[halfmonkey]

Wondering if you guys think BMW will offer any lease specials for the i3? For example, honda offers a lease for their Fit EV that's very cheap with unlimited miles and it also includes insurance, maintenance, and repairs.

I don't think BMW will do anything similar to that but do you think maybe they'll offer a lease with unlimited miles? Seeing that EV is new to them minus the active e which was released on a very limited basis, the I series are supposed to more "mainstream."

[tommolog]

Originally Posted by halfmonkey

Wondering if you guys think BMW will offer any lease specials for the i3? For example, honda offers a lease for their Fit EV that's very cheap with unlimited miles and it also includes insurance, maintenance, and repairs.

I don't think BMW will do anything similar to that but do you think maybe they'll offer a lease with unlimited miles? Seeing that EV is new to them minus the active e which was released on a very limited basis, the I series are supposed to more "mainstream."

Simple: Absolutely not! I was in the MINI-E and ActiveE programs and have enjoyed the unlimited mileage terms immensely as I have driven them over 30,000 miles annually with no penalty. Yes, Honda recently amended their lease program to include unlimited miles also. The big difference is the MINI-E, ActiveE and Honda Fit EV are all experimental cars that were lease-only and will all be taken back and destroyed after the lease is over. The manufacturers don't have any need to concern themselves with residual value with them as they do with "real" production cars like the i3.

I can tell you with 100 certainty there will not be an unlimited mileage lease option, just as that is not offered on any other real production car. If anything, the lease mileage terms on an EV may be more strict. This is because high mileage will probably effect the value of an EV more than it does a conventionally powered car because that means the eventual battery replacement expense is sooner than it would be on a lower mileage used EV.

[jadnashuanh]

Battery life is more dependent on how many deep discharge cycles it has than mileage driven, especially with the controlled environment they provide for the i3. I'd be more worried about those miles since with a one-speed transmission, and the ability to turn many thousands of RPM, the bearings on the motor are probably the first part to wear out. Caught early enough, a bearing replacement could extend the life of the motor for a very long time, though. No idea how easy that task is, or if it was factored into the original design.

The good thing about the construction of the vehicle, is corrosion should not be a major factor in the body lasting. Normal car running gear is likely to require rebuild long before the body needs attention or the motor (and probably the battery!).

[tommolog]

Originally Posted by jadnashuanh

Battery life is more dependent on how many deep discharge cycles it has than mileage driven, especially with the controlled environment they provide for the i3. I'd be more worried about those miles since with a one-speed transmission, and the ability to turn many thousands of RPM, the bearings on the motor are probably the first part to wear out. Caught early enough, a bearing replacement could extend the life of the motor for a very long time, though. No idea how easy that task is, or if it was factored into the original design.

The good thing about the construction of the vehicle, is corrosion should not be a major factor in the body lasting. Normal car running gear is likely to require rebuild long before the body needs attention or the motor (and probably the battery!).

Since we're talking about battery health there are three major things that will bring on early capacity loss: constant deep discharges (as you noted), leaving a fully charged car sit for an extended period of time (like weeks at a time) and overheating the cells. Even with a sophisticated thermal management system the biggest concern is keeping the cells cool in extreme conditions. If you park your i3 in an unshaded parking lot in direct sunlight in the summer all day, every day you can bet you'll be asking for early capacity loss. Heat is the #1 enemy. If you live in a very hot environment try to park in shaded areas as much as possible. You want to try to keep the battery temperature under 105 degrees (40C) as much as possible. Even with thermal management on my ActiveE I had to monitor the battery temperature on very hot days (95+) to keep the cells under 105 degrees. Deep discharges (under 5%) aren't too much a problem as long as you don't do it all the time as the car already has a natural buffer built not allowing you to discharge too much. Also, if you aren't going to be driving the car for a while (weeks or months) do not leave it fully charged. Charge it to 70%-80% and leave it like that. A fully charged battery left to sit for a long time will also cause capacity loss.

[jadnashuanh]

I wonder if the car is sitting on the charger, if the vehicle's battery management system will turn on the heater or cooling functions. If it did, long-term on the charger may not be that big of an issue.

Guess we'll have to wait for the user's manual or reports from first adopters to see what the engineers have thought of for the thing. But, Europe doesn't tend to get that hot, and the first ones are coming next month...guess we won't know before they show up in the USA.

I did read somewhere that you can tell the car to 'prep' itself, so it brings the battery pack up to best operating temp while still on the charger prior to you leaving. You can probably also have it condition the passenger compartment, preventing that big battery hit just after you started out on your trip.