BMW i3S - the public charging experience (day 279)

I thought I should try it out...
0:00 intro
1:40 traction issues
3:08 BP Pulse 50kW
5:40 Instavolt 50kW
7:51 conclusion
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Disclaimer;
Some footage in this video has been edited and/or sped up for cinematic effect.
Some footage was also filmed on private land.

[@jamesvdv0]

This is a good demonstration of how straightforward public charging can be. However, it's not always so straightforward. Some chargers, like Gridserve ones, I particularly have problems with regard to doing everything like plugging in and waving my card quickly enough and in the correct order. I often end up with a locked up charger also locked into the car and then, when it eventually allows me I have to change to another charger if available and then start all over again. The first time I tried changing at the Gridserve hub in Braintree, I had to call for help to get the charging started. I have been driving an EV for 9 years now, so I do not consider myself a novice. Busy charging stations are also becoming a major issue for major routes like the M25, which I now consider a charging desert and a waste of time stopping and hoping to get a quick charge at busy times. I'm very glad of the REx on my i3, which reduces my stress when on occasional long journeys. To be honest, with current electricity prices vs. petrol prices, the REx is slightly cheaper to run than even the cheapest rapid charging options currently available, so I'm using it more often now than when I purchased this i3, over 6 years ago.

[@rogerhudson9732]

The A272, always a part of my Lewes to Cornwall trips, Nice to see it's got chargers, the whole network should be like that.

[@MarkCup70]

I drove it today in the Cayman, Petersfield to Billingshurst, it was glorious as usual 😁

[@maxtorque2277]

BTW, keep enjoying the i3, im into my 8th year with an i3 (5yr with little battery i3 then i3s) and the car still makes me smile each and every time i drive it 🙂

[@MarkCup70]

I had a 14 mile domestic round trip earlier today, could have taken the Cayman, should have taken the Cayman, but the i3 got a run instead 😁

[@johnlaws5231]

Encouraging me to try an i3, I'm a 79-year-old disabled Veteran, I gave up my 2015 3.0 'S type' Automatic Jaguar last August as I hardly used it through Corvid. I am missing the luxury and convenience, but not the costs with road tax £350, Insurance £350, 25 mpg, Servicing costs an arm & a leg as do spares. I've a bus pass with buses to Edinburgh every half hour & Haddington & Dunbar every 2 hours, the railway station too far away to walk 5 minutes by bus, hourly electric train to Edinburgh, do I really need a car at all I ask? probably not.

[@s10lucky]

They all need to be like that Mark. Downloading apps and having to enter card details is a pain. Tesla chargers are even easier. Pull up, plug in, unplug and go. Just like home charging. Hopefully more will go contactless.

[@MarkCup70]

Exactly. Until this is the norm there will always be resistance.

[@tomte47]

With a BMW you have access to the BMW charging network if you register your car there. It works on most charge networks (at least here in Sweden), It is really all you need. You get a card you swipe, basic version is free and then you pay whatever the going rate is on the charger or you get the subscription and get a lower fixed rate on all chargers. I would recommend it if you are planning any road trips with the I3.

[@Gadne92.5]

Here in Finland 99% of all the public chargers are "behind" of some App. And there's like 12-15 different charging apps in a country of 5 million ppls. Some of the apps take huge "margin", some really minimal, it depends of the service provider which all to gether isn't simple at all. There's no visual letters or logos, many of the street side charging "poles" are just "dummy" poles which can be found in 10 out of 15 Apps. Then the user has to compare the price rates. Its kind of joke here that "rookie" EV-drivers will pay "premium" as they don't know which app is best to use at which service provider charging station... I wish we would have these credit card machines, how simply and basic would EV-owners life be without all these ***** charging apps. And btw, the BMW app, at least here in Finland, is one of the most expensive one.

[@maxtorque2277]

I find that with my i3s, a 50kW charger is easily "enough speed" because with the cars low consumption (around 4ml/kWh when not driving like a tit.... ;-) 50kW is actually a charging speed of 200 mph! Cars with higher consumption due to their size and intent (ie Audi Etron for example) would need a 100kW charger to match that rate of added miles per hour! Also, because 50kW isn't high power, the i3 tends to be able to pull that power pretty much across the entire State of Charge range, even when its hot or cold of i've been thrashing it around. But at the end of the day, like you, i pretty much never charge away from home, because with 140 odd miles range each and every morning that is simply more than enough 99% of the time ;-)

[@pqvid]

I actually find that there's even such thing like "too quick" charging. Typically, on a DC charger you're supposed to free up the charger as soon as you have finished the charge. Many tariffs enforce it, by applying significant penalty fees if you keep the charger busy after finishing, like 1€ per Minute at Tesla Supercharger. So, if the car is taking 30 minutes, I could typically walk into the service station and do my own business: toilets, coffee, snacks or drinks for the trip. If the stop is less than 15 minutes, with an obligation to vacate the charging point immediately after you finish - then you're more or less forced to wait at your car, re-park somewhere, etc. At the end, you loose much more time than a 20 to 30 min charging stop. Although with the i3, my charging stops used to be more like 40-45 minutes, and that was a bit too long for me. I kept myself busy, as I can work remotely, calling customers, answering emails. Not much difference between arrive home early and do the stuff, or do the stuff during charging, arrive home a bit later - but already having most of it done. But if you travel with someone, 40-45 minutes breaks become a PITA. 20-30 minutes for a charging break is the sweetspot in my opinion. And guess what - most modern EVs fit this expectation.

[@pqvid]

Congratulations! I knew you were curious enough to try it out! 😏 Glad it worked so smoothly, have seen a few reports from the UK where it was rather troublesome. But then again even more others who said it was actually OK most of the time. So next time a trip to London, saving yourself the congestion fee? I'd guess London has a few AC chargers where you could leave the car while you're doing you stuff. Then you don't loose any time - you come back, the car is charged, you drive off. Although AC chargers will probably have some kind of RFID card to activate them, not just your bank card. But you should have received an RFID charging card from BMW? And I believe it includes a one year subscription for better pricing on charges for free, with the purchase (or leasing) of a new BMW. The i3 is not necessarily the best car for long road trips, but we did some quite extensive trips nevertheless, going from Germany to southern France - it's not the quickest on a trip, but it's always fun to drive! And driving through the French Alps and the small villages was a pleasure!

[@ryanoneill2352]

Thanks for the video Mr Cup. Idea for a video - comparison of your thoughts on your last 3 motors - RS, M140i and Porsche right? That'd be a great video I think.

[@MarkCup70]

That's a great idea, noted. I'll start harvesting some old b roll 😁

[@tbrdoescinema]

That simple really.

[@boomerang2]

I'm pleased you demonstrated something that is meant to be pretty painless and mundane. I dont have an ev yet so all the horror stories about public charging fills me with dread. But broken chargers, faulty telecomms, queues, scarcity, not to mention prices, all contribute to charging anxiety (which the media love). I guess what you experienced Mark is how it is *meant* to work. I think you had an advantage of it being a quiet Sunday morning?! Regarding your rather low (for an i3) miles per kWh, what temp was it? Didnt look close to zero. I'd be quite disappointed with 2.6 unless i was having some obscene fun :)

[@MarkCup70]

Yes, an early Sunday morning run for that exact purpose, no traffic on the drive and likely no queues at the charge points. As for the consumption, I was having obscene fun 😁👍

[@neilmick6778]

Do you own a cayman? Not sure you've said.

[@richardtickner4679]

You were lucky that A) you didn't have to queue, and B) the charger was actually working.