BMW i3 starts near $35,000; NA first deliveries January 2014

A very simple and compact 4 passenger vehicle, very nice!!

 

I agree that in some cases the Volt can limp although it has yet to happen to me even with an exhausted EV range in the mountains.

Correction, the 2011-2012 Volt had Mountain Mode, Sport Mode and Normal Mode. The 2013-2014 Volt has those three modes PLUS Hold Mode.

I'm not sure why you feel the Volt should not be eligible for HOV lanes. The Volt saves much more fuel than the Prius Plug In and pollutes less; that is what CARB cares about. That is directly from the mouth of a friend at CARB.

 

Interesting!
How is the Mountain mode different than Hold mode though?

The next Volt should take cues from BMW's ActiveHybrids........
automatically adjust power delivery using GPS, topography, weather, traffic, user input, temperature, wind speed and direction, etc.
Of course it is less necessary for the Volt than the Bimmers since the Volt has so much more kwhs.............

 

Mountain Mode runs the ICE harder lowering fuel efficiency but will recharge the EV battery. This helps create a larger buffer for extremely demanding driving situations like steep long hills. This is important for those doing long trips where they are out of EV range but there is a large mountain up ahead. They can then regenerate EV range with Mountain Mode. It's also a nice way to regenerate EV Range to show off the car to friends who are interested in EVs.

Hold Mode simply stops EV battery discharge and switches on the ICE and the car then acts sort of like a hybrid. I find that when I first engage Hold Mode the ICE turns on but the EV battery continues to drain a little (1-2 miles). Over the next few miles the EV range will climb back up. I assume this is to assist the ICE while going through a warm up stage (a guess). EV range will essentially be frozen at this level until you turn off the car or exit Hold Mode.

The main drawback is that these modes cannot be used at the same time as Sport Mode. So once you enter Mountain or Hold Mode you turn off Sport Mode. Sport Mode is fun.

 

Mountain Mode and Hold in the Volt are really just different ways of setting the battery minimum SOC target to something different than the usual default value of 22% or so.

Hold mode just sets the target to the existing present SOC. Mountain Mode sets it to a fixed value which is around 45%.

When the battery falls below the minimum SOC target the Volt "switches" from EV mode to hybrid (charge sustaining) mode. The "switch" is indicated with an animation on the driver display screen and it also determines how miles driven are accounted for (EV miles vs hybrid gas miles).

For example, if you set Mountain Mode and your existing SOC happens to be lower than 45% then the car will "switch" to hybrid mode and the gas engine will startup to generate electricity to bring it back up to that level.

If the SOC goes some substantial percentage higher than the minimum target then the car will "switch" back to EV mode again. This can happen if you regenerate down a long steep road for several miles or if you switch the car from Mountain Mode (45% SOC target) back to normal mode (22% SOC). Likewise, if you switch from Hold to normal mode and the present SOC is substantially higher than 22%.

So, it's all about the battery SOC. The gas engine does not inherently behave differently (higher RPM etc.) between the different modes. In any mode the gas engine will rev up harder if the actual battery SOC gets too much smaller than the target minimum SOC setting.

 

Agreed but if you go into Mountain Mode at anything less significantly less than 45% the engine will rev higher than normal to recharge the battery. This will occur even if you are parked. I tested it out yesterday while waiting for a meeting. IMO the ICE sounds ugly while parked in Mountain Mode.

 

The gas engine behavior isn't specific to Mountain Mode. The engine will rev up any time the SOC falls too far below the normal hybrid operation buffer (around 300-500 Wh) from the minimum SOC target. So, this is really still "normal" engine behavior.

This is really the same behavior you would see in a Volt driven in normal mode with an "empty" battery at 22% SOC up a steep road. The gas engine will rev more moderately for a while but eventually will spin faster if the hybrid battery buffer runs behind its target window of operation.

The Prius operates similarly. It doesn't have a Mountain Mode but if you were able to somehow instantly suck 700 Wh out of its hybrid battery while it was stopped in a parking lot it would also be revving the engine loudly to recharge the pack.

 

We need to start a pool to bet on how many months it takes you trade this car for a new one...

 

I understand but my point is that the engine does rev higher than normal CS Mode (on a flat section of road) because you are putting a larger load on the ICE much like the steep hill scenario you describe above only you don't have to be going up the hill. It's like driving a manual transmission car and slipping the clutch so you can rev the engine higher yet not increase speed.

I agree that there is little to no difference between engine revs in CS Mode and Mountain Mode when actually going up a big hill or putting more load on the ICE via harder acceleration.

 

Nah, I love this car! lol

 

Well, I would still say that it is running the engine the same as normal CS (hybrid) mode.... but I also get what you are saying.

It's a noise and vibration tradeoff. You want to bring up the charge level relatively quickly (because you're about to drive up a mountain) and that means the gas engine has to work hard. It's generating at around a rate of 10-15 kW into the battery. That's the same output as driving on the highway at 60 mph. In theory, it's capable of generating up to 55 kW so it could have been a lot louder!

This is why it makes sense to set Mountain Mode at the beginning of your mountainous trip (after charging) so the gas engine doesn't have to work extra hard to make up the lost charge later on.

 

Aye and because I have a 2013 which is supposedly prone to being louder I find it very annoying. Even the exhaust note is ugly sounding. Not that the Prius ICE under stress sounds good. lol

 

Yeah, I think I've heard you say that about a few other cars in the last 3 years!

 

I was not expressing my feeling, simply stating the previous gas engine efficiency rule. My point was to counter those that said PiP shouldn't qualify for HOV lane because of shorter EV range.

CARB recognized the mix of EV miles to reduce tailpipe emission and they dropped the 45 MPG requirement.

There are 3 ways to reduce tailpipe emission. 1) Raise the gas engine efficiency. 2) Replace gas miles with EV miles. 3) Drive less.

I would argue that PiP owners have shorter commute than Volt owners.

Fuel used (electriity is also fuel) and emission (don't forget powerplant and battery manufacturing plant) depends on the distance of your commute. For your commute, inthought Volt does not "save much more" than when you had PiP. Sure, Volt displays big numbers but the actual gallon saved is not much.

EPA also regulated the emission from producing electricity and manufacturing battery.

EPA questions chemical at LG Chem's Chevy Volt battery plant - AutoblogGreen

Tailpipe emission is a subset that affects the air quality. We need to look at the full vehicle life cycle emission.

 

I save an average of 1ga a day driving the Volt. Granted I use electricity to make up the difference in gasoline not used. I guess it depends on what you consider "much more". From an emissions standpoint I think the Volt is better on my commute. I use .26ga-30ga of fuel for the entire 98 mile commute. The PIP used 1.3ga at it's best. My MPGe overall is higher too.

 

I recall you were charging only once at home with PiP. Are you charging at work with Volt?

 

I was charging at home and work with both cars. When I sent you my details after first purchasing the PIP I was only charging at home I think. After that we had stations installed.

 

Volt would work better if you can charge both ways, at vehicle level for your commute.

However, electricity production is about 40% (used to be 33%) efficient. Gas production is 85%.

MPGe boosting through the use of electricity is not really as green as it appear.

It'll be interesting to find out how EPA rates this BMW i3 for the composite of both fuels.

 

Surfingslovak (I personally know him) over at MNL has been posting a number of i3 videos, including manufacturing at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Official BMW i3 thread. I haven't had a time to watch most of them yet.

If you got to National Plug-In Day, I think he'll be at the Cupertino event, as that's the closest one to him.

 

Thanks, Andrew.

The more I see of the i3 the more I like it. Except for the displays. They look like Tom Tom units just stuck to the dash.