BMW i3

[pete]

An owner writes...

They are getting better... They actually make a lot of sense in rural areas, spoke to a farmer recently (actually last summer) - they drive EVERYWHERE but charge at home. It used to mean a special 20 mile round trip for diesel, now they just plug it in every night.

Because my wife is mental she brought ours up to Aviemore last week, we left to come home at the same time. She stopped twice for a charge - once at Laggan Wolftrax (where we were all stopping anyway to MTB). And the second time in Perth. I had to stop once to fill the van which we'd been using all week.

To my astonishment she arrived about 10 minutes behind us.

[rawsco]

Zapmap seems to be pretty good at making informed decisions on where to stop and identifying the routinely failing chargers as community pretty good at complaining if they are gubbed.

[pete]

Zapmap is very good, and good at getting the best chargers as they are not all created equal. But tbh 90% of my charging is at home - as a day today vehicle it's just more convenient than an ICE.

[Ferg]

Do you need specific charging equipment or can you just literally plug into the mains?

[BigD]

An owner writes...

They are getting better... They actually make a lot of sense in rural areas, spoke to a farmer recently (actually last summer) - they drive EVERYWHERE but charge at home. It used to mean a special 20 mile round trip for diesel, now they just plug it in every night.

Because my wife is mental she brought ours up to Aviemore last week, we left to come home at the same time. She stopped twice for a charge - once at Laggan Wolftrax (where we were all stopping anyway to MTB). And the second time in Perth. I had to stop once to fill the van which we'd been using all week.

To my astonishment she arrived about 10 minutes behind us.

So what you’re saying is you can do long distances in a leccy car as long as you have a support van with all the bikes and equipment. Why didn’t you just take a geny then you could’ve charged it anywhere?

We had to take 2 cars as she only joined us halfway through the holiday.

[campbell]

Lol

[hendeg]

Do you need specific charging equipment or can you just literally plug into the mains?

I just plug into the mains with the supplied adapter. Perfect for charging overnight.

I have the electric only version and I’ve taken it to Edinburgh a few times. That requires a charge in Dundee in both directions and also a top up in Edinburgh. It does make the journey much longer.

It’s the perfect car for local which is what almost all my requirement for it is. I decided that I’d just hire a car for the times I needed to go longer distances. It just depends on your circumstances.

[Ferg]

To be honest, with the kids, we need a 30 min stop every 100 miles anyway.

Saw a leaf today. I had no idea they had gone the way of the Smart and made a bigger one. I see Smart are getting on the bandwagon now too with an electric For2.

[hendeg]

To be honest, with the kids, we need a 30 min stop every 100 miles anyway.

That’s why Scotty should get one. It’s Scotty they have to stop for though, not Freddie.

[campbell]

Think a lease on a leccy car could tempt me. Mitigates the uncertainty of a few bits of the tech, residuals, etc.

Just need to find a good looking example

[IanD]

Think a lease on a leccy car could tempt me. Mitigates the uncertainty of a few bits of the tech, residuals, etc.

Just need to find a good looking example

Recently there was a brief period Jaguar I-pace were offered on a 18month lease no deposit and £400 a month but offer wasn’t on for long as they were snapped up.

Had a morning at Tesla Edinburgh weeks ago including presentation, workshop tour and test drives which was interesting.
Was mentioned Tesla seem to have the super charging at motorway services that no one else can match in miles per minute charge, 50% charge in 20mins talked about a group of other companies were going to provide something similar soonish.

The Tesla visit did make me think more about listening and watching what is been said about EV with a potential to becoming a daily driver at some point in the future years.

Good to hear real life experiences of i3

[robin]

When Empress Sturgeon announces that all diesel and petrol cars will be banned from all Scottish cities by 2025 (air quality) the residuals on our non-Lotus ICE cars will take a kicking. Of course she might not do that. It feels like the crossover point is approaching rapidly (a bit like the graph of fixed landlines vs mobiles or SMS texts vs WhatsApp messages ...). Coupled with Scotland's massive free energy potential (not fully exploited) and a fondness for spunking public funds, I feel a huge program of e-chargers coming ... cheap charging on windy days. Scots will probably call it WindeyCharge (like Stoneybridge).

[campbell]

Gone off Tesla over build quality and the flakiness of Musk but I believe they posted a small profit this quarter so maybe not all so bad.

[pete]

I've got a 420d as a courtesy car at the moment as the i3 is in for it's first service. it feels sluggish and the noise from the engine is horrid.

[campbell]

Beemers eh