Motorway range

[Dissapointed dave]

I have had my BMW i40 for just over 12 months now and, apart from an annoying rattle from the passenger seat belt when the belt not in use, the car has been superb. I originally complained ( 10 months ago) about poor range in comparison to my previous EV while driving on country roads but ever since having the car in for the rattle investigating, at which time a software update was supposedly also carried out, the range has improved.
I have just been on a trip from Yorkshire to Plymouth in Devon. The car was charged to 100% ( which I never normally do) and travelled the first twenty miles in light town traffic at a consumption of 5 miles per KWh then once on the motorway at a steady 73mph indicated which is exactly 70 mph true ( reading from a separate sat/nav) the consumption increased to just over 4.2 miles per KWh.
We travelled exactly 240 miles to a stop over motel at which point the car showed another 113 miles range still ‘in the tank’. The total here is obviously 353 miles which I think is phenomenal for motorway speeds. There were no hold ups apart from the long term construction lane restrictions over the Bristol crossing bridge, there was no rain and the journey was in daylight so the only ‘sacrificial’ energy loss was the air con but that was only on first fan speed.
The only real annoying factor is the cost of charging the car from any of the ‘High speed’ charging network with fees of up to .99 pence per KWh ( that was on a Pod Point charger which I only used as I had some credit still on my two year old Pod point account. This means that the fuel cost per mile of using my EV is OVER double the cost of an equivalent diesel powered four door coupe and nearly double that of a petrol engined car.
I know that savings are to be had while charging at home at under 30 pence per KWh ( just remembered the average cost per unit of the various charging points I used whilst in Devon for two weeks was around 75pp unit) it was still a shock to me as I charge mainly from my house roof solar panels ( using free ‘sun juice’)
Of the charging points I tried I found most nearly impossible for a 77 year old bloke to work out apart from maybe ‘Grid serve’ who seem to be getting fitted at most service stations. Pull up, plug in swipe credit/debit card and off you go. No messing about with ‘ join our club put in your details in the pouring rain’ etc
To sum it up, I LOVE my i4

[i40_edrive23NJ]

Funny you mention this Dave. I have a 23 E-Drive 40 M Sport literally not had it long although it ended up going back to BMW for a full factory reset as an update that was applied two days after collecting just absolutely knackered the whole car to the point I was considering completely rejecting the vehicle although given it's taken 3 weeks for bmwfs to even acknowledge my complaint I gave up on that idea and got the dealership to help me instead. The car having had a full factory reset has now covered just over 600 miles has had a few charges although I am still getting used to this charge to 80% malarkey.

On my journey into the office this morning in London I did 62.3 miles mixed motorway with the last 3rd urban but my range figure stayed around 193 miles for the entire journey whereas the battery percentage went from 83% finishing the journey on 64%. In short I think I have learned now to not look at the total range and more concentrate on the actual percentage left although any tips are greatly welcome as it feels somewhat Alien being a petrolhead and having to switch to an EV in an attempt to save money...

[Dissapointed dave]

Hi there 23nj
I find the most useful guide to how I’m driving is the miles per Kwh reading on the centre of the dashboard, accessed by pushing in the top of the rocker switch on the left hand stalk. If you can get 4 miles per kWh then that’s a near perfect normal driving consumption guide for the warmer summer months.( An acceptable reading for the cold winter months is around 3 miles per kWh) You simply multiply these figures by the battery total kWh 83 but a maximum of 80 useable and then get 80 x 4 = 320 miles and 80 x 3 = 240 miles. These figures are then destroyed if it’s extremely hot outside due to air con use or extremely cold due to heater, seat and steering wheel heater, headlights etc etc
Note if your sat nav is active, then the centre dash read out dissapears with every satnav direction command.
I am especially pleased with the excellent motorway consumption at 70 mph of my i40 compared to a previous I pace Jaguar which was pretty good on ‘A’ roads but suffered at motorway speeds!

[Forty_Two]

The only real annoying factor is the cost of charging the car from any of the ‘High speed’ charging network with fees of up to .99 pence per KWh ( that was on a Pod Point charger

Do you have choices ? I have seen Pod Point at Motorway services but (apart from Tesla) do not recall any other options. If there are other options are they all 99p per kWh?

[Dissapointed dave]

Hi there forty two, reference your question about different EV charging point suppliers on motorway service stations then the one I come across the most is, I think, chargepoint and have not actually seen a pod point charging station on the motorways I use ( although I do have pod point as my home EV charger which has a very simple to use app)
I find the Shell recharge incomprehensible to understand and now refuse to use any of the ‘BMW’ approved charging companies as they sign you up when you buy the car but don’t tell you they will continue to rip you off after 12 months unless you end the contract. This method of customer rip off I find distasteful and have stopped the direct debit and enjoy reading my threatening letters over the seven pounds odd o owe them. Again it’s a case of buyer beware!
Oops, sorry, my rant’s gone way off subject but hey Ho, the sun is shining and my solar panels are just breaking even with the house demand ( but NOT the car if I plug in.) That only happens in mid summer