Can you really cross continents in an electric car? And is the infrastructure any better abroad? We went on an epic road trip to find out. Read more: aex.ae/1N5ziNH
That the card wasn't authorized for use in Europe, shouldn't fall back on the vehicle. It is solely a problem of the service provider. The lack of charging stations and variations in plug types is however a problem for the industry.
trefod True. I don't like the I3, and i wouldn't buy one, but blaming it solely on the car is not fair. I would force car makers and anyone who places chargers to use the same plug type, like the mobile phones. Would be cheaper to make, easier to use and much more accesible
trefod But its still a part of the whole electric car system, which just did not work very well. If you car run on petrol or diesel, you can buy that anywhere and just pay with your normal Master or Visa card, which DOES work. So I can fully understand Matt, when he said, that after 14 hours of this nonsence, he had just had it. The next issue by the way is costs. My sister has en e-Up. And when she charge it up at home, its very cheap to run. However use a public charging point like those shown by Matt, and the "fuel" cost rise to more than that of a normal petrol powered VW Up. And in that case, whats the whole point?
sliwka621 "malfunctioned"? do you always use words without knowing what they mean? the range extender solely powered the car and the car made it back to the UK without even one hick up. so where did it malfunction? you fucking moron.
I drive a egolf in Norway. Every 1 of 5 new cars sold is a e-car. It's a taxheaven for e-cars. Here we have usually two systems for fastcharging and they have same the same card! (elbilforening). And you don't need any keys/cards to most semi/slow chargingpoints (witch are everywhere). Driving 500-1000 km in a day is not a problem. Perhaps you should do the test in Norway the next time?
I'm doing Dublin to London in my i3 next week for the Formula E weekend to be followed by a Dublin to Berlin trip in August. Ireland's rapid charging network is great, one single network for the whole island and you are never more than 40km from a working rapid charger, charging is free. The UKs less so, with 7 different charging networks, some with wacky pricing. France is a bloody disaster as is Belgium but the Dutch Fast Ned network is great. The i3's maps can't be relied on as for some unknown reason they are the only manufacturer without over the air updates. The issue with the efacec QC45 charger you first used in the netherlands was a DC breaker tripping. efacec have provided a replacement parts kit to charging networks who request it. There is only one standard for europe in level 2 charging connector, the type 2 mennekes. The rest of them need to be banned.
thatvolvoguy Captai smartass here, old tech will always be better in it's final days then new tech at the start. We need cars like this to bridge the gap.
Peter Timowreef What's new about this car? Electric cars are dating back to 1828. Batteries are old technology, so are electric motors and the petrol engine with a generator combo.
sliwka621 And the wheels are older still. If it's not broken, don't fix it. The batteries are an area where we've made progress, we're not there yet but cars like this help find better energy storage solutions. And the part where this car is down right cutting edge new is the material use in the chassis. BMW is the first to start using carbon fiber composite materials on such a large scale.
Peter Timowreef Do you understand what "new tech" means? Carbon composites a.k.a. plastics a.k.a. polymers are not new technology. P.S.: It's mainly the small electronics (mobile phones etc.) that speed up the progress in finding new and better battery technologies. Here an example: www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/11188/more-energy-samsung-develops-tech-double-lithium-battery-capacity
Impressive how many electric vehicles there are in Amsterdam. Seems the moral of this story is to double check the charge card is working. And if it isn't on the first attempt don't expect it to work on the next several attempts. Also worth using an app to locate charge points.
Wishwader or just buy a car with a normal engine and avoid the hassle. Even if the charging card would work, there is no guarantee you'll easily find available charging points and there is no planing either as it's first come first served.
+loanides driving across several countries is hardly a norm for UK drivers. If it is, perhaps a petrol car is better until the electric infrastructure catches up with demand. Or buy a better electric car with greater range. But for average use I'd say charging is easier and cheaper than petrol. Why queue at petrol stations and pay an obscene amount to set old dinosaurs on fire when you can just plug it in at home. Can't say I'm a fan of breathing in local toxic pollution just because big oil is trying to convince that changing from their cash cow is bad.
Wishwader old dinosaurs or not, it's much easier to live with a car that fills up in two minutes and will take you anywhere with little hassle than to pay a lot of money on something that works only if you have a private charger and you'll only use for short distance travel. Yes, Tesla has longer legs and less hassle due to dedicated and fast superchargers (vs. limited number of cars on the streets) but it costs 100k euros so not a solution for the common people.
Ioanides001 Tesla should have the Model 3 out by early 2018 (but there is bound to be a long long waiting list when it's released so you would not see one before 2020 probably), they will have a range of more than 200 miles (320km) likewise the GM Bolt that maybe released a year earlier. Both should sell for around $35,000 USD. The Leaf and eGolf are also going to become longer range electric vehicles at some unknown future time. So far Tesla are the only manufacturer to have a world wide, fast and reliable charging network because they take responsibility for long distance charging infrastructure (no one else cares).
***** indeed, I feel Tesla will prevail vs. other ecars manufacturers because they invest in the infrastructure and this infrastructure is a key selling point. Price is too steep tho. I would only get an ecar if the battery would do a minimum of 200 km/charge and the car costs under $20k. The battery should also have a convincing warranty (say, 10 years).
The problem is the fact that companies haven’t standardised the payment for public charging stations across Europe, if he’d had the correct card he would have been fine.
Thank you so much for this review - I’ve been heavily considering the i3 Rex but very concerned about long distance hauls. This has helped me make my decision :)
Hi Mat. Nice review. I wonder if you could also do an editorial on the impact of driving an i3 in hot weather and the impact of the hot temperatures on the battery and batery consumption of air conditioning. Thanks.
I have a bmw 520d. I filled the tank in Chester and got three quarter around my Irish road trip. Just over 800 miles from a single tank. Why would I go electric?
Seems that it isnt the EV charging infrastructure that's the problem. If you can't get gas, and you can't charge, then the problem is mostly the credit card infrastructure between countries in EU. But I will agree that the EV network definitely needs to improve.
I wonder if the situation is any better in 2022? Are there still problems with the service providers? I have two cars, a small electric and a big oil guzzler. But only use the electric for popping around town. Anything further than 30 miles away, from home and I’ll use the oil burner.
got an i3 on a long weekend test drive and i cant get the chargemenow card to work anywhere but where i got the car from, luckly i used the polar charging app and using this now but from a c63 worrying about empty fuel to worrying about my next charge up come on EV chargers, get rid of the RFID and go for an app based solution either built into the car or mobile app!!??
Honest question - why have BMW gone to the trouble of providing a (presumably heavy) range extending engine and then only provided a tiny fuel tank? Was there an optional extra range extender for the range extender which came with a bigger tank?
I cant help thinking that BMW wants this vehicle to be unpopular in order to discourage people from buying EVs. They want to sell you a petrol car so you can spend hundreds having your oil changed. If the I3 had a 20 litre tank I would have bought one. As it is I bought an Ampera and its wonderful.
Thanks for this video, I was always concerned what would be the reality of driving an i3 given that I travel occasionally abroad for leisure. Seems like you have to plan the stops but it is ok to rely on the extender if it gets inconvenient with the chargers
I appreciate that you have Been honest and that you have reported all the 'faults' of the car. However, if it was a less premium brand's car the verdict would have been so much worse than it was here.
The first problem (getting his charging card working) should be solved in 10 minutes - with a phone call to the customer service of the issuer. Well, the range is solved too, but it's a buyer's decision. An "urban car" like the i3 is a city / second family car, NOT made for long road-trips. Well, the 2016 model has a 50% bigger batery. If you have a big budget, there are Teslas. If the budget is limited, there is the Chevrolet Bolt / Opel Ampera - E with a range of 380 km. If this car is to small for your needs, there are the Hyundai Ioniq or Nissan Leaf, both 2017. If the range about 200 km is to small, wait for the 2018 upgrade/model with bigger batteries.
To recall a similar experience : I drive a LPG car and experience similar issues with relying on Google maps to find on LPG stations, which is inaccurate and annoying. Traveling through Europe I also need to carry extra LPG adapters, because there are multiple 'standards'. The range on a full tank of LPG is just 400 km at best. Still, LPG is a better alternative to gasoline.
hahaha, nice one :D It's the same here in AU with my Mitsi Outlander PHEV. While I can charge it every day at home and commute to work in pure EV-mode, it's good to have the 600km 'range-extender' with me for longer trips. Public charging points are still rare here. Especially a bit in the country...
Use an app (or in-car navi) to point you to charging stations with compatible plugs, so you don't get CHAdeMO-only chargers in a CCS car, make sure your charging cards actually work (hopefully EU will sort out that mess soon and you'll be able to pay with a contactless bank card too) and ... use a car with more than 50 miles of range for long range trips? And then you'll have no problem at all. Try the same trip on, say, a Hyundai Kona Electric or Jaguar i-Pace (with working charge cards, I mean what would your experience on a trip with a petrol car would be with a blocked bank card?) and you'll have a very different experience. Especially if you manage to find some of the 150kW CCS chargers along your route.
I have to respond to this. Sorry. Where do YOU live, if I may ask? Because to me, as an European, this is almost a stupid question! I live in a city with 100 thousand inhabitants, and I cannot think where I WOULDN'T park my car, lock it (just in case), leave it FOR TWO WEEKS and get it back absolutely unchanged (except the dust cover). EVERYWHERE! In our country with 2 million inhabitants we have homicides too. One per year. Maybe. And two thirds of them are either domestic violence or among people who know each other. So let's round up, one person get's killed by a stranger in three to four years, and half of those are related to sex crimes. Difficult to make a statistics when you can count them on your fingers. So, how safe are charging points? I really think no serious answer is needed.
Interesting, I did almost exactly the same route (London Luton via the ferry Dover - Calais and then to Almere, east of Amsterdam) with my Renault Zoe. It is half the price compared to the i3 with way more space inside and the possibility to charge up to 3 times quicker on regular charging points with higher watts. No range extender, I completed the trip within 20 hours on nothing but electricity. The biggest issues were in the UK, with unreliable or occupied fast chargers. Belgium took a bit longer since there weren't any fast chargers yet. But most regular charge points are 22 kW, which will charge the Zoe in an hour. Just past the Dutch border I needed only half an hour at the AC fast charger to complete the journey home. So longer journeys can be a bit of a challenge, but are entirely possible already (with a bit of preparation and patience, especially concerning charge card).
I live in Las Vegas U.S.A. and I find it strange that Europe, which is supposed to be ahead of us in terms of being green and all that, hardly has any support for electric vehicles. Over here you're never more than 5 miles from a fast charging station (in the city). Driving to L.A. there are literally tons of charging stations.
The 33 kWh battery would make quite some change, but not for him. He would have to make his charging card work first. What about calling the customer service of the issuer, if the card SHOULD work? That would make a big change, what do you think?
Thanks for taking the trip to Amsterdam and showing that it takes to get there with an electric car. It's a shame that all the EU chargers does not work with one cars and that the plugs are not compatible. Very educational video.
Why do motoring magazines do these stupid tests on electric cars? They don't try and use an MX-5 to move house, try hypermiling in a Pagani Zonda or do a rally stage in a Radical so why attempt a 7 hour road trip in an electric city car? Next week's startling revelation from Auto Express: knives aren't good for eating soup.
Why would you need to have the card 'authorised' to work in Europe? What possible benefit could it serve to anybody to limit cards to a specific country? And for that matter, why do the charging providers all still require you to have their own card in the first place? Surely it would be easier and more convenient if they would just take a credit or debit card.
Coordination between all these different charging companies was a complete mess 4 years ago, but now they almost always work, the only remaining issue is they don't all accurately report when chargers are out of order.
I drive a plugin hybrid and to be quite honest, I have no range anxiety because I can always fall back to gas. I run on electric mode as much as possible to cut emissions and I went from $200/month gas bill in my Ford Focus to $25 every other month with my Ford C-Max Energi.
i drive a BMW i3 here in London. I adore the car, it's easily the best I've ever had, but the charging infrastructure just isn't good enough. Charge points often seem to be out of order, incompatible or just in use
Shawn Tilluck To be really fair, he was testing an plug-in-range-extender BMW. So what would have been the point of him using a Tesla? He may just as well have flown Ryanair!
And how you gonna rate it? How much amps? You want it DC? AC? What voltage ??? Most ideal situation you want HIGH voltage DC. But that is again dangerous too, so you need to make it safe. And how many amps? If you want a fast charger, the connector will be very expensive if you need alot of amps.. Which your home can't deliver anyway. That's a waste of money right? So.... tell me. What is your solution?
How can you charge a car using Bluetooth 🤨 Even wireless chargers don't use Bluetooth. And how long will it take to charge a massive car battery using USB yet it takes more than one hour to charge the tiny phone battery using it ❔
Shalom Rutere he was talking about a universal charger and then used Bluetooth or usb as an example of universal systems. You didn’t seriously think that he meant those as forms of charging the car did you? 🤦♂️
Ignoring the card enabling issue, the thing that stood out to me was lack of compatible charging points. The industry needs to agree a charging standard (or or max two) and make sure all points can provide this service. The mode diversity there is in supply the slower these cars will be to take off.
Any electric car is only useful for city driving and if you do no more than 50 miles a day. For any other use, all they appear to do is prolong journeys and give the driver stress.
Progress? Quite a bit. To start first - the i3 is a (short range) city car, not intended for long trips of 540 km (340 miles). In the test was the first generation of BMW i3 with the 18,8 kWh battery with a range "up to" 130 km (81 miles). One of (if not THE) smallest on the market in this class. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_i3#Fuel_economy_and_range The newer version has a 33 kWh battery and a range of 183 km (114 miles). A similar 30 kWh battery have also the current Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Ioniq Electric, the latter with a little longer range due a better efficiency, both expecting an upgrade in 2018 to a 40 and 50 kWh battery with an range of 270 and 320 km, respectively. And there are also available the Renault ZOE (40 kWh, 250-270 km) and Chevrolet Bolt / Opel Ampera E with 60 kWh and a range of 380 km. And there are the Teslas model S, X an 3 with a range between 380 an 480 km. And all cars have a capability (or at least an option) to a fast- or super- charger network to charge additional 120km (up to 200km, depending on model and brand) in 30 minutes. Oh, the charger network? It was already there, even in 2015, he just didn't have the proper charging card. Bad luck. Or better say - bad preparation (or checking or backup).
Nice Video! I'm Dutch and a Huge fan of your channel, always watch it! Next time you're coming to the Netherlands, make sure to give me a ring for a bit of free, personal hospatality!
Drop the cruise control from 70 mph to low 60's, like 63 mph, and people will look at you while they pass, thinking you're not right in the head, but you'll get another 10% of range. The motor works less but there is less wind resistance.
Electric cars have a very long way for becoming useful in long distance traveling. The charging system also need much improvements it seems. Cables or connectors should be standard across the world or at least compatible. Driving a cable with you everywhere you go seems kind of pain in the ass. There should be some system which would inform drivers which charging stations are free and which are in use. For city driving it's fine already, but anything else it's not.
Tesla's routinely travel from one end of the European and N. American continents to the other, for FREE. Tesla is 5 years ahead of all others. Your statement is basically false. Tesla will soon introduce the Model 3 AT $35k (USD).
bebomac5 Right now Tesla is by far world's most expensive EV. We all know everybody wants the one with longest rang and therefore the expensive model, so don't even mention the cheaper versions. Also hanging onto route 66 in US or E4 in Europe is not the same as freely driving wherever you want without any worries about charging. Nissan has also a lot of charging stations but that does not solve the problem. What you Tesla fans keep missing time and again is what if I want to sell my Tesla and buy from another manufacturer? That means I can't use any of Tesla's charging stations anymore. Your answer is as logical as saying EVERYBODY should buy a Mercedes. There is simply no viable infrastructure or unified charging system on place to convince "the masses" to start buying EVs. Even most Tesla owners have a second and third car. Until that happens the market share of EVs will stay at 0,01%, no matter how far ahead you think a tiny manufacturer as Tesla is. We need global solutions and cooperation to solve these problems.
XtrAMassivE No they don't, range is here it's the established manufacturers doing a bad job at making them. Look at Tesla, it's got x4? the range of the i3. When will the German automaker launch an EV with that sort of range, in 2020?
kalimul Probably never. The truth is, many of the people running these companies don't like electric cars, full stop. Kia's boss hates them, Toyota thinks their preposterous hydrogen fuel cell is the way to go and have no pure ev except limited edition models for California - not only that, the Prius plug in has an ev range of less than 17 miles - what dope approved that pile of crap, when it won't even get to the mall and back? A range of 100 miles as barely acceptable, so the blockheads who launched this doo-hicky with a 60 mile range should be heaved out the door on their heads, especially for fitting a lousy under 2 gallon tank to the range extender.
That is a bit of a problem and can possibly ruin your trip vacation. As an exception Tesla superchargers are more easy to use and charge ,but also is the range and price. So Matt ,without the range extender can i ask you how far would you of got?
and the government in Belgium along several others still do not relize why most common folk do not care about hybrid cars yet(lack of loading points, low range and even if installing a loading point yourself at home you still might be cheaper off buying a cheap heavely taxed diesel of the late 2000's, especially if you like to go on recreational trips with them.
Too soon for a voyage like this... And luckily it was the I3 hybrid (with the extender). That's why I bought the VW Golf GTE for less money. I use the electric engine for the city, where petrol and diesel cars consume a lot, and both for longer journeys.
If you use tesla or jaguar i pace then your journey is much easier With nearly ×8 times more range. It's more likely your card problem rather than car problem
Thanks for this great video. Really backed up my opinion of electric vehicles and even hybrids. I'll stick to my Saab 9-3 diesel with a 600+ mile tank range on 58 litres.
if you wanted to operate this vehicle without the range extender, you'd be stopping roughly every hour for a relatively lengthy charge. While that might be tolerable for short trips, it sounds like a royal pain on longer road trips. 40 mpg when using the range extender is not particularly impressive, when a Prius hybrid can do 70 mpg. True, it uses petrol (unless operated in EV mode), its a more practical way to reduce CO2 emissions without the necessity of frequent charging stops. I don't care what anti-Prius folks care to say, it is still a great alternative to pure EV vehicles.
He was simply making bad propaganda for EVs. BMW i3 is a "Urban Electric Car" (source: Wikipedia), intended as a city / second car in a family. And the REX is a range extender, like you (maybe once) had a 5 liter spare gasoline can for your ICE car. It's not designed to run 540 km on it, neither is it there for (maximum) efficiency. Even if his charging card would work, he could still complain about the amount of stops and charging time spent. It's like "making a long trip, but every time ONLY filling up the spare gasoline can" and then whining about it. He was (intentionally) using the wrong tool for the wrong job, like moving from one house to another without a moving truck, but simply putting stuff in the trunk of your car. You'll waste a large amount of time by driving back and forth and use more fuel than otherwise.
I live in Brasschaat with an electric car. But there really was a charger at the parking lot next to the carrefour. It just was at the end of the lot 😂
Yes, this you own this "urban electric" car called BMW i3. But - every 200 miles (EPA range of 238 miles) if you have the Chevrolet Bolt / Opel Ampera E. And even less often if you have a Tesla.
I'm sure it's a good car, but I wouldn't feel comfortable relying on available services to keep it going. It's like running out of petrol in a normal car and not being able to find a petrol station nearby. Having been in that situation a few times, I'd always go for petrol or diesel until recharging becomes less of an issue.
The saddest thing is electric cars are great. But the infrastructure to support them (akin to petrol stations to gas cars) is absolutely laughable on both the manufacturers, governments & utility providers. Also, Auto Express at the conclusion deliberately left out the Opel Ampera/Chevrolet Volt?
I wish the governments of the world did not actively discourage manufacturers from offering range extenders, as they lose all energy credits, consumers lose all rebates, and electric car sites arrogantly look down on them. When it is the only version of electric besides hybrids, that is actually practical for everyone, even apartment dweller, dorm, hi-rise, and people without access to an outlet at home that can stretch to the car, it also takes away all range anxiety, giving you two options for power..
