thanks for making the video, think ill hang onto my i3, so far lasting well not sure how but tires lasted 40,000 miles, others seems to report much lower life span, 54,000 miles no reduction in main battey capacity noted yet, 12v battery replaced at 7 years old, just in case.
Have you considered asking for comments about major failures? Aircon compressors seems to be the most common high $$ failure right now. However my 2015 BEV Tera is dead due to the growing "bad drive motor bearings" issue in the pre-2018 drive motors. In 2018 they upgraded the drive motor (fixed a design flaw) by switching to tapered roller bearings in the drive motor. What's interesting about it - is that the factory service parts list now shows this new motor p/n as the required part used for all years when a replacement is needed. If anyone is interested in hearing what this issue sounds like, it's the latest video on my channel. I was originally quoted over $12k by one BMW dealership, which I believe included the transmission. I had it estimated at a different BMW dealership that I trust more for $7,225 (motor replacement only). The complication is that if the drive motor bearings get too lose, it can indeed cause excessive wear to the transmission input shaft bearing... and neither the motor or the transmission are serviceable parts.
I’ve had some electrical component issues, I suspect keeping the 12 volt battery in excellent condition will make a big difference for overall longevity. I’ve replaced the range extender fuel pump relay which seems to have sorted the Rex completely. I’m still living with a radio that forgets settings daily, trying to decide if I want to sink $600+ into replacing it or just live with it as-is. Seems like my charge door latch is getting weak, hopefully I’ll attempt to disassemble & clean up the electrical contacts on it before it becomes an issue. Since I almost never really need to charge away from home, I don’t expect it to cause me any major grief. My car has 83k miles currently - I put the last 5k on it after buying it used last year. The previous owners were a little spooked by various electrical misbehaviors when their 12 volt battery got too weak and needed replacement. I replaced the rear tires and need to replace motor mounts soon, but overall my maintenance items haven’t been anything unique to the car being electric. Hopefully that trend continues well into the future.
Yep, I spent $600 on 2 rear tires in December. I would love to switch to more standard wheels and tires but it’s fairly tricky to find a good fit. I’ve read of others doing so, probably I’ll copy their setup if I ever do get around to it.
You can always buy generic ones and cut them in half. ;-) No, not really. But you are right, it already was a difficult topic during the production lifetime, because the choice is so limited.u
Great Video. I would also like to hear if you found out anything about the electric motor (EME) failure rates. While it does not seem common I have seen some things online about this and it seems like it could be expensive repair.
Unfortunately I do not have any numbers for the rate of EME failure. The main documented issue was the 2018 models recalled for a bad circuit board in the EME, but that was less than 200 units. Thanks for the question!
The advantage of my used i3+REX from 2014 is, that every electric component has already been replaced at least once. ;-) Ok, it is a little bit exaggerated: The charging electronics, the REX electric machine, the central control panel, the motor of the right mirror and the charging lock motor have been replaced once, the EME has been replaced twice (one time because it was hit be the free falling REX due to broken motor mount). On the REX side of things the fuel system has been serviced in a technical service action which probably means, that it has been replaced as well. The electric motor has not been replaced, but when fixing the broken REX mount everything had to come out and has hopefully been checked. Or like the the Italian mechanic said: "Garantia for everything in the back"". He also gave me two pieces of cheese to hopefully never see me again. LOL So I hope it will last another 10 years...it also looks pretty new, because when repairing the right mirror motor, a mishap happened and the right hand side of the car had to be painted new. I know, it sounds like a crazy car, but now shortly before the nearing end of the used car warranty I really only worry about the availability of replacement parts for the smaller stuff, because nearly everything in the i3 seems to be some kind of special. Regarding preventive maintenance: Make sure to replace the 12 V battery every 5 years or so, because a failing 12 V makes life pretty fast pretty annoying. It made my i3 believe that the high voltage battery is having only half the capacity and things could only be fixed by first exchanging the 12 V battery and then charging it, which means that the car had to be picked up. The warning signs were more or less non existent and the in car diagnosis did not help very much. So if things seem to behave strangely, replace the 12 V battery.
@@rebootninja8036 Yes, two pieces of good tasting cheese. it was probably the first (!), biggest, longest and most stressful repair of an electric car at this service center. They did a good job.
I have a Mini Cooper SE, but I know there's at least a considerable amount of crossover, and am finding your videos fascinating.
thanks for making the video, think ill hang onto my i3, so far lasting well not sure how but tires lasted 40,000 miles, others seems to report much lower life span, 54,000 miles no reduction in main battey capacity noted yet, 12v battery replaced at 7 years old, just in case.
Which tires do/did you have, and do you run them at standard recommended pressure or a custom pressure?
Have you considered asking for comments about major failures?
Aircon compressors seems to be the most common high $$ failure right now.
However my 2015 BEV Tera is dead due to the growing "bad drive motor bearings" issue in the pre-2018 drive motors.
In 2018 they upgraded the drive motor (fixed a design flaw) by switching to tapered roller bearings in the drive motor. What's interesting about it - is that the factory service parts list now shows this new motor p/n as the required part used for all years when a replacement is needed.
If anyone is interested in hearing what this issue sounds like, it's the latest video on my channel.
I was originally quoted over $12k by one BMW dealership, which I believe included the transmission. I had it estimated at a different BMW dealership that I trust more for $7,225 (motor replacement only). The complication is that if the drive motor bearings get too lose, it can indeed cause excessive wear to the transmission input shaft bearing... and neither the motor or the transmission are serviceable parts.
Very interesting. Thanks for making this vid. I love my 2018 i3.
I’ve had some electrical component issues, I suspect keeping the 12 volt battery in excellent condition will make a big difference for overall longevity.
I’ve replaced the range extender fuel pump relay which seems to have sorted the Rex completely.
I’m still living with a radio that forgets settings daily, trying to decide if I want to sink $600+ into replacing it or just live with it as-is.
Seems like my charge door latch is getting weak, hopefully I’ll attempt to disassemble & clean up the electrical contacts on it before it becomes an issue.
Since I almost never really need to charge away from home, I don’t expect it to cause me any major grief.
My car has 83k miles currently - I put the last 5k on it after buying it used last year.
The previous owners were a little spooked by various electrical misbehaviors when their 12 volt battery got too weak and needed replacement.
I replaced the rear tires and need to replace motor mounts soon, but overall my maintenance items haven’t been anything unique to the car being electric.
Hopefully that trend continues well into the future.
The most worry is the tyre, since they're only made for the i3
Yep, I spent $600 on 2 rear tires in December. I would love to switch to more standard wheels and tires but it’s fairly tricky to find a good fit.
I’ve read of others doing so, probably I’ll copy their setup if I ever do get around to it.
You can always buy generic ones and cut them in half. ;-) No, not really. But you are right, it already was a difficult topic during the production lifetime, because the choice is so limited.u
Great Video. I would also like to hear if you found out anything about the electric motor (EME) failure rates. While it does not seem common I have seen some things online about this and it seems like it could be expensive repair.
Unfortunately I do not have any numbers for the rate of EME failure. The main documented issue was the 2018 models recalled for a bad circuit board in the EME, but that was less than 200 units. Thanks for the question!
The EME is not the motor itself, it's the Inverter that drives the motor.
The advantage of my used i3+REX from 2014 is, that every electric component has already been replaced at least once. ;-) Ok, it is a little bit exaggerated: The charging electronics, the REX electric machine, the central control panel, the motor of the right mirror and the charging lock motor have been replaced once, the EME has been replaced twice (one time because it was hit be the free falling REX due to broken motor mount). On the REX side of things the fuel system has been serviced in a technical service action which probably means, that it has been replaced as well. The electric motor has not been replaced, but when fixing the broken REX mount everything had to come out and has hopefully been checked. Or like the the Italian mechanic said: "Garantia for everything in the back"". He also gave me two pieces of cheese to hopefully never see me again. LOL So I hope it will last another 10 years...it also looks pretty new, because when repairing the right mirror motor, a mishap happened and the right hand side of the car had to be painted new. I know, it sounds like a crazy car, but now shortly before the nearing end of the used car warranty I really only worry about the availability of replacement parts for the smaller stuff, because nearly everything in the i3 seems to be some kind of special. Regarding preventive maintenance: Make sure to replace the 12 V battery every 5 years or so, because a failing 12 V makes life pretty fast pretty annoying. It made my i3 believe that the high voltage battery is having only half the capacity and things could only be fixed by first exchanging the 12 V battery and then charging it, which means that the car had to be picked up. The warning signs were more or less non existent and the in car diagnosis did not help very much. So if things seem to behave strangely, replace the 12 V battery.
Please allow me the plug for my farewell for a very special car: ruclips.net/video/6Y7IcNA_RY4/видео.html
Two pieces of cheese???
🤣🤣🤣
Glad the car is still going, if anything it’s proof that they are in fact quite repairable.
@@rebootninja8036 Yes, two pieces of good tasting cheese. it was probably the first (!), biggest, longest and most stressful repair of an electric car at this service center. They did a good job.