The last BMW i3 batterypack, Samsung SDI are simply amazing. It was made for 4600 charging cycles at 25C to EOL state (80%). The i3 also has a BMW BMS with a buffer of around 5-6% so these numbers are even better than Samsung initially calculated. That is also my experience owning a i3 94Ah in Norway for 3 years having covered 40000km with a LOT of DC charging. The battery degraded at around 4%.
Considering the DC charging C rate is like 1.2, it shouldn't cause much degradation. For reference Model 3, Xpeng G9 and other fast charging cars have a peak C rate of over 3
One of the most enjoyable cars I have ever driven. Quick, nimble and easy to park. Perfect for city and suburban driving! Too bad they stopped the production.
The i3 has many flaws. But it is also one of the most likeable, fun and also practical cars I have ever owned. It's just that you don't know how good it is until you have owned one. It is a real shame that BMW don't want to make a gen 2 of it.
I fully agree bought this car (94ah) 2 years ago as second car. But everything about this car just works especially arround the city. Im now doubting if i should simply keep driving it until it falls appart in like 6-8 years or trade it in.
Yes BMW really missed a trick here. These i3's are a lot more attractive than the new models BMW is currently making. I have an i3 but would not buy another MW model at the moment as they are so big and ugly. The hamster is so cute :-) and fun.
The car is way better then annoyingly bad press it got. I drive one in Tuscany and a main positive that I have never seen in any review is how insanely small turning circle it has! It is actually smaller then smart for2
BMW i3S 120Ah was our first EV. I loved it! It was so practical and felt very open and spacious in the front. Perfect in the city and so easy to park. We had to swap to a bigger car. We now drive an IONIQ 5. :)
The entire team that created the i3 and i8 cars at BMW, left and went to work for Chinese or US car companies. That was because the Germans stopped developing EVs intentionally after they did their first attempts. The i3 was a really good EV, it just needed the bigger batteries to take off. And BMW missed their chance to continue developing it and to have a proper EV platform much earlier...
Enjoyed it! Am sure there will be a developing interest for maintenance of earlier cars as 2nd hand ev prices drop. Look forward to more, especially on i3
I love my i3 even more now. I'm at 130.000km with an 94ah and still around 5% degradation. This thing is so fun and sturdy. German engineering FTW! seeing these 120ah version for under 20k€ now is a real bargain!
How do you know its 5%? How do you calculate it? I own 94 as well and its now 96k km and I want to know what is the degradation of the battery. Thanks!
Ma wife owned an I3 120 Ah for 3 years. She loved the car. The battery from Samsung has a big part of cobalt, this is good für DC Charging til 90% and for less degradation but bad for the environment .
I can’t understand how any manufacturer can legitimately think vision only systems offer full capabilities. It’s not just low sun, but also fog, dust or heavy rain conditions that will cause vision only systems to fail compared to a combined vision and radar (plus ultra-sonics) systems
Fully agree, I drive my i3s 120Ah daily for 110km and love each and every kilometer. I have no idea about degradiation or similar, I just charge it to 100% daily and drive it. On days with -10° outside, cabin temp to 23° and seat heating i still have about 220-230km of range. It is small, correct, but it is just almost perfect as a daily driver. So far i never used the cruise control, so i never run into the issue you mentioned 😂 wirh low sun. If people would just understand, less weight, more range!
I love my 2021 120 Ah BMW i3 and it is in principle our single car. When driving 2500km diagonally through Germany this summer I struggled a bit. The conclusions were: a) East Germany should have more and better maintenanced charging stations b) The BMW i3 should have 50 to 52KWh battery to save one stop on long runs c) the charging speed should be a bit higher, even 200 or 250A for the lower SOC as max current would help instead of the original 125A only.
One of my collegues has one and she is super happy with it. Great choice for a second car, nice all-rounder, perfect for the city - in this aspect much better than a bulky Tesla.
Thanks for the test, i feel no degradation after 70k km. But I also have problems with Ionity. Charging stops every 10-15 kWh and resumes after a few minutes (only on these Ionity chargers).
Dear Bjorn I remember you tested a BMW i3 94ah… please could you try a degradation test on that car that has more age probably 8 years and out of warranty battery? Best regards
That is really good for that amount of mileage! We have the 2022 iX xDrive 50 and man, what a car it is to drive with 4-wheels steer and everything. Looking good for the future for sure. Since the car has so much range I have not charged it on fast chargers much. Maybe 5 times.
Der Akku vom i3 hat einen besonders großen Puffer nach oben. Erst wenn der zu einem bestimmten Prozentsatz aufgebraucht ist, geht es in die eigentliche Degradierung.
Hi Björn, I drive the new Fiat 500e (2021) with the 42kwh Battery with now 37k km, which should be the same Samsung SDI battery as in the i3. The net capacity should be 37kwh. Doing a winter degradation test I could get out of the battery max 34kwh 😅 My charging is 50%ccs 50%Typ2 I wonder if the Fiat will degrade faster considered that it charges with 85kwh peak!
If they only would update the charging a bit then it would still be competitive. For what I know the fiat 500e has the same cells and 96s configuration as i3 and it charges at 80kW… (42kWh battery). Only change needed would be dimension of HV cables going from chargeport to the battery + software update. But instead: let’s terminate production…
I went to a BMW dealer and the BMW sales rep indicated they had been making the i3 for about ten years so it was due for a change. It is small and ugly but fun to drive.
Great Video Bjorn! Could you please check the battery degradation for Egolf 2017 with 36kWh Samsung SDI Battery? In theory is the same as BMW i3 but without liquid cooling. Thanks!
With regard to the windscreen comments (like diarrhea) it can also be compared to the infomecials we used to have here in the USA because they would tell you how great the product was and then came the line "but wait there's more"
In the US, the distance control is limited to below 35 miles per hour. It is useful in stop and go traffic. Because it is using a camera instead of LIDAR, it is going to turn off when the camera does not work well. It is not trying to be self driving with just one camera. Without LIDAR, I would not trust cars that try to self drive.
Wow, BMW is keeping up good ! And also (at least in Bergen area in Norway) the BMW dealers does a very good job on warranty issues, even repairing things when at service that they can see will break before warranty ends. And the zaltsmutz compare with diarrhea, awesome ! or was it "good shit" ? And yes, now I consider a leaf blower for xmas !
Driving in the slow lane is an unsupported use of a BMW, regardless of speed. Surprised the BMW driver assistance package didn't start sounding warnings when you were in there for more than three seconds after joining the road.
Not tested our iX1’s lane-changing assist getting on to a motorway -presumably it would veer me across all lanes to the fast one before flashing its lights at any car in front of it.
Dear Bjorn, I appreciate your excellent videos. After watching your latest BMW i3 degradation video, I'm curious if you have a Nissan Leaf e+ 62 kW degradation video or any data regarding e+62 KW Leafs that you could share in a video. Thanks!
One thing I always thought was weird about the i3 (well, there are several things) is that they don't give their battery capacities in kilowatt hours, but in amp hours which is not nearly as useful for a side by side comparison with other EVs. I think they did this because then people would see how small their batteries were in comparison to the prices they were charging! Anyway, when I was looking to buy a used EV I almost bought one of these but those tires put me off. They are SUPER thin! Like motorcycle tires almost!
you refer to battery degradation always in regards to capacity... Battery health can also be measured in internal resistance. Is there a way that elbilmek refers to this value as well
In my head internal resistance increase loss and by that reduces what you get out of the battery. So capacity is the only thing that make sense for me.
Shhheeee, laggy interface on the thermostat for the win. Darn fossils and their legacy interfaces. Also, as a True BMW driver you should be tailgating the other vehicles for their spray. You're wasting valuable washer fluid by cleaning the screen yourself.
Does BMW allow you to set a charging limit or does the car always get charged to 100%? My wife has the Mini which has the previous i3 battery (or some variation of) and that doesn't allow setting a max limit so I use the smart EVSE to limit it to 10kwH per session and plug in when under 50 or 60% which takes it up to 80 or 90% respectively. Don't know if I need to though or if 100% is not a problem on the i3 / Mini ? (maybe there is a top buffer?)
I have the same question for my 2016 i3. Wording in the settings screens implies that there's a charge target, but I haven't been able to find where to set that target.
The buffer in the battery ( lower and upper buffer) are so big that in practice you'll never charge even close to 100%. BMW advices to charge this car always full to balance the cells in the battery. My 2020 I3s has after 36000km only 2% degradation and I charge it always full.
@@pilotandthecity8527 Do you have an actual source for that, ie the upper buffer? I keep seeing ppl saying in online but I can fund nothing form BMW to confirm it...
@@londonwestman1 I also have the same question, our other car is a Q4 etron and it defaults to 80%, but I had read that with the buffer on the i3 charging to “100%” every time was fine. I do wish there was an L2 EVSE that could monitor SOC and stop at 80%.
The last BMW i3 batterypack, Samsung SDI are simply amazing. It was made for 4600 charging cycles at 25C to EOL state (80%). The i3 also has a BMW BMS with a buffer of around 5-6% so these numbers are even better than Samsung initially calculated. That is also my experience owning a i3 94Ah in Norway for 3 years having covered 40000km with a LOT of DC charging. The battery degraded at around 4%.
Considering the DC charging C rate is like 1.2, it shouldn't cause much degradation. For reference Model 3, Xpeng G9 and other fast charging cars have a peak C rate of over 3
One of the most enjoyable cars I have ever driven. Quick, nimble and easy to park. Perfect for city and suburban driving! Too bad they stopped the production.
The i3 has many flaws. But it is also one of the most likeable, fun and also practical cars I have ever owned. It's just that you don't know how good it is until you have owned one. It is a real shame that BMW don't want to make a gen 2 of it.
I fully agree bought this car (94ah) 2 years ago as second car. But everything about this car just works especially arround the city. Im now doubting if i should simply keep driving it until it falls appart in like 6-8 years or trade it in.
Well, the follow-up version is the new Mini SE.
Yes BMW really missed a trick here. These i3's are a lot more attractive than the new models BMW is currently making. I have an i3 but would not buy another MW model at the moment as they are so big and ugly. The hamster is so cute :-) and fun.
Many flaws? I strongly disagree. There is hardly a vehicle that is so reliable and low-maintenance.
The car is way better then annoyingly bad press it got. I drive one in Tuscany and a main positive that I have never seen in any review is how insanely small turning circle it has! It is actually smaller then smart for2
What a splendid, charming and yet robust little car. There should be more like it rather than pointless big vehicles.
Brilliant design, real shame BMW got cold feet.
BMW i3S 120Ah was our first EV. I loved it! It was so practical and felt very open and spacious in the front. Perfect in the city and so easy to park. We had to swap to a bigger car. We now drive an IONIQ 5. :)
Owned mine for nearly 3 years. One of the best cars ive ever owned. Probably the most reliable bmw ever made!
I always enjoy seeing an i3 runing around. Feel like BMW released this car then sat on the tech for years...
The entire team that created the i3 and i8 cars at BMW, left and went to work for Chinese or US car companies. That was because the Germans stopped developing EVs intentionally after they did their first attempts. The i3 was a really good EV, it just needed the bigger batteries to take off. And BMW missed their chance to continue developing it and to have a proper EV platform much earlier...
@@tosho_ait That is completely false. I have no idea where you got that information.
@@victorfrombcn look up Byton, was created by former BMW i execs.
So glad you keep i3 relevant, now to watch the video
Enjoyed it! Am sure there will be a developing interest for maintenance of earlier cars as 2nd hand ev prices drop. Look forward to more, especially on i3
More videos like this one please.
I love my i3 even more now. I'm at 130.000km with an 94ah and still around 5% degradation. This thing is so fun and sturdy. German engineering FTW! seeing these 120ah version for under 20k€ now is a real bargain!
How do you know its 5%? How do you calculate it? I own 94 as well and its now 96k km and I want to know what is the degradation of the battery. Thanks!
@@yd7014 Also a battery flash test through OBD port. conducted at a car inspection center.
Ma wife owned an I3 120 Ah for 3 years. She loved the car. The battery from Samsung has a big part of cobalt, this is good für DC Charging til 90% and for less degradation but bad for the environment .
I can’t understand how any manufacturer can legitimately think vision only systems offer full capabilities. It’s not just low sun, but also fog, dust or heavy rain conditions that will cause vision only systems to fail compared to a combined vision and radar (plus ultra-sonics) systems
Shots fired
Thats a early BMW i4 you got there!
i4 at 44kWh, great intro 😂 the guy it’s starting to show his new interest into the content. shame
Fully agree, I drive my i3s 120Ah daily for 110km and love each and every kilometer. I have no idea about degradiation or similar, I just charge it to 100% daily and drive it. On days with -10° outside, cabin temp to 23° and seat heating i still have about 220-230km of range. It is small, correct, but it is just almost perfect as a daily driver. So far i never used the cruise control, so i never run into the issue you mentioned 😂 wirh low sun.
If people would just understand, less weight, more range!
I love my 2021 120 Ah BMW i3 and it is in principle our single car. When driving 2500km diagonally through Germany this summer I struggled a bit. The conclusions were:
a) East Germany should have more and better maintenanced charging stations
b) The BMW i3 should have 50 to 52KWh battery to save one stop on long runs
c) the charging speed should be a bit higher, even 200 or 250A for the lower SOC as max current would help instead of the original 125A only.
The blinkers joke earned a like.
The true purpose of the Leaf blower is finally discovered by Bjørn 😅
One of my collegues has one and she is super happy with it. Great choice for a second car, nice all-rounder, perfect for the city - in this aspect much better than a bulky Tesla.
A series of these have been my first car for 10 years. Absolutely love them.
Thanks for the test, i feel no degradation after 70k km. But I also have problems with Ionity. Charging stops every 10-15 kWh and resumes after a few minutes (only on these Ionity chargers).
Dear Bjorn I remember you tested a BMW i3 94ah… please could you try a degradation test on that car that has more age probably 8 years and out of warranty battery? Best regards
That is really good for that amount of mileage! We have the 2022 iX xDrive 50 and man, what a car it is to drive with 4-wheels steer and everything. Looking good for the future for sure. Since the car has so much range I have not charged it on fast chargers much. Maybe 5 times.
Love the degradation test.
Left a like for "leaf blower" dad pun.
Great video ! 👍🏻
Picking up a used i3s 2019 with 80000kms and been thoughtful about the degradation… but seem I don’t need to worry 😊
Original owner of 2014 i3 bev. Degradation is at 10% with 40k miles. Still a fun car to drive and a proper car for the city.
Der Akku vom i3 hat einen besonders großen Puffer nach oben.
Erst wenn der zu einem bestimmten Prozentsatz aufgebraucht ist, geht es in die eigentliche Degradierung.
Hæ?
@@bjornnyland so ist meine information vom RUclipsr Car maniac. Oder habe ich da was falsch verstanden?
English@@Waldlaeufer789
@@bjornnyland ABC - Always Bratwurst und Currywurst
Every single time we've charged at that IONITY-station with our i3 the same thing happens. Other Ionity-stations no problem.
I have a 2016 95 ah , 240000 KMS , don't feel any degradation
Mine's at 177,000 (with REX though I use it about 95% electric). I can't detect much degradation.. I think I might copy this test to see.
i had one and loved it. but had too choose between luggage or people when hauling.
And the rear doors were so annoying to open in tight parking spots
Thanks for the video) I have the same issues with the BMW i3 REX 2015 when charging it on fast DC, but it happens from time to time.
Bjorn how about tell us about the strike in Sweden against Tesla?
Hi Björn, I drive the new Fiat 500e (2021) with the 42kwh Battery with now 37k km, which should be the same Samsung SDI battery as in the i3.
The net capacity should be 37kwh. Doing a winter degradation test I could get out of the battery max 34kwh 😅
My charging is 50%ccs 50%Typ2
I wonder if the Fiat will degrade faster considered that it charges with 85kwh peak!
If they only would update the charging a bit then it would still be competitive. For what I know the fiat 500e has the same cells and 96s configuration as i3 and it charges at 80kW… (42kWh battery). Only change needed would be dimension of HV cables going from chargeport to the battery + software update. But instead: let’s terminate production…
I went to a BMW dealer and the BMW sales rep indicated they had been making the i3 for about ten years so it was due for a change. It is small and ugly but fun to drive.
Hello Bjorn. Please do a similar test with Renault Zoe 52 from 2020. Thank you.
That’s a very good degradation result 😃
Would love to see what % Aviloo would come up with.
Great Video Bjorn! Could you please check the battery degradation for Egolf 2017 with 36kWh Samsung SDI Battery? In theory is the same as BMW i3 but without liquid cooling. Thanks!
With regard to the windscreen comments (like diarrhea) it can also be compared to the infomecials we used to have here in the USA because they would tell you how great the product was and then came the line "but wait there's more"
skikkelig tjuvtriks på slutten : ninja on the end of video
In the US, the distance control is limited to below 35 miles per hour. It is useful in stop and go traffic. Because it is using a camera instead of LIDAR, it is going to turn off when the camera does not work well. It is not trying to be self driving with just one camera. Without LIDAR, I would not trust cars that try to self drive.
Wow, BMW is keeping up good ! And also (at least in Bergen area in Norway) the BMW dealers does a very good job on warranty issues, even repairing things when at service that they can see will break before warranty ends. And the zaltsmutz compare with diarrhea, awesome ! or was it "good shit" ? And yes, now I consider a leaf blower for xmas !
Bjorn, thank you for nice video again. Could you get link for snow removal gadget please?😂
Love the caption correction on battery size but not i4 :D
Lol I literally just bought a bosch 36v leaf blower - amazing 🤣
Driving in the slow lane is an unsupported use of a BMW, regardless of speed. Surprised the BMW driver assistance package didn't start sounding warnings when you were in there for more than three seconds after joining the road.
Not tested our iX1’s lane-changing assist getting on to a motorway -presumably it would veer me across all lanes to the fast one before flashing its lights at any car in front of it.
BMW blinker jokes will never get old 😂
Is there a repair history on the car to know if the battery was replaced at any point?
I wish when we had snow it was as dry as that to be blown off with a leaf blower :(
That end made my day😂
Dear Bjorn, I appreciate your excellent videos. After watching your latest BMW i3 degradation video, I'm curious if you have a Nissan Leaf e+ 62 kW degradation video or any data regarding e+62 KW Leafs that you could share in a video. Thanks!
Hello Bjorn
Do you plan to make a video about electricity prices in Norway someday please ?
When you tried to connect Aviloo, the screen was telling you to put it in drive! You had the I3 in "Park" Maybe that's why it didn't work?
No
Why didn't the car connect? Was it a problem with the Aviloo unit?@@bjornnyland
Leaf blower 😂😂😂
One thing I always thought was weird about the i3 (well, there are several things) is that they don't give their battery capacities in kilowatt hours, but in amp hours which is not nearly as useful for a side by side comparison with other EVs. I think they did this because then people would see how small their batteries were in comparison to the prices they were charging! Anyway, when I was looking to buy a used EV I almost bought one of these but those tires put me off. They are SUPER thin! Like motorcycle tires almost!
Get the S. It has way better tires and wheels. Then put spacers on it :)
Blinkers
Opera is the Lotus of browsers, just another Chinese browser these days :)
Did Marcus get his Highland already? :D And what model of leaf blower is that?
No
Legacy auto maker lag on the heating control…….??
The LEAF leafblower killed me 😂
Now that I know the thing with the Bananas, I need to buy an i3.
you refer to battery degradation always in regards to capacity... Battery health can also be measured in internal resistance. Is there a way that elbilmek refers to this value as well
In my head internal resistance increase loss and by that reduces what you get out of the battery. So capacity is the only thing that make sense for me.
The main issue for me is the tires…replacing tires every year. Seemed like all the money I was saving was going to tires
First time the blinkers been used 😂😂
Leaf blower 😂
Ohh Man...that is a cheap thermostat.... clicking so many times to lower the temperature. Craaaaap 😂
You can hold down the button too.
@0:10 *i3 not i4
Good stuff Bjorn. I chuckle every time you say "Stormberg" as it sounds like "Sperm bank" Keep up the great work. 👍
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My is 13.5kw per 100km
When are you testing Renault Zoe? I've got a 2019 40kwh with 130k km.
Can't edit my comment for some reason. Anyhow CanZe says 86% SoH, dunno how reliable that is.
120 Ah that is a small battery 😅. Don’t tell the Sun!
💚
Shhheeee, laggy interface on the thermostat for the win. Darn fossils and their legacy interfaces. Also, as a True BMW driver you should be tailgating the other vehicles for their spray. You're wasting valuable washer fluid by cleaning the screen yourself.
Salzschmutzfest 😂😂 i hate it
Leaf blower lol
I want to buy a second hand one as 4 th car but my wife won’t let me
I hate, that they also speak about Ah.
Lmao, leaf blower
Leaf blower! Nice dad joke!
👍👌🏆
Does BMW allow you to set a charging limit or does the car always get charged to 100%?
My wife has the Mini which has the previous i3 battery (or some variation of) and that doesn't allow setting a max limit so I use the smart EVSE to limit it to 10kwH per session and plug in when under 50 or 60% which takes it up to 80 or 90% respectively. Don't know if I need to though or if 100% is not a problem on the i3 / Mini ? (maybe there is a top buffer?)
I have the same question for my 2016 i3. Wording in the settings screens implies that there's a charge target, but I haven't been able to find where to set that target.
The buffer in the battery ( lower and upper buffer) are so big that in practice you'll never charge even close to 100%. BMW advices to charge this car always full to balance the cells in the battery. My 2020 I3s has after 36000km only 2% degradation and I charge it always full.
@@pilotandthecity8527 Do you have an actual source for that, ie the upper buffer? I keep seeing ppl saying in online but I can fund nothing form BMW to confirm it...
@@londonwestman1 I also have the same question, our other car is a Q4 etron and it defaults to 80%, but I had read that with the buffer on the i3 charging to “100%” every time was fine. I do wish there was an L2 EVSE that could monitor SOC and stop at 80%.
I don't see any loss after 40000 miles, even onvery cold days. Glad to drive a Corolla 😂😂😂
Funny how the charging doesn't work. This is why Tesla is and will remain king
🤣 funny
The only problem is repairing that ev will cost you a fortune, specially if you go to the dealership.
almost forgot my almost-mandatory ThumbsUp, but remembered when the Ioniq blower turned into The_Real_Leaf_Blower(TM) 🤪
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