BMW i4 eDrive40 | Long Trip Test

[@pedroalmeida4652]

Yet another confirmation of how great my BMW i4 eDrive 40 is! - And with iDrive 8.5 (which rolled out for manufacturing dates from 1st July 2023 onwards, my car is from 3rd July!) the SOC at arrival (and intermediary if a charging stop is set) does show on the route planner. I love this car!!!

[@KDR816]

my car is from June, oh no!

[@pedroalmeida4652]

@@KDR816 I feared mine would, too, until the moment I looked at the infotainment screen when I picked it up - my absolutely first concern!!

[@jonaskalen1759]

Same here! Best car ever.

[@KDR816]

@@pedroalmeida4652 I received it in June, so it can't be from July 😄 anyways there was a more or less major update few months ago and the route planner has the features you mentioned

[@pedroalmeida4652]

@@KDR816 Excellent, good to know! I always thought this would come to the cars with iDrive 8 also, as it was for sure a software issue only. Enjoy!

[@KDR816]

Recently travelled Munich - Vienna in heavy snow (December 2nd had the strongest snowfall in 90 years, it was snowing the entire 400 km). Temperatures between -10/-3°. Where road allows I was driving 130kmh. My consumption ended up being 20kWh/100km. Which is high for the summer, but given no grip most of the time, low temperatures, need for constant heating I find this consumption great. I needed only one short stop (but my family asked for 2 extra stops 😅, not the car). And I'm impressed how stable it is despite the RWD

[@skayofox]

Huh... I can't get the consumption under 21 kWh/100 km at -5 up to 5°C... WIth the edrive 35... I always hear people saying it consumes less, am I doing something wrong? Du you use Eco Pro?

[@KDR816]

@@skayofox I'm not fan of heating (getting sick of it), so I keep temperature Low or +16. Getting sick of the heated air. 21 is nice for -5. I travelled a long distance (400km) usually it's lower than shorter distances as it has more motorway driving than city driving. Also I use eco pro

[@fleialex]

Can confirm that, in Eco Pro I also average in Winter around 20 kw

[@skayofox]

@@furry_homunculus I have the same 852 for the winter tires. What is your consumption?

[@MrSinnerBOFH]

Oh wow! Unexpectedly impressive consumption on winter conditions on the eDrive40. Thank you Kris!🎉

[@jille2989]

Just ordered the i4 in Cape York green with red Sensatec interior with a M pack. Can't wait to drive it!

[@leeebbrell9]

I'm loving my i4, range is great I have less issues with cold conditions compared to other people I know with other branded cars

[@stefanwehinger1235]

My all year average is 17.5 kWh/100 km, the i4 40 is exactly one year old now. I love this car. Only the sport seats are to firm for my aging back.

[@stevehampton1130]

Great Review. FYI, I owned the same i4 as you tested… When you chart the desired destination via the car’s navigation, it will tell you the remaining SOC at each stop . Also you can view available chargers along the route or otherwise via the navigation.. In addition, The BC button will cycle through consumption on the drivers screen..

[@krisneyens678]

I have been driving one for a year now… just mindbogglingly good

[@aston-martin-internationalist]

I think the reasons you Norwegians get significantly higher winter range than other parts of Europe is because you have quite low highway speed limits compared to France and Germany for example and even the UK I just just ordered an i40 M Sport Pro eDrive 40 and hoping winter range is going to be manageable. We do have significantly milder winters here in the UK, so that helps!

[@Smith_Tech_70]

I've got a 2022 edrive 40 M Sport Pro. I love it. You will not be disappointed. All the efficiency of a model 3, but with proper sporty styling, ride & handling. I got 3 m/kWh in winter at 70 mph on a 140 mile trip a few weeks ago. That's a max range of 240 miles at 70 mph!!. I did a 240 mile trip last summer, and averaged 4 m/kWh, after a mix of speeds from 40 mph to 70. From Stoke to Anglesey and back.4 m/kWh would give a max range of 320 miles. Impressive. I had had zero issues in the last 12 months / 11,000 miles. Even pulled the caravan to Cornwall with it. 😎

[@gery4870]

Superb video Kris, love your editing, and your tests !! Hope you could re-do the test in Summer, maybe would be the top 1 :)

[@helmutfriedl3482]

Nice test, astounding results. Given the fact, that this car isn´t even built on a bespoke EV platform, we can see how much potential for improvement there still is. Come on automotive managers & design guys: scrap these nonsense SUV´s and give us the 10 kWh/100km limousines!

[@Sherukka]

The platform is overcounted for, makes very little difference… It’s the form of the body that’s the key

[@abraxastulammo9940]

EQXX for the win! 😅

[@EinzigfreierName]

A true EV platform will unlikely be much more energy efficient. But it can (potentionally) make much better use of the available space.

[@Sherukka]

@@EinzigfreierName True and false. If batteries are flat in the floor, the backseat space is often compromised.

[@EinzigfreierName]

Yes, but the i4 has the batteries in the floor also. So regarding this, there should not be a big difference.@@Sherukka

[@arnozwegers38]

Thank you for the test, just a number of things that were incorrect. At 10 minutes it is mentioned that the car does not show the battery percentage that the car will arrive with at the next stop/charging station. Yes it will show it but not when you are charging, it simply cannot because it does not know till what % you are going to charge the car. Stop the charging and do it again and it will perfectly show it. And when you plan your route when you are not charging it will tell you where to stop and how long to charge at each stop. Also you do not need Elton the car knows and shows it in colors to you. Red, all occupied, amber limited availability, green ample availability.

[@DES0MX0]

Great test! The car does show you the % SOC at arrival destination. In your case at 10th minute video it was showing 0% as the car was still charging at the current HPC, once it would reach higher SOC it would show the % at arrival actually turn from 0 into something tangible

[@KrisRifa]

It shows you in the navigation menu before you set the destination. Other than that, you cannot find the SOC you’ll arrive with, without cancelling navigation and then setting it again. So pretty useless in practice.

[@DES0MX0]

I see the issue this is the pre July 2023 build, version 8.5 shows this also@@KrisRifa

[@KDR816]

@@KrisRifa you can set % at departure in route options. Also I think the myBMW app route planner is can do such thing seamlessly

[@KrisRifa]

@@KDR816 I don’t want to set any SOC. I want the car to do that automatically. Tell me how much to charge and for how long so I can get to my destination. The same way Tesla, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, VW, Volvo and Polestar do it. Just to mention a few

[@KDR816]

@@KrisRifa you build routes to chargers, but should do it for your real destination. Done 7000km roadtripping around Europe and never had such a situation 🙂. It's like building routes to the gas station instead of an actual destination. But yes, they could've considered more of use cases

[@Smith_Tech_70]

Great test Kris. Bjorn Nyland said that the edrive 40 is a very close 2nd to the model 3 in terms of efficiency. Very good for an EV with an ICE platform. I love my i4. 😁

[@rastkogalovic4027]

You should investigate why consumption is low- BMW el cars use unique motors, induction but with brushes. Which could have negative effect on maintenance, but BMW has put brushes in different compartment, for easier access and to protect motor from brush dust

[@kiwi335d]

There shouldn’t be very much dust from the brushes, as the brushes glide across a very smooth surface, not like brushes on say, an electric drill motor, which rub across a somewhat abrasive commutator surface. The brushes should last a long time and be relatively easy and cost effective to eventually replace.

[@celsorogerioandretta28]

Hi Kris , a Merry Christmas and a fabulousnew year!! e vivas à Noruega, Brasil 🇧🇷 e à Itália!!!

[@Stan-at-KangarooIslandTV]

I just got back from a 6,200km road trip in my new long range RWD Polestar 2 and was getting an efficiency of 15.8kWh/100km and a suggested range of 480km at 90 per cent. Granted this is warm Australia, but I think that’s pretty amazing, plus the Polestar drives just as well and has better Google software.

[@Clown90125]

But the Polestar is an ugly box with no style whatsoever. The interior looks cheap top. Its just a Volvo.

[@hege750]

I know the i5 is out of fashion as it's not a brand new car anymore, but I found out that you didn't do any i5 range/long trip testing back in the day, so how about getting an i5 xDrive40 Touring (brand new model) demo car and do these tests? 😊

[@hardykornfeld1733]

In its first 22,000 miles and 14 months, our e40 msport has a lifetime average of 3.8 miles/kWh, driving in New England that has relatively cold winters.

[@adamhDK]

I'm biased as I'm considering getting the facelifted i4 eDrive 40, but given the winter results and the facelift, are you planning to review the facelifted version and do a summer range/long distance test? Appreciate the channel and content!

[@dstfno]

The range of the new model is just the same. It's a facelift, they didn't change the battery technology.

[@leluyaa]

THANKS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU KRIS‼️

[@wonderboy75]

Something about the way you prononounced Peugot e208. 😅 Great video as usual Kris!

[@patriot0971]

I have the exact same car, even the color. Love it !! I am in US

[@jarmos7247]

Hi. I have i4 e40 and very satisfied for two adults also in Nordic winter. Navigation route information show end %.

[@Thecommentator-hc1fz]

I did a road trip with the i4 m50, great car. It was 3500km and had 0 issues at all.

[@constantinnescu1564]

Thanks for the video Chris ! I couldnt find the avg speed of your test. Can you provide this info pls ?

[@petruhlir5431]

What was the average speed you achieved? Did you drove just on highway?

[@MasterChief37]

Wait until you try the iX.

[@vitabioticsdggroupltd5428]

What was your average speed dueing that test?

[@abraxastulammo9940]

Is it still rapidgating after too many charges per day?

[@KDR816]

no

[@philipmacrae7435]

Steering is probably the best feature. I have been driving California for 2+ weeks. She doesn't understand my accent!! The head up display is not compatible with my sunglasses.

[@norga111]

I think, your sunglasses are not compatible with HUD :)

[@TheVitaaa]

Total range? In Ukraine I have 320-350 km with -3 °C

[@colossus_g]

I am trying to understand why cold weather affects EV range so much. When you first get into the car it will devote a lot of energy warming the battery system to operating temperature range. This may take a few kilometers, maybe up to 10 or 15, but after that surely maintaining that operating temperature does use very much energy. My point being, the longer the trip the less the range degradation. Is that your experience?

[@KrisRifa]

This is a great question! It such a good topic that I will make a whole video talking about this. But there are the short basics. - In my range tests for the cars I've done both winter and summer testing in - cars usually get between 60-80% if their WLTP rated range at 120kph. In winter the number is normally 50-80%. Over the board there is only around a 10-15% difference compared to WLTP from summer to winter. On the high end, that means 20% difference in real world range from summer to winter, and around 10% on the low end. EV are much more energy efficient that ICE cars. While the most efficient ICE engine have around 25-30% efficiency, most EVs are operating at around 90-95% efficiency. In other words 65-70% of the fuel burnt in an ICE engine is dissipated in heat. Some of that is recovered to heat up the car, but most of that is just wasted energy either it is warm og cold outside - so this does very little to change the consumption from summer to winter. An EV on the other hand does not generate the amount of heat as an ICE engine, and therefore has to use energy from the battery to heat up the cabin. That with colder air being more dense, means more energy is used to push the car trough the air as well. Hope this answers your question and you now understand why EVs use more energy in winter.

[@colossus_g]

@@KrisRifa Thank you Chris for that answer. My own personal experience in a Polestar 2 (without actually taking measurements) is that during winter here my commute to and from work uses about 1/3rd more energy than during the rest of the year. My work is about 12km distance from my home. The difference in energy usage is quite noticeable. However, on longer trips on the weekend that doesn't seem to be the case. Admittedly, I live in Adelaide in South Australia, so when I say colder weather it will be nothing like the colder weather where you are.

[@BogeyTheBear]

Driving at speed means you're blowing freezing air over the vehicle, so the car doesn't stay warm-- it has to be re-warmed as you go along.

[@tip00former1]

My first vid of your channel, I will check out more now. You made a good explanation as to why winter conditions make EV's vulnerable, especially without heat-pump, etc. You seem to have some knowledge of the mechanics. However overall it's about thermal dynamics and most efficient diesel engine (car) has efficiency of near 40%. Did you ever do a video on the difference of a country's energy-grid regarding use of legacy energy? Norway is very lucky in having relatively clean energy. It makes EV's overall highly energy efficient in Norway, like 70% (based on articles). Most countries however still use 80% dirty energy and minimal nuclear, so EV's are less efficient, between 15-32% in example countries. Just curious if you ever looked at it that way. Have a nice day, thank you 😊 @@KrisRifa (I know I side-stepped a bit, just curious) (Edit: I saw your vid about why you love EV's and I realize you don't take my point above into account atm. You don't have to of course, you more or less admitted you were not in it for environmental reasons, np. Germany for example has a dirty grid, 80 % fossil as of 2023, which means inefficient EV's 😕)

[@ONI1013.]

Does anyone here have real range and efficiency mi/kwh data for i4 M50 after 6+ months ?

[@chipsen3359]

Best EV👍

[@ta88ycat]

Fella needs to read the manual.

[@KrisRifa]

For what exactly? Care to enlighten us with your knowledge?

[@MrBazsi888]

Biggest problem with this car is rear seat legroom. Nose should be shorter and give passangers more opportunities to strech their legs.

[@Dark_Vader888]

This would be the car 100% I would be driving over Tesla if the i4 wasnt so damn ugly. A longtime BMW fanboy here too.

[@Mr1yla-v7x]

For me the tesla is ugly like a frog just eaten a rubic cube..

[@EinzigfreierName]

Well... the design would be the #1 reason to prefer the i4 over a Model 3.

[@KDR816]

shadow line makes it look great

[@florian_spdl]

the price is the only downside of the i4 for me

[@KDR816]

@@florian_spdl lease it 😄and the quality costs

[@conradmilson6654]

What's kilometers? We use miles so none of it makes sense.

[@user-jw4nz8km2x]

Cool. Now just bring another i4 so you can also bring the luggage with you.

[@soldierssoldier.1503]

Why are you even driving with no hands on the wheel, a stupid childish thing to do, have you a driving licence? you see these two bumps on the wheel, at 10 to 2 yes? well that's where you are expected to hold the steering wheel and not you're fingertips, on a single charge you won't get over 200 miles, especially in the cold, I can't get 150 miles on a cold day in my newer BMW i4 2024 model, what drive are you using, ie, Eco Pro or Comfort or Sports mode it makes a big difference. I do see you're using B drive putting some charge back into the battery but even that makes hardly any difference. I wish I had kept my BMW X1 IDrive 2-litre twin turbo ICE car but I didn't and regret it. BMW are at the front on building cars, I'm sure a lot of today's EV faults will be sorted out, especially when Solid State Batteries come along, until then I'll continue with range anxiety and wishing I'd not listened to my BMW salesman.

[@tsmatthx2]

rip bmw, overpriced

[@ReneSkotte]

They need to remove the rabbit teeth, it does NOT look good.

[@KP-xi4bj]

Tesla > POS BMW

[@conradmilson6654]

All very well but as with all these tests it is just a one up passenger. 400km range for a car of that price is just not worth it. A backward way to travel. You cannot beat an ICE car.

[@obieWanmotivation]

Actually you can beat an ICE car. I traveled almost 300 miles and charged once at Zero cost. And recharging at home only cost me $3 on average ($50 per month). Otherwise ignorance is bliss. Cheers 🥂

[@boudivv]

Unfortunately it looks ugly.

[@eugenstoica1924]

Forget about EV cars

[@lucafra86]

@kris rifa Do you think it can manage the trip from Pavia to Ortisei without any stop?