[Garycoral]

Maybe this is in the Owners Manual but I thought I'd try this shortcut -
After I run out of electric range on the freeway I always end up getting some back even though I'm not braking or coasting...

Anyone know why or how this works?

[jad03060]

The roadway is rarely perfectly flat, and your speeds are not absolutely constant, so yes, it's not unusual to potentially gain some range after hitting zero indicated. If you were driving in hilly or mountainous country, you might almost recharge it fully on the way down.

You can force it to boost the battery charge level with the battery hold button and the menu setting in iDrive for the desired level, that can be up to 100%.

[ksavostin]

You are coasting, you just don't know about it.

[finn123]

Originally Posted by Garycoral

Maybe this is in the Owners Manual but I thought I'd try this shortcut -
After I run out of electric range on the freeway I always end up getting some back even though I'm not braking or coasting...

Anyone know why or how this works?

If you drive in hybrid mode and the electric range hits below 1km (you get - - - instead), the car will charge the battery using the ICE and by coasting until the charge level is 1km. You can notice it uses ICE to charge the battery by looking at the current fuel consumption. It increases a lot as if you’d hit the battery control button to charge the battery.

If you drive in sport mode, the car will charge the battery using ICE and by coasting until it hits ~10km.

[ksavostin]

Originally Posted by electric2021

If you drive in sport mode, the car will charge the battery using ICE and by coasting until it hits ~10km.

I have a doubt about that. I have about the same MPG driving on a road to my work every day in sport mode no matter what my electric range is 0 miles or 35 miles.

[finn123]

Originally Posted by ksavostin

I have a doubt about that. I have about the same MPG driving on a road to my work every day in sport mode no matter what my electric range is 0 miles or 35 miles.

Checking your long term fuel consumption won’t give you any reliable results. Try to discharge your car, put it sport, and check the actual fuel consumption (not the long term one).

[taek]

Originally Posted by ksavostin

I have a doubt about that. I have about the same MPG driving on a road to my work every day in sport mode no matter what my electric range is 0 miles or 35 miles.

If you're driving in Sport you're primarily using the ice engine, so I would expect gas mileage should be the same regardless of charge. Whatever electric boost one gets in Sport mode is still going to be there even at 0 range, since there's still like 30% battery power available.

My experience reflects electric's, the car regains electric range when in Sport mode or when at 0 range in Hybrid.

[jad03060]

MPG depends on the load...go faster, use more fuel...carry more weight...use more fuel...try to move the vehicle while actively recharging the batteries...use more fuel...increase drag...use more fuel, you don't get something for nothing. Regen is just trying to recoup some of the energy you've already expended...it's not a perpetual motion machine, there's energy lost in the process.

The X5 never really fully discharges the HV batteries, so there's almost always some room to put some energy back in, and you're almost never in a totally steady state, so the energy use will be varying, allowing some to be put back in.

I had an i3 for years before this X5...I live on a hill. Regen is more of a big deal with a BEV. The i3 blended regen with braking, as does the X5, but much more aggressively. It was fairly obvious, because you didn't actually use the brakes that often on the i3, when it was applying the brakes versus using regen to slow you down...coming off of the charger and exiting the property, the batteries were full, so there was no room to put energy from regen, so it used the brakes going down the hill. Do that later in the day if you hadn't had a chance to plug in, it didn't. In a way, I wish the X5 was setup more for one pedal driving, but that change in feel to a new driver might push them away because it's different, and potentially lose sales of a mainstream model. It wasn't a big deal with the BEV, as that was a whole new experience, so (most) were willing to learn. BMW did reduce the max regen on the i3 after about a year because of those that either could not or were not willing to learn how it worked and to make the operation smoother for the casual driver, I think, to the detriment of the capabilities.

[ksavostin]

Originally Posted by electric2021

Checking your long term fuel consumption won’t give you any reliable results. Try to discharge your car, put it sport, and check the actual fuel consumption (not the long term one).

I tried this several times, on the same road going in sport mode 50mph it showed 30-33mpg regardless of electric range (0 or 35). I think if the car forced ICE to charge battery then I would see much less mpg when the battery is empty.