This used BMW i3, is a 2015 Japanese import, owned by Cam Cummings. It’s a full electric model, without the optional range extender (REx). Adrian Maidment talks to Cam about how his i3 runs, reliability and practicality.
TRANSCRIPT– Used BMW i3 Review.
Adrian
Hi. I’m Adrian Maidment. And this episode, we’re looking at one of the early EVs to come on to market, with the BMW i3. I’ll be talking to owner Cam Cummings about his experiences and earnings with BMW i3. This is EV Quest.
Cam
It’s extremely light. It’s a the carbon fibre tub. So the whole frame is carbon fibre.
So the whole monocoque chassis is carbon fibre, which keeps the weight down. So, for its time it was pretty advanced. The other thing as a BMW, it’s a rear wheel drive and also has a double wishbone rear suspension. So for handling, it’s amazing. So, you know, going into corners and coming out of
corners, it handles like a not like a I guess a shopping cart, you know, which is kind of what it looks like.
Adrian
And what year is it?
Cam
It’s 2015. So the other interesting parts of it, which is, I think, kind of just quirky, but not all that cool. But there’s the rear opening doors. So the suicide doors. Pillar less. Fine if you have got lots of space around you But if you having to get out of a tight space in the car park, you’ve got to open the front door before you can get into the back.
So you’ve got to open that up to then be able to get into the back, which is a bit of a pain. But that works fine.
Adrian
Does it have the REx?
Cam
No. This is pure battery, this one. They were kind of just like a hybrid situation. Where they were trying to ease people into the marketplace, I think, and take away that range anxiety. And what they find is that the REx ones, whilst they’re good for people that want to go longer distances, the actual weight of carrying around that extra motor really brought down the range of them.
Adrian
I don’t think about it like that.
Cam
Yeah. So if you’re, you know, it’s really just it’s just an anxiety reducer, I think for people that were we’re buying them at the time because they were pretty when they came out, they came out in 2013. So other features, really skinny tyres. 19 inch.
They’re quite skinny but they don’t they don’t stop any of the traction.
At high speeds because it’s quite a sort of a high car so when you’re out on the motorway at sort of 100 k’s you maybe feel it a little bit but because it’s still quite heavy it really, it really drives pretty well. And because it’s a Beamer as well, it just feels like you’re driving much bigger car.
Adrian
Yeah. Because it actually looks, it looks bigger in person. Compared to photograph.
Cam
The scale of it feels small, but it’s actually a lot bigger than you think. The noy very big, but it’s fine for doing grocery runs, which is essentially all we need it for. So, you know, relatively small.
Adrian
What about charging?
Cam
Charging. We just charge at home. We don’t usually plug it in until it’s under 50%, which is maybe a couple of times a week. And yeah, we just charge it overnight and the next morning you get up and it’s full. So we don’t need a rapid charge. We haven’t got a special charger or anything like that in the, in the garage. We just plug it in.
But I think, when people are buying cars, that’s what they always go on about. They sort of talk about, you know, oh, there’s no charging infrastructure yet and all that stuff. We’ve used the charging infrastructure maybe half a dozen times. The rest of the time it’s plugging in. It’s more like it’s more like a kind of a line up to having a cell phone than to having a car.
So you just bring it home and then you automatically just plug it in. So and then that’s it. And then every time you get to it in the morning, it’s, it’s full.
Adrian
And you’re mainly using it around town?
Cam
Just around town. But it does make quite a difference, and I guess you would have seen that with other cars if in the summertime, if you, if it’s really hot and you crank the air conditioning, you can watch the range sort of drop from 120 to 100 K’s straightaway.
So sustainability wise, I think they are one of the most sustainable cars for their production, they’re 80% made out of recycled materials.
Adrian
The doors are made of hemp aren’t they?
Cam
Yep. The materials, these materials are all hemp. This is all recyclable.
Like bottles and plastic and things like that. So that’s all recycled, recycled materials. But yeah. 80% made out of recycled materials and then 100% made in a factory of 100% renewable energy. So they’re really green and that’s what they were trying to get to that it was, I think it was kind of like, could they do it, you know, BMW at the time and they did and then but, but they sat on their laurels for such a long time and, and, and didn’t take it any further.
I don’t know whether it wasn’t it wasn’t profitable for them , I don’t know.
Adrian
I read they didn’t sell as many as they were expecting.
Cam
Well, maybe that was it, you know, which is a thing because they’re expensive, like if you were to buy one brand new in New Zealand they were 80 K so New Zealand new. Whereas we’re lucky enough to have a Japanese import side of things and so you can pick them up from 25 to 40 sort of thing which makes it much more affordable. So but we bought it as a second car, but it’s quickly become the car that we mostly use because you know, 95% of our trips are just around town.
Do you want to have a look under the hood? There’s nothing much to see there. So it’s a system safety stuff and that’s, that’s a plug in piece there. The other thing that people don’t realize I think which is a great thing about electric cars, is they don’t take into consideration the servicing costs.
Adrian
To service our other car, the last time we took it in for a service was $1,000. This one, the service is $150. And half of that is the labour and then they just refill this thing and check from what the blades, check the oil you know, and brake fluid, levels check brakes. But the brakes are regenerative as well. I think that’s one of the other cool things I like about it as well.
Adrian
So any problems with that since you’ve had it?
Cam
Nothing, not a thing, but I think no, absolutely flawless. So we’ve got to replace the new back wheels. Only thing about these the tyres was that they’re only made for this car. So you can imagine they’re quite expensive. I think even for those tiny tyres, they’re like 450 dollars each.
Adrian
So any funny quirks for driving?
Cam
A lot of people have copied it now, but this is how you put it into drive, neutral, reverse. So you just start it with just with the button and then it all sort of comes to life and so but it’s all kind of safety.
And then so once you’re a foot on the brake, push it forward for drive pull it back for reverse and then parks on top and that’s it. And then electric handbrake and, and that’s it. But all of the system and stuff in the middle is quite, you know, it’s all pretty much standard BMW stuff. It does have some eco modes and some comfort modes and things like that.
So you can if you’re really sort of wanting to get to somewhere and you’re running low on charge, you can put it on an eco-pro mode that cuts out the air conditioning and things like that and, and boost your range. So that’s, quite good.
Adrian
What’s the feature you like the best about?
Cam
Well I think the regenerative braking, which is pretty standard on most electric cars, but the idea that you’re braking is not going to waste. You know it’s not just getting dissipated to heat the fact that you drive with one foot. It’s quite a bit to get used to maybe takes a few days.
But once you’re into it, it really regulates driving and it also teaches you to drive economically as well. So because you know, every time you’re putting your foot down, you can see is see the power going or what have you. So you drive a lot more efficiently, I guess.
I think the nice thing about electric cars is that they’re really quite soothing and relaxing to drive
Adrian
A big thanks to came for the tour around his BMW i3.
If there’s a topic you’d like me to cover, in a future video, let me know in the comments below. And of course please like and subscribe to this channel. And right here, there’s another video for you to check out. Cheers .