[nZtiZia]

Originally Posted by mlurker

I don't understand why in sport/hybrid/adaptive modes on cruise control and speeds of 70-80 mpg when only ICE is running, the battery charge is dropping slowly. Makes no sense.

in all drive modes, the HV battery is always working, whether by assisting the ICE, such as during acceleration or when increased power is needed up a hill, or powering the HVAC system, which is completely dependent on the HV battery.

[jad03060]

Originally Posted by mlurker

I don't understand why in sport/hybrid/adaptive modes on cruise control and speeds of 70-80 mpg when only ICE is running, the battery charge is dropping slowly. Makes no sense.


When the battery is empty, car automatically recharge it to 3+4 miles and keeps this way in any mode. That should be enough for precondition.

All of the electronics, lights, HVAC are run by the HV batteries via a DC-DC converter to get down to the 12vdc nominal that runs things like the seat heaters, the lights, the fans, turn signals, etc...there is no conventional alternator like on a stock ICE. The EV motor can be switched to become a generator, and is automatically activated when you slow down, or if it's trying to hold the battery charge. The computer will use the EV motor some during acceleration when the ICE is running under some circumstances, too, otherwise, you'd never reach the full output listed in the specs...the ICE has 284 HP, but the vehicle has nearly 400.

As a result, you are constantly using battery capacity to keep things moving, even when the ICE is running.

[amtrak.yams]

Originally Posted by viperdoc

I can’t believe this thread is still going. I’m very grateful. I started it a long time ago when I was on the fence about getting a 45e. No dealers within 300 miles had any to test drive so I had to order one without ever driving it. After 7 months and 11000 miles I must say this is best vehicle I have owned. Comfort, utility, performance, style….and yes the gas mileage. For me the biggest value is that there is no sacrifice in performance (for me anyway) and at the same time the dependence on gas drops substantially. In fact I wouldn’t care if it were MORE expensive to own this thing over a 40i….but it isn’t.

lol I think I’m sold.

[kingmonkeyjr]

Picking mine up from LA tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing what it is all about

[bigeks357]

Originally Posted by viperdoc

After 7 months and 11000 miles I must say this is best vehicle I have owned. Comfort, utility, performance, style….and yes the gas mileage. For me the biggest value is that there is no sacrifice in performance (for me anyway) and at the same time the dependence on gas drops substantially. In fact I wouldn’t care if it were MORE expensive to own this thing over a 40i….but it isn’t.

Couldn’t. Agree. More. / Best. Car. Ever. There’s a lot of talk/questions about electric range in this and other threads, compare/contrast of ICE vs. PHEV, etc. etc. I just look at it as a couple simple questions: Is the 45E a good choice for your own travel habits, and is the 45e a fuel-efficient solution? Here’s my own experience:

1. Road Trip (400+ mile to your destination): Full tank, fully charged battery: 28+ mpg driving just like a regular ICE rig with a range of 5-600 miles. That’s more range and almost similar mpg to my old Audi A6 3.0. If I’m not plugging in my destination into the BMW navigation and using adaptive hybrid, I’m doing it wrong. The chipset calculates where you need electric in your trip and will throttle the usage as needed to ensure you’re using electric in the stop-and-go, city-style areas of your trip. Adds to the overall range — the engineers made sure of this.

2. Around town: on average, about 1200-1500 mile range, with a few highway trips of 10-20 miles peppered in the mix. I think a lot of folks have noted that the best use of the 45E includes a level 2 charger at your home, which I have. I plug it in daily when garaged, and it works with my power company to charge as needed. I don’t live in an area of the country where the power prices fluctuate, so it’s only throttled when there’s a power demand surge (think summer a/c) but I’ve never noticed any difference. I used to run hybrid as default, but switched to electric individual as my default, and I consciously switch it to hybrid when I get on a highway. Running to the grocery store, errands, etc. I use zero gas. I don’t remember the last time I filled my tank (maybe 6-8 weeks ago), and I still have a half tank with 230 miles range gas, and I’ve gone about 900 miles since last refueling.

If I have one wish, it’s a more race-ready power train. Granted, we have 389hp, and I know I’ve seen comments about “if you want performance, a PHEV is not where you look.” The fastest car I’ve ever driven is a Tesla Model S P100D; I know that we could have a 150-200hp electric motor to complement a fully-tuned 40i, easy. I LOVE this car. The power band is so fun at the front end, with the electric motor launching a three and-a-half-ton SUV from a dead stop like a go-cart. I’d love a to see an X5Me, an X5M5.0e, or the like. That would be my next car, without question. Until then, I will replace this with the same, hands down.

Just wanted to share my experience. I can’t say enough about this rig. This is my first BMW, having owned mostly Audi products. I will never own another primary vehicle brand. Convert. Lifer. Zero regrets, other than not going BMW sooner.

[jad03060]

BMW could make more power available from the EV motor for short periods of time...they did that on the i3 when they came out with the i3s...same motor, given more amps, but it was not sustained, but then again, when could you use maximum power constantly?!

We might see something like that in the LCI update, which also might include higher power density batteries, or they could lighten it while including the same power, but that would be a bigger change. On the i3, over the 7-8 years it was being built, they updated the battery capacity twice to nearly double its range in the last version.

The next X5, if it still exists, will likely have much larger batteries, but that's more than a few years away.

It will be interesting to see how well accepted the iX is.

[kingmonkeyjr]

Just picked mine up and drove home from LA. I did have it on battery hold mode and managed to get 23.5mpg. I received the car from dealer on completely dead battery. Managed to drive 20 of the 100 miles in full electric mode after having battery hood charge up, coasting, braking etc.

It's a great suv. Extremely quiet. Air ride doesn't seem as good as my wife's X7 but it could just be how much smaller it is. Definitely think Driver Assistant Pro is a must have. Effortless driving home.

[j1980mac]

Just got it yesterday. Named = "Quiet Riot".

[45e21]

Originally Posted by kingmonkeyjr

Just picked mine up and drove home from LA. I did have it on battery hold mode and managed to get 23.5mpg. I received the car from dealer on completely dead battery. Managed to drive 20 of the 100 miles in full electric mode after having battery hood charge up, coasting, braking etc.

It's a great suv. Extremely quiet. Air ride doesn't seem as good as my wife's X7 but it could just be how much smaller it is. Definitely think Driver Assistant Pro is a must have. Effortless driving home.

Congratulations on your new ride and welcome to the 45e club. You are going to enjoy this car. Cheers!

[GS2019]

Originally Posted by j1980mac

Just got it yesterday. Named = "Quiet Riot".

Congrats. AG color? Just curious how did you get fog light on yours if you just received it this week?

[kingmonkeyjr]

Adding a photo for everyone!

[nomoracin]

My wife and I love ours. We don't really have any regrets, but we do wished that…

- we have fog lights
- we have touchscreen
- we have backup assistant
- we had gotten more options
- the battery could get at least 50 miles
- it had a black wheel option

Many say that they wished that the HK speaker upgrade was still available too, but we are pleasantly surprised with the base HIFI system. Also, we have a 19 month old, so it's not like we would blast the music anyway.

Extremely glad that my coworker talked us into the M package. It just looks so much better. The bonus kicker part was the "free" upgraded leather which I didn't know about as the configurator failed to mention.

I suppose we do have a couple of regrets. Kind of wished we had just gotten the Executive Package too along with the Driver's Assistant…we tried to not get too overboard with options as they can add up quite quickly, but at the end of the day, it's just money, so why not.

[j1980mac]

Originally Posted by GS2019

Congrats. AG color? Just curious how did you get fog light on yours if you just received it this week?

This vehicle has 6k miles on it. Used.

[j1980mac]

Originally Posted by kingmonkeyjr

Adding a photo for everyone!

I sooo wanted that color. Very very nice!

[kingmonkeyjr]

Originally Posted by nomoracin

My wife and I love ours. We don't really have any regrets, but we do wished that…

- we have fog lights
- we have touchscreen
- we have backup assistant
- we had gotten more options
- the battery could get at least 50 miles
- it had a black wheel option

Many say that they wished that the HK speaker upgrade was still available too, but we are pleasantly surprised with the base HIFI system. Also, we have a 19 month old, so it's not like we would blast the music anyway.

Extremely glad that my coworker talked us into the M package. It just looks so much better. The bonus kicker part was the "free" upgraded leather which I didn't know about as the configurator failed to mention.

I suppose we do have a couple of regrets. Kind of wished we had just gotten the Executive Package too along with the Driver's Assistant…we tried to not get too overboard with options as they can add up quite quickly, but at the end of the day, it's just money, so why not.

I was also worried about receiving the Hifi system. We had it in my wife's X3M40i and it was terrible… it must be a different system because it is not bad at all in the X5. Anyone not receiving the HK system as long as you are not some sound system junky don't worry about it.

[45e21]

Originally Posted by kingmonkeyjr

I was also worried about receiving the Hifi system. We had it in my wife's X3M40i and it was terrible… it must be a different system because it is not bad at all in the X5. Anyone not receiving the HK system as long as you are not some sound system junky don't worry about it.

I think it has to do with your original comment above “Extremely quiet”. Any system is going to sound better with that kind of sound isolation and especially in the electric drive mode.

[kingmonkeyjr]

Originally Posted by 45e21

I think it has to do with your original comment above “Extremely quiet”. Any system is going to sound better with that kind of sound isolation and especially in the electric drive mode.

The system in the X3 was down right terrible. Made me sick how bad it was lol

[BMW_Bubblehead]

Had mine about 6 months now. Phytonic Blue with the cognac leather seats. I'm kinda surprised how many I've seen with that combination both driving down the road and in people's tags here on the forum.

Do recognize that you need a good Level 2 charger for home. The 110V/Level 1 charger they provide with the car can take as much as 24 hrs to give you a full charge. My Level 2 charger does it regularly in 6 hrs - so easily done overnight.

I run just over 50 miles round trip every day to work, and get almost 40 of that on electric by being judicious about where to use gas and where to use electric. I routinely run >1000 miles between fuel stops; typically just shy of 3 calendar weeks when you factor in weekend driving. I've been able to maintain 50 to 60 mpg regularly once I got the Level 2 charger installed.

Only thing I wish were better:
- don't like that they gave us 24 kWh battery but only allow us to use 17 or 18 kWh out of it (here in US; I think it's more in Europe).

Otherwise it works great for commuting and great for longer trips. Hybrid mode and a little Level 1 charging along the way kept me at about 30 mpg for recent trip with >1000 miles driving. Not bad from my perspective.

[ksavostin]

Originally Posted by BMW_Bubblehead

I've been able to maintain 50 to 60 mpg regularly once I got the Level 2 charger installed.

These electric MPG are tricky and not always true, some states have expensive electricity, thus 50-60 MPG (electric) may cost even more $$ than 20-25 MPG (Gas). Looks like these electric MPG are a bit overrated by BMW..

[nZtiZia]

Originally Posted by ksavostin

These electric MPG are tricky and not always true, some states have expensive electricity, thus 50-60 MPG (electric) may cost even more $$ than 20-25 MPG (Gas). Looks like these electric MPG are a bit overrated by BMW..

for someone who owns a 45e, some of your posts reflect you don't like it, or rather, you seem very skeptical about PHEV tech and claims. (I've only seen you post about driving in Sport/Sport+ modes, but not Hybrid, Electric or Adaptive.) it's unfortunate, but it also seems you regret getting a 45e, and that's ok cuz that's what this thread addresses, right?

are you saying BMW is 'tricking' us with inflated values? if so, what makes you say that? maybe you're right, but how about prove it instead of pushing your skepticism or 'regret' onto others who thoroughly enjoy the PHEV's offerings?

just this past month, I can honestly claim it cost me ZERO DOLLARS to charge (aka 'refuel') my 45e as my solar system produced more electricity than what we required. a PHEV may not work out for everyone for reasons you mentioned such as expensive electricity costs, but it's working out nicely for me

[jad03060]

Alaska, with its fairly long, cold periods isn't super for any EV or PHEV as cold weather saps capacity out of batteries. It's not unusual to lose 20% or so of the range, and in super cold weather, it could be more. If you started out with the vehicle warm, the hit isn't that bad, but repeated short trips where it has to warm things back up from frigid will be tough on the battery capacity. If your trips can be handled by the batteries, though, it will be more efficient than short trips via the ICE.

[ksavostin]

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

for someone who owns a 45e, some of your posts reflect you don't like it, or rather, you seem very skeptical about PHEV tech and claims.

Of course I am (and not only I) skeptical of some stuff in my car.

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

are you saying BMW is 'tricking' us with inflated values? if so, what makes you say that? maybe you're right, but how about prove it instead of pushing your skepticism or 'regret' onto others who thoroughly enjoy the PHEV's offerings?

I am saying that MPG it is not really accurate measurement for electric and mixed (gas+electric) driving. Because:
There is no gallons when you drive a car using electricity, it should be miles per KW/H.
45e shows at the moment when you ride in electric that you are doing 90-99MPG which is a much lower $/mile value than you actually spend to drive on electric (depends on electric cost at your area), I think this number is overrated if you translate it to $.
MPG is always about how much money you spend per mile. If BMW thinks that average ICE MPG is ~24 (for the most people I see) and Electric MPG is 90, thus driving 1 miles in electric should be 3.7 times cheaper than 1 miles on gas. It can be true for some states like NM where gas cost $4 and electric cost $0.12kwh, but this will not be accurate for example for Hawaii where gas cost the same $4 but electricity is $0.34kwh?

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

just this past month, I can honestly claim it cost me ZERO DOLLARS to charge (aka 'refuel') my 45e as my solar system produced more electricity than what we required

it can't be ZERO DOLLARS because you spend money to buy and install a solar panel. For such amount of money you spent on the panel I can run my X5 on gas in sport mode for around 20 years, if I wanted to drive something boring like X5 in electric mode I would buy Lexus RX350, same boring driving dynamic.

I love my car, but I am not afraid to say some about some imperfections in it.