Bahnstormer_vRS wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 6:39 am
DavecUK wrote:
In addition, BMW could have made the tank 3 gallons instead of 2.
Having driven electric cars for over 5 years now I can say that they are wonderful to drive, I would never go back to a Petrol car now.
You can always carry a five litre can of petrol in the boot.
Guy
Sent from my Xperia XZ Premium using Tapatalk
Not really the boot is part of the interior, a hatchback and it's small enough already without a can of petrol. There is a small frunk where you can put a metal petrol can holding around 6-10 litres, or perhaps a plastic can. I purchased a metal one for that purpose, but the concern as always is a frontal impact...I thought after that plastic might have been safer than metal...who knows. On a long journey, I sometimes carry one but petrol stations are still quite frequently found.
The real trick with the range extender, if you know you will be using it, is to not wait until the main traction battery is full, but to stick it on early. e.g. for a 170 mile journey I wouldn't turn it on until it self engages as in summer I can get up to 174 miles range. For a 230 mile journey, I would engage it at about 60 or 75%. This is because it smooths out the loading on the petrol engine to generate the 1.21 gigawatts required to run the traction motor. When the battery is really low it revs it's guts out to generate required power to bring the battery back up....when the battery is at a reasonable state of charge, it can be far more leisurely about returning the state of charge to the point it was when you engaged it. you also have the advantage of the optimum fuel economy scenario as well because the motor can work within it's best range. Once ,you know you have the reach to get home with minimal battery, you can simply switch off the range extender and complete the rest on electric.
The American ones don't do that (they have to be recoded) because the stupidity of their emission laws demanded it only ever engage at 6% traction battery and cannot be engaged at will by the driver. The problem is the engine runs suboptimally and would actually create more emissions...so stupid of the politicians. They can also enter low power mode...really not ideal.