Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Harold From California

My name is Harold and I was born electric on August 19^th, 2014. 

There are two parts to my story here. The first is about my path to selecting and buying the i3, and the second is about my experiences owning and driving the i3.

PART 1:  

�IF YOU�RE NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION, THEN YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.�

When it comes to global warming, I�m embarrassed to say that for far too long my wife and I were part of the problem.  We�re a two car family, and over the years we�ve driven a series of big, luxury, premium fuel guzzlers. As recently as 2007 we each had one of the full-size Range Rovers. Yikes, and yuck!

I gradually realized this was not tenable, but I found it very, very hard to give up the comfort (I�m 6�3 and don�t fit in most cars) and sportiness of a big luxury SUV. The very thought of shoehorning myself into the ugly and painfully boring Prius hybrid was enough to make me puke.

So my first tentative step in the right direction was to sign up to make annual contributions to one of those carbon-offset charities. I even got vanity license plates that said �I OFFSET.� Wow, how big and how brave of me!

Then BMW came out with a diesel version of their X5 so I dumped my Range Rover in favor of that on the theory that at least I would be burning a lot less fuel. As nice a car as the X5 was, it ended up only getting about 16mpg, and I also came to understand that the diesel wasn�t as clean as I had thought it might be.

Meanwhile, there were more hybrid cars coming on the market, but all still seemed to frumpy for me.  I�m sorry, but I live in California and I spend a ton of time in my car and I want it to look and feel great!

And then Audi launched their stylish little Q5, and I dumped the X5 in favor of this smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle. But even that only got around 20mpg. 

So about a year ago I started the search for my next car. I did my first exploration of EV�s. The RAV4 was too clearly a Toyota. The Leaf, which a neighbor of mine happily drives, drove like a turtle to me.  The Volt was claustrophobic � and a Chevy to boot. The Tesla was way cool, but I actually don�t fit very well in it and, at least in the San Francisco area, driving one has already become interpreted as a sign that you are an obnoxious snob.

So, I had resigned myself to getting the new edition of the X5 diesel, which promised to deliver significantly better � and cleaner � mileage than the original one. And then one day while I was checking out the new X5 on one of the BMW forums, I saw something about the coming of the i3. It looked weird as hell in the photo, but it sounded intriguing. I started to follow stories about it. 

I went to a car show in San Jose to see it in person. I fully expected to discover that I could not fit in it, but when I sat down in the model on display I discovered that it had more head room and leg room and better visibility than my Q5. (Of course at this point, BMW was showing it with a sunroof � more about that later�.). Plus, the interior design was stunning. And the exterior, while weird, was weird in a sexy way.  So I was hooked.

When the test drives started happening in the Bay Area, I went to them at three different dealers.  Driving the car was a total blast (all the more so with the sunroof open�..) and I had to have one. I went to my dealer and said I�m willing to pay MSRP for one of the first ones you get, I just need to get two key options � the sun roof and the REX. Can you arrange that please?

And then things started to fall apart. For one, it turned out the sunroof was not going to be offered in the US.  No reason for this has ever been provided, but that alone was enough to put me off.  I�m claustrophobic, and I always felt I needed a sunroof to have the feeling of openness they give. And then some negative stories started to appear about the REX � a review in Europe said driving with the REX was like driving in limp-home mode, and then it was revealed that the REX was being modified in the US in ways that made it seem even less desirable.  And,  being new to EV�s, I was at that point too chicken to go the full BEV route.

So, I abandoned my quest for an i3. I signed off of the i3 forums and facebook group. I went back to my dealer and started haggling over prices on the X5 diesel again. But the x5 diesel remained in hot demand,  and I couldn�t get what I thought was a reasonable price. And then the i3�s actually arrived. I saw two in one day �in the wild.� I went behind my dealer�s back and went to another dealer to test drive an i3 again.  I found that even without the sunroof it still felt very open. And it was just as fun to drive as I had remembered. 

So I went back to my CA, said you�re not going to believe this, but I want the i3 after all. He laughed very heartily. We worked the numbers for a while. I ended up doing the two year version of �owner�s choice.� (Went with owner�s choice vs. lease to get the full advantage of the federal tax credit,  and went two years rather than three just because I expect the EV technology is going to advance pretty rapidly over the next couple of years and I may want to move to the next edition sooner rather than later.) And within just a few weeks I was driving my new Andesite Silver Terra i3, loaded up with everything except for the 20� wheels.  And, surprise surprise, I even got over my fear of running out of juice and went with the BEV instead of the REX.

PART 2: 

�WHO SAYS MEDICINE HAS TO TASTE BAD TO BE GOOD FOR YOU?

As I mentioned earlier, a key factor that kept me from switching sooner to a more environmentally correct car was that they all just seemed too ugly, too uncomfortable, and too boring. I wanted to do the right thing for the planet � but I wanted to still be able to enjoy driving at the same time.

Thankfully, my i3 has solved all three of those problems for me. 

While I will admit that the exterior is a bit of an acquired taste, there can be no denying that the interior is stunning. Yes, the materials are all very environmentally friendly, but more important to me � they are gorgeous. The design is very fresh,  very high tech,  and yet very simple. Among the features I like most are the floating high definition screens (one for the instrument cluster stuff, one for the navigation and multimedia stuff) and the eucalyptus dash. I also really appreciate the openness of the cabin and the great sight lines.

The interior is also quite comfortable. I was initially skeptical about the thinness of the seats.  As a veteran business road warrior, I have equated the steady thinning down of airline seats over the years with an equally steady decline in the comfort of those seats. Well, I can only hope that the designers at Boeing and Airbus get to drive an i3 soon so they can see how to make a thinner seat super supportive and comfortable.

And as for the driving experience, well, I haven�t had so much fun driving a car since the very first one I owned.  First comes the peppiness. As the folks at BMW are fond of saying,  the i3 is the fastest car they make from 0 to 30 mph.  And I believe them now!  Zipping in and out of city traffic is as easy as can be � aided by how tight the turning radius is. Likewise, accelerating on to freeway ramps and passing at freeway speeds is also quick and easy. When we had a meet up of Bay area i3 drivers recently,  I had t-shirts printed up for everyone that carried this message: �I drive a BMW i3.  So you can eat my dust, not my exhaust. You�re welcome.� Trust me, the message is appropriate: this car hauls ass.

It's hard to see in the picture, but the blue T-Shirts everyone is wearing are the shirts Harold made up for the Crissy Field i3 meet. He was even gracious enough to send me a couple in the mail. Photo credit: Dino Ignacio

The steering is also very tight. I�m sure it has some degree of electronic assistance, but it doesn�t feel in the least bit mushy or vague. If anything it�s too responsive � you have to be attentive or it�s a bit too easy to oversteer.

The ride is firm, but in a good, BMW way. If you don�t want to feel the road at all, then this is not the car for you. But if you like to get some feedback from your driving, you should like this.

I really like the quietness of the car. If you keep the windows rolled up, it is super quiet; there is of course some wind noise at higher speeds, but I have not found it to be objectionable. And, at the same time, if you drive with the windows open, you can actually hear the sounds of nature!

I�m still learning all the fancy new tech tools.  Love the Harman Kardon stereo, love being able to use apps like Pandora and TuneIn. Appreciate that iDrive has gotten clearer and more manageable, though it still requires a learning curve. Love the collision avoidance system and the adaptive cruise control.  Haven�t yet tried the self-parking thing � but haven�t felt the need either, as this is the smallest car I have driven in ages and I would feel like a total wimp if I couldn�t park it by myself.  : )

As for downsides of the i3, anyone who buys this car has to accept that they are on the bleeding edge of technology and that things may go wrong. And they have for some of the early owners. But, knock on wood, after just about 1,000 miles, the worst thing that has happened to me so far is that one morning while I was driving along a nearly empty six lane freeway a warning message popped up on my screen that said something about �Danger � objects detected in roadway.� There were no objects to be seen, so I ignored the message and kept on driving and the message ultimately disappeared.

Also, if you choose as I did to go with the BEV instead of the REx, you will probably find yourself being more than a little bit paranoid about monitoring how much charge you have left. I have been running somewhere around 75 miles per full charge � a little less than what the EPA says, but then I drive with a bit of a lead foot and I leave the AC on all the time. So far I�ve only once gotten the dreaded verbal warning �you have 15 miles of range left,� and thankfully that happened when I was only about a mile from my house.

One other downside is that, to my way of thinking, the i3 is not practical as a family car. The �suicide�  doors (aka coach doors) make access to the back seat just too awkward for regular use, especially if you are trying to cope with child seats.

OK, so the i3 is good looking, it�s comfortable, and it�s fun to drive. But how does it do on my original overall reason for getting it, which is to help address the problem of global warming?

Well,  for one thing I have not been to a gas station since I got the car. And will never have to go to a gas station with it. Take that, Exxon and BP and the rest of you big oil companies! (The vanity plates I have on order for my car will read: �I86DGAS�) And, at least according to the i3 mobile app, so far I have already saved 530 pounds of CO2 from being pumped out into the air.

So,  in sum, thank you BMW for giving birth to the i3 so that I can at last do my part for solving global warming � but do it in a way that fits my own selfish needs for style, comfort, and fun!

PS- The i3 may not be right for everyone, but there are now plenty of EV�s on the market � surely one of them will be right for you!
_________________________________________________________




Thanks for participating Harold! If you drive an i3 and want to share your Born Electric story here, just send me an email and we'll set it up! tom.moloughney@gmail.com

Breaking: BMW i3 REx Not Tax Exempt in NJ After All!

My i3 REx. Will it now cost me $3,900 more than my contract calls for?

It what can only be categorized as a major misstep, BMW of North America has announced that the i3 with range extender is not tax exempt in the state of New Jersey as what was previously reported. Back on January 27th, BMW of North America manager of Electric Vehicle sales and strategy Jacob Harb told his client advisers on a conference call that the i3 REx would be treated as a zero emission vehicle in New Jersey, and qualify for the state's Zero Emission tax exemption. That was big news at the time for New Jersey residents including myself, and was one of the final deciding factors for me to actually choose the REx version over the BEV i3.

"The sales tax exemption in NJ only applies to zero-emission vehicles--and as such, does not apply to the i3 with range-extender as it does not apply currently to any vehicle with an internal combustion engine."... "Any assumption that the i3 with range-extender would qualify was premature" 
Dave Buchko, BMW's product and technology communications


The misinformation was further reinforced at the BMW i3 dealer training event held at BMW headquarters in Woodcliff Lake in April when the client advisers were again told that the i3 REx would be sales tax exempt in New Jersey. Now that BMW has begun delivering i3s with the range extender in the State since last week, the dealers haven't been collecting sales tax on the cars since they were instructed that they didn't have to. I'm one of the people that took delivery already and didn't pay sales tax. It's unclear if BMW is going to now ask me to go back to the dealer and pay the additional $3,900.00 I'd owe for sales tax. I'm not even sure they can do that. I have a signed contract that is paid in full and I wonder where the law stands on this. I don't even know if I'd want to keep it if I have to pay the sales tax now. Don't get me wrong; I love the car, and I think the REx is a great option, but this will double the cost of the range extender. Instead of it costing me $3,850, it will cost me about $7,750! It really is a great option and so far I have loved how well it works, but it's just not worth $7,750 in my opinion. I could buy a good used second car for less than that and use it for the long trips I need to take.

Then there are the people that have an i3 REx on order here in NJ and haven't taken delivery yet, what will they do? At the last minute they find out the car is now costing them nearly $4,000 more! My good friend Chris Neff's car just arrived at the dealer yesterday and he's planning on picking it up as soon as possible. I wonder how he's going to react to it now costing him nearly $4,000 more! My client adviser Manny Antunes of JMK BMW has nine i3s with the REx options on order for customers. How many will cancel their order when they find this out? I bet at least half of them. What happens to the people like me that have signed contracts, and paid for the car already? I wonder where the law stands on this? Can we now be forced to pay more than our contracts stipulate? Personally I'm not sure what I'll do if I'm told I have to pay the $3,900 now. Will BMW NA eat the extra cost for the few people that already took delivery of their REx in NJ? Will they push it on the dealers? Perhaps this was a sign that I was really meant to get the BEV i3 after all. I've already tinted the windows and now my car is being wrapped a new color at Designer Wraps down in Millville, NJ. Will JMK BMW end up with a custom-colored, Electronaut Edition i3 REx to sell as I wait another few months for a new i3 BEV to be made and delivered? This is going to be very interesting, stay tuned!

Volts For Oil: Gas Cars Burn Coal Too!

British actor and comedian Robert Llewellyn maintains a video blog called Fully Charged where he reviews electric cars and discusses all aspects of the plug-in vehicle industry. Llewellyn is an electric vehicle enthusiast and produces some really interesting and informative electric vehicle content in the series and I'm a big fan of his.

The latest topic he tackled is the "Long Tailpipe" argument which many people who do not support the switch to electric vehicles like to use in their argument against them. The Long Tailpipe argument basically states that electric vehicles are not zero emission at all, since the electricity that powers them comes from dirty sources like coal. Since EVs don't actually have tailpipe emissions, to be fair they say the real tail pipe stretches all the way to the power plant that generated its fuel, thus the long tailpipe.

There is no denying that the argument has truth to it. Much of the world's electricity is made by burning coal, and coal is dirty any way you slice it. Coal is in fact the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. When burned, it produces carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas. That contributes to global warming, creates acid rain, causes various respiratory illnesses and pollutes the water. However as Llewellyn shows, electric vehicles aren't the only vehicles that need electricity. Gas cars need it too, and a LOT of it in fact. Refining oil to make gasoline is an energy intensive process and the majority of energy used is - you guessed it: electricity.  

Llewellyn does a good job of explaining how much electricity is needed to refine gasoline, and that's just the refining process. He estimates that it takes 4.5kWk's of electricity to refine every gallon of gasoline. I've even seen that estimate quoted as high as 7kWh's per gallon from other sources. If you simply take the energy needed to refine the oil and put it into a battery instead of going through the whole process of refining, shipping, trucking and pumping (and the gas pumps need electric also) the stuff, you can power an EV to go 10 to 20 miles! Remember, that's just the energy used to refine the oil, nothing else. So if electric vehicle opponents want to bring up the long tailpipe argument, they then need to factor in the dirty coal emissions to every gallon of gas they burn.

However it's not as if every EV mile is powered by coal. In fact, here in the US coal fired power plants are closing all the time, and we now rely on coal for less than 40% of our electricity supply. Every year the grid gets cleaner as more renewables are introduced and outdated, polluting power plants are shuttered. This is happening as the supply chain of gasoline continues to get dirtier. How is that? That's because as we use up the current oil reserves, we are finding it harder and harder to find more. This is forcing us to use more energy to drill deeper, to go further offshore, and to even use unconventional sources like the Canadian tar sands. For example. producing one barrel of tar sands oil generates three to five times the global warming emissions that producing the same amount of conventional oil does and every day three million barrels of drinking water are used in its production. So you can see the supply chains for electricity and gasoline are moving in opposite directions. Electricity is getting cleaner, and gasoline is getting dirtier all the time.

My ActiveE and solar array. EV+PV is empowering and true zero emission driving

Plus, as the owner of an electric vehicle it is possible to make your own renewable energy to power your car. Three years ago I installed a solar array on my home and produce my own renewable energy for my EV. There is a great feeling of empowerment when you can make your own personal transportation fuel, and you know it is really zero emission driving. I've talked to many other EV owners who like me, installed a solar electric system shortly after discovering the world of electric drive. Solar powered electric vehicles are the future, we've just begun to scratch the surface of what is possible and I'm thrilled I've had the opportunity to live the future now. Anyway, back to Llewellyn's video. Take the four minutes to watch it. He does a fantastic job of explaining how gas cars are really coal powered cars too!

State of Washington Approves BMW i3 REx For Sales Tax Exemption

A little over a month ago we learned that BMW i3 REx buyers in New Jersey wouldn't have to pay sales tax on the vehicle as the State was including it in the zero emission vehicle tax exemption. That will obviously help i3 REx sales immensely since it will likely save the average i3 REx buyer in New Jersey about $3,500. There was never a question of whether the BEV i3 would be tax exempt, since it is truly a zero emission vehicle, but the i3 REx isn't. The range extended Chevy Volt, for example is not tax exempt in NJ. The reasoning behind the i3 REx exemption is two fold. First, the i3 REx has about an 80 mile all electric range which is more than double the Volt's. This means for most buyers the i3 REx will likely be driven on electric much more than the average Volt owner drives their car on electricity. Secondly, the i3's range extender isn't as robust as the Volts. You could easily drive the Volt all the time without ever plugging it in. I don't know why you would buy a Volt and do that, but you could without any problem. The i3 REx on the other hand could not be driven like that, and it really needs to be charged and driven in electric mode most of the time.

So today we got news that Washington State followed New Jersey's lead and certified both the i3 BEV and i3 REx to get the State's zero emission tax exemption, saving i3 REx buyers in The Evergreen State a good chunk of change. In fact, most i3 REx buyers there will likely save as much as the REx option costs-$3,850!

I noticed that InsideEVs just put up a post about this and since I'm currently in Geneva covering the Geneva Motor show for them I figured I'd "borrow" Eric Loveday's post on this. Below is the full post he made for InsideEVs.com:

�We ARE smarter than California,� says Washington state representative Chad Magendanz.

BMW i3 With REx Qualifies For Sales Tax Exemption in Washington

Magendanz made that statement before and now he�s saying it again.

When Magendanz stated that previously, it was to make it know that he was urging the state of Washington to grant the BMW i3 REx sales tax exemption.  This idea was that Washington would jump in front of California, a state that seems reluctant to award EREVs due to the ICE on board.

Now, Magendanz is saying �We ARE smarter than California� again, but this time it�s to celebrate the fact that the i3 REx will be sales tax exempt in Washington.

Per the press release sent to InsideEVs:

• Dept. of Revenue reverses itself, says new electric BMW with made-in-WA parts will get tax exemption after all
• State Rep. Chad Magendanz was happy to find out that one of his prime-sponsored bills is unnecessary, now that a state agency has reversed its position on a tax exemption for electric cars.

The Issaquah Republican had been pushing legislation to clarify that electric vehicles such as the new BMW i3 qualify for a state sales tax exemption. The state Department of Revenue (DOR) told Magendanz last month that the i3 � which has carbon fiber parts made in Washington � wouldn�t qualify because of an optional gas-powered �range extender� BMW offers to consumers worried about their car running out of power. Magendanz introduced the bill to counter the department�s interpretation of the exemption law, but last week DOR informed lawmakers it had changed its mind.

�It�s a great thing when common sense prevails in government,� said Magendanz. �Unlike California, Washington is sending the message that we encourage innovative, environmentally-friendly automotive technology.�

The issue of the sales tax exemption came to Magendanz�s attention when he read that California had backed out of a deal with BMW to grant the i3 the state�s coveted �Clean Air Vehicle� white decal, which gives drivers full access to HOV lanes. California said the range extender � even though it�s optional and not permanently connected to the car � compromised the i-3�s status as a solely electric vehicle.

The i3 is expected to hit the U.S. market this spring. SGL Group in Moses Lake produced carbon fiber components for the car�s passenger compartment.

The bolded statement of �not permanently connected to the car� is clearly inaccurate when one opts for the i3 with REx.  And some of the anit-California comments are untrue too, such as the i3 not qualifying for the white sticker, which is actually does, provided its the BEV version.

Washington joins New Jersey, site of BMW�s US headquarters, in exempting the i3 REx from sales tax.

To REx or Not To REx, That is The Question: Part 2

To REx or Not to REx, that is the question many potential i3 buyers are struggling with now

Back in September of 2011, only 6 months after I started this blog, I wrote a post titled "To REx or Not To REx, That is The Question". At the time, very little was known about the i3, and even less was known about the range extender; other than it would be available as an option and would appear sometime after the initial i3 launch.

The sign at the New York BMW i Born Electric Tour claimed a 100 mile range for the i3. It's looking like the EPA range rating will fall short of that.

My conclusion back then was if the BEV i3 had a real 100 mile range I would probably pass on the REx, but if the range was closer to 80 miles and the REx was only about $3,000, then I would probably go for it, providing I didn't have to wait too long after launch for the REx to be available. As it turned out, my fears about the range were justified. Even though I don't have proof of the EPA range rating yet, I feel confident by now that the range will be less than I had hoped, and that the i3 will have an EPA range rating that is somewhere in the 80s. I drive a lot and that's just cutting it too close for me. At 90-95 miles per charge I could probably do it, realizing that after 2 or 3 years the range will likely be in the high 80s anyway. A 100 mile EPA rating would have absolutely eliminated the need for the REx, but no company outside of Tesla is offering that on a real EV (one that is available across the Country). So at $3,850 the REx is a little higher than I would have liked it to be, but it's not astronomically overpriced, considering the utility value of having it on board and ready when you need it. 

So after bouncing back and forth a few times, I've decided I'll be getting my i3 with the range extender. After about five years of driving pure electric, I'll be back to hauling around an ICE. I don't love the idea, but I'm not hung up on "pure EV" dogma either. The goal is to use less gas and if the range extender allows me to drive on electric the vast majority of the time, yet still have the utility I need on the days I need to drive farther, than the goal is accomplished. The i3 simply won't have the necessary all electric range that's necessary for me personally but that doesn't mean it's not enough for many others. As you can imagine I'm not alone with the struggle to decide which version of the i3 to get. Now that the i3 is available to order in Europe, and only weeks away from being available in the US, I'm reading posts in the i3 forum and in our i3 Facebook group where others are grappling with the decision of if they should go BEV or REx.

I'll try to outline the pros and cons here. If you think I miss something please feel free to add your reasoning in the comments section. Here are my top six reasons for and six reasons against the range extender:

Why go for the range extender:

The added utility. Not having to plan out your mileage or look for public chargepoints if you know you'll be pushing the range on a particular day will be a welcome feature to many people. You won't have to think twice if your plans change and you need to drive more miles than you planned that day, and on days you know you'll be driving far you won't have to use the other family car, borrow a gas car or use a car sharing or rental service. With the exception of extremely long drives (hundreds of miles) that will take you up extended long mountainous routes the i3 with the REx can take you wherever you need to go without worry. Also as the car ages, the battery will lose capacity and your range will shrink. A new i3 with an 85 mile range may only be able to comfortably deliver 75 miles after 3 or 4 years. The REx means the car will always deliver the same utility regardless of how old it is and what shape your battery is in.

No range anxiety. There is some over lap with the first reason, but this really is another issue in itself. There is a difference in not using the car one day because you know the range wouldn't be enough, and miscalculating your total miles because your route had a detour, or your life had a detour that day. It happens. You  can plan your day all you want but things come up and you often need to drive farther than you thought you would have to. Usually the extra range you have is enough to get you home, but there are those days where you just come up short and can't make it. The last few miles you are gripping the steering wheel a little tighter and looking down at your range gauge every minute or so. I've been driving electric for nearly 5 years now and I can honestly say these kinds of issues don't happen often, in fact they are very rare. However when they do happen, it isn't fun. I can remember walking home at 2am last summer and thinking about how great it would have been to have that little REx motorcycle engine on my ActiveE. On that night, I ran out of charge about a quarter mile from my house. What made it really interesting is I live in a very rural area of New Jersey. There are no streetlights on my street and it's really pitch dark at 2am. Add to that I saw a bear walking on my lawn a few weeks earlier so as I was walking home I couldn't help but think of the headline, "EV advocate gets mauled by bear walking home because his electric car ran out of charge." I don't know if that is range anxiety or bear anxiety, but I could have really used the REx that night. I know some would say just get an EV with a bigger battery. No matter how big the battery is there could always be occasions when you miscalculate your range or drive farther than you planned and come up short. The range extender virtually eliminates any range anxiety unless you live in an extremely remote area where there aren't charge points or many gas stations where you drive. If that's the case, perhaps an EV isn't the best choice for you right now anyway.

Resale value. There isn't a lot of empirical data since modern EVs haven't been available long enough to really establish how much a pure EV will depreciate as compared to an EV with a range extender. Now that the earliest LEAF and Volt lessees are beginning to return their cars that were on three year leases, I believe in a year or so we can properly gauge if there is much of a difference. I suspect that electric cars with range extenders will fare much better in the second hand market. I know if I were looking to buy a three year old i3 I'd be much more concerned about the condition of the battery if it didn't have the REx. After three years there will be range degradation, there is no way around it as the battery ages. Will a three year old BEV i3 still have 90% of its original range? How about 85%? We simply don't have the answer yet. That uncertainty really hurts the value of the car. The potential new owner won't really know how far it can go until they buy the car and live with it for a while. However if the used i3 has the REx, then the all electric range isn't nearly as important. The buyer can still do anything they want with the car. They can drive it as far as they want to and the only negative they have is they may use a little more gas than when it was new because of the lower electric range. If it's a pure BEV they also have to worry about how many more years they have with the car until the range really impacts the cars utility - the REx removes that concern. Of course if you lease the car this isn't your problem and one of the reasons I recommend leasing if you are in the market for an EV today.

When will this be commonplace?

Lack of infrastructure. If there were level 2 charging stations in every parking lot, and finding a place to plug in while you work, dine and shop was without hassle, then daily life with a ~80 mile BEV would be simple. If we also had a robust DC quick charge infrastructure then long distance travel would be easy, even if it meant stopping more frequently then you would have to for a gasoline car. However we just aren't there yet. Outside of certain areas of California and a couple other progressive areas, charging infrastructure is still in its infancy. It's going to take a while for EV charging to be ubiquitous. I do believe we'll get there, but not for a while. There will be a lot of growing pains and I believe the number of EV's sold will greatly outpace the number of public charge points installed. For most people outside of a few select areas, I fear finding available EVSE's will be very difficult for the foreseeable future.

My ActiveE battery was frequently drained

Damage from frequent deep discharges. This may be a minor concern, but since the REx will turn on at about 6% state of charge, the battery won't be run down to very deep discharges. There is about 10% buffer when you drain the i3's battery completely so when the REx turns on the real state of charge is actually about 15%. The buffer is there so you don't do really deep discharges which would damage the battery. However I can't help but think if you are a high mileage driver like I am with a BEV i3 and frequently roll into your garage with the state of charge below 5% of the available capacity, the cumulative effect of doing this frequently will have negative effects on the battery. With my MINI-E and ActiveE, there were many times I drained the battery well under 5% and even drove them until they just stopped and wouldn't go any farther a few times. This isn't good for the battery, but since these were test cars that would be taken out of service after two or three years there was really no reason to pamper the battery. However if you shell out $45,000 for a new i3, you will want to take good care of your battery, as it's the most expensive component of the vehicle to replace. Frequent deep discharges can bring on early degradation which will mean less range and perhaps even cause more deep discharges and accelerate the early capacity loss of your pack.  

My ActiveE preconditioning in the snow

Cold weather range degradation. If you live in an area that gets cold during the year this is something you need to be very cognizant of. Even with a sophisticated thermal management system like the i3 has and the ability to precondition the battery and passenger cabin, the range of an electric vehicle is less when it's cold outside. The combination of the need to use energy to power the cabin heater, the seat heaters, the defroster, etc, plus the fact that the batteries simply cannot store and use the same amount of energy as efficiently as they do when it's warm conspire to cut into the range. Without having thoroughly tested the i3 in cold conditions, I still feel confident saying you can expect at least a 20% range reduction in temperatures below freezing, and that number could quite possible as much high as 30%. So lets say the i3 gets an EPA range rating of 85 miles per charge. I wouldn't expect the average driver will get more than 60 - 70 miles per charge when they are driving at or below freezing, and even less as the temperature drops much lower than that. It should be noted that this isn't permanent range degradation, like I was referring to above.  As soon as the temperature rises back up again, so will your range, but that could mean for 3-4 months a year you have to live with an EV will less than 70 miles per charge. With the REx all this means is you may use a little gas, but you won't have to change your driving style, find secondary roads to your destination so you can drive slower or wear a hat and gloves so you don't need to use the cabin heater.

Reasons against getting the REx:

Do you mind if I smoke?

It's an electric car! - You don't want really want to put gas in it do you? The whole reason for going electric is to get away from gas, right? Well there are lots of reasons for going electric while not needing to buy gas anymore is definitely one of the top ones. The way I see it, my goal is to use as little gas as possible. My EVs are mostly powered with electricity generated from my solar array which really makes them as close to true zero emission vehicles as possible. I don't feel bad if I end up burning 10 or 20 gallons of gas in a year with my REx i3, after all I used to use that much gas every four days when I commuted in my SUV. Still an electric car that burns gas can leave a foul taste in your mouth as the exhaust pipe does when the REx is running

This stuff shouldn't pour out of an EV!

ICE complexity means added maintenance. One of the great aspect of electric cars is their simplicity and
extremely low maintenance. Slap an internal combustion engine as a range extender in there and you just complicate things. Now oil changes, tune-ups, filters, mufflers, etc are all part of ongoing maintenance again, just when the electric car promised to put all that in your past. The only redeeming aspect is since you'll likely only use the REx occasionally, the maintenance schedule will not be nearly as intensive as it is on a normal ICE car. Still - this is a major drawback in my opinion.

The added weight of the REx reduces the cars efficiency and performance. The i3 is the most efficient electric vehicle on the road. Everything BMW did while designing it was centered around lower weight and increasing efficiency. The REx adds 265lbs of dead weight to the car, which has to be lugged around everywhere you go. Even if you don't use the REx for a month at a time, every mile you drive you'll be carrying it with you. The efficiency will take a hit and you'll be using slightly more electricity to power the car whenever you drive it. It's kinda like going hiking and carrying 30 water bottles in your back pack every time you hike, even though you usually only need 1 or 2 of them for 95% of your hikes. Plus, the added weight robs some of the performance. The all electric i3 will go 0-60 in about 7.0 seconds, while the REx i3 will need about 7.7 seconds. Still pretty quick, but if you're driving a REx i3 and a BEV i3 pulls next to you at a streetlight, kindly decline the invitation for a race.

It takes a little away from the cool futuristic feel of the car. Driving electric is a blast. It's a different driving experience that most will tell you is actually better than driving ICE. There is also a really cool feeling that you are really driving the future. The ultra silent vibration-less cabin, the instant torque and feeling that you are almost being pulled along by a string instead of the car providing the propulsion really lets you know you are definitely not driving something from a past generation. Add to that the i3's futuristic architecture, advanced electronic features, extensive use of carbon fiber for the passenger cell, aluminum for the frame and thermoplastic for the outer skin and this is indeed a car of the future that you can drive today. Do you really think an internal combustion engine that's vibrating and belching pollutants into the air as you drive along really belongs there? Of course it doesn't.

It will complicate your conversations: I've been driving electric for nearly five years now and I still get people asking me about my cars all the time. I can't go to a car wash without someone asking me about it and often when I return to my car parked in a lot at a shopping center there is someone there looking at it and wanting to ask me about it. With a REx i3 I can no longer say, "Yeah, it's all electric and I love never buying gas!" like I do now. I see the conversation going something like this:

Them: That's an interesting car is it electric?
Me: Thanks, yes it is.
Them: Wow! Cool  - so it's all electric?
Me: Well it's not all electric, but 99% of the time I drive it is all electric. It has a small gas engine that is used to recharge the batteries if I need to drive farther than the electric range will allow.
Them: Oh, so it's a hybrid. My neighbor has a Prius and loves it.
Me: (Groaning under my breath) No, it's an electric car with a range extender.
Them: So it's not like Prius then?
Me: Well it's not like the old Prius, but there is a new Prius now that is a plug in Hybrid and it's kinda like that but the i3 has a much greater electric range.
Them: So it's kinda like the plug in hybrid Prius, but it's not a hybrid you say?
Me: Have a nice day. (Drives off mumbling)

I've driven the i3 a few times now, and the distinctive styling attracts a lot of attention. If you buy an i3 expect a lot of curious people asking you questions about it and the range extender definitely makes explaining the car more difficult.

Cost: The range extender option costs $3,850.00 in the US and that's a lot of coin. There is also the concern that in some states getting the REx option will then disqualify the car for the zero emission tax exemption. If that is the case, the range extender will end up costing them closer to $7,000 because the sales tax will add another $3,500 or so to the price. However I don't think this will be the case because I know BMW has been working very hard behind the scenes to get the i3 REx classified as a zero emission vehicle under the CARB BEVx rule. Hopefully we will get clarity on this soon because I know states like NJ, Washington and Georgia (possibly others also) all have tax exemptions and/or other state incentives for zero emission vehicles, but not plug in hybrids. Still, even if it only costs the $3,850, that is a significant additional cost.

Ultimately you have to decide what best suits your needs. I would hate to have someone buy a BEV i3 and then realize they can't live with the limited range and struggle with worrying about running out of charge. However I also don't want to give the impression that the BEV i3 wouldn't work for a lot of people. I happen to drive much more than the average person. I drive between 33,000 and 35,000 miles per year and average around 85 miles per day so for me the REx i3 makes more sense. However as I've said, I have lived the past 5 years with pure EVs and really didn't have too many instances when I wished I had a range extender. Only you know what's best for you. That reminds me of one of my favorite Dr Seuss quotes: 

�You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...� 

This one has the REx

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.
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