Probably the most unusual car I have driven in my life. One of those cars you like not despite its flaws, but because of them. Not having much trunk space, for instance. Not being able to go everywhere you want. Not having a lot of interior room either. Not getting the advertised range out of it, a little over 80 miles vs 100 miles as it were. I liked it a lot, and I am sad to see it go. But it had to go. It had to go because this last flaw turned from an “oh well” flaw into an “OMG” flaw in recent months when temperatures came down. Our low point was 76 miles at one time and the general consensus among Electronauts is that doing more than 70 miles means pushing it in this weather.
My second, equally sad experience was that the ActiveE “field trial” seems to be a rather poorly managed program. BMW gave its customers an online forum for discussions but the really interesting things happen in the customer-driven Facebook group, as I found out just recently. Communication from BMW is limited to gimmicks, video sessions with happy Electronauts and glances at future products while there is little to no feedback on the project itself, the mysterious “software updates” they make or any kind of incremental improvement going into our cars. Au contraire, when my first breakdown occurred, instead of getting sympathy I got a very German answer: Ve tested se car. It does 80 miles so suck it up! (I am paraphrasing of course, including the exclamation mark). When I challenged the author to prove it I heard nothing but the chirping of crickets.
“Electronauts” are the most hardcore fans of the BMW brand. They are pioneers, they are mavens and they are definitely avid communicators. Many have blogs that amplify the message, and they have all gladly invested in this project. Being asked “How is the ‘Kaputt’?” (which happened to me) is not nice when this is your personality profile, and you feel left alone with your problems.
This project is marking the brand’s third attempt of creating an image of environmental conscience in recent history. First there was the “Hydrogen 7″ that has yet to go anywhere; then came the “Active Hybrids” failing to perform better than their standard counterparts, and now there is the electric car program which is on it’s way into a very uncertain future - “Mission Impossible” was probably a bad omen. To this day, the TechSpecs on the web promise a range of 100 miles and safe trips from my home town to Philadelphia or Scranton that will never happen. Yes, there is fine print like in ads for weight loss products saying “results may vary”, but come on – that’s not what you tell an M5 buyer about horsepower either. It is this perception of a particular attitude that makes it so hard to believe future iterations of this concept will be any different. Why not be honest, why not admit to the flaws? The myth might have suffered, but the trust would have remained.
It is important to know that other “Electronauts” have different emotions about the experience. Most notably Tom Moloughney who just wrote a very interesting summary of his first year in his ActiveE. I am bringing this up to put my rant into perspective: there are people for whom the Active E makes a lot of sense. But note that Tom uses his car to commute from A to B and back every day – same purpose, same distance, with a charging station at each end. This is what the car was built for. And it’s what it does best.
Bottom line? Like Tom Moloughney I am convinced that electric cars are the future. Check out Tom’s earlier blog on how he added photovoltaic cells to the roof of his house for maximum effect. Local / decentralized energy production is a critical component for these cars to make sense. I predict that in 10-20 years from now homes will have their own fuel cells for energy production (which is where fuel cells belong – wrong idea for a car). The loss of power in transport will be near zero equalling additional “free” energy. I can also confirm Tom’s calculation of fuel expenses: the direct cost of my ActiveE was about 1/3 of what a gasoline powered car would have cost. A recent study in Germany also indicates that – despite of having to replace the main battery after 5-8 years – the overall cost of maintenance of electric cars is about 30% lower compared to a conventional vehicle; mainly due to the absence of moving engine and transmission parts and the use of kinetic energy recovery breaking systems. I still think there should be 4 motors, one at each wheel, batteries in the bottom, Tesla style, to refine the idea and to address the torque issues but that’s a topic for another day. So stay tuned for my next electric car adventure (although this may take a while…).
Our relationship with the car is love-hate. We love the promise of the car and it’s drives awesomely. When it works, it’s an amazing car. However, over the course of the 10 months that we’ve had the lease, it’s been in the shop for over 75 days. We even sent BMW a lemon letter. They claim that they’ve replaced all of the electrical drive-train parts (battery, motor, etc) and want us to give the car one last chance. Additionally, BMW has mentioned to us that our car is one of the 10 worst Active Es. In the winter, we’re getting only about 50 miles in Boston. My wife’s commute is 45 miles each way, so she’s not able to get home on a trickle charge during the day. On a few days, she almost didn’t even make it to work a few times. Even in the summer, we only got around 85 – 90 miles of range on the car at best.
I’ve also been horribly disappointed with BMW’s communications about the program and the cars. I expected much more involvement than just an online, mostly quiet forum.
The dealer from whom we got the car was great from a sales perspective, and I can’t fault them for their (what turns out to have been a) lack of knowledge about the car. Their service department has been poor to work with, so we switched to a different dealer for service and have been a lot happier.
BMW corporate has been pretty hostile to us, when they actually communicate with us.
I’m also tired of the BMW boosters / apologists that claim that since they don’t experience problems with their cars, they don’t exist.
I suspect that after the ActiveE is returned, we’ll evaluate the landscape and perhaps get a 2 year lease on some fuel efficient car and then get the expected smaller Tesla in 2015 / 2016. At this point, I’m not sure how much faith I have in BMW to make the i3 work correctly.
I’m also surprised that BMW’s hybrids get worse fuel efficiency than some of their other cars; they have 6 cylinder engines and the 4 cylinder gets better mileage.
Tony, I don’t think that really a fair comparison The ActiveE is EPA rated at 94 miles per charge and can easily exceed 100 miles with careful driving. The truth is the EPA rating. I have driven mine over 110 miles on a single charge about 15 times already. The LEAF is rated at 73 miles per charge and while 100 miles is possible, it’s not routine and most people that own LEAF’s that I know tell me 75 to 80 miles is all they get even in good conditions. The ActiveE’s range is about 20% to 25% greater than a LEAF’s is and the EPA rating is proof of that. Even the recent Edmunds test confirms it and the ActiveE did about 115 miles.
The cold weather range of all EV’s suffers and the automakers BMW included need to address this with the customers BEFORE they are surprised by it like it appears this gentleman was. If BMW did a better job explaining to him that the car would get about 30% less range in the winter perhaps he wouldn’t have leased it.
Sorry to see you go, Bodo. To Tony’s point above, the ActiveE has a 94-mile EPA range and despite its active thermal management, range is greatly affected by wintry conditions. I believe that I’m seeing some early degradation as well, but I will have to wait to confirm until next summer. I have to agree that BMW reminds me of Nissan, or some other large automaker, in some respects. It’s difficult to be heard, especially when you are having an unusual problem. That said, there are areas where BMW is doing a decent job as well, and the EV market could use more competition. I think the REx version of the i3 will be very interesting, and range problems will be less severe than with a pure BEV. Is that the best solution and the final word? Well, no, but it will be a competent offering in this transitionary period until larger battery packs become cheaper and more common.
Yeah, really feel that BMW owes you guys much more, the price of admission was high, and the range issue for a pure EV is critical. Then there is the recalls. I can highly recommend the Chevy Volt, my current mpg approaching 400, no range anxiety, American made, very well engineered, with excellent road feel.
I beleive electric is here to stay
The e82e will do 100 miles if the temp is right
But in NJ it gets cold battery must be heated to last there
Full life with precondistion in cold weather driving
With no heat you can go 82 miles I have done it
Comfort costs energy in any thing gas milage drops
20% in cold weather gas or electric you get less with cold
Weather its a fact live with it or walk
BMW sounds like Nissan with the 100 mile range BS. The future of mass adoption of EV’s will be rough if we can’t just tell the truth about basic things, like how far it goes.