
BMW i3 Long Term Battery Capacity Report: Better Than Expected - jseliger
http://www.bmwblog.com/2017/04/24/bmw-i3-long-term-battery-capacity-report-better-expected/
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madengr
There is the LeafSpy app for Nissan Leaf owners that lets you monitor and log
(to DropBox) several battery parameters.

Unfortunately Nissan removed the 80% charge timer in newer models, so you have
to estimate charge time if you don't want to hit 100%.

That being said, you do want to charge to 100% periodically so the cells can
be equalized. You can see this happening if your EVSE can log current.

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jgrahamc
The BMW i3 is a really nice car to drive around London for short trips.
There's a pretty good charging infrastructure through ChargeNow and the car is
nippy. It takes a short while to get used to the regenerative braking system
and I particularly like the rear mounted camera for parking.

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xattt
Is there anything special about the camera or did you previously have a
vehicle without one? Rear view cameras will be mandatory on US cars starting
with the 2018 MY.

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swozey
> Rear view cameras will be mandatory on US cars starting with the 2018 MY.

Woah, never expected that. I remember thinking they'd be a gimmick when I
first got one. Life changer.

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sandworm101
I am 100% against those cameras on everyday cars(not trucks). In a few minutes
im heading to the local pool to swim laps. That parking lot is a nightmare.
Older people in the nicer/largest cars heads-down watching the screen while
backing up. Ive seen far to many close calls. Cars should be limited to 0.01
mph while using such cameras.

Remember what happens next. They will want to remove mirrors. Then rear
windows will go. Backing and changing lanes will become like instrument
flying. Pedestrians and two-wheelers beware.

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bspn
I agree to a certain extent. I believe backup cameras are this generation's
equivalent of the automatic car. Where I grew up, you had pretty much no
choice but to learn to drive using a manual/stick which in my (biased) opinion
teaches you greater respect and understanding of a vehicle and a better
appreciation of how to use the gears to your advantage in various conditions.
I now have an automatic car and I've noticed it's so easy to just drop into a
zen state on the highways which I didn't find so much with a manual car.

Perhaps it's a stretch, but I feel the same way about reverse cameras. We were
taught to not rely solely on mirrors but to physically check over our
shoulders before reversing, but so often these days (usually in SUV-dominated
supermarket lots) I see people fire up their car, look down at the screen and
start reversing without physically checking out the surrounding environment.
The cameras are a great aid for sure, but I think over reliance on them is
dangerous and I hope the basics will continue to be taught to learner drivers
as cameras become more prevalent. Of course, soon none of us will be driving
anyway so maybe it doesn't matter.

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sandworm101
I wouldn't call cameras "this generation" anything. My experience is not that
young people are relying upon these cameras. It's old people, people who
cannot so easily look over their shoulders. Cameras are also, today, on newer
and more expensive/larger cars generally bought by older people. It's like the
pickup trucks with those little steps that fold out. They aren't marketing
those to actual cowboys.

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cmrdporcupine
GM seems to have the best battery health system. Doesn't let you charge past
85%, 90%, always keeps 10% or 15% in reserve. Only reports the chunk between.
Dedicated robust temperature control system.

Volt has been out since 2011 with as-far-as-I-know no battery degradation
issues. Some people have driven well over 300,000 miles with no problems.

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aphextron
>Volt has been out since 2011 with as-far-as-I-know no battery degradation
issues. Some people have driven well over 300,000 miles with no problems

This is nice but anectdotal evidence is useless when looking at failure rates.
Does GM put out any actual data on the Volt/Bolt? Im really curious how they
stack up against Toyota for reliability.

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cowmix
[http://insideevs.com/zero-first-generation-chevrolet-volt-
ba...](http://insideevs.com/zero-first-generation-chevrolet-volt-battery-
packs-replaced-due-general-capacity-degradation/)

I have a 2013 Volt with 67K (50K ev) miles and there is, so far, no change in
ev range.

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_benedict
This is an interesting article, but the cross-validation is perhaps suspect?
It seems likely the 'percentage used' indicator is based on the same
underlying measurements as the 'estimated capacity' service indicator. So it's
quite likely illusory validation of the 4% loss figure.

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Theodores
The i3s that I see in London don't appear to be plugged in, they seem owned by
people who don't have that at home. I presume they plug in at work but without
knowing that there is no way for knowing for sure.

Are people buying these things, doing a small amount of miles with them and
powering them from the petrol engine on-board rather than plugging in? In that
way getting preferential parking spaces at airports and in the city centre, no
congestion charge needed? I am fine with people using them in 'Prius mode' if
it does mean people that did rule out electric due to not having home
infrastructure can actually go 'electric lite', running off petrol and
opportunistic charging.

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dogma1138
More likely that they plug it just around the corner.

If they don't have it near the entrance to their building it means that there
is one very near by, the council will not put a new one if there is one within
walking distance from your residence.

The street level charge spots usually have a hour limit for this reason even
for resident parking.

Source: I live in central London(W2) and when inquiring with Westminster
council about a charge spot they've directed me to 3, one at the end of my
street and 2 in streets parallel to mine all within 5min walking distance.

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faragon
TL;DR: if manufacturer gives a guarantee for a component, the component will
last for honoring the guarantee.

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chiph
There is a catch. A coworker had the battery on his wife's Honda Insight go
bad. No worries - it was only 18 months old, so get it replaced under
warranty. Afterwards, they were informed that the new battery would be covered
under Honda's replacement part warranty - 12 months. And not the remainder of
the 8 year/80,000 mile original equipment warranty.

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mikeash
That can't be legal.

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xexers
It likely is legal. The BestBuy extended warranties work the same way. If
BestBuy ultimately needs to replace your product, then your extended warranty
is finished.

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mikeash
Extended warranties are totally different from original warranties.

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themihai
I wonder why would someone buy an I3 instead of a Model 3? Model 3 seems to
win on all fronts: looks, performance and value for money/price. Is i3 really
just a POC for BMW?

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zbrozek
The i3 is available _right now_ and the Model 3 isn't. Actually getting
getting the car might be a consideration for a lot of people. My housemate has
an i3 and it's a _fantastic_ vehicle - the best utilization of plan area of
any vehicle I've ever been in.

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pjc50
This is hacker news, where allowing the theoretical, unavailable best to be
the enemy of the available good is all part of the game :/

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dsfyu404ed
All the batteries in the world won't make the i3 pretty.

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kevin_thibedeau
It's ugly on purpose to minimize sales.

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gruturo
This is unfortunately so true. I am waiting for the model 3 even though it
might mean losing the sizeable German government subsidy, because the i3 is
such an eyesore. BMW, if you're listening, stop being afraid of cannibalizing
your petrol car sales and make a decent looking EV in the i3 price segment,
because this just made you lose a sale to Tesla, and I'm far from alone here.
Unless the reason is that the i3 is just a compliance car and you lose money
making one, in which case, get your act together because it's 2017 and you
risk doing a RIM vs Apple.

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Neliquat
This is full of suspect data and shilling on a car that has gotten a lot of
bad press. This feels like pure PR. Please respond if you disagree.

