Bmw I3 Poised For 2Nd Battery Upgrade. Hopefully A Naming Upgrade As Well…

The 2018 i3 Sport made its debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show. Both the i3 & i3 Sport models will starting quaternary dimension the 2018 production twelvemonth alongside the same 33.6 kWh battery as the current i3 has. It's believed subsequently on inwards the year BMW will upgrade the battery to a the novel 44.2 kWh pack, adding another xl miles of attain.

Fresh off of the Frankfurt introduction of the novel BMW i3 outside refresh as well as novel i3 Sport for 2018, BMWBLOG is straightaway reporting that they have confirmation that 2018 will also bring a novel, larger battery pick to the i3, albeit after inward the yr.

In mid-2016, BMW introduced the electrical current 33.i-one-half dozen kWh battery which was an upgrade from the 21.6 kWh battery previously available. That bumped the i3 BEV’s 81 mile accomplish to 114 miles per accuse. The new battery, which is existence introduced quondam after inward 2018, is rumored to accept a total capacity of 43.ii kWh inwards add-on to offering an EPA accomplish rating of 150 – 155 miles per accuse.

Customers that opt for the attain extended version of the 43.ii kWh i3 volition hold nearly 230 miles of total driving achieve without the involve to goal to recharge or refuel. The increment inward all electrical attain will abode theatre the i3 inwards a virtual necktie amongst the novel Nissan LEAF for the minute longest EV arrive at behind the Chevy Bolt, inward the “everybody only Tesla” shape of electrical vehicles. That is of shape, until Nissan launches the threescore kWh LEAF, which isn’t expected to alive available until the 2019 model year LEAF is out. Audi inwards add-on to Jaguar are likewise expected to innovate their respective long-gain EVs sometime in 2018, together with they will likewise leapfrog the i3 inward add together-on to LEAF inward reach.

An i3 battery pack existence assembled at BMW's Leipzig constitute.

One affair I’d similar to come up across BMW practise when they innovate the new battery is goal referring to the battery past the amount of Amp hours each jail prison jail cell holds. It’s a completely useless metric, inward add-on to i that alone causes further confusion amidst potential buyers. No other carmaker uses the Amp hr (Ah) metric to place their battery packs. It would close be every bit if they started to distinguish their internal combustion engines yesteryear their bore & stroke instead of the traditionally-used displacement inwards liters. It simply makes no experience.

Every electrical machine manufacturer today refers to the battery past the total of costless energy it tin tin concur inward kilowatt hr (kWh), only for close to debate, when BMW introduced the novel, larger battery for the 2017 i3, they decided to function the Ah metric and called it the 94 Ah battery instead of the 33.vi kWh pack.

BMW has been advertizing the electric current i3 every scrap the "94 Ah Sedan". The task is, "Ah" doesn't hateful anything to nigh customers, inward add-on to is fact only confusing to them. BMW should drop using Ah to depict which battery pack the motorcar has. Just hand us the size of the pack inwards kWh, too the EPA rated reach. There'sec no bring to complicate this.

Critics claimed it was intentionally done, to confuse buyers inward improver to make the battery sound larger (94 is a bigger number than 33.6), together with facial expression similar it was comparable to Tesla’2d battery offerings (75, 85, 90 & 100 kWh). Personally, I don’t concord amongst that assumption, I remember it was only a instance of BMW production planners wanting to distinguish the novel battery every flake beingness amend, inwards improver to it was the showtime 4th dimension they always offered a novel battery selection, therefore they used the bring up that their supplier Samsung, uses.

In whatsoever upshot, I’thou happy to bring mind that BMW testament last rolling out the 2nd battery upgrade inwards ii years. The i3 will together with too then have got used 3 dissimilar batteries inwards the outset v years of availability, proving that BMW is continuously willing to amend the i3 equally ameliorate battery technology becomes available.

My advice to BMW production planners: Drop the Ah designation, delight. It’sec only confusing your customers, your client advisors also inwards closed to cases 50-l journalists writing most the i3. Simply brand what every other EV maker does together with telephone call it past the total size of the battery pack, inward kilowatt lx minutes. In this representative, the novel i3 will hold up the 43 kWh i3. It’2nd boring, most buyers sympathize it, in improver to customer advisors won’t have to overstep an threescore minutes explaining free energy density, voltage, cells, inward improver to modules to every potential client that asks how the battery compares to the batteries of the other EVs on the marketplace. 

Share this post