[Phillies8008]

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.

 

[ToitjieC]

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.

Agreed!!!!! I recharge my i4M50 and my wife's iX50 every morning when the sun comes up with SOLAR power, and even grid power if the solar power is not enough. If you are driving an EV you need to adopt a completely different philosophy that is quite different to the one of filling up with petrol (gasoline for you from the USA) when your petrol tank gets close to empty. Remember, in most places electricity is available 24/7. And it typically cheaper than petrol per 100 Km.

 

[i4.phil]

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.

 

[Phillies8008]

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.

 

[i4.phil]

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.)

 

[mitchellmanasse]

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.

 

[rollermonkey]

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.

 

[i4.phil]

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

 

[cruzer666]

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.

 

[i4.phil]

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

 

[Phillies8008]

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.

I can see the click-bait headline now:

THERE'S A TICKING TIME BOMB IN YOUR EV! WILL YOU BE ABLE TO CHARGE WHEN THIS ONE SIMPLE ITEM BREAKS?

 

[imrj]

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

 

[rollermonkey]

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?

 

[ToitjieC]

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.

Well mine stopped opening at 18 months, but I fortunately had enough charge to get to my local BMW dealer who replaced the whole charge flap mechanism under warranty. I hope this one works 10,000 times!

 

[cruzer666]

Well mine stopped opening at 18 months, but I fortunately had enough charge to get to my local BMW dealer who replaced the whole charge flap mechanism under warranty. I hope this one works 10,000 times!

Mine failed way before that, they had a bad batch. It’s a fairly inexpensive replacement even if it fails after warranty expires.

Long discussion on this topic. I carry the air pillow just in case I have to force it open one day. So far the air pillow has helped a few drivers that locked their keys inside the car good karma for me.

 

[ToitjieC]

Mine failed way before that, they had a bad batch. It’s a fairly inexpensive replacement even if it fails after warranty expires.

Long discussion on this topic. I carry the air pillow just in case I have to force it open one day. So far the air pillow has helped a few drivers that locked their keys inside the car good karma for me.

Interesting! What is an air pillow? Does it damage the closing mechanism of the charging flap? If so how does one start the car with out closing the flap?

 

[cruzer666]

Interesting! What is an air pillow? Does it damage the closing mechanism of the charging flap? If so how does one start the car with out closing the flap?

Air wedge is the correct term actually: Amazon.com

It damages the mechanism that needs to be replaced regardless. The car doesn’t need the flap closed to start/drive.

 

[i4eD40]

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

 

[i4m50Norway]

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

 

[i4.phil]

I never saw any mention of this?

it's this one... https://www.i4talk.com/threads/electrical-smoke-while-charging-at-ea.13912/