BMW i3, An epic mile high climb, 102.5 mile trip

A little over two years ago, on April 7th, 2012, I took Julie's brand new BMW ActiveE on a mile high climb and 104 mile round trip up to the peak of Palomar Mountain. You can read about that trip here:  April 7th 2012 drive

Today, I wanted to see what my new 2014 BMW i3 could do. I recreated the 2012 drive in the BMW i3.

I'll plagiarize a bit of my own previous article in my writing about today's May 26th, 2014, epic mountain top trip with the BMW i3.

My first words are that the BMW i3 is far more than "just" a city car.

Imagine a perfect sphere that weighed (including driver) 2900 lbs. Imagine the energy and strength required to push the sphere up an incline from sea level to 5300ft. Now add the energy to push that sphere 102.5 miles down the road at normal driving speeds. That is the energy that is contained and regenerated in our electric BMW i3.  A most incredible and amazing car.

What a great morning. As crazy pioneers we test our cars to the limits. Why? Because we love cars, love to drive and love to explore where the outer edge is.

Today was a picture perfect day, I planned a 102 mile trip that began at sea level and climbed 5300 feet to the top of Palomar Mountain, then returning to sea level and home on a single charge. This is the exact same trip and same route as the 2012 ActiveE trip.

Speeds were 60-65 mph for 45% of the trip and 30-45mph twisty's for 55% of the trip.

Leaving home I drove my i3 up Palomar Mountain. The first 45 miles climb a total of 2000 feet. The last 7 miles the climb is 3400 feet. It was an awesome drive up the mountain. The i3 is very fast, light and nimble in the twisty's.

Arriving at the 51.3 mile half way point, the top of the mountain, I had roughly 20% battery left and 8 miles of range with an efficiency of 3.1 miles per kwh. When I did this trip in the ActiveE,  I arrived at the top with with 23 percent battery, 10 miles of range and a 2.4 miles per kwh efficiency. However and very importantly, in the ActiveE my average speed was only 29.6mph and this trip in the i3 the average speed was 39.7 which no doubt was less efficient at the higher speed.

It's a little unnerving being 52 miles away from home and having only 8 miles of range showing! At the bottom of the mountain, still 2000 feet above sea level and 45 miles to home, I was back to around 33% battery and not so certain I would make it home without the need to pit stop. In the prior trip in the ActiveE when I hit this mark it was 36% battery left.  

So 33% battery left and 45 miles to go, 2000 feet above sea level you need to ask yourself, "Do I feel lucky?

I had two emergency plans for charging as I was fairly sure I was going to need it.  The first one was the BMW dealership in Escondido about 20 miles from the home.  I hit that offramp with 13-14% range and decided to press on.  The next emergency charging location if needed was BMW of Vista, about 6 miles away from the home.  I hit that offramp at 4 miles of range showing and I knew I had a fairly good size hill to go up to get to our home......so......

What do I do?  Simple, you press on as a crazy pioneer to find out where the endpoint is. (warning! do not try this at home :)

A little over 1 mile from home, I hit zero on the miles but there was just a bit left on the battery bar.  So up the last sizable hill to our house which is on a street named Hillside so you get the picture.

OH NO, the i3 started slowing down and then came to a complete stop just 300 ft from my driveway!  As I walked up to my front door, My Iphone said I had arrived at my destination!

So the exact range of this trip in my BMW i3 was 102.5 miles, a mile high climb and descent, and 5.1 miles per kwh efficiency.

A few last thoughts,

I drove the exact same route as I did two years ago, traffic was very light today and I did not have the chance to draft at all.  Two years ago it was heavier traffic,  more drafting, and slower speeds as a result of the traffic.  In the 2012 ActiveE trip it was 29.6mph, in the 2014 BMW i3 trip it was 39.7mph.

I arrived home in the brand new ActiveE in 2012, with 3% charge remaining. I arrived home (sort of) in the 2014 i3 with 0 charge remaining.

In both the ActiveE and the i3, zero means zero.  At best you might get 1/2 mile more.

In the Active E the drive was in eco pro.  In the i3 it was in mixed eco pro and eco pro plus.

Both drives I used the air con about 25% of the trip set at the second level.

I would have never passed up the chance to top off at the Vista BMW dealership under normal driving conditions. But this was about a max test, stuff that a car guy does to find out where the edge is.  I knew I would be close, within a mile or two and within easy walking distance to the home.  It's kind of funny I ended up just 300 feet from my driveway after 102.5 miles!

We have so many L2 chargers around us that if we are close on the range like the situation today, it's an easy 15-20 minutes on the charger to get an extra 5-7 miles in an emergency.

There is a discrepancy of about a mile on the trip lengths and the i phone has it as 103.  I took the same route, so must be with the navs. 

The BMW ActiveE when new, would go about 3 miles further than the i3 on this 103 mile trip with a mile high climb.

I am super impressed with the BMW i3!

Now, to get the car in the garage up 300' of hill!  Hmm, probably a tow rope.

Cheers!
Peder

BMW i3's, Driving to Net Zero Energy

The idea is a simple one: Harvest sunshine from the roof of your home to provide 100% of the power needed for your home and the two cars in the garage. That is our goal in this "Driving to Net Zero Challenge.

The 12 month documented journey began May 15, 2014. Our first posting of data will be around July 1st containing tabulated data from May 15th to June 15th.

We will begin with May, the April information is used as an example only. 

We will need to drive the most efficient cars to achieve our goal of net zero. We were very happy for BMW  to learn that the BMW i3 is the most efficient production car in the world. The BMW i3 has a combined EPA rating of 124 MPGe.

Said another way, the BMW i3 is a car that drives on 1/5th the energy of a typical new gasoline car in the USA. So 4/5ths of the journey to net zero is efficiency savings, 1/5th will be energy generation via solar PV.

It is this unbeatable combination of efficiency, luxury and performance that truly defines “premium” in an automobile in our opinion and why we choose to buy two BMW  i3’s.

Even though the  i3 is much larger in passenger space, leg room and cargo space than it's prototype predecessor the BMW ActiveE, it weighs 1350lbs less than the ActiveE and is 25% more efficient.

We took delivery of our first i3 "Thor" on May 15th, our second i3 will arrive within the next few days.  Our experience the past 5 years and 100,000 miles driving  the BMW Mini-E and the BMW ActiveE, have demonstrated to us that the range of the i3 fits in very comfortably with our suburban lifestyle and location.  Our home is in Carlsbad, CA , 30 miles north of San Diego.  We realize that in a more rural environment, two i3’s may not be a practical answer.  

In the above pics is our BMW i3 and six solar panels integrated into the roof of this small stone faced area of our home. If purchased today, these six panels would be 260 watts each for a system size of 1.56 kwh.  The panels use 81 square feet of roof space and will generate 2,400 kwh per year.  This  amount of electricity will power the BMW i3 for 10,200 miles a year.  (2,400 multiplied by 4.25 miles per kwh)

Just ponder that for a moment, 6 panels, 81 square feet of space producing electricity for over 25 years, powering a car for 250,000 miles of zero emission driving.

Wow!

So how are we doing leading up to the start date of “The Drive to Zero?”  Here’s a quick look at our March to April energy use for our home and two cars (ActiveE and Honda Fit EV.)  With the BMW i'3s we will save around 1000 kwh each year thanks to the world leading efficiency of the car. 

  

Thought of the Month:

The Energy Grid,

The energy grid serves us well. I have no desire to be "off the grid" or off any of the other grids in our lives such as our transportation grid, social grid, food grid, communications grid, or monetary grid, just to name a few.

These giant sharing systems (grids) are a far more efficient way to deliver services than if we’re all hoarding our money in our mattresses, had no place to buy food, had no shared transportation network, and had no utility grid.

Our goal is not to remove us from the energy grid, but rather to help reinvent the grid and make it a more equitable, more resilient and more accessible grid. A grid where a family or a business is not just a payer, but also can be a payee if they provide a net benefit to the grid,  a grid that encourages more localized behind the meter efficiency savings and renewable energy production.

The key component in this re-imagined grid is smart data.  When we can see how our home uses energy we can select more efficient appliances and adjust our energy use in a more favorable way.  When we can see how much energy our cars are using and when they are using it, we can modify our charging times to optimize the savings, or to assist the grid by not charging during high demand times.  The gathering and displaying of data in a connected house is a key component of getting to net zero.  When we can measure it, we can improve it.

The energy grid to date has only been open on the income cash flow side to the big boys (utilities and power-plants,) but now over 100,000 of users are participating as owners of micro power-plants both benefiting the grid and themselves.  

Going off the grid may be the right answer for some.  For us, understanding and sharing is a good thing :)

We  appreciate you following us on this 12 month journey to net zero energy use.  We enjoy the dialog of different opinions and ideas in the comments as we all try to improve mobility and transportation for ourselves and future generations.

Cheers
Peder

Link to April post: http://insideevs.com/one-house-two-bmw-i3s-powered-solely-sunshine/