Motoring Discussion > BMW - i3 power consumption Green Issues
Thread Author: hawkeye Replies: 12
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 10:11 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - hawkeye
The guests in our holiday home have turned up with a massive extension reel which they have plugged into their BMW i3. I'm fairly sure it's bad practice to leave the cable wound onto the reel while power is flowing; do I mention it or wait for the cable to melt?

I'd also like to know how much power the car takes to recharge. I've had a look on the internet, but run out of patience. Does anyone know off the top of their heads or has anyone a view on the subject?

TIA
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 10:38 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - PeterS
I’d mention it. Our A3 e-tron would charge at 2.3 kW an hour from a 13A socket, so drawing around 10A. It was also pretty sensitive, I assume to current, as it wouldn’t actually work with an extension lead quite often!

Take a look here...
www.evbox.com/electric-cars/bmw/bmw-i3
Last edited by: PeterS on Sat 16 Jun 18 at 10:39
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 10:53 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - Duncan
When you write 'our holiday home'. Do you mean owned by you? If so, I think i would be saying that recharging an electric car is not normal consumption and they will have to pay extra.
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 11:24 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - sooty123
From flat to full, about £4.50.
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 11:48 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - hawkeye
Thanks for the input.

Duncan; it's ours, yes. It's a recent venture and I haven't covered electric cars in the description/charges. I will for next time but I won't discuss it with current guests in case it affects our review.

Sooty; we can take £4.50 on the chin this time.

Peter; the link is what I was hoping to find but evidently not asking the right questions of Google.
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 13:03 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - PeterS
>> Peter; the link is what I was hoping to find but evidently not asking the
>> right questions of Google.

You might find that there are still grants available for installing EV charging points that would make having a 32A one installed around £150. Fast(er) charging might be a selling point...charge £10/£15 a week for access and everyone’s happy :)
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 16 Jun 18 at 21:43
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 12:52 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - smokie
Hate to be obvious but your actual cost is dependent on your tariff....

I had a tariff till last Sept which was something like 8.8p + VAT. When it ran out the cheapest I could get was 12.4, nearly 50% increase. Most were much more than that, at the time.

I *think* my Ampera costs about £1.40 to "gas up" but that only gives c 40 mile range (though I got over 50 with it yesterday, by using (rather sad) hypermiling techniques!)
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 16 Jun 18 at 16:11
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 13:23 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - legacylad
Slight thread drift...a friends takes delivery of his new Golf GTE later this month. It’s been a loooong wait. He and his partner have chopped in two cars and will share the GTE, don’t drive many miles annually and I’m looking forward to a ‘test drive’ with him.
His previous car was an almost new Civic Type R. Mmmm.
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New Sat 16 Jun 18 14:47 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - Lygonos
Most extension reels are rated around 3000W fully unwound and more like 700W wound up.

The car will draw around 2300W as noted above.

I'd certainly mention it, but the cost of electricity will be fairly trivial (4p per mile recharged on standard tariff).

I've charged my car at my dad's house using such a set up and even fully unwound the cable warms up a bit.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Sat 16 Jun 18 at 14:49
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New Sun 17 Jun 18 08:30 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - R.P.
It was a big no-no in the Motorhoming world to charge up a van with a wound up reel. Anyone with an ounce of electrical mechanical sympathy would flinch at the very thought.
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New Sun 17 Jun 18 10:01 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - smokie
For me it's more of a self-preservation thing... I'd sooner not die in a fire!! :-)

My car can (and mostly does) charge off a 13A socket but I've been very cautious about making sure none of it gets hot, especially where wires join (e.g. in plugs).
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New Sun 17 Jun 18 11:32 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - Zero
>> It was a big no-no in the Motorhoming world to charge up a van with
>> a wound up reel. Anyone with an ounce of electrical mechanical sympathy would flinch at
>> the very thought.
Electrical sympathy is sufficient, we are not towing the thing with the reel as well
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New Sun 17 Jun 18 11:53 
 BMW - i3 power consumption - sooty123
>> It was a big no-no in the Motorhoming world to charge up a van with
>> a wound up reel. Anyone with an ounce of electrical mechanical sympathy would flinch at
>> the very thought.


Some, like the ones we have at work, won't operate until it's been fully unwound. I'm surprised it's not been made mandatory under some sort of electrical safety standard.
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