BMW i3 Battery Drama! What Happens if Your 12 volt Battery Dies
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- Опубликовано: 25 янв 2025
- BMW i3 Battery Drama. Still a FANTASTIC Car but the 12 volt accessory battery does not last. #bmwi3
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Yep mine died this morning and instead of towing it I just did it myself. Here in the SF bay area you're looking at about a grand to have it replaced. The battery's manufacturer (East Penn) has a distro center in Sacramento and since I'm not too far from there I just hopped my other car and drove up and got one (it's a Deka Aux18L). Total install time since this was my first time, about 45 minutes with syncing the battery with the car, thanks to bimmerlink. All in all I saved myself probably $700-800.
I may order a battery in a year or so and have it ready to go for next time. Then I can follow you example and save some money! Thank you for commenting!
My atl dealership said they have the 12 volt in stock, and they want $570 for it. 😑 of corse it would happen to me on a Saturday, when my mechanic is closed.. and to top it off, it’s been 14 hours and a tow truck driver is finally getting there.. thanks progressive roadside..
Did myself last March, $90 purchased exact replacement and borrowed a friends FOXWELL NT510 to register the new battery with the car. less than an hour for the whole job. The 12V only lasts 3 years MAX. 106,000 miles on my 2016 and still going strong.
Well done! I'll keep that 3 years in mind and replace this before it bricks again! Thank you for the comment!!
what kind of range are you getting these days and what State are you in?
@@fvvfvbbbb We are in Michigan. Getting about 90 on battery and the range extender is so far flawlessly charging as we go when the battery gets down to a couple of miles left. On real cold days we lose about 20ish miles on battery. Thank you for the comment!!
Replaced proactively myself on 2017. Many videos how to do it. Very simple. Did not want to get stuck. Registered using bimmerlink app
Excellent! I couldn't find a replacement battery anywhere. It took the garage 2 weeks! Thank you for the comment.
So after opening the charge port door with the mechanical release, and...
opening the frunk with the mechanical release to gain access to give the battery a little charge-nothing
How did they tow it locked in park?
Nothing. As far as towing there is a trick to get it into neutral
I don't remember what it is??
We had a 2014 I3 and same thing happened to us with the 12 volt battery. It died with no warning and had to have it towed to deal. It was out of warranty so it was like 700.00 to have the battery replaced here in Phoenix. We also so the range drop from 82 miles down to 50 or so. Not so good in the Phoenix heat.
Still it was so much fun to drive we might consider a 2019 or newer one if the crazy car prices ever normalize.
Thank you for your comment! Good to know!
FYI do not loose the key fobs. We had to have one replaced at the dealership and it cost us like 400 to 500 to have it replaced....Arggggg...that one stung. Hopefully there are other places that can do that now.
I have heard if you loose both key fobs the car is basically a paperweight at that point. The need at least one key fob to access the cars computer systems from what I recall.
@@fvvfvbbbb sheeesh! That's crazy!
i heard car prices won't go back to 2019 level? or something??
@@pandorakid229 Used prices seem a bit out of control at the moment. We plan to buy about the middle to end of summer. Hopefully we find a reasonable deal! Thank you for commenting!
Since the 12V battery is normally a very easy replacement, there should be clear info letting you know how to determine whether your 12V battery is bad and that you must have it changed by a dealer bc of the warranty. Even better, they could not be idiots and design the car to not destroy the battery in 2-4 years and make replacement easy diy at home with instructions. It's an electric car! It should be able to manage the electrical system!
Couldn't have said it better! This battery is hard to get to, hard to find a replacement and you have to be able to program the car to accept the battery. Some are able to do this themselves but it's hard. My Nissan Leaf on the other hand is a 5 minute job to replace the 12v. Also the battery costs about $150.00 still doesn't last more than a few years but at least it's manageable. So far all EVs use a 12v for accessories. My understanding is that Car lights, stereos, windows ect. Are made for 12v. Someone needs to reimagine things! I'm not smart enough.
@@dtl 12v wiring, lighting, and accessories are so easy to buy off the shelf that nobody's made a serious effort to change the system. New Teslas do have a lithium 12V battery that may be able to last much longer; hopefully the life of the car. Tesla has talked about going to a 48V system, which will save on efficiency and wiring thickness and weight, but they have too much on their plate to do that yet. Maybe soon.
@@jamesengland7461 that would be great!
The 12v battery is the weak point in all EVs and the i3 does seem to go through them faster than usual. When mine died, the warranty was expired, so I replaced it myself. If you can get a genuine BMW battery, just pop it in. It's a bit tight in there, but its doable and you can ignore the instructions all over RUclips to program the replacement via an OBCD dongle. The warning signs disappear after a day or two. If it's a third-party battery you DO need to do that.
Thank you for the heads up about 3rd party batteries. I tried to find a battery locally and could not. My plan was to replace it myself. Probably a good thing I couldn't find one!
I have a 2014 i3 bev, the battery finally died recently in spring 2023. I can afford to take it to be serviced, but I sure wish there would have been warning light saying the accessories battery is low. Towing and waiting for an appt sucks. Glad I’m retired and have tons of spare time and a spare car.
I agree. It just happens all at once! The same thing happened to our 2016 Nissan Leaf. Just would not boot up. Seems like it would be easy to have a warning light.
It happen to my 2016 i3 Rex too. The cost was $1300+ at BMW service center to replace 12v battery ($750) and run diagnostic. AAA membership tow was free.
Man that's steep! Our bill was 325 I think but Carvana paid the bill and tow
Great video! I got a message saying battery discharge while stopped, then a day later followed by a check engine light with a code p1c53. You guys think it needs a 12v battery?
Definitely would be my 1st place to look! They act weird and even sometimes make a high pitch noise when the 12v is done. It's odd stuff
I own an i3 and a Fiat 500e, I appreciate the simplicity of the fiat, drop in a new battery, no software registering.
The 500e seems like a really cool little EV! I'm jealous.
@@dtl short range but it's fun, and was cheap
My 12v battery died over Xmas and I have just replaced it with BMW item. Now my charge port will not lock the cable in and I cannot charge the main car HV battery.
That's awful!
@@dtl I may have to reset the blue pull cable manual release for the charge port door. Will try it tomorrow if the weather here improves.
how does the 12 volt battery die either age or the transformer dies either way it can die
True! It's been a year since the replacement and all is good so far. We are thinking about 3 more years then we will replace it again. This can is amazing so far! Thank you for the comment!
BMW Dealer battery cost is $253.43 includes recycle tax and cored deposit.
That's not too awful!
Good & important information. My 2012 Chevy Volt battery kicked the bucket at the exact moment I pulled up to a charge station at the mall. A few things lit up on the dash, but nothing to indicate the 12volt battery was dead. In a Volt the battery is under the floor of the cargo area under the hatchback. Same situation, how do you unlock and open the hatchback? Unfortunately Chevy didn’t provide an alternative mechanism. Luckily the tow truck driver had some very long jumper cables to reach through the back doors.
Man! That's rough. I wish we didn't both have to learn the hard way, We are still driving the BMW i3 daily and really like it. Just have to learn the quirks! Thank you for your comment!!
It's not a good vehicle.
Mom really likes hers. She only drives a few miles a day. Thank you for the comment!