Thanks for the pics, rims are nice!

 

This is crazy for all the americans around here, because they have been told that they would need a truck to tow anything more than a small trailer I've learned some weeks ago, that most cars, that will deliver with tow hooks in Europe, won't in the USA. May also be because there's a lot of restrictions for trailer towing in Europe or especially Germany, like the trailer needing to have it's own brakes if its more that 750kg etc., so that it can be towed by a smaller vehicle.

If you can go only 200km with one charge, does that mean you're using more than 40kWh/100km? That's really a lot. At first after seeing your pictures I thought "should've gotten the tow hook" but after seeing the range I don't think that would really be viable for me. It's okay for small jobs, but I guess it will still take some time for caravaning with a BEV.

 

Its not about range or tow hooks, its the fashion police that does not allow the combination of such a beautiful car with an ugly caravan?

 

Super!!! Zijn wij ook van plan. Onze caravan is ook max 1600 dus nu weet ik wat het verbruik zal zijn. Thnx

 

I tow a 1450kg caravan with my i4, and get an average of 1.6 miles/kWh or 38.83 kWh/100km, giving a max range of 128 miles, or 205km. I tend to charge every 90 to 100 miles though, on a trip.

 

Top deze revieuw!!!! Ik ben al heel de tijd op zoek naar he verbruik met een caravan maar kon nog niets vinden. Wij hebben een caravan van 1350 kg.
Hebben jullie er daadwerkelijk 200 km meegereden of is dit een berekende range? Wat is het gemiddeld verbruik met de caravan?

 

Ik heb 214 km gereden en had toen nog 8% accu over. Denk wel dat wanneer de cruisecontrol op 95Km staat je ruim 250 km kunt rijden met een caravan van 1600kg.

😅😅 translate for JST1963;
I drove 214 km and then had 8% battery left. Do think that when the cruise control is on 95Km you can drive over 250 km with a caravan of 1600kg.

 

Guys, keep it in English please

 

you can use Deepl Or Google translatie JST1963 😅

 

@Vincent B. (NL) : This is an English forum, so we all expect what is written here is in English, even on the Belgian and the Dutch sections. A word now and then in your own language doesn't hurt, but starting conversations in another language is disrespectful to everybody who doesn't understand that language. ANd yes, you're right, people can your Deepl, or Google Translate, or any other tool. But I would expect that those who speak the other language would use these tools, not everybody else. There are 2700 subscribed members on this forum, and maybe 70-80 speak Dutch...
So...

 

😂

 

It is correct to assume that all driving was done on a highway with no recuperation?

 

I am curious to know why it seems an electric car seem to be much more sensible to friction than ie a car with a diesel powered engine.

When I have towed a 2-tonne boat back and forth between Gothenburg to Stockholm with a diesel-powered car, the consumption rose by 20–30% - not 100%.

My spontaneous theory is that a combustion engine generates already 70-80% efficiency loss on an empty car and that the added friction makes the added loss much smaller (maybe a factor one to 3 or one to 4).

Whereas an electric engine has minimal losses from start, making the added friction give a ratio near one to 1 on consumption.

Any other thoughts or facts are welcome!

 

My spontaneous theory is that a combustion engine generates already 70-80% efficiency loss on an empty car and that the added friction makes the added loss much smaller (maybe a factor one to 3 or one to 4).

Whereas an electric engine has minimal losses from start, making the added friction give a ratio near one to 1 on consumption.

You're completely right on this one. ICE cars will have a "base usage" that you cannot go under. You cannot get below that number, no matter how careful or efficient you drive. For example if my ICE-vehicle uses around 6 liters / 100km I can probably not get it under 4, even if I'm the best driver on the world. So we can then assume the 4 liters as base number (at a constant speed). Actually this base number would be time based, but for easier calculation I'll just assume that we are at constant speed.

So coming from BEV you're saying that you can go around 50% of the distance with a trailer, so you doubled your power usage. Now if we take the 4 out of the 6 (2 liter variable usage) of your ICE efficiency and double that, we get to 8 liters (4 base + 2 * 2 variable = 8), which is probably around where you would actually land with the trailer. Now there's cars who have a higher base usage (like diesels) but lower variable usage, so the impact of a trailer is even less. This is also the reason why going fast on the highway is better with the diesel than with a petrol car. Base usage is lower on petrol, but more variable usage on the Autobahn, diesel means higher base usage but less variable usage which means more efficient at higher speeds.

All in all you'll have to compare the real usage in kWh for the diesel and the petrol as well: while petrols is like 9 kWh per liter, diesel is even like 10 kWh per liter. So this means that when you diesel will take 7 liters with a trailer, you could use around 70kWh to tow with your electric car. Petrol with 8 liters is around the same. But you're not using 70kWh / 100km with your BEV, only around 30-35kWh, so it is still twice as efficient as a diesel.
Or if you calculate it the other way round, a diesel would need to tow at around 3-3,5l / 100km to be as efficient as an electric car, and that is completely impossible even with the most modern diesel.

Disclaimer: I'm not a rocket scientist and also it is quite hard to explain these things in English as well. So if there's a mistake or someone wants something to be clarified, just go ahead I'll gladly correct my post if it turns out someone knows better!

 

Yesterday morning I left with my family (total of 5 people) on vacation to France. Drove 680km with the caravan (1600kg) behind it and stopped 3 times. This car with caravan drives really fantastic. Especially with the air suspension the combination is very stable.

 

How did it impact range?

 

Can you please post some pictures of the towing set up? We want to have a tow system installed to be able to put our electric bicycle rack (a Thule product) on the vehicle. What brand of tow hitch did you purchase and is it a class I or class II type? Also, I'm curious how the hitch looks from the rear without the trailer on the car. Enjoy your new car. Thanks for any info/pics you can provide. Our i4e40 is on the water on the way to USA!

 

My tow bar was put on at the factory. It automatically folds out from under the car electrically.

 

It's a shame that BMW doesn't do a similar thing for the states. Be nice just for bike racks and the like.

 

I've just come back from 2 weeks in Corwall with the caravan. Towed it the 312 miles there and back again. My caravan is an Elddis 574, which weighs a max of 1460kg. I was only able to average 1.5 m/kWh, giving a max range of around 120 miles, so I planned the charge stops at 90 mile increments.

Left home in the i4, pulling an elddis 574 at 3am on Sunday, with 100%. I set the cruise at 60 and jumped onto the M6 at Stoke on Trent. 1st stop, at Gloucester services. We rolled in with 13%, after averaging 1.5 m/kWh. Gloucester only has 50kW chargers, so I left the caravan at Gloucester, and drove 5 miles down the road to a Costa, with 2 Instavolts. Although they were 120kW, I only pulled 87kW. Sat there for over an hour, and got back up to 97%. Then I had to drive up the M5 to the junction above Gloucester services, then double back to the services to get the caravan, wife and daughter. That hogged some of my range. Next stop was Cullompton, near Exeter. 6 x 350kW chargers there. I rolled in with only 3%. Squeaky bum time. The car pulled 184kW, and by the time we’d had breakfast and a toilet break, the car was at 100%. Don’t worry, we didn’t keep anyone waiting. Next stop was Penhale, just a bit further down the A30 from Cornwall services. We chose Penhale, as there were 2 shell recharge chargers, and a shopping village. We rolled in with 8%, and we had to wait 10 mins to get onto a charger, but once on, we mooched in the shops for about 30 mins, and the car was back to 80%. This was plenty to get us to St Ives. Bear in mind that at each stop, I had to un-hitch and then hitch the caravan, as none of them were pull-through. All in all, not a bad trip, apart from the messing about at Gloucester. Also, I noticed, after the Gloucester Instavolt charge, I found a BP Pulse, a bit closer, but it wasn’t showing in the car nav. If all services had at least 6 x 350kW chargers, it would have been a doddle. There would be no squeaky bums, as we could go to any services, and get a really fast charge. Alas, this is not yet the case. The car was a beasty, towing, but only averaged 1.5 m/kWh, which is disappointing, as I was set at 60 all the way. I couldn’t have driven any more efficiently. Andrew Ditton on YouTube, managed 2m/kWh pulling a larger van than mine, with an EV6. All I can think is, he didn’t have it loaded up like mine, and there was only him and the dogs in the car.
The return journey was easier, as instead of stopping at Gloucester Services, we stopped at a BP Pulse garage near there. Managed to pull 180kW, and you get half price drinks when using the charger. But the Penhale stop was longer, as we had to wait for 30 mins to get onto a charger. But there is a larger charger installation going in there at the moment, so it should be better next year.

So, in summary, the best thing to do is always charge to 100%, stick it on cruise at 60mph, and just take the extra 1.5 hour hit over the journey time of a diesel. Plan carefully on ZapMap.

 

I'm doing a test run with a horse trailer on Monday. I am hoping it won't drop below 1.5 m/kWh which would give me a comfortable round trip of 100 miles which should be good enough!

 

Actual consumption was slightly better at 1.7 m/kWh which was pretty much 50% of what I was getting on the return journey without the trailer.

 

@bbgator : the moment I made these comments, and asked to keep everything in English, I was the only moderator here on this forum. So I knew what I was talking about and how many Dutch and Flemish speaking people there were. I'm Belgian myself (Flemish speaking).