[greatness10]

Hi all,

I just got out of a 2020 m340i and into a 550e. I felt like the 340 was the most perfectly built and balanced car i've ever driven, but with kids, it's tight. So, I got a 550e, thinking that it would bare some resemblance to the outgoing 550i, boy was I wrong. There is no grunt to this thing, it's missing a ton of options, from important ones to not so important ones, like AM radio...like, what gives? In Canada, there was no option to get a 540i so this was my choice, unfortunately.

Anyways, for anyone who has this car, how make km's are your charges lasting for? It's supposed to be 90kms, but at max, i'm getting 45kms. Is there something i'm doing wrong? It's getting crazy annoying plugging this thing in every day. Ideas?

Thanks!

[RichardInCA]

Sorry to hear - don’t have any data for the 550e personally, but from the EV side, there’s a lot of posts around Bimmerpost on people getting EV’s and struggling to get used to cold weather range impacts. I wonder if some of that might apply here? There’s a long thread on the iX forum from someone who’s been surprised by radically lower efficiency resulting in lower range which seems to be coming from a combination of lots of short trips where the battery is being required to heat the car from cold. Not sure if that applies to the PHEV - do you have the ICE engaged to warm the car, or does it behave like a true EV and relay exclusively on battery power? Apologies if you’ve got other EV’s and this is all obvious but there are ton of things that can reduce range in colder climates that take some getting used to.

[greatness10]

I mean, I guess cold could affect it, but yesterday was relatively warm, and I only got 45kms, terrible. There's legit no point to having a hybrid if that's all it can do. I have no interest in plugging this thing in daily when it takes 3 hours to charge a 19v battery (kind of embarrassing BMW). I asked if ICE could start the car, and the sales person told me no, that it works like an EV and the battery pre-conditions it, which is another absolutely stupid aspect of this car. Not sure what to do here. I spent an extra 15k on this car, and it's shit.

[MiGs550e]

I've only had my 550e for a few weeks and my experience so far is that the battery is best used for short milage trips. My example for this is dropping and picking up the kid from school only a few miles away. I'm getting 98MPG in those trips. lol. However anything else I'm in sports mode and the battery only is used for boost, launch and adding additional HP / torque on hard acceleration. Surprisingly it seems to work pretty well and have been enjoying it.

As far as AM radio many vehicles are starting to take AM out.

A thing I don't like or I’m disappointed in from previous 550i I have had are the multi-contour seats aren’t as nice as previous models. I liked the mid back tilt and the new luxury seats I have now do not have that, at least from what I can determine. What I also liked in previous seats was I could control all the functions of the seats from the seat itself and not rely on touching the screen which causes you to reach and stretch as you try adjust when you are not fully seated in the seat.

Another thing I don’t like is the BMW logo on the screen while charging. It doesn’t move and over time will cause screen burn I’m afraid. It turns off once it is done charging but that could take hours to do using level 1.

[greatness10]

is there a way to turn the battery off and save it for those small trips? is there a way to ONLY use the battery and turn off the ICE? Is there a way to always start it in ICE mode or remote start it in ICE mode? When you fully charge yours, how many miles/kms does it say you have in your battery? Mine will never get over 45kms

My sales person at BMW can't seem to help me at all.

[MiGs550e]

Originally Posted by greatness10

is there a way to turn the battery off and save it for those small trips? is there a way to ONLY use the battery and turn off the ICE? Is there a way to always start it in ICE mode or remote start it in ICE mode? When you fully charge yours, how many miles/kms does it say you have in your battery? Mine will never get over 45kms

My sales person at BMW can't seem to help me at all.

Is there a way to turn the battery off and save it for those small trips? YES

is there a way to ONLY use the battery and turn off the ICE? Kinda, but also depends on driving style too and eDrive settings.

Is there a way to always start it in ICE mode or remote start it in ICE mode? NO. unfortunately. I'm also disappointed in that. I wish I could just always start in sport mode but I have to select it each time in mymodes

When you fully charge yours, how many miles/kms does it say you have in your battery? 41-45 miles, however pre-conditioning prior to driving could affect this it seems.

[PeterC4]

Originally Posted by greatness10

Hi all,

I just got out of a 2020 m340i and into a 550e. I felt like the 340 was the most perfectly built and balanced car i've ever driven, but with kids, it's tight. So, I got a 550e, thinking that it would bare some resemblance to the outgoing 550i, boy was I wrong. There is no grunt to this thing, it's missing a ton of options, from important ones to not so important ones, like AM radio...like, what gives? In Canada, there was no option to get a 540i so this was my choice, unfortunately.

Anyways, for anyone who has this car, how make km's are your charges lasting for? It's supposed to be 90kms, but at max, i'm getting 45kms. Is there something i'm doing wrong? It's getting crazy annoying plugging this thing in every day. Ideas?

Thanks!

At least you received delivery. Are you in Ontario? AM radio has been phased out on a number of other cars. Cost control is prevalent. Disappointing to hear about the performance.

Poor acceleration?

[PeterC4]

Originally Posted by greatness10

I mean, I guess cold could affect it, but yesterday was relatively warm, and I only got 45kms, terrible. There's legit no point to having a hybrid if that's all it can do. I have no interest in plugging this thing in daily when it takes 3 hours to charge a 19v battery (kind of embarrassing BMW). I asked if ICE could start the car, and the sales person told me no, that it works like an EV and the battery pre-conditions it, which is another absolutely stupid aspect of this car. Not sure what to do here. I spent an extra 15k on this car, and it's shit.

Important feedback. I have yet to take delivery, but if this car has such limited range in electric, it will be a disappointment.

[MiGs550e]

Originally Posted by PeterC4

At least you received delivery. Are you in Ontario? AM radio has been phased out on a number of other cars. Cost control is prevalent. Disappointing to hear about the performance.

Poor acceleration?

I've read that going away from Amplitude Modulation is more to do with the other electronics interference and antenna length in the car and Amplitude Modulation is less widely used nowadays.

no I think acceleration is good when you hammer down.

[MiGs550e]

Originally Posted by PeterC4

Important feedback. I have yet to take delivery, but if this car has such limited range in electric, it will be a disappointment.

I agree you will be disappointed if you are thinking you are going to travel distance with electric. As other posts have indicated this is just to balance performance on not having a V8 and better fuel efficiency and adding a bit more in torque which is that feeling you get when you accelerate.

[PeterC4]

Originally Posted by MiGs550e

I agree you will be disappointed if you are thinking you are going to travel distance with electric. As other posts have indicated this is just to balance performance on not having a V8 and better fuel efficiency and adding a bit more in torque which is that feeling you get when you accelerate.

The Canadian website has finally posted the range for the Canadian 550e. It is now listed at 55KM, certainly lower from original estimates in Europe. Which is about 34 miles. So with cold weather, there may very well be a diminution in real-life performance to something lower. So if you neglect plugging it in, what happens? Reduction in fuel economy?

As to Torque, I have yet to drive the car, my only experience being a 750e which was okay, but hard to compare given it's a different car.

This may have been a colossal waste of time.

[greatness10]

Is there a way to turn the battery off and save it for those small trips? YES. How? I cannot seem to figure this out.

is there a way to ONLY use the battery and turn off the ICE? Kinda, but also depends on driving style too and eDrive settings. How?

Is there a way to always start it in ICE mode or remote start it in ICE mode? NO. unfortunately. I'm also disappointed in that. I wish I could just always start in sport mode but I have to select it each time in mymodes. To me, this is absolutely moronic that BMW would do this.

When you fully charge yours, how many miles/kms does it say you have in your battery? 41-45 miles, however pre-conditioning prior to driving could affect this it seems. When mine is fully charged, I get 45kms (im in canada) on the screen, but in all honesty, it's probably about 30kms of distance, when driving the speed limit. Extremely disappointing and totally regretting this car.

[MiGs550e]

..

[greatness10]

wealth of knowledge, thank you! Now if i can only figure out why the range is so poor, i'd be set. No help from BMW yet on this

[robfen]

In Ireland at around 4c (40f) my range for an 80% charge is 66km (40 miles).

If you are getting 45km at 100% I guess it must be a lot colder there?

Still seems a huge drop.

[aherman18]

Had my 550e for a couple of weeks. When the weather was in the 60 degree range, I was seeing 40+- miles.

Now that the temps are in the lower 30's, I'm seeing 34+- miles.

I have a 40amp charger in my garage. The max on the 550e is 32amp.

I plug in every time I am home. Rarely do I use more than the electric range in a day.

[nacs]

Originally Posted by aherman18

Had my 550e for a couple of weeks. When the weather was in the 60 degree range, I was seeing 40+- miles.

Now that the temps are in the lower 30's, I'm seeing 34+- miles.

I have a 40amp charger in my garage. The max on the 550e is 32amp.

I plug in every time I am home. Rarely do I use more than the electric range in a day.

Charging to 100% each night?

[aherman18]

Originally Posted by nacs

Charging to 100% each night?

Yes, set to 100%.

[greatness10]

This last pic that says electric in edrive zones, how do you get to it? I don't seem to have this in my car. Also, with electric turned off, I still deplete battery so fast. Full charge, electric turned off, battery gone after about 25-30kms. Any ideas?

[greatness10]

Don't you find it crazy that you have to plug this thing in every night though? I drive tops 35kms per day and it's fully depleted after being charged to 100%. Extremely disappointing. I've contacted BMW Canada because I want to return this car. No way should it cost $15,000 more and have a battery that essentially does nothing.

[greatness10]

34 miles is still a heck of alot more than 35kms. Jealous.

[Deho]

Originally Posted by greatness10

Don't you find it crazy that you have to plug this thing in every night though? I drive tops 35kms per day and it's fully depleted after being charged to 100%. Extremely disappointing. I've contacted BMW Canada because I want to return this car. No way should it cost $15,000 more and have a battery that essentially does nothing.

I also thought that range would be higher because of what we read from Europe, seems like the range in North America is, like it was with the X5 50e, limited in comparison to our european friends.

That being said, I don't see how plugging it every night is a problem, unless you don't get access to home charging? I own a MINI Countryman PHEV (30km range) for the moment and also plug it everytime I get back home with the included 110v cable, it's full every morning. I would never trade it for an ICE one. Don't see the problem, especially if you drive 35km tops per day?

That battery does not do nothing, it makes you drive electric for your entire commute everyday while being equipped with a gas engine for longer drives. What's not to love?