[First EV]

Well, I'm wimping out and going to plug in at work since it's "free" to charge. I'm at 14%. Good to know that you can trust the range indicator. I finally have level 2 charging setup at home and work (and my wife's work), so that makes things convenient.

The time I referenced where I pulled in with 7% the original navigation estimate for state of charge at destination was 18% so it's definitely something to keep an eye on as you drive. My guess is that we were driving into a stiff head wind, but I never bothered to check weather apps and confirm that at the time.

 

[Pete]

got down to 3% on a road trip to France as I missed the turn off. luckily the next charger was in range. was a bit worried and first time I'd experienced range anxiety but the car didn't even reduce available power so must still have a little bit in reserve just incase. thanks to the fast chargers on the continent was off on my merry way in no time.

 

[rollermonkey]

Once 20 km after SOC was at zero percent. - not a real problem, car behaved normal, except for all the warnings.

I did not realize that you are actually TeslaBjorn. 😆

 

[PJBi4]

I got down to about 15% after an out of town trip. I usually charge at home once it gets below 50%

 

[Bobby “Brown”]

3%. Yesterday I hit 7%. I’m over here thugging 😂

 

[E30_G26]

Now I'm at 85%, so I guess I can knock off of work early!

Also... I wonder why BMW, etc. don't put in an analog charge gauge that looks just like a gas gauge. It seems that would be a good way for ICE converts to get comfortable to an electric car. When I first got the car, I was thinking "oh wow - I went from 100% to 94% just driving to work!!!!". But, if it were a "gas gauge", you would barely notice that change.

 

[linerjoe]

1%, hit last Saturday. We took a spur of the moment trip, and I hadn't really looked at the SOC. It ended up being a 200 mile trip. On the return leg, the distance to go was exactly matching the remaining miles per the GOM. I decided to keep going. We hit some traffic that slowed us a down a bit, so I actually ended up w/ 2 miles left. Previous to that, 11% was the lowest.

I will say that I didn't turn the HVAC off (heat was running), or really slow down.

 

[E30_G26]

I feel like the car handles a bit better in the turns with a lower state of charge. Less weight due to less electrons in the tank..... 🤓

 

[xyrBimmer]

Now I'm at 85%, so I guess I can knock off of work early!

Also... I wonder why BMW, etc. don't put in an analog charge gauge that looks just like a gas gauge. It seems that would be a good way for ICE converts to get comfortable to an electric car. When I first got the car, I was thinking "oh wow - I went from 100% to 94% just driving to work!!!!". But, if it were a "gas gauge", you would barely notice that change.

Ha! If they made it an item you could customize through Settings, that'd be something, but I doubt BMW would ever consider something silly.

I did add this during the first couple of weeks of owning the car as I kept forgetting which side the charge port was on lol

 

[Sherlock Humbug]

I typically keep the state of charge between 40-60% in the winter for the daily commute, i.e. I have to charge every day. In the summer, I charge every other day (35ish - 65%). I don't think I have ever driven the car below 10% and it's super rare that I charge beyond 80%.

 

[toddggg]

Checking in - I just drive non-stop from Charlotte to Pooler Ga, 253 miles in 3:45 hrs. Started at home at 99%, arrived with 15%.
I was averaging 4.4-4.5 mi/kwh in the first half of the trip, but it dropped down to 4.1 by the end. I guess I sped up 😎

 

[First EV]

Checking in - I just drive non-stop from Charlotte to Pooler Ga, 3:45 hrs. Started at home at 99%, arrived with 15%.
I was averaging 4.4-4.5 mi/kwh in the first half of the trip, but it dropped down to 4.1 by the end. I guess I sped up 😎

What kind of speeds were you driving? I can barely do better than 3.5 in the best of weather.

 

[lefkonj]

I never drove my ICE vehicles to E, always filled around 25%. With a charger at home I charge when I feel like it so my lowest is in the 20s%. With how easy it is just shouldn't happen.

 

[BadgerGreg]

I have a few 0% trophies in my cabinet. My 2021 Mach E (arrived at a DCFC a mile or two past 0%), a rented Tesla Model 3 (arrived at a Supercharger one mile past 0%), and I've taken my i4 down to 0% a few times, but only when close to home and I immediately charged up afterwards. (Degradation Tests: My journey from 100% to 0%, and back from 0% to 100% | BMW i4 Forum)

The i4 has a fairly robust bottom buffer, and the car will drive at least 5-10 miles beyond 0%. I wouldn't recommend it for normal road tripping, but if you're in a bind you know that the car will keep going if you need a few extra miles. The power limiter starts kicking in at around 2% SOC. When you get to 0%, the power limiter (yellow bar on the ePower meter...see image below) creeps to 25% power limitation, then 50%, then 60%-70%, at which point the car only gently accelerates. At this point, you probably don't want to go much further. Fortunately, this is a gradual transition and the car doesn't just stop moving at 0%. It's tapered and you get plenty of warning.

 

[gsbaker]

I’ve been as low as 8% on a road trip (battery preconditioning turned on and I could watch the range dropping - I initially expected to get to the charger with 11%) and I’ve gone down to 3% when arriving home to charge. I will admit I was doing constant calculations on the last 30 min of that trip!

I do find the navigation % at charger/destination estimates update frequently and I rely on that pretty heavily.

And yes, I was one of those people that drove a gas tank down to E.

I once had a 1959 VW Beetle. That model had no fuel guage, rather a lever on the floor that you could kick over to transfer to the “reserve tank”. It was not a separate tank, but a fuel tap that was lower than the normal one.

If you forgot to track your range, you engine would conk out. Then you pushed in the clutch to keep rolling, switched the tap, and released the clutch to kick-start the engine again.

I think Bjorn Nyland or someone else once did a video about driving an i4 down to zero range.

As I recall, you can still drive a mile or so after “zero” range. I doubt it is good for the battery.

 

[E30_G26]

Degradation Tests: My journey from 100% to 0%, and back from 0% to 100% | BMW i4 Forum

Oh man. I love it. I've coasted into a few gas stations in my day (ICE vehicle, of course). With an EV, though, that cost is fairly extreme. Either a tow, or bring out a generator and wait for a few hours until you can limp somewhere!

 

[Phillies8008]

I had a situation a few weeks ago that has changed my perspective on this. It was about midnight on a Friday night and my son called me and said his tire blew out. He's 18 and has never dealt with this sort of thing before, and it was on a major highway, so I decided that I'd prefer to go help him with it. He was about 30 miles away, so 60ish round trip. If my car was sitting at 15% or something like that, I'd have a real problem – I'd need to go to the closest level 3 charger, about 20 minutes away in the wrong direction, or sit and wait for my level 2 charger at home.

Now imagine it was something more serious – maybe one of your parents had a stroke, your kid was in a serious car accident, etc. Unlike an EV, I can get gas practically anywhere in about five minutes. I'm certainly not using this to make an argument against EVs, but I am making the argument that it might be prudent to change our fueling habits until range improves and/or charging becomes faster and more plentiful. I don't let myself go any lower than 40% or so now, just in case. Overkill? Maybe. But I'd rather overkill than to regret it later.

 

[i4.phil]

Well, I'm wimping out and going to plug in at work since it's "free" to charge. I'm at 14%. Good to know that you can trust the range indicator. I finally have level 2 charging setup at home and work (and my wife's work), so that makes things convenient.

oh. but gotta be careful listening to random people on the internet (that's us, we're good at getting people into trouble). If you have a traffic jam, road construction or road blockage (protests downtown) on the way to work, you might be in trouble!!

 

[i4m50Norway]

A big issue with EV's - is that a lot of people get very focused on charging cost.
I try to remember that cost of running an EV is 80 - 90 percent lower than an ICE.
Does it really matter if you save the last ten percent ?

I think I would have charged a little bit at home - and then do the major "free" charging at work.

 

[rollermonkey]

I had a situation a few weeks ago that has...
... or sit and wait for my level 2 charger at home.

Now imagine it was something more serious – maybe one of your parents had a stroke, your kid was in a serious car accident, etc....

I have been called by the wife twice for her vehicle being hit and totalled, and too many times for her car being hit in less significant accidents. Had a couple/few mad dashes to an emergency room, as well. Plenty of reason to keep the car at 80% as much as possible. YMMV