[-c-]

Originally Posted by Diver

A friend with a Model S had to stop at a supercharger in Columbus, halfway from Houston to an Austin suburb where he would be at a hotel without a plug. He needed enough charge left to get to San Marcos for another supercharger. It's 180 miles from Houston to the Austin destination.

Rated range is achieved at 60 mph without the air running. About half of the route has 75 mph speed limits with traffic moving at 79 mph. It was sunny with temperatures in the high 90's. A few months later his wife hit a curb and damaged the front suspension. It almost 2 months to get parts.

Meanwhile, Germany is pushing for all zero emission cars by 2030. Progress in improving energy density of current battery technology has been slow. Tesla said it was an enormous task to go from 90 kWh to 100 in the latest souped up version of the D.

What is the owner of a 10 year old electric car supposed to do when the battery is spent?

Depends on what battery tech you speak of.

A Prius has a 10 year life on battery packs where the i3 has a 20 year life span on batteries.


Also note that the 20 year span on the i3 batteries means the charge has finally hit minimum of 75%.

So in 20 years you can still drive but your batteries will only hold 75% charge if that bothers you, theirs the option to upgrade the batteries for more mileage which will cost you for the i3 anywhere from 5 to 8k dollars with their battery upgrade program. Also batteries may be cheaper then as the tech becomes cheaper so who knows.

A well maintained battery can last a very long time, these are not your common lead acid batteries that start your car.

If the 5k to 8k scares you, it shouldn't, I have already spent that this year on maintenance in our X5 to keep it running in tip top shape.

Overall the i3 is so far the cheapest BMW I have ever had in terms of maintenance costs. Only thing you have to do is the brake fluid flush every other year.