BMW i3 upgraded with longer-lasting battery, adding more driving range

Longer-lasting battery for BMW i3

Like the copper-top battery advertisement promises to be a more powerful, longer-lasting battery, so BMW has introduced a more powerful, longer-lasting battery in it more powerful, longer-lasting battery i3 electric car.  

Referred to as the BMW i3 94Ah (Ah for the Ampere hours measure) the upgraded car has an increased capacity of 33 kiloWatt hours (kWh) thanks to higher storage density of its lithium ion cells.  

The battery dimensions stay the same, but adds a 50% increase in range.  In the standard NEDC cycle, this now equals 300 kilometres instead of the previous 190 km.

In use as a daily driver, with the aircon or heating turned on, the BMW i3 94Ah can achieve up to 200 km on one full battery charge… which is more than the average motorist travels in a home-work-home day.  And that is just the pure-electric model.

There are 2 models of BMW i3:  the pure-electric one (also called BMW i3 BEV) which has only the battery, or the BMW i3 REx (Range Extender) which adds a small 2-cylinder motor which acts entirely as a generator, to “make more electric”, as James May would say.  

This means the BMW i3 REx with the new 94Ah battery also benefits from the 300 km range on battery power, and when the range-extended generator kicks in (automatically, when needed) the range is extended with another 150 km.  So the great news here is that this car can travel 450 km, having used only around 1 litre of petrol, on the 0.6 l/100km combined fuel cycle.

Retrofit

Those who were early adopters and bought a BMW i3 (with 60Ah battery) need not despair.  The battery can be exhanged for the new 94Ah one, at owner’s cost, as an upgrade.  This is part of a “high-voltage retrofit programme”.

The 22kWh batteries traded in by customers are used for building stationary storage battery modules (where possible) thus starting their second life.

New paint colour options

The BMW i3 recently became available with the Fluid Black paint colour option, and now the same Protonic Blue as seen on the BMW i8 hybrid sports car has become available for the BMW i3, too.

There are still 4 interior design themes available:  Atelier, Loft, Lounge and Suite.  The I3 interior is constructed from materials in a mix of naturally-treated leather, wood, wool, and other renewable materials.

Home charging

The BMW i3 94Ah can be charged comfortably in the home garage with the installation of a BMW i Wallbox.  Increased performance means the new battery can be charged from empty to full in 2:45 (2 and a ¾ hours).

Pricing for SA

Increased only slightly, the emissions-tax exempt prices are, suggested retail:
BMW i3 (BEV)	R 580 400
BMW i3 REx	R 653 900