Fill 'Er up!

I know many readers here have spent countless sleepless nights pondering the the age-old question: How long does it take to refuel a BMW i3's tiny gas tank?

Well maybe not, but I have had people argue that driving the i3 REx on an extended trip would be very inconvenient because they would have to stop to fill up the gas tank every 50-60 miles. I've done quite a few road trips with my i3 REx, and stopping once an hour for a couple of minutes to refill the tank never really bothered me much.

I wrote a post last year which detailed a 462 mile round trip I made to Vermont from my home in New Jersey and refueling was one of the topics that many people commented on. On that trip, I had to stop for gas a total of seven times, as I only recharged the car once, which was at my destination. I drove 111 miles on battery, 351 miles on the range extender and used a total of 9.87 gallons of gas, averaging 35.5 mpg.

It was snowing in Vermont when we arrived

In that post, I wrote that I found it funny how quickly the gas tank fills because it's only 1.9 gallons. My wife started timing how long it took to stop for gas and we averaged a little over two minutes. I remember wishing we had recorded one of the gas breaks so we could demonstrate just how quick you can pull off the highway, fill up, get back into the car and back out onto the highway. I made a note that the next time we drove back up to Vermont, we would do just that.

So last week we made the Vermont trip again, and as planned we recorded one of the gas stops:


As you can see, I started the stopwatch before we exited the highway, and stopped it when we were back on the highway. I didn't jump out of the car and rush like a NASCAR pit crew filling up. I took my time and even spent a couple extra second topping off so I'd get every drop that I could into that tiny tank and we still did it in under two minutes.

The point of the exercise was to demonstrate that it's really not that inconvenient to make a quick gas break about once every every hour. I will qualify that statement with the fact that here in the Northeast there are gas stations everywhere. It seems that I'm never more than a couple miles from one, so when I'm doing these long drives I can plan the stops at convenient intervals when the tank is nearly empty. While that is the case for many large city and suburban areas throughout the country, there are plenty of rural areas where gas stations aren't as prevalent, and the small gas tank would be a problem. The i3 REx most likely isn't well suited for use in those areas. But hey, BMW calls it a "city car" after all.


As I mentioned above, when I made the trip last year I only did 111 miles on battery and drove 351 on the REx. This year I was able to drive 270 miles on battery, and needed only 184 miles with the range extender maintaining the battery state of charge. This was possible because of the always improving charging infrastructure. I was able to stop twice (once each way) at Prestige BMW in Mahwah, NJ and use their new DC fast chargers. Also, on the way home I stopped for a couple hours at a friend's house who just recently installed a 240v level 2 EVSE in his garage. These stops allowed me to more than double the all-electric miles for the trip, and I only needed 4.9 gallons of gas for the 184 miles I drove with the range extender running, as I averaged 37.5 mpg.

I used the recently installed DC Fast Charger at Prestige BMW on both legs of the trip.

I now have over 36,000 miles on my i3 after seventeen months of ownership, and only about 1,750 of those miles were on the REx. The range extender has been a great feature and I'm still very happy I got it. It does what it is supposed to; it gets you home without worrying about finding a charging station on the rare days that the electric range isn't enough, and it enables the occasional long road trip. There are limitations though, and extreme hill climbing while the REx is running for prolonged periods at highway speeds, can result in reduced power. Fortunately I've never had that happen to me but I don't really have any big mountains which I need to climb. On my Vermont trips I set the Active Cruise Control to 70 mph and have never had an issue yet, even though there are some prolonged climbs at the end of the trip. I did get the "Reduced Power Possible" warning once though, as the state of charge hit a low point of 2% once. However it held there until I crested the climb and once I was on flat ground the SOC climbed back up to about 6%. I left the cruise at 70 mph because I actually wanted to see at what point it would go into reduced power mode, but it never happened.  

On one climb, I was able to get the SOC down to 2% and at that point the car warns you that reduced power may occur if you continue without altering your driving. Basically it's saying "Slow Down!"

Still, in a perfect world I'd prefer a 150 mile, all-electric-range i3 combined with adequate DC fast charge infrastructure. Personally, I really don't need 250 or 300 miles of range, and I'd rather not pay for it. However, even though the infrastructure is improving, I think 200 miles of range is probably more acceptable until DC fast chargers are ubiquitous. It appears with Nissan and Chevy poised to bring 200 mile EVs to market in the coming year, the "affordable" electric vehicle market is going to get very interesting. BMW's CEO recently announced that the 2017 i3 will have a longer all electric range also, but didn't comment on exactly how much more. That's good news because as much as I like how the REx works, and how quickly I can refill the gas tank, I'd still much prefer going on battery alone. 

Now that dog days of summer are upon us, I've noticed quite a few i3 owners popping up on social media sites like the i3 Facebook Group, the MyBMWi3 Forum and the BMW i Circuit Forum asking if the loud noise they hear coming from under their car is normal. Like all EVs, the i3 is very quiet most of the time so when you hear a loud noise coming from the vehicle which you've never heard before, it's understandable to assume there may be something wrong.

However in this case there is nothing to worry about. The loud noise you hear when you park the car or when you plug in to charge is just the air conditioning compressor running. The car's thermal management system is working to cool off the batteries. Keeping the batteries cool is vital to prolonging their life, and preventing early capacity loss. Some early Nissan LEAF owners who lived in warm weather climates experienced unacceptable battery capacity loss and actually sued Nissan over it. The LEAF uses a passive thermal management system which doesn't actively cool the batteries like most modern EVs do, and in extreme cases the batteries were damaged from the heat. There are different types of systems used in today's EVs, and the i3's is likely the best one out there. The thermal management system is just another reason the i3 has been called the most advanced vehicle on the planet.

The i3 has a sophisticated thermal management system which uses R134a refrigerant to cool the batteries. It's actually the only EV to employ this type of battery cooling method. Some electric vehicles from other manufacturers use fans to blow air across the batteries to cool them, while other more advanced systems use a liquid based thermal management system. Liquid based systems work well, but they use more energy than the i3's system does, and using an inert gas is also the safest way to cool the battery. If the i3's battery pack is somehow compromised, the gas will simply and harmlessly dissipate. One potential problem of liquid based thermal management systems is in the rare case of a catastrophic rupture of the battery pack, the liquid could act as an accelerant if the battery has a fire, spreading the fire to other parts of the pack. I don't see this as a serious flaw in liquid based thermal management systems, and I'd feel perfectly safe driving or owning an EV which had one. It's just that I believe the i3's TMS is simply better than the competition's.

So if you're an i3 owner and are wondering why the car has been making this loud buzzing noise recently, now you know. 

Well I guess you can't blame them for trying. Desperate times call for desperate measures, they say. Lexus is at it again with their anti-EV advertising and this time they made a direct attack on the BMW i3. Still it's a little surprising that they seem so obsessed with pointing out why you don't want to buy an EV, instead of telling you why you would want to buy one of their hybrids. It seem to me that it's kind of like when a politician has nothing good to say about themselves, so they run their entire campaign on spreading FUD about their opponent. Let me recap what has led up to this latest attack.

Back in May Lexus put out some questionable information and videos on their consumer website that was highly criticized for having incorrect content regarding electric vehicles. In fact the information was so outdated and incorrect that it brought about a response from Plug In America:

Hey, Toyota, the 1990s called. They want their outdated anti-EV attack ad back. Plug-in electric vehicles charge while you're sleeping at home, far more convenient than making a trip to a gas station and coming away smelling like carcinogens. Driving on electricity costs about one fifth what it costs to drive the average gas car and about a third what it costs to drive the most efficient hybrid. An electric drive has smooth, instant acceleration which can't be matched by any gasoline engine. If you don't believe me, just ask anyone driving a Toyota RAV4 EV.  (disclosure: I am currently a board member of Plug In America)
Lexus got the message and a company spokesman pulled the incorrect information from their website and issued an apology. However about four months later they ran an ad that showed a lonely EV charging station, alone in a dark parking lot with the 8 steps to driving electric:
1) Closely monitor charge status
2) Turn off A/C and radio to conserve power
3) Download app to locate charging stations
4) Get lost searching for charger
5) Experience surge in range anxiety
6) Finally find charger
7) Plug in and wait four hours
8) Repeat

OK, so after it was clear this was a full-on mudslinging campaign, and certainly an indication Lexus was worried about the pressure they were getting from their electric competition. So now they put out this five minute long video, aimed at showing how miserable it would be to take a BMW i3 on a long drive. I'm not arguing the fact that the i3 isn't the perfect road trip vehicle, and using the BEV version would make a 300+ mile trip an adventure of sorts, especially today without the availability of DC quick charge stations. However it's kind of silly to think someone would head off into the desert on a 302 mile trip with an 81 mile EV without thinking about it first. That would be like taking a smart car on a fishing trip up a dirt-road mountain, knowing you have to cross a few streams and rocky passes along the way. Horses for courses, they say. In any event, yes we know the BEV i3 would take a long time to make this 302 mile trip, but how about if the i3 they used had the optional range extender?

It's very hard to see in this screen shot, but the outline of the top of the gas filler door is right behind the guy on the right, about waist high. If you watch the video and pause it at the 4.23 mark, you can see it better.  *Hat tip to Inside EVs reader Martin B. He was the first one to notice the outline of the gas filler door in the video.

While it still wouldn't be the perfect vehicle for this type of trip, the i3 REx  could have done it much faster than the BEV i3. Yes, they would have had to stop five times to fill up the tiny gas tank, but since it's so small, it only takes about two minutes total (I've timed it!) for a gas station pit stop. So figure about 10 to 20 minutes added to the trip as compared to the Lexus hybrid. However as depicted in the video they took a BEV i3 by mistake, not knowing they'd have to stop to plug it in right? Maybe not. If you watch the video very closely, at the 4.23 mark for a brief moment you can see the top edge of the gas filler door just as one of the actors moves. So Lexus actually used an i3 REx for at least this scene and perhaps the entire video. Could they have used multiple i3's or did they photoshop out the gas filler door for most of the video, but missed it on this one brief scene. To me, that makes it so much more egregious. If the car they were driving in the video actually could have done that road trip without any issue, and Lexus lied about its capabilities, photoshopped out the evidence and presented it as incapable of making the trip in a reasonable time frame then they should be taken to task.

In this picture you can also see the corner of the gas filler door. It is difficult to see here in this low-res picture but when enlarged the corner of the filler door is clear to see.

While Lexus has indeed been spreading electric vehicle FUD for a while now, this is definitely a step up in intensity. Perhaps they took a look at October's sales data and realized for the first time since its launch six months ago, the BMW i3 outsold the CT-200h in the US. How could such a crippled, limited-range car that costs $10,000 more than their hybrid outsell it? Could Toyota actually have been wrong about EV's? Do people actually want them? Whatever the case it's clear Toyota is very concerned and has resorted to scare tactics in an attempt to steer people from buying EV's and lead them to their hybrids. Good luck with that Toyota.

One last comment. I've owned seven Toyotas in my life, and currently own a 1999 Tacoma which I use to plow my driveway and parking lot, and haul large items for my restaurant. However I'm done with them. I can't support a company that has such an anti electric vehicle stance as they do, going as far as lying about them and continuously reciting the rhetoric that nobody wants them. So I have this question for Toyota: If nobody wants them, why are they outselling your hybrids?

My i3 is powered by electricity generated by my home solar array. EV+PV is really a fantastic combination and one that I believe will be fairly common in the near future.  So how can you possibly top that? How about by getting two i3s and powering both of them plus your entire household's energy use by your  solar array! That's exactly what the Norby's are attempting to do.

Update Month Three. We're killing it!

We estimate that we will be -$800 by Oct/Nov

Solar PV production holding steady at 1326 kWh

Electricity use for the two BMW i3's rose to 478 kWh for the month

We have a credit of $315 for the first seven months of the year

1/4 of the way into our "Driving to Net Zero Energy" challenge and as they say in political election coverage:
"I am ready to make a projection and call this race"

Did you know your i3 has a little tab to hold the charge port cover while it's charging? Bet you didn't!

Over at our Facebook i3 group we have complied a list of a few "Getting to know your i3" facts. I've put them together here to give new i3 owners a quick run-down of some of the things you may not find in the owners manual or be told by your dealer. The electric vehicle community has proven to be an invaluable resource for new LEAF, Volt and Tesla owners and I expect the same to happen with the i3. There is so much new ground to cover that the dealers simply can't provide all the information the customers need. That being said, they need to do better than what we have seen so far. If you have more tips and suggestions, please leave them in the comments section below and I may even add it to the post.

• Your car is delivered with both charge rates purposely set to low. If you took delivery and are wondering why it's taking much longer to charge than you expected, this is the reason why. You need to go into the idrive settings > Charging and adjust to maximum setting.  Be aware that you can set these yourself and you might need lower settings depending on available current when charging.

• Both seats will be likely be set up to the maximum height. Pull the lever to go down so your wrist can rest on the pad by the iDrive. The height of the armrest is also adjustable. Pull the tab on the leading edge up and you can set the height to your liking. The steering column not only adjusts up and down, but it also telescopes outward and is adjusted by the lever underneath the steering column.

• Be mindful of the speed restriction setting in ECOPRO (75mph) and ECOPRO+ (55mph). You may need to adjust it. The car doesn't actually have a hard speed limit at those marks, but when you reach those speeds it temporarily holds the car from accelerating past them. If you want to go faster you really need to push the accelerator further to bypass the "soft" speed restriction. It is more of a gentle reminder to watch your speed than an actual speed limit.

• The rear passengers can let themselves out by pulling the front seat headrest cable and pushing the seat forward to reach the door pull. 

• To lay the rear seats flat, there is a fabric loop that you pull on the bottom corner of the seat back.

• The front trunk is not water tight and under certain conditions water may spray up into it so don't put anything in there that can be ruined it if gets wet. If you need to do so, buy a watertight bag to store it in. Many people will keep their 120V occasional use EVSE up there. While it is indeed fine for outdoor use, I'd recommend storing it in a waterproof bag up there also so water doesn't pool up in the connector frequently.

• There is an extra drink holder under the arm rest that you can insert at the front of the center console.You can also purchase an additional one and have three cup holders in the center console.

• Check to make sure the AC and charging system is working before you leave the dealer; BMW disables both for shipping and the port or dealer needs to enable it before delivery. There were quite a few people in Europe that had this issue and now a few in the US are reporting  it also. It is evidently a 15 minute fix to enable the A/C at the dealer, provided your dealer has been trained on this and knows how to do it. Unfortunately not all dealers know this yet!

• Download the BMW i Remote app from the iTunes store and have your CA register you for it.  More detail: There are two BMW apps , MY BMW Remote app and BMW Connected app. Which is correct?BMW i remote and BMW Connected (both for US) are correct. My BMW Remote was used for the ActiveE and is no longer applicable. Is the BMW Connected app used to monitor charging, precondition etc.. or is that a different app? The i Remote is for pre con and opening the doors etc. The Connected one does have some monitoring but it's mostly to run apps in the car (via a standard USB-to-phone cable rather than bluetooth) Go to iTunes App Store, put in search string “BMW” in search box, Filter for iPhone Apps only. (See photo of resulting apps, loaded as a separate file under the title "BMW iPhone Apps for i3")

• Ask your insurance company for the Hybrid or Electric Vehicle discount.

• Press the end of the turn signal stalk on the left side of the steering wheel to display the external temperature on the driver info screen.

• Press the small button on the left side of the Driver Information Screen to reset the trip odometer displayed on that screen. The other trip computer is reset from within iDrive.

• To play Pandora in the car, install apps from ConnectedDrive menu in idrive, then plug your phone into the USB cord and launch Pandora. The Pandora icon will appear in the radio menu. You can then use idrive to control Pandora in the center screen.

• Download the BMW ConnectedDrive App to get many other features and apps like BMW Radio, Audible, Glympse, Amazon Cloud Player, Rhapsody, Stitcher, Aupeo, Facebook, Wiki Local and Twitter. You have to connect the USB cable to make it work.

• When charging you can use the hook on the charge flap to hold the plastic "gas cap" cover. there is a small slot under the plug cover that aligns with it.  Or you can drape it over the top of the J1772 plug rather than letting it dangle in the wind against the paint.

• Before you leave the dealership, put the car into reverse with no surrounding obstacles and verify that the sensors all work.

• If you didn't order your car with the Technology Package, you may be missing the default code 606 navigation package.  BMW acknowledged that they was a problem and some cars didn't have the basic navigation installed:     
  
  "Today, we have identified a number of i3 Rex (Model 14iB) that have not been equipped with the standard Navigation Business system (Option 606). Your dealership has taken delivery of one or more of these vehicles. We are actively investigating and considering all avenues (option retrofit, option credit, vehicle reorder, etc.) for a dealer/consumer friendly resolution. We will have further updates as new information arrive."

 Followed by:

 "We expect to know by Monday, June 2nd, the status of the retrofit for the missing Navigation Business system (option 606). The affected vehicles include all i3 Rex vehicles without ZTD (Technology + Driving Assistant Package) produced weeks 10 through 22 and half of week 23. Any vehicles that arrive at your dealership without Business Navigation can be retailed but you must disclose the missing option to your customer. The remaining affected vehicles will not be released until we have an update."

• When you get home, press the BMW Assist button on the overhead console (open the button cover to reveal it) and speak with a representative to activate and set up your account. It takes about 5 minutes.
•  
• There seems to be some capability issues with the i3 and EVSE's made by Leviton. I know of three people that have reported their i3 won't charge on their Leviton unit. I have personally reported this to BMW engineering and contacted Leviton to help put them together on the issue so hopefully they will figure it out and correct the problem quickly.

• Send a place to your car:  You can send a place in Google Maps to your car using the Send to Car feature. The first step is to add your car: Go to https://www.google.com/maps/sendtocar. Click Sign in and enter your account information. Click Add car or GPS device. Select “BMW" from the car type dropdown menu. Type in your account ID (email address) provided by your car manufacturer in “Account ID” field. Go to Google maps, look up a business or address and click the More link to send.  Once you send it from your pc google maps to the car you click my messages under bmw connected in the iDrive. Open the message and you will see the checkered flag to initiate navigation.

• The radio will continue to play for a few minutes after you exit the vehicle. If this bothers you then press the Start/Stop button again with your foot off the brake pedal and it will shut off.

• Check to make sure the tow bolt is located in the front trunk of the car or elsewhere. Page 195 of the owners manual says the tow fitting is located in the storage compartment under the hood. It should be wedged into the foam caddy for the tire inflation kit.

• Here's a YouTube video that may help you set up the universal garage door opener for Giga and Tera models: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11Y5qGf04s

• You can set your presets (above the AC 1 thru 8) to different functions to fit your own needs. I did this in the ActiveE, and to simplify the process, hopefully this will make sense.  Go into the idrive and select your sub menu, example click on vehicle info, then choose trip computer.  Don't select trip computer, but turn the idrive controller over it until the check mark shows.  Then select the preset you want, and press and hold until it confirms.  it should then show up on the top of the screen with the rest of the presets in blue.  You can absolutely go into the sub menus and select options to save on some things, but not on others.  Play with it.  I also selected all of my radio/satellite presets and saved the presets as a preset.  When you leave the radio is preset mode, you can then scroll thru the radio presets on the steering wheel while in other menus.  

• Download the following apps to locate charging stations and set up the associated accounts. It's good to have a few of them as none seem to have all the charging stations available listed: Chargepoint, Greenlots, Plugshare, Recargo, Blink, Carstations.

Do you have any more i3 delivery quick tips and suggestions? If so, please help out the i3 community and leave them in the comment section!

My previous post was a video that showed some quick clips of an i3 racing around a track. I was happy to see BMW finally posting this video as I've been waiting for some performance-orientated marketing as I've had my fill of the Eco-Sustainable-Recylable side of the car for now. Of course all that stuff is very important, and BMW should be proud of how the i3 is the embodiment of BMW i's mission. But now it's time for some fun and this video is just the beginning. My good friend (and practically neighbor) Chris Neff was asked by BMW to spend a day at Monticello Raceway in an i3 piloted by race car driver Erin Crocker so they could film the i3 - and I suspect Chris's reaction. You can see Chris in passenger seat in some shots of the video below which is just a teaser, the real stuff hasn't been released yet. Chris was asked by InsideEVs.com to talk about his experience that day and the post below is what he wrote. I "borrowed" this from InsideEvs.com but they should get the credit for the original post which you can view here. Here is what Chris had to say:


Taking the BMW i3 on a track…a real race track, riding with a professional driver at the absolute limit for a full day at Monticello Raceway in New York and having it all caught on video; all this is what was spinning around in my head days before the shoot was set to take place.
I’ve been driving EVs since 2009, a MiniE and now the BMW ActiveE.  I’ve always been the kind of EV fan where performance was first for me, the eco was the bonus.  You can find me touting the benefits of EVs at many “green,” events but you will find me more often happily showing off my EV at exotic car meets and, in the past year, joined by other EV drivers who make it to the meets.  I’ve always felt the best way for people to embrace EVs is to show them off where you would never expect to see one…parked next to a Ferrari or Lamborghini or Mclaren…we all love cars and mine is a fun daily driver.
Now, along comes the i3, with its funky look and skinny tires.  I have to admit I was wondering if the i3 would be as fun as my ActiveE, I mean how could it be, just look at those tires.  Still, I liked the styling, it started to grow on me….but would it be fun to drive?  I know that is the question on the minds of many.
…and now here we are, I’m ready to learn if the i3 is a real ‘drivers’ EV and on a race track.
It’s track day and now I get to meet the professional driver who is going to take us around the track.  Let me add that she is a professional race car driver.  Erin Crocker, who has been racing competitively since 7 (Nascar racer, sprint car racer, stunt car driver and EV newbie, nope never driven an EV) and she’s just an all around cool person.  She is laid back and, like the rest of us, loves automobiles.  So, this is going to be a real blast then right? I’ve never ridden in an i3 or been on a race track and Erin has never driven an EV.  I begin thinking we will just hit some decent speeds and test the handling…what could possibly go wrong.?
While filling out the final paperwork in preparation for the day I was asked if I kissed my family goodbye….umm….yes.   A few others came up and asked if I would be “ok” today…umm….why?
It’s close to 8 am and we head out.  Erin is scanning the dash and soaking up the new controls she will need to get used to.  That took maybe 30 seconds and then we are off.  I don’t mean gradually.  Nope, she really went for it right away.  I calmly looked over and asked if she wanted to get familiar with the i3.  She replied “no it’s ok.”   I then asked has she ever driven this track.  Never, she replied.  Right…ok….now this is getting interesting.
So we do about 3 laps and the speed is increasing.  Erin is feeling more comfortable, I’m not and it is not because of her driving, this is a first for me and all I’m seeing is how fast we are heading for a hairpin and no regen or braking is going on at all, at least not until the last second and when we go into that turn we are right back on the accelerator to pull out of it…..the i3 never flinched…I can’t say that for me.  I had such little time to process what was going on, but one thought was clear…the i3 is impressive.
We did a few more laps then pulled back into the pits.  Wow!!! I was full of adrenaline, a combo of fear and excitement.  I never expected the i3 to do that.  But wait, there is more, another 10 hours of this was left to go.  You see, this was to be a video shoot which means take after take…..we had two i3s to play with, one was the full electric and the other was the REx (extended range).  How would they both hold up through repeated on-track abuse?  We were going to find out and that was exactly why we were there.  Yes, I said 10 hours.  Now I understand why they were asking if I was “ok” with this.  Going flat out was pretty scary, but how long could that last?  Apparently close to 10 hours.  Okay then, let’s do this!!!
I won’t talk about the details of the shoot in this writing, I’m going to focus on what I think you all want to hear, how did it do on the track.   There are lots of reviews to be had on the i3, but none of them are about a track experience so here we go.
…before I head into my thoughts let me quickly chat about Erin, this was a fun experience for her.  It was clear she was eager to see what this funky little car could do.  While we zipped around the track I filled her in on EV terminology which she got a kick out of…’frunk’ was probably her favorite word.   She is truly a pro, she has been racing since 7 and does the sprint car circuit now, those are those tiny little 700hp race cars that go round and round a dirt track, very aggressive because you have to be.  Her driving style is all on or all off with quick turns of the wheel.  In many ways, an EV suits her style since they deliver power immediately or don’t and the i3s steering is instant quick…it was an observation of mine and she absolutely brought out all the i3 could do….I definitely got more grey hair that day.
Handling
First and foremost, the i3 is an extremely nimble critter.  How in the world can a car handle that well with such skinny tires and on one of the i3s was all seasons?  I’m no engineer, but a low center of gravity and low weight play an important roll.  The i3 looks tall, but the weight is down low and that chassis is as stiff as can be.  The i3 leans, but not enough to unsettle it.  Erin commented a few times how she was impressed at how easy it was to take a turn, very predictable and the front tires just kept grabbing.  Granted, the electronic stability brains were keeping us from sliding out, but not so much to ruin the fun.  The real issue that kept us from creating a slide was the computer cutting the power, there is no way to fully disable the anti-skid brains unfortunately.   Is this a problem?  Not in the least.  We were taking hairpins and long sweeping turns extremely fast, there is a sharp uphill hairpin, turn #18, and during the shoot we must have taken that 12 or more times both ways.  Not once did the i3 flinch…I sure did.   Especially going the other way where it banks to the outside, I could swear we were headed for the grass, nope, it was like the i3 was on rails….maybe it is.
The steering is incredibly quick, Erin had a real chance to test it in the slalom.  You will notice at around 20 seconds in the video is an abrupt turn to the right, the i3 can do that all day, left then right and vice versa.  It is hard to tell in the video but those cones were pretty close together and Erin got through them all a few times, that is her skill and the i3 was keeping up with her with lightening quick steering and a chassis that likes to dance.  The i3 was definitely in its element here.  Erin and I both said…wow.
Turning radius
The i3 basically turns in on itself.  This is one sharp turning radius, take a look at 24 seconds into the video.  We were actually trying to get the i3 to do doughnuts, but the computer would not let the rear brake loose, still, you can see how it held and how sharp we were turning….about 27 times in a row.
Braking
In a word….wow!  We did a number of hard braking  shoots where we would be rolling along at 30 or so MPH and Erin would slam on the brakes…my eyeballs popped out with my brain following.  This car really does stop on a dime, we did this a few times and the brakes never faded.   In fact, the first time Erin slammed on the brakes it caught her by surprise, we did not expect it to stop that quickly, this car can stop!  This just might be the best braking street legal BMW out there.  We noticed no difference with the REx.
Ride quality
BMW has nailed it, of course this was a track and it was smooth but we hit those rumble strips regularly and fast.  The i3 never shuddered, it just soaked them up while still holding the track with composure.   It is one thing I noticed right away, the i3 ride is not punishing but it is extremely composed.   I’ve been driving my ActiveE for nearly 2 years and I do find the ride firm and a bit tiring after awhile but not the i3.  We even had an opportunity to have a full car, 4 adults, with gear inside, the i3 managed it well, never bottomed out or felt floatie.  This truly is an everyday comfortable driver that is athletic.
Chassis
Another wow, we had 2 cars to play with and we were on the track for nearly 10hrs.  The cars never complained, they came and left with the same tires, not a single creek or rattle and believe me when I say both cars were pushed to the edge time after time.  The i3 has no B pillar on either side….it does not need them.
Acceleration
The i3 is quick, probably the quickest street EV other than Tesla that is available.  It has basically the same power as the ActiveE, 170hp and 184 ft lbs torque but it is pushing over 1,000 pounds less.  The i3 is quicker at everything and very refined, power delivery is amazingly smooth and that’s saying a lot since EVs are inherently smooth.   The i3 also keeps up its acceleration all the way to top speed, around 90.  There is also a cool ‘Sail’ feature where basically there is a neutral spot between acceleration and regen where you can coast.  Erin did it at around 80mph a few times.
I was very impressed with how both cars kept taking the punishment being delivered to them.  They never faltered and were consistently comfortable.
Regen
The regen of the i3 is much more refined then the ActiveE is, more linear.   When I drove I did not really get a chance to try it myself and to be honest we never slowed down enough to experience it.
Interior
Other than the bits I was grabbing for dear life I did get a close look, mostly because my face or body was plastered on different areas of the car so I can confirm there are lots of soft touches in the i3.  This is a very high quality interior.   The i3 feels much bigger inside that you would expect and outward visibility is excellent all around.  The EV is quiet even at high speed, while cruising along at 90 the wind was not that bad….I never had to raise my voice to speak to Erin….well maybe when I was screaming in fear.
In the wet
Now this was pretty interesting.  The goal was to get the i3 to drift through water, no matter how hard Erin tried the i3 would not keep a sustained slide.  The anti-skid computer electronics kept the car in check even when flying into a puddle at high speed….is this a bad thing…not at all, this is a safety feature.  The i3 maintains control.
Range
Well basically we killed it, none to speak of.  The i3 had its ‘juice’ pedal mashed to the floor most of the time so it was impossible to tell what range we were getting, however with that said, I was able to see how efficient the regen was.  It was amazingly efficient, now I’m comparing to the ActiveE but just a bit of a roll down a hill and the i3 had some juice back, a few more rolls and we had even more.  For those know even a 1% difference is huge when you are trying to get home.  It looks like the i3 will have some very effective regen.
So what was the REx like?
We had a pre-production REx version so it still needed some software programming but it works.  The little engine kicked on automatically with around 5 miles left of range, once it got us up to a few more miles it turned off, it was pretty quick, it pumps energy into the battery fast.   We had the chance to whip it around the track and it felt just as fast and just as planted.  Erin said she thought it felt a little better balanced…..all I know is it stayed on the track and I was extremely happy about that.
Summing it Up
I finally got my chance to drive the i3, it was a quick run but I got to feel it’s handling and acceleration.  The i3 is worlds ahead of the ActiveE.  I was really impressed, for me driving an EV is about performance and the eco part is the bonus, the i3 nails them both.
This was an absolutely amazing experience, being that this was my first true tack experience, that alone was cool enough, but that it was in the i3 and with a professional race car driver that had never driven an EV before made it all the more fantastic.  As EVers, we always want to give EV newbies seat time for that ‘A ha’ moment but the opportunity to get a professional race car driver into one and watch her expressions as she clearly enjoyed the car was icing on the cake.

I’m sure you are wondering how does it compare to other EVs? It does not compare, it’s a whole different type of machine. Did Erin really push the i3 to the edge…without a doubt…yes.  What you see in the video is not all out, there is more to come.  In the beginning she was holding back a bit, maybe giving me a chance to recover from shock, but eventually she opened it up, game face on, all business, and we were flying…literally…we caught some air.  We once went off the track into the grass but the i3 held the line and just tip toed over the blades of green and back onto the track.  There were a number of times I really thought we were headed for a guard rail or into the woods but Erin and the i3 just took it in stride….oh and the seats were comfy too, even though I was only in them half of the time.

There are some sounds of what appears to be tires squealing in the video….that is probably me.