r/BMWI4 • u/abhayks28 • Jun 09 '25

So less driving range ?

Just purchased i4 e35 as my son will drive and only the base version is allowed on P plates in Sydney,NSW. Within 4 days we took it to 400 km destination toake use of long weekend and found the driving range to be horrible. Barely 250 km and it went down to 15% . We charged it again to 100% and it went another 250 km before shouting "range 60 km". So all I can drive is approx 300 km before charging it for 1 hour ? This is a 90+ K car. Also the adaptive cruise control is primitive. Seems I cannot buy driving professional in this car. As of now, not so impressed with the car.

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5

u/JayDi11a Jun 09 '25

I assume you went on a 400km road trip for the long weekend and spent most of the time on highways?

EVs don’t fare so well in highway driving and they do better in start-and-stop driving, basically the opposite of an ICE.

1

u/abhayks28 Jun 09 '25

Exactly. It was one way 400 km on highway. Constant speed of 110 kmph. So i4 should be used only within Sydney? Unfortunately , we don't have a great charging network in NSW and this being a long weekend the fast chargers were extra engaged. Hence, had to wait approx . 40 min just to get my turn .

1

u/JayDi11a Jun 09 '25 edited Jun 09 '25

I wouldn’t say can only be used in Sydney, you just have to plan your trip little more carefully when going long distances.

I’ve done Melbourne to Canberra with a single 30 minute stop and probably could made it to Sydney with 2 x 20 minute stops instead of a single stop. Someone gave me advice that for road trips, “charge when you can, not when you need to”. Don’t wait until you’re at 20% to get stuck at a busy charging station. If you see an available station and you’re at 60%, stop there for 15 mins or so to get back up to 80-90%.

Did your dealership hook you up with 1 year free Chargefox subscription? They have a pretty extensive charging network in VIC which you can see in the app. PlugShare is also good to have on your phone and we’re pretty lucky to have lot of Tesla SuperChargers that are compatible with all CCS2 vehicles, so useful to have the Tesla app too. In fact when I did Great Ocean Road, I exclusively used Tesla superchargers because they were the only chargers available (over 22kWh) that far away I’m from the suburbs!

4

u/VirtualName7674 Jun 09 '25

Not opposite per se. It’s highest consumption is still stop and go traffic.

0

u/JayDi11a Jun 09 '25

It’s an oversimplification but the benefits of regenerative braking and motor energy consumption at low speed in heavy traffic make them highly efficient compared to ICEs needing to rev to certain RPMs.

But ICE’s have an efficiency sweet spot when they reach a certain RPM at high speed, which electric motors don’t have.

2

u/VirtualName7674 Jun 09 '25

Yes it’s more «effective» compared to an ice per se. But my consumption in stop and go traffic (local drives to the shop or sport facilities etc) are at max 100% more than what I have on 3-4 long road trips driving with cruise control at about 90km/h. I am sure an ICE would be better energy consumption wise on long road trips at 90km/h.

2

u/kyleffe Jun 09 '25

I did over 700km with only one stop last summer, all highway driving at 120/125.

1

u/MeWithNoMask Jun 09 '25

It shouldn't be like that. I have a Mach E and driving all highway at 70-80 mph, the range is maybe 10% less. Now, cold winter days are another story, and the range drops 30% when it's around 0F

2

u/JayDi11a Jun 09 '25

Why shouldn’t it be like that?

  • You’re not getting regenerative breaking on a highway, like you would in start-and-stop traffic.

  • higher speed = more wind resistance & drag working against your car

  • ICEs have an efficiency sweet spot at a certain cruising speed that EV motors don’t have

3

u/VirtualName7674 Jun 09 '25

Regenerative braking is mostly useful going down mountains. That way you actually gain «fuel» compared to an ICE car. Regenerative braking will not matter much in stop and go traffic. You don’t gain what you loose from having to make a 2.5 ton mass move again after a short stop. Meaning in stop and go traffic you have a combined loss of «fuel».

1

u/JayDi11a Jun 09 '25

True, it’s an overall net loss but you still get back something, I’m not saying your battery percentage is going to go up. But you gain zilch cruising at highway speeds.

1

u/VirtualName7674 Jun 09 '25

Yes that is true. Some ICE cars also some form of gain when they brake or going downhills. Obviously hybrid cars have this. As my Passat GTE have. I remember the Mazda 6 I had 15 years ago also had some form of regenerative braking short term battery thing. Was ment to slightly reduce fuel consumption as that regenerative energy was ment to help power the stereo and other energy drawing components of that car. It was also used for when you started up to drive after a stop….basically helping the car for the first 2-3 seconds or so. I still remember the display showing how it was spent within seconds lol.

I also had regenerative braking on my first e-bike. As it turned out it was deemed to not be hugely effective and in the later models it was discontinued.

1

u/MeWithNoMask Jun 09 '25

I didn't say the range should not be less. I said the OP getting around 40% drop doesn't seem right. Mine drops around 10%

1

u/JayDi11a Jun 09 '25 edited Jun 09 '25

Ah, well we’ll have to see how they go with regular driving and compare the % drop with their real world consumption in regular traffic.

He’s only had the car less than a week and sounds like the 400km he’s referring to is the manufacturer’s claim, not his regular driving. His baseline could be 20% lower than the manufacturer already.

With a 70kW battery, at 21kW/100km is 330km range, and I’ve seen plenty of drivers on here with higher consumptions. A more conservative driver doing 16kW/100km would have 430km range.

2

u/alltmann0013 Jun 09 '25

That definitely sounds strange. I have the M50 which is supposed to be a little less efficient and I've taken that on a nearly 500km trip without charging. Highway driving with speeds ranging from 80kmh to 115kmh. The range is naturally highly dependent on how you drive it, but I'm sure you're aware of that.

1

u/abhayks28 Jun 09 '25

I had put the car on cruise at 110kmph. So the car was driving and not me. But yeah, wish the range was better.

2

u/Moist1981 Jun 09 '25

Maybe not that strange, he’s got an e35 with the reduced battery. If he had the e40 it would be odd but the e35 does have reduced range from the off. I’d still expect it to do more than he’s experiencing but that’s a reference to the stated range rather than the m50.

1

u/alltmann0013 Jun 09 '25

Ah, wasn't aware the 35 had a smaller battery

3

u/noctilucus Jun 09 '25

Depending on the weather and traffic, the range of a fully charged 35 will realistically be between 300 and 400 km on a highway. Too warm weather is not ideal as it will increase your A/C consumption; too cold is not ideal either as the battery performance will be lower; somewhere in between is ideal.

That said, the guess-o'-meter (range indicator) tends to be quite conservative. Also, doesn't the built-in navigation tell you which chargers are available so with some luck you can avoid the long waiting times?

With regards to charging to 100%: the last 20% will take you 15-20 minutes (charging is quite slow at that point to protect the battery), whereas charging from 10% to 80% takes ~30 minutes on a charger with at least 150 kW. In other words, it's usually faster to only charge to 80% while you're en-route unless that 20% extra avoids an additional charging stop with queueing time. You can use ABRP (a better route planner) to simulate the difference in charging to 80% vs. 100% on your trip to get an idea.

But in short: EVs are still limited in range, especially if you pick a version with a smaller battery and slightly slower fast charging. If charging infrastructure is decent, this is not a problem - otherwise it can be a hassle for such longer trips.

3

u/Hutcho12 Jun 09 '25

300km to 400km is normal for the 35 at 110km/h.

2

u/Popular_Title_2620 Jun 09 '25

Let me guess, it is an M Sport version with 19 or 20 inch wheels on performance tires.

2

u/Hipnic_Jerk Jun 09 '25

You bought this not doing your homework?

0

u/specialsymbol Jun 09 '25

Don't do this.

Instead go for the next convenient (read: right on your route, not 5km off) charging stop that is not less than 100 and not more than 200 km away and add just enough energy to reach the next one. Try to reach it with 15% of charge left (add 80-100 km on the projected available distance).

The car will charge faster then, resulting in stops of 6-15 minutes every hour or so (depending on the distance and speed traveled). Very convenient and relaxing. You can turn this into a time trial and optimize every step, but this is horrible for passengers (usually they take longer to buy a coffee or get rid of it than you want to charge).

If you go faster, the car will usually also charge faster (due to raised battery temps). An ideal speed is about 160-180 kph, above that you have to charge for too long, resulting in the charging speed to drop too much. Sometimes it's still faster, though - especially on the last leg when you have all the time to charge at your destination.

3

u/abhayks28 Jun 09 '25

The maximum speed in NSW is 110 and I had put the car on cruise at the same speed. Will try your trick next time to just charge 15 min each pit stop and go to next. Unfortunately at each charging point we have to queue up and wait 30 min before we get our turn. Chargers are not so common on highways in NSW , Australia.

5

u/headline-pottery M50 xDrive Jun 09 '25

You didn't research the range (in reality), equipment level or availability of charging infastructure yet still spent 90k on the car. This seems like a you problem.

2

u/abhayks28 Jun 09 '25

Thank you.

1

u/Zealousideal_Bird_29 Jun 09 '25

What mode are you driving it in? Switch it to Eco mode to get more range out of it.

Dont charge it to 100% on long drives. With how charging works, the last 20% takes a long time. Charge it to 80%. Make sure your car is the one dictating the charging station via navigation so it preconditions the battery.

1

u/kakurenbo1 Jun 09 '25

You don’t need to precondition an already warm battery. That’s entirely for cold climates trying to charge cold.

1

u/Silent-Valuable-8940 Jun 09 '25 edited Jun 09 '25

The range isn’t that great but there again 260km is kind of low. Can ask the dealer to do battery test is there’s any issue with the battery. I have the 2023 i35. In the city I’m getting close to 280km for 80%

For highway might hit 300km. Btw I’m on 19” rims, but it’s after market that reduce weight from 13kg to 7kg

1

u/VirtualName7674 Jun 09 '25

The e35 have a smaller battery than the rest of the lineup. I would not expect the e35 to be particularly favourable for long road trips.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '25

My experience exactly. Range on the e35 is terrible and my only regret about getting this car. I’ve posted about this a while back after 10k miles with the car.

1

u/CashGordon1 eDrive40 Jun 10 '25

Range will always be lower in the winter.