves the main accelerator pedal.

You have to change your thinking about “fuel” and trip planning. You can charge in your garage with a ‘level 2’ 240v charging station. While it relieves you of having to get gas, you do have to remember to plug the car in when you get home. This behavior is becoming familiar as many, if not all, i3 owners will have some form of mobile phone or mobile device that they plug in everyday. When it comes to trip planning, that requires a deeper shift in thinking. With an EV you just cannot ignore this aspect. Most technological shifts require new modes: you have to plan to record your show if you want to watch without commercials, you have to sync your laptop files if you want to work on them while on a flight, you have to schedule a PC virus check at night to avoid malware. Going on a trip up a mountain in the i3, you need to plan to see if there are charging stations, what kind they are (to make sure you are able to charge on them), and to figure the most efficient path there. The i3 itself helps with this by warning you on your state of charge (SOC) and showing you charging locations near you. But with only 25 miles of range to every 1 hour of charge, this is a slow process. More ‘level 3’ charging stations (also called DC Fast Charge) are coming and the i3 can be configured to use them to get charged up in 20-30 minutes. Unfortunately only in some places in the world today have a large enough concentration of DCFC stations to make longer trip travel carefree.

Cooling off in the shade for a bit

To get the most out of the i3, subtle shifts in thinking make all the difference. To save your potential range you can pre-condition the cabin for comfort while it is plugged in. To save on electricity you can set it to charge when your electricity rate is low. To more easily find your destination you can search online at your desk and send the address to the car via the internet. How you navigate these subtle shifts in thinking is the key to success in the modern EV world.

The i3 has taught me that driving an EV is not just changing how your vehicle is powered. It requires that you accept a new type of mobility and adjust how you approach your car. Many people will say an internet news site is just an electronic newspaper or that Google is just an electronic yellow pages, or that cloud file storage is just a “hard drive in the sky”. All of these ways of thinking miss the point that new paradigms like the i3 are a leap into something new. James May of Top Gear recently wrote this about the i3: “Being a car is just one of its apps”. A famous petrolhead, he sees the paradigm shift, too. You have to challenge yourself and think different. And owning an i3 will help you do just that.

I'd like to thank Scott for sharing his i3 story here. One last thing I'd like to point out is that Scott created a BMW i3 Owners map. You can enter your location and add yourself to the map HERE.  I'm going to do a dedicated post on this soon though because it was a great idea and something I think other i3 owners will enjoy. 

Scott is the tenth Born Electric guest blogger I've featured here and I appreciate the time everyone has spent to tell the readers about their i3 experience. Previous Born Electric posts can be found below:

Andy from The UK
Hil from Holland 
Toni from Belgium 
Jan from Belgium 
Steven from The Netherlands
Jon from Norway  
Ross from The UK

Bill from The UK

Christopher from Massachusetts 

If you own an i3 and would like to participate here in the Born Electric guest blogger series, email me at: tom.moloughney@gmail.com

Mountain Climbing With an i3 REx

Loveland Pass, Continental Divide, Colorado. Elevation 11,990 ft

A few weeks ago Don Parsons of Denver, Colorado took his i3 REx on a 128 mile road trip from his house to Loveland Pass (Continental Divide, Colorado). On his way up to the 11,990 ft elevation of Loveland Pass he stopped at Beau Jo's Pizza for lunch and to charge on their public ChargePoint EVSE where his i3 REx accepted 8.9kWh's of juice to help with the rest of the climb up the mountain. 

The car showed 18 miles remaining at the top of Loveland Pass, and he nearly made the trip entirely on electricity when 62 miles later the range extender kicked on and he was only 2 miles from his home. 

The trip summary: 
-64 miles each way
-8,960 feet of climbing, 2329 Feet of descending on way out
-2329 feet of climbing, 8,960 feet of descending on way back

Having heard about this Continental Divide conquest, I asked Don if he wanted to write a guest blog post about the trip, but he offered to do one better. His next challenge was to take his i3 REx up to the summit of Mt Evans which is the highest elevation paved road in the US. The trip would take him over 14,000 feet above sea level and would most certainly push the range extender beyond its limit. This was not the kind of road trip BMW envisioned people taking the car on when they designed the REx, but nonetheless they have to expect some people like Don would do just that. So what happened? Read Don's words below to find out:

I’ve had my BMW i3 REx for almost two months now and haven’t really used or tested the REx engine.  Before today, I’d driven about 1750 miles total with only about 10 miles using the engine.  I decided to drive from my house in Denver to the top of Mt. Evans and return without stopping for gas or topping off the charge.  Using the REx engine in the mountains can be tough because the output of the small engine can’t really put out enough power to go both highway speeds and climb uphill.  However, the road to the top of Mt. Evans is pretty narrow, has steep drop-offs, no guardrails and a lot of cyclists sharing the road so you really don’t want to go much faster than 35 mph.  For this reason, I thought the small engine could hopefully handle the climb.

For those that don’t know, Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in North America with an elevation of 14,130 feet above sea level!  I live in Denver which is at 5,280 feet above sea level.  It’s 63.5 miles from my house to the top Mt. Evans.  With some up and down hill climbing, the total ascent is 12,446 feet and the total descent is 3,686 getting to the summit.

I set the car into Eco Pro+ and set out on city streets of Denver, then I-70 west up the mountains to Idaho Springs.  Mt. Evans highway winds its way south from Idaho Springs to the Mt. Evans summit in 28 miles.  When I originally entered the destination into the navigation system, the guess-o-meter said 61 miles of range.  I tried to keep the cruise control set to about 5 miles over the speed limit.

I was surprised to find that the Rex engine didn’t turn on until about 52 miles into the drive (about 10 miles from the summit) with a total trip average mi/kWh of 2.8 when the REx kicked on.  However, about 1 minute after the REx turned on I got a Brake error message that ended up making the brake pedal feel stiff and pretty much unusable.  Fortunately, I was still heading uphill and the regen seemed to be working normally.

I could hear the engine speed up during the straight parts of the switchbacks and as I slowed down for the sharp curves, the engine almost immediately slowed down as well.  I never really wanted to travel faster than 35 mph so I didn’t notice any performance hit until near the summit.  On the last few switchbacks, I put my foot to the floor and couldn’t get the car to travel faster than 26 mph.  At close to 14,000 feet of elevation, the engine was probably severely limited from its usual output at sea-level.  I’ve heard people say that an ICE reduces power output by 5% for each 1,000 feet of elevation.  In any event no other cars were traveling any faster than 25 or 30 mph so I didn’t feel unsafe.

I finally made it to the top at 14,130 feet!  The temperature had gone from 68 degrees in Denver to 35 degrees and quite windy.  This road usually shuts down for the winter sometime in September so they will be expecting snow to start accumulating up there pretty soon!

As I was getting ready to head down, I was worried about whether I would have any use of the brakes since I had turned off the car and walked around the summit for about 5 minutes hoping the error would reset but it didn’t and I still had a stiff brake pedal.  Since it was 35 degrees up there, I was pretty cold and didn’t feel like waiting any longer so I thought I would start to head down and see how well the regen worked to keep the car in control.  You can imagine how happy I was to have such a high regen rate because I felt like I was in complete control all the way back home.

During the descent from the summit down to Idaho Springs I was excited to see that the regen had built up a full 25% of the battery SOC and the guess-o-meter said as high as 28 miles of range on the battery.  I drove home significantly on battery but the REx kicked in a few times where there was some climbing.  It also stayed on once I got out of the mountains but I was easily able to maintain 75 mph on the highway leading east back into the city.

Here's a screenshot of the elevation and speed of the whole trip

Some stats on the whole trip.  I traveled 127.6 miles and averaged 4.9 mi/kWh and average speed was a total of 39.6 mph.  I used a little over a quarter of the rex tank which I think is pretty minimal for traveling almost 130 miles! As you can see from the picture, the brake error was still in place when I arrived home.  However, after being on my EVSE for a little over an hour, everything was cleared out and a quick trip to grab lunch showed that everything was back to normal.

I should point out that I haven’t gotten any software updates yet as I haven’t been able to set aside the time.  Until this trip, the only error I’ve seen from the car is the Check Engine Light, which remains illuminated. There is a software update that will eliminate this waiting for me at my dealer, so I guess it's time to get the car into the shop for the updates.  Hopefully the brake error is related to the 12v battery issues that others have discussed and will also be fixed with the latest software version I'll be getting. 

When I thought about getting the i3 Rex, I figured that I would use the battery over 95% of my driving miles.  So far, it seems like I’m using the battery over 97% of my miles.  That said, I’m still happy to have the Rex as it completely takes away any range anxiety when I’m traveling in the flats of the front range of Colorado.

What about the mountains?  I was concerned about using the i3 REx in the mountains and still believe that having a REx hold mode similar to the European version of the i3 or the Chevy Volt would make this an even more enjoyable car in Colorado.  That said, a couple CCS fast chargers placed strategically off I-70 would go a long way to helping the issue.  Locations in Idaho Springs, Silverthorne (where the 8 Tesla Superchargers are located) Copper Mountain, and Vail would be ideal spots to get a quick top-off and be truly useful in the mountains.  I’ve also kept my 335xi for long distance ski trips since it has all wheel drive and is still a great car. However, even without the fast chargers I was able to make it to the summit and home without a problem.

I’m very happy with the the i3.  The performance, handling, smoothness, and quietness all contribute to a great experience.  Like others have said, it’s hard to go back to a regular internal combustion engine after experiencing electric!

Guest Post: Efficiency or Range? You Can’t Have Both.

The i3 is the most efficient production car available today

Every now and then I have a reader send me an article they wrote and ask if I'd like to post it here. Usually it's not exactly what I'm looking for and politely explain why I won't be posting it and thank them for sending it nonetheless.  Occasionally I'll get something interesting though, like the post below which was sent to me by Robert Kasper. I think it's particularly timely since just last week I posted the Tesla/BMW comparison piece and I think this is an interesting follow up to it.  I hope you enjoy:                    

  Efficiency or Range?  You Can’t Have Both.

…But Advanced Technology Can Help.

By Rob Kasper

In the world of electric vehicles, whether Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), there is a clear trade off between range and efficiency.  For a given technology, efficiency suffers as range increases due to the weight of not only additional battery capacity, but the increased structure and volume to haul that capacity around.  Now that there are a significant number of plug-in vehicles being manufactured, and a recognized standard to test them, we can identify trends.  Consider Table 1 and Figure 1, a plot of efficiency (as measured in EPA MPGe) vs. range in miles for 2014 plug-in electric vehicles measured by the EPA.  They are grouped into Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, and further identified as either conventional or advanced technology design and construction.  Conventional technology is generally characterized by a manufacturer’s use of an existing gasoline powered platform modified for battery electric drive, steel frame construction and cladding, and standard battery technology.  Advanced technology is generally characterized by a clean sheet, purpose built EV design, extensive use of aluminum or aluminum plus Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) for weight savings, higher energy density lithium ion battery packs, with the bonus of performance equivalent to or exceeding the best of conventional technology plug-in vehicles.

Figure 1: Efficiency vs. Range

Table 1: EPA Electric Range and MPGe

Beyond the obvious observation that the price of greater range is lower efficiency within a given technology, it is important to note the significance of advancing technology.  The ground-up EV design, significantly lighter weight construction, and advanced battery technology of the BMW i3 and Tesla Model S push the blue trend line significantly up and to the right of conventional BEVs’ green trend line.  As significant is the single data point (in purple) representing the only advanced technology PHEV currently available – The BMW i3 REx.  Not only is it capable of greater efficiency and far more range than any conventional PHEV (the red trend line), it is more efficient than all but two conventional BEVs, with only slightly less range than all but the most inefficient conventional BEVs.

It is this outlier of a data point, the BMW i3 REx that might best help illustrate why a smart means of increasing the range of an EV may not necessarily be to add more battery capacity.   Battery energy is clean and well suited for powering vehicles for relatively short-range transportation but due to its weight and lengthy charge times, inefficient and inconvenient for long distances.   On the other hand, the benefits of energy density and convenience make gasoline/diesel energy better suited for longer range transportation with the trade-off being greater well to wheel emissions in many parts of the world.  In the case of the BMW i3 REx, each mile of range requires either 0.15 pounds of gasoline, or 5.7 pounds of battery capacity.  At 37 times the mass specific energy density of battery power, very little gasoline is required to extend range for a given tank size, and that tank can be replenished in minutes nearly anywhere in the well developed fossil fuel infrastructure that currently exists worldwide.  This capability requires a 265 pound increase in the weight3 of the vehicle for the REx engine and associated systems, which imposes a 6% decrease in efficiency, but once set, that efficiency does not appreciably decrease as more energy in the form of gasoline is added to increase range.  Increasing battery capacity cannot increase range as efficiently, as not only must the weight of the battery increase by 37 times the weight of gasoline per mile in the first increment, but by the weight of increased structure and volume, as well as even greater battery capacity to offset the reduction in efficiency resulting from the weight increase.  There comes a point where the sacrifice in efficiency may no longer be worth the additional range to be gained.
See figure 2:

Figure 2: EV Energy Storage (and Generation) Weight vs Range for Advanced Technology EVs

1- EPA testing protocol does not account for approximately 4 miles of range remaining after REx fuel exhaustion when publishing a 72 mile battery powered electric range before REx activation, but does account for it in the total range calculation of 150 miles:  72 electric miles + 1.9 gal x 39 mpg + 4 electric miles = 150 EPA range (76 electric + 74 gasoline).  76 miles of range is also the result of dividing the EPA measured total i3 wall to wheel consumption of 22.0 kWh by the i3 REx EPA measured consumption rate of 0.288 kWh/mile.  This value is further corroborated by the CARB BEVx designation awarded to the i3 REx which requires the electric range not only be at least 75 miles, but that it must exceed the gasoline range, neither of which would be possible without accounting for the ~4 miles of range remaining after REx fuel exhaustion.

2- The EPA’s 95 MPGe rating of the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid includes 0.2 gallons of gasoline operation plus 29 kWh of electric operation per 100 miles.  Subtracting the 10 mile of gasoline operation contribution to the total (0.2 gal X 50 mpg) yields 29 kWh per 90 miles, or 32.2 kWh per 100 miles, which results in 105 MPGe for electric only operation. (MPGe = 33,705 divided by watt hours per mile.)

3- While EPA rated at 87 miles of range in its base form, purchasers of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class can choose to pay an additional $600 for the Range Package, which makes an additional 17 miles of range available.  There is no difference in total battery capacity between the two configurations, only the percentage of SOC made available to the driver.

4- The 8 BMW battery pack modules weigh 55 lbs. each, for a total of 440 lbs.  Reference page 17 of the BMW i3 Service Managers Workshop Participant Guide at http://darrenortiz.com/website_pdfs/BMWi3PG.pdf.

5- 265 lbs for the REx engine and all associated equipment is the difference in weight between the i3 BEV and i3 REx as published on BMW’s spec pages:  http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Vehicles/2014/i3/BMWi3/Features_and_Specs/BMWi3Specifications.aspx
http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Vehicles/2014/i3/BMWi3RangeExtender/Features_and_Specs/BMWi3RangeExtenderSpecifications.aspx.  Adding the 440 lb. battery weight makes the total energy production and storage weight at 76 mile of range 705 lbs.  This increases by 11.4 lbs. of gasoline for every 74 miles driven beyond 76.

6- Widely quoted in other sources, Car and Driver claims the Telsa Model S 85 kWh battery pack weighs 1323 lbs: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-tesla-model-s-test-review.  This is exactly 600 kg, making it appear to be an estimate, but it is the only number we have to work with, as Tesla does not publish the spec.

7- Weight of the 60 kWh Tesla Model S battery pack is estimated from the 85 kWh figure to be 60/85 X 1323 lbs. = 934 lbs.

BMW & Tesla Taking Different Approaches But Will Ultimately Face Off

Horatiu Boeriu of BMWBLOG recently did a piece titled "BMW vs. Tesla - Which Company Is A Bigger Innovator?" in which he mentions that while both companies are competing in the premium automobile segment and are committed to electric mobility, they are taking different paths to achieve success.

I'm not going to try to analyze who has it right or who is a bigger innovator, but it's clear that both companies have chosen to focus on different aspects of their respective vehicles. With Tesla, it's all about the batteries. Unlike every other automobile manufacturer, BMW included, Tesla's approach isn't for their electric cars to complement their lineup of gasoline and diesel offerings since they don't have any. Instead, it is to render gasoline vehicles from their competitors obsolete. In order to do so, their cars have to be at least as good or better than most features of competing gas cars; and that includes range, performance and utility. BMW on the other hand doesn't need to necessarily worry about making everything better. They can focus on specific needs of certain customers and make a vehicle that is better than any other at a specific set of tasks, without cannibalizing sales of other vehicles in their lineup. If you accept that premise, it's not difficult to understand why we have the Model S and the BMW i3.

Tesla knew they had to knock it out of the park with their first high volume vehicle offering. They knew they had to offer a car that could stand its ground against all of the top luxury sedans while offering a range long enough to allow for road trips enabled by the Supercharger network. Even though that was an enormous task, and one that few automotive analysts really believed they would pull off, they did just that and the Model S is a smashing success. No disrespect to the sexy styling or the fabulous performance of Model S, but the heart and soul of what the car is can be attributed to the enormous battery pack it uses, filled with industry leading, high energy-density batteries. Tesla is all about the batteries. Even though the Model S uses batteries that have a higher energy density than any other EV manufacturer, they still aren't satisfied. They aren't waiting for the market to bring them better, cheaper cells for their future cars. Instead they are in the process of building what will be the first of many Gigafactories, which will be the largest lithium ion battery manufacturing plants in the world. This will drive down costs, guarantee that they have the supply that they need, and allow them to constantly upgrade to better cells without needing to wait for battery manufacturers to retool production facilities to produce them. The key to Tesla's success is having the best batteries available, and to manufacture them for less than what their competitors are paying for comparable cells. It's the only way to offer large battery, long range electric vehicles and be able to price them competitively.  It's Tesla's edge, and perhaps their only hope to compete and actually beat the large, established automakers.

BMW's not in the battery business and is unlikely to follow Tesla's path as such. As mentioned above, since they didn't need the i3 to do everything better than any other gas offering as the Model S had to, BMW could focus on a specific set of goals with their first electric vehicle. The i3's code name was the Megacity Vehicle and the goal was to develop a car that would be the perfect electric vehicle for the increasing populations within the megacities of the world. They also wanted this car to represent a departure from traditional manufacturing processes with an emphasis on sustainability.  They set out to make the most efficient production car available today and they achieved that goal. The extensive use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic and aluminum allowed BMW to shave 400 to 500 lbs off the car which played a primary role in its efficiency.

Will BMW leave Tesla in their rear view camera? That doesn't look very likely at present.

I believe the i3 is as much of a learning experience for BMW as it is their first electric vehicle. Every step of the manufacturing process was rethought and redesigned for the i3. In fact, the i3 uses 70% less water and 50% less electricity to manufacture than a comparable-sized conventional BMW would. In addition, the Leipzig manufacturing plant where the i3 is made is now completely powered by wind-generated energy. So as much as the i3 is an important vehicle to BMW today, the lessons learned bringing it to market today will pay dividends when future i cars are made. The i3 indeed paved the way for the rumored i5 and other models from the i brand. You can expect larger battery, longer range electric cars from BMW i in the not-so-distant future. I suspect by the time Tesla releases the Model III, BMW will have an electric offering which is comparable size, range and price, and that will be good news for the consumer.

My i3 had a visit by its big brother. I'm one of the few lucky people outside of some select journalists who have driven an i8 on public roads. The future is definitely looking electric!

BMW knows that by focusing on a specific set of needs (efficiency, performance, sustainability) rather than long range, the i3 isn't as well suited for road trips as the Model S. They knew that every kWh of battery that they added would sacrifice efficiency and increase the cost of the car. I still maintain that if BMW had indeed used a slightly larger battery and delivered a true 100-mile EV, it would have been much better received, but that's a pointless argument now. While it does have a shorter range, the i3 does have features that are not even available in the Model S, such as adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance with automatic braking and self parking. As you would expect from BMW, the i3 is an extremely fun car to drive, and a great addition to the current lineup of EV offerings. I think it fits in well situated directly between the Model S and the LEAF in price.

My i3 at home

BMW did realize some customers would want a longer range so they offered the range extender as an option. It's really a great option to have and while I personally like how well it works, it isn't for everybody. Many have argued that the REx ruins the purity of an EV, and while I can agree with that, I can't agree that it shouldn't be an option. If such a feature allows more people to buy a plug in car, then I think that's great. I see the range extender as a temporary fix until batteries get better, lighter and cheaper, but a necessary evil at present. Obviously BMW agrees with that and unlike Tesla, they will wait for the market to bring them improved battery tech while Tesla has decided to bring improved battery tech to the market. Different approaches, different cars and I don't think either is right or wrong. They are both working on bringing cutting edge technology to market today with the promise of even better things to come. BMW and Tesla aren't going head to head in the EV space right now, but they certainly will. Competition is good because it forces innovation. Maybe Horatiu was onto something after all.

One last point: If Nissan does deliver on the rumors that the next generation, 2016 LEAF will have a 150+ mile range, and they can deliver it for a reasonable price, then both Tesla and BMW should be concerned, very concerned...

BMW and Tesla going nose to nose in the premium electric vehicle market is inevitable.

Electric Vehicle Sales In The US Hit All-Time High In May!

The Introduction Of The BMW i3 Helped May Set A New Plug-In Selling Standard (Above: First i3 REx Delivered To US -mine!- shown)

Note: This post was written by Jay Cole and first appeared on InsideEvs.com. The news was just too good not to share here! The times, they are a-changin!

Since the start of the ‘current generation’ of plug-in vehicles in the United States, no one month has ever failed to delivered an improved result over the year prior.  Ever. Including this month, that number is at 42 and counting.

More Than 3,100 Americans Hopped In The Front Seats Of A New Nissan LEAF

However May still caught anyone who follows the EV selling trends off guard, as what had been expected to be a solid month turned out to be the best selling month of all-time.  Any month.  Any country.
In total just over 12,000 plug-ins where sold, compared to the previous all-time high set in August of 2013 when and estimated 11,273 moved onto American’s driveways.  Compared to May of 2013, sales improved by a massive 62% when 7,454 plug-ins were sold.

Unlike August of 2013 when the Chevrolet Volt single-handed propelled the number higher (3,351), May’s record month was a combined effort from 3 automakers – Nissan, Toyota and Ford.
All three OEMs saw new record highs for their best selling plug-ins.

• Nissan LEAF – 3,117 (previous best – 2,529 – Dec 2013)
• Toyota PHV – 2,692 (previous best – 2,095 – Oct 2013)
• Ford Fusion Energi – 1,342 (previous best – 1,087 – Oct 2013)

Also adding to the totals was the BMW i3, which sold 336 copies during the month (story on that here) – the best debut month for any plug-in to date in the US.  In total 11 of the 17 mass produced plug-ins sold in America set a new yearly high.

The top five selling plug-in  manufacturers for May were:

1. Nissan – 3,117
2. Toyota – 2,841
3. Ford – 2,301
4. General Motors – 1,918
5. Tesla – 1,000*

Other plug-ins that set new all-time highs in May:

• smart ED – 206 (previous – 203, Apr 2014)
• Chevrolet Spark EV – 182 (108 – Mar 2014)
• BMW i3 – 335 (1st month)

2014 YTD Sales Chart

2014 Monthly Sales Chart For The Major Plug-In Automakers *Estimated Tesla NA Sales Numbers (Q1 Sales reported @ 6,457-3,000 Intl Delivers) *Fiat 500e data estimated for Jan/Feb

Will an Optional "High Power" Battery For the i3 Be Available Soon?

I was tipped off by an anonymous follower here that the Spanish i3 online configurer has a not-yet-available option called "Bateria de mayor potencia" which Google Translate will tell you means "battery more powerful" in English. There isn't a picture for the option and you can't order it - yet. I checked the other BMW models on the site to make sure this wasn't just some kind of phantom option or mistake that was listed on all the BMW cars on the site and it isn't. It was in fact only listed on the i3 options page.

An inside look of  i3 Battery module

So I reached out to a contact I have in Spain that is well connected in the electric vehicle community there to look into this and see what they can uncover. Could the Spanish BMW site have inadvertently tipped us off as to what will soon be available? Maybe this is as innocuous as an optional, more powerful 12v battery? However I've never heard of an optional 12v battery being offered in any i3 market yet and I'm not sure why would they would need it? The 12v battery doesn't need to do very much on the i3 the first place. The car is already equipped with a cold weather package in cold-climate markets and there is no mention of a more powerful battery in that package. I would think if BMW thought the standard 12v battery was insufficient they would have just made all the cars standard with the more powerful one in the first place.

i3 Battery pack

There have been rumors that BMW is already field testing higher density batteries and that they will be available in the not-too-distant future. BMW has always maintained that the i3's battery pack is easily replaceable and that it's likely down the road when a customer determines it's time to replace their pack the replacement pack will be more robust, allowing for a greater range than the original battery did when it was new. Could that be available sooner than we anticipated?

Battery tech is constantly evolving. Tesla for example is rumored to be replacing the current batteries they use with higher density cells in the very near future and will soon open the Gigafactory(s) to manufacture them. Over in the BMW ActiveE Facebook group we recently had a fellow ActiveE driver say he had the opportunity to ride in a test MINI-E at BMW's Technology Center that was fitted with BMW's next generation of batteries and the car had about a 200 mile range. This cannot be confirmed but I have no reason to doubt his claim.

So this may be nothing, a simple mistake or misunderstanding on the BMW i3s Spanish website. Or maybe not...

BMW i3 Places 2nd in European Car Of The Year Voting

Some say there are no moral victories and if you don't win, well, you just lose. I think that may apply to sports more than in other types of competitions, like say, the European Car Of The Year Award.

The BMW i3 finished 2nd to the Peugeot 308, and it was in fact by a substantial margin. However it is worthy of noting that the i3 did finish ahead of the Tesla Model S, which is largely considered the best electric car available. In fact, some automotive journalists say the Tesla Model S is flat out the best car available, electric or otherwise. So in this case, while I'm sure BMW had hoped to win the award, I think the consolation prize of finishing ahead of the Model S was definitely something they privately celebrated.

Autocar was the first to reveal the winner, getting the scoop on everybody. I'm actually here in Geneva now at the Geneva Motor Show covering it for InsideEVs and I didn't even know until I read what they posted! It seems Autocar may have in fact been surprised the i3 didn't win, and blamed the loss on the i3 and the Model S splitting the "electric vote". I'm not too sure I agree with there being an "electric vote" though, and the margin of victory was large enough to consider it a clear victory . However I really know very little about the voting process for this honor and perhaps Autocar knows something about this that I don't.  Here is what they had to say about the results:

“Peugeot wins ECOTY ahead of BMW i3 and Tesla Model S, which clearly split the electric vote. No quarrel with the 308, which is a very well sorted example of its kind, but still feel it’s an opportunity missed to pass over a revolution like the i3 in favour of something so very conventional.”

Here's how the voting went:

Peugeot 308: 307 votes
BMW i3: 223 votes
Tesla Model S: 216 votes
Citroen C4 Picasso: 182 votes
Mazda 3: 180 votes
Skoda Octavia: 172 votes
Mercedes Benz S-Class: 170 votes

So while the i3 didn't take home the trophy, it's clear the voters were impressed with what the i3 brings. To finish ahead of the Model S is pretty incredible, because the Model S is really an incredible car in its own right. So even without a win, this bodes very well for the i3. This is definitely an example of a worthwhile moral victory if I've ever seen one. Now we'll see if the people agree with the results. So far the demand has been very strong for the i3, but will that continue once the original pent up demand subsides and production ramps up to full volume? That's the three billion dollar question that BMW is praying for.

The action around the i3 on the show floor was very good, as it was basically surrounded with journalists all day. I was a little surprised by this because the i3 isn't "new" to the auto show circuit. It may be just launching for the public but journalists have had access to it at many of the past auto shows and by now I would have expected the buzz to have subsided a bit. Perhaps there was renewed interest because of the 2014 European Car Of  The Year competition.

Here are some more picture from Geneva: