[scas12]

So I drove from Austin to Houston yesterday and got a 3.1 mi/kwh, but today on the way back I got 2.5mi/kwh. The difference was temps overnight were in the 30s so the battery was cold soaked, the temp during the day was 42. The return trip is an elevation increase of over 1000ft, and I drove 80-85 much of the way.

Does this align with other people's experiences?

[RichardInCA]

I suspect the battery temperature didn’t make much difference but the elevation difference, energy required to heat the cabin, coleer air and driving 80-85 are the main culprits. Was it windy or wet?

Either way, it sounds believable.

[scas12]

Windy from sure.

[dsgs]

There was a nice thread on this a while back. My experience is that I get just under 500 km (about 300 miles) total range in the nice weather, and 300 km (under 190 miles) total range in the cold weather. In the nice weather I do long-ish road trips, in the cold weather I stay home and do lots of short trips.

I'd say you having a 20% efficiency loss is pretty good.

[scas12]

OK, great. Good to know.

[scas12]

In a related question, at what temps are you reconditioning the battery? I have tried a few times in the 30s and 40s and the precondition cycle fails to start.

[RichardInCA]

Originally Posted by scas12

In a related question, at what temps are you reconditioning the battery? I have tried a few times in the 30s and 40s and the precondition cycle fails to start.

I’m not quite sure what you mean - the only time to initiate battery preconditioning is before you do a DC fast charge. I precondition the cabin before almost every drive though.

[G30Nashville]

Originally Posted by dsgs

There was a nice thread on this a while back. My experience is that I get just under 500 km (about 300 miles) total range in the nice weather, and 300 km (under 190 miles) total range in the cold weather. In the nice weather I do long-ish road trips, in the cold weather I stay home and do lots of short trips.

I'd say you having a 20% efficiency loss is pretty good.

This has been my experience and I’m pretty disappointed to be honest. Hopefully my mood changes once warmer weather comes back.

[scas12]

Originally Posted by RichardInCA

I’m not quite sure what you mean - the only time to initiate battery preconditioning is before you do a DC fast charge. I precondition the cabin before almost every drive though.

I thought you needed to precondition in the cold before driving too. Maybe just my misunderstanding.

[scas12]

Originally Posted by G30Nashville

This has been my experience and I’m pretty disappointed to be honest. Hopefully my mood changes once warmer weather comes back.

Just reminds me why I leased and to look for advances in the tech when I'm ready for a refresh.

[G30Nashville]

I’m with you. Glad I was able to snag one on a lease for cheap….but this cold weather charging/range is terrible. Also doesn’t help it’s been in the single digits the last week or so.

[scas12]

Yeah, I knew it would take a hit on range in the cold, and I dont do a lot of road trips so that car is still great, just hoping for a tech upgrade at lease end.

[patriotsfan]

I'm going to use this post to hijack again to provide my PSA in case it helps anyone comparing efficiency numbers.

For anyone not aware - BMW EVs do not account for climatization energy use when reporting efficiency numbers. Anyone doing this and being happy with their resulting efficiency numbers is probably not seeing the full picture.

For example, an exhaustive breakdown of my travelling yesterday:

Garage Temp: 30, Outside Temp 2-5.
Precondition for ~10 minutes and then commute 11 miles to work, mostly backroads. Time about 20 mins
Car reported 2.2mi/kwh efficiency for this trip or something similar.

Car sat then for about 42 minutes (including about 3 minutes climatize) in 5-12 degree temp before I began another trip, approximately 14.5 miles both ways with about ~20 of the total miles being highway at 60-70 mph. Temp for the drive was 12 degrees or so. This trip added to the first and so the first trip finished at 40 miles and 2.5mi/kwh reported by car.

Car then sat for the rest of the day until my return trip from work. Temp probably around 10-12, 10 mins of climatize, 10 miles total travelled, car reported 2.5mi/kwh for this trip.


So after that day of travelling with 50 miles registered, the car reported 2.5mi/kwh total for efficiency. It however used 33% battery and took 27.3kWh from the wall connector to charge back up to 80.

That's an actual efficiency (with charging losses) of 1.83mi/kWh. 7.3 kWh above and beyond what the car estimated. Some of that is charging efficiency but most of it is simply because the cars efficiency numbers are bogus.

[RichardInCA]

Interesting - to be fair to BMW, they’re reporting the efficiency for driving the trip.

[G30Nashville]

I honestly don’t know how any folks in the colder parts of the country/world deal with this unless you have a supercharger nearby. It’s been single digits here in TN and my range SUCKS, ha.

I charged to 50% yesterday, drove maybe 25 miles. Car sat outside all night in 8° F° and I’m at 25% as I type this.

[dsgs]

Originally Posted by G30Nashville

I honestly don’t know how any folks in the colder parts of the country/world deal with this unless you have a supercharger nearby. It’s been single digits here in TN and my range SUCKS, ha.

I charged to 50% yesterday, drove maybe 25 miles. Car sat outside all night in 8° F° and I’m at 25% as I type this.

I charge it when it needs it in the garage. Short range doesn't matter unless I'm going on a long trip.

[Ken7]

Originally Posted by RichardInCA

Interesting - to be fair to BMW, they’re reporting the efficiency for driving the trip.

Although Patriotsfan is technically right, to the best of my knowledge, all EVs report efficiency this way. It’s not just a ‘BMW thing’.

[G30Nashville]

Originally Posted by dsgs

I charge it when it needs it in the garage. Short range doesn't matter unless I'm going on a long trip.

Yeah I’m just venting. I don’t do many long range trips thank goodness.

[MikeElmendorf]

It is VERY cold in upstate NY this week and my range is terrible. This is not unexpected as a concept, but the drop is severe. That along with the middling range of this car on a good day makes me pretty sure my next vehicle will not be an EV.

Don't get me wrong--I love the instant power and torque and smoothness, but the range is simply too low, especially in adverse weather like this.

[Mattl0806]

Originally Posted by MikeElmendorf

It is VERY cold in upstate NY this week and my range is terrible. This is not unexpected as a concept, but the drop is severe. That along with the middling range of this car on a good day makes me pretty sure my next vehicle will not be an EV.

Don't get me wrong—I love the instant power and torque and smoothness, but the range is simply too low, especially in adverse weather like this.

I’m downstate LI - it’s been 10F leaving the morning with 0F windchill. Last 2 mornings I saw 2.5 & 2.6 on my 50mile commute to work. ~20F on way home and got to 2.7 and 2.9. I precondition before leaving work which drains ~5%. I’ve been reaching home with ~45%. Not great to not be able to make it to work 2x without charging. Luckily I have home charger so it doesn’t really matter. But I did almost take a 200 mile trip today. And I’m not sure if I would have made it… kinda sucks but this weather is rarely this bad.

What’s been your experience?


Btw - I feel the same way as you. The drive is amazing. But there is something lingering within me that isn’t happy that my flexibility to use the car however I need to is limited

[SkykingUSA]

A little more patience and later this year, we will be able to use the Tesla Superchargers to charge up. That should open up a lot more stations for us and make it much easier to charge when and where we want to.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

[Mattl0806]

Originally Posted by SkykingUSA

A little more patience and later this year, we will be able to use the Tesla Superchargers to charge up. That should open up a lot more stations for us and make it much easier to charge when and where we want to.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Are we still going to need 30 mins on one of those for a pretty full charge?