BMW i3 stupid dealer tricks...

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tomt

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2014
Messages
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Location
Foothills of Granada Hills, CA
I hope that MB dealers are a little better trained and knowledgeable about the ED...

I filled out the BMW i3 extended test drive application and got an email from a fellow at Center BMW. My exchange with him showed that there is no limit to stupidity among manufacturer's dealership representatives and that no one has a monopoly... Part of my exchange is below (read from the bottom up):

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Actually, your analogies are somewhat flawed…

All EVs suffer range loss with increased weight just as a conventional ICE does, it is simply the law of physics. Regeneration cannot recover all of that increased energy as it is nowhere near 100% efficient, plus the increased weight also increases parasitic losses at a constant speed due to tire and other systems increased friction. The Rex version is heavier than the no-Rex and this does show up as decreased range. The i3 forums are full of comparative numbers showing this to be true.
The EPA range numbers show this very conclusively with 81 for the non-Rex and 72 for the Rex…

As far as the Rex and battery discharge, the big problem is that the Rex has limited performance and without help from the battery, cannot produce sufficient energy to maintain high highway speeds or, more problematically, maintain speed up continued inclines. There is a plethora of stories out there about Rex owners having to creep up freeway inclines at 40 and much lower because of this… BMW exacerbated this problem by programming the U.S. version of the Rex not to start until the battery is nearly exhausted in order to meet BEVx requirements. In Europe, this is not the case and the Rex starts well before the battery is discharged and thus the problem is significantly reduced…

Tom

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From: centerbmw
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2014 3:03 PM
Subject: RE:RE: Extended test drive

Tom,

I can assure you that at (2,899) LBS, the i3 REX being lighter than the leaf ( 3,276), you will notice that the i3 is lighter than the Leaf, adding range without question.

With our Kinetic Energy Regeneration, even if the REX does have extra weight, you will not notice a decrease in range. As soon as your foot comes off the accelerator, as you may know, the energy transmitted from braking and cruising, is converted into usable power for the vehicle. There are limitless ways to recover and gain range with the i3.

Requiring the battery to be drained before an update does make sense. Think of it this way. Before replacing the oil on your vehicle, you have to ensure that all of the previous oil has drained. This will prevent old fluids from mixing with new fluids, which could damage the engine. In the same instance, the i3 batteries need to be drained so that a fresh new update could be uploaded, problem free.

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Thanks for getting back to me.

I’ve had a Leaf for 3 ½ years and 55,000 miles and I am very well acquainted with EVs. I am looking to see what I will replace it with when my lease is up early next year… I would forgo the Rex were I to buy, by the way, as I feel that the U.S. software implementation that requires the battery to be nearly fully depleted before it can kick in, coupled with the anemic Rex performance, to be seriously flawed. And the added weight of the Rex degrades from the electric-only range.

Tom
 
tomt said:
Requiring the battery to be drained before an update does make sense. Think of it this way. Before replacing the oil on your vehicle, you have to ensure that all of the previous oil has drained. This will prevent old fluids from mixing with new fluids, which could damage the engine. In the same instance, the i3 batteries need to be drained so that a fresh new update could be uploaded, problem free. Tom

So this guy thinks that software updates are stored in the batery?!? Does he think you reprogram the car every time you plug in? He sounds not jus less informed, but dumber than the ford salesman who told me "regenerative braking doesn't mater on electric cars, that's just for hybrids".
 
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