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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

I thought I had got down to 3% one time, but after checking my data, I see it was only 7%, and it looks like I've gone below 10% maybe a dozen times after 2 years of ownership.

as for the the battery health I don’t think “abusing” (that is go at 100% or 0%) the battery isn’t going to do much, it’s more if you do it constantly.

I think it's not so much about how often you discharge deeply, but rather the integration time you spend there. As long as you recharge quickly, no problem!

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.

Wow, that brings back the memories! My parents had a beetle when I was little in the 60s, and I remember my father having to pull that lever once or twice...

 

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.

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

This is why I charge every time the car is used, back up to 80%. I have also had unexpected emergencies to deal with.

And t literally takes about 5 seconds for me to plug it in when I get home.

Also, I get 6 hours cheap rate electricity overnight. If I let the SOC get too low, some will be out of the cheap charging window and cost 4x as much.

So this system works for me for the past 4 years of EV ownership. Ymmv

 

I rarely let a vehicle go below half, if possible. I lived through the Loma Prieta earthquake (6.9) and a wildfire that took out the town and surrounding communities in a few hours (CampFire). I know these catastrophes aren't often, but it's a learned experience for me.

 

Oh yeah at least twice when they announced big storms coming up (that means power failure in the city/area here) I quickly went into the garage and plugged it in lol.

 

I got the car a few weeks ago, and figured I'd see how many miles I can go on a charge.

Oddy, I do have a bit of range anxiety. Not sure why. I allow my ICE cars to go down to E before I fill up. Now I'm at 19% on the i4 and thinking I might plug in tonight.....

But, I think I'll wait and charge at work. I use about 4% of my range to get to work and about 6% to get home.

How low have you gone?

On a long trip I rolled into the garage at 0%. I was banking on Consumer Reports’ article that suggested the i4M50 range was actually about 315 miles. They were right. Still a bit anxious but I didn’t have many choices but to make it home.

 

It can be 330 miles or 80 miles, depending how you drive it and the wheels/tires it's got on.

 

That sounds like a lot of work. The proof is in the pudding. I just had my battery evaluated (2022 I4 40 with 24k miles) and it came back totally excellent(still shows range of 302 miles) I charge to 80% and let it get down to 25 or 30%. When not using the car for periods of time I let it sit with 50% charge.

 

That sounds like a lot of work. The proof is in the pudding. I just had my battery evaluated (2022 I4 40 with 24k miles) and it came back totally excellent(still shows range of 302 miles) I charge to 80% and let it get down to 25 or 30%. When not using the car for periods of time I let it sit with 50% charge.

Is your home charger powered by a generator connected to your exercise equipment or something? That's the only way I can imagine calling home charging "a lot of work", and I plug my car in almost every day.

I mean, I'm pretty lazy, and I don't find the extra 15 or 20 steps per day all that arduous.

 

Over the past 5 yrs I have had my EVs (i4 & Tesla) SoC% go down to 1-3% on road trips around 5 times now but always made it to a charging station. The first time was nerve-racking! It was in the winter of 2020 and was traveling from California to Washington (about 900 miles) in my Tesla 3 LR for the Christmas holidays. The Supercharger station past Mount Shasta was out of commission due to a recent winter storm and the next available DC chargers were beyond my range and I did not have a CCS1 to Tesla adapter (but had a J1772 to Tesla adapter which had come with the car). I slowed down to the minimum speed allowed on the freeway, turned off temp control and had my son who was in Washington on the phone tracking my location and checking online for other available charging alternatives. He located a ChargePoint J1772 AC destination charger in a small medical facility where I charged for 30 mins to make it to the next Supercharger station along my route. A somewhat similar situation happened on my drive back to California around Ashland, Oregon when my Nav appeared to have lost cellular signal and failed to have me exit to charge. By the time the low battery warnings came on I was well over 20 miles past the target Supercharger station and did not have enough charge to make it to the next. This time I doubled back and made it with 1% SoC.

The other times I found myself in a similar situation in my i4 during a road trip to Yosemite and the other one to Texas. In those occasions I did not feel any anxiety despite the flashing red alerts and repeated audio notifications that I could not make it to the next charging destination with my current charge. With the help of the i4 Nav I was able to find other non-EA or AC charging stations. Over the past 5 years more charging stations have been added here in the US western and southwestern states so I make it a point to set my next charging stops before my SoC gets below 10%. I have the ABRP and PlugShare apps in my i4 and Tesla Y LR just in case but have not needed to refer to them. Mastering the use of the i4 Nav has helped me a lot to overcome range anxiety.

At home I always keep my cars above 50% SoC just in case I have an unplanned drive the following day since I am retired and do not have a daily set commute schedule.

 

Try to keep it between 10 - 80 percent,
Except when arriving home, or other private places with a charging possibility (not fast chargers). 2 - 3 percent.
Or when leaving home for longer distances (99%).

Exact same. Multiple times < %3 on my way home or to a family members house where I'll be for a while and not worried about being stuck.

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.

Wow, a lot of people agree! Cannot worry about everything. Cars can break down too. It is good to be prepared.

Realistically anything serious would probably be a 911 or Emergency services first. Very few things in life a few minutes makes a difference unless you're been bitten by a poisonous snake and need to be driven to the hospital. Even still you will wait in the waiting room unless you call an ambulance and get rushed in. Unless you're bleeding on the floor, you're going to wait. Even heart attack, unless you currently have the symptoms and on the floor, you're going to wait. A lot of people also have more than one car per household or neighbor to drive you. You probably have enough charge to get to a hospital. I live in a rural area and it still is only a few minutes away. I think I could get there with a 0% charge. If someone in your family has a health issue and is local, then that is different. There is always a Taxi in dire need.

Even car wrecks, how far away is reasonable for you to rescue someone. 100 miles? Any major wreck I've been in, it takes an hour or two for the police to show up and multiple for the tow truck. If I'm sitting at 40%, that still is close to 100 miles and I could charge on my way home when the pressure is off. You do you, but I wouldn’t over prep for the once in a blue moon scenario, that you probably would be okay anyways.

 

Exact same. Multiple times < %3 on my way home or to a family members house where I'll be for a while and not worried about being stuck.

Wow, a lot of people agree! Cannot worry about everything. Cars can break down too. It is good to be prepared.

Realistically anything serious would probably be a 911 or Emergency services first. Very few things in life a few minutes makes a difference unless you're been bitten by a poisonous snake and need to be driven to the hospital. Even still you will wait in the waiting room unless you call an ambulance and get rushed in. Unless you're bleeding on the floor, you're going to wait. Even heart attack, unless you currently have the symptoms and on the floor, you're going to wait. A lot of people also have more than one car per household or neighbor to drive you. You probably have enough charge to get to a hospital. I live in a rural area and it still is only a few minutes away. I think I could get there with a 0% charge. If someone in your family has a health issue and is local, then that is different. There is always a Taxi in dire need.

Even car wrecks, how far away is reasonable for you to rescue someone. 100 miles? Any major wreck I've been in, it takes an hour or two for the police to show up and multiple for the tow truck. If I'm sitting at 40%, that still is close to 100 miles and I could charge on my way home when the pressure is off. You do you, but I wouldn’t over prep for the once in a blue moon scenario, that you probably would be okay anyways.

My point was not about something that could happen to me, because sure, if I have a heart attack I'm calling 911, but rather something that can happen to someone else which makes me need to be there as quickly as possible. Take it from me – 20 minutes can be the difference between being able to say goodbye or not.

If I unfortunately find myself in that sort of situation again, I don't want to wait to charge, I don't want to hope that one of the other cars is home, I don't want to wait for a taxi/Uber. I want to go right now.

 

I honestly got to 0% was late night back into the city, car was under 6 months old hence my inexperience. It was sub zero and I had the heating on full blast. Was shocked as the miles ticked away slower than the soc. Did last 2 or so miles at 0%. It had gone into some kind of restricted mode but it got me home.

 

It’s important not to rely on the buffer. BMS recalibrates frequently and 10% remaining might turn into 0% in no time. This does happen.

I see the BMS recalibrating all the time. It recalibrates up and down. Sometimes it “finds” extra charge, other times it “loses” SoC%.

 

Drive from Toronto to Sarasota, FL.

This was my first really long trip in the i4, so I definitely had initial range anxiety. I left Toronto with a loaded car and a 100% charged battery in -10C temperatures. I drove 315km to Tilbury, ON for my first charge and had only 5% left. Needless to say, that really had me on the edge of my seat!!

 

Be careful! I wonder how many countries have issued travel warnings about going to the US.

 

Many.

 

I'm at 13% now. My new low!

 

Here is the official advice to Norwegians :

Norwegian Ministry Updates Travel Guidance for Visits to the U.S.

Norway issues a travel update on stricter U.S. entry rules, warning citizens of challenges for Europeans at borders. Stay informed for smooth travel.

www.visaverge.com

But I think the major issue is that most people don't want to go anymore.
Big question is for all the people that are planning to go to the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

Norwegian prime minister and foreign minister - will probably be allowed to cross border :

PM Jonas Gahr Støre to meet Trump

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg will reportedly meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.

euroweeklynews.com

 

My new low record earlier today... 9% ! Hopefully you guys don't wait until it's 9% because sometimes the BMW server or Electrify America chargers just don't work! Left the house with 13%. Then it dropped to 12% around the first corner. Arrived at EA with 10%. Of course it doesn't work! Moved to the next stall and it also doesn't work! Both were the authentication (network) problem. Then I went to another nearby EA station and it's 9% now. Also didn't work! (#3 stall). Then I moved to the next stall (now #4), plugged it in and then realized their LCD screen was totally blank lol. So I moved to the charger #5 and it finally works... very slowly. It took 29 minutes to charge from 9% to 50%. After an on-site/TI meeting, I went to another EA and this was a fast 15 minutes from 48% to 80%. So try not to go too low... both BMW and EA will take turn to mess everything up for us lol.

 

The EA Promise™ – Guaranteed 1 Out of Five Functional! Maybe.

 

Yeah...awful EA (and BMW server too). Before this i was more lucky... EA always have been fine but yesterday a weird day driving from one EA to another EA lol.

Sometimes it might be the car's new problem too. I think we should always reserve enough %battery to limp into a repair center (dealer) from wherever we happen to be. (The bmw roadside assistance doesn't work too... I already know that.)

 

The battery physicists will tell you that small incremental charging is better for battery life than large (e.g., 10-100) charges, the math is pretty fascinating. Point being, come home from work, school, errands, and when you are done for the day, plug it in, even if it is just charging from 60%-80%. Sure, there will be times when full charges are necessary, but for day to day, small increments are best. Also, when on the road, the last 20% of charge can take as much time as going from 10% to 80%. (more physics.)It is often more time efficient to charge to 80% and then hit the road to the next station. Granted, Us i4 owners have the headache of finding working fast chargers, but that should improve with time.

 

Granted, Us i4 owners have the headache of finding working fast chargers, but that should improve with time.

amount of new HS CCS chargers within my SFL region since i got my i4 in April '23.... ZERO, specially EA, i think some havent worked for so long that they might as well not exist

 

I charge from like 76-78% to 80% every day. If one could wear a groove in a battery like a well-worn path, mine would be right there.

 

The port/connector and the flap/lid are both going to break if we plug in too often

 

I looked at this, they're rated for 10,000 uses. Even if you charge daily it would take over 27 years to get there.

 

Yeah it may be rated for high usage but the other day someone's connector here strangely caught fire.

 

I never saw any mention of this?

 

If the open flap really bothers one... https://www.amazon.com/2090-48-Scotch-Blue-Painters-Masking/dp/B00004Z4DU

 

The i4 is like a 60 years old Locomotive :
If the driver have a screwdriver and some duct tape - they will always arrive at destination :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSB_Di_3