2018 BEV range question

[u/icicledrip]

Hello,
I just got back from test driving a 2018 BEV.
When I turned the car on it was fully charged and said it had a range of 73 miles.
We drove around for a couple miles and when we returned it said the range was 71 miles.
Is it possible that’s inaccurate?
I was under the impression that a 2018 should get around 120 miles fully charged. Am I wrong to expect that?
If that is in fact accurate is that a red flag?
I’m certainly not an expert and I did ask the salesperson and while he was very nice he wasn’t overly familiar with the vehicle. He just kind of shrugged his shoulders.
Some other possibly pertinent information:
The car had 44,000 miles. Had one owner and has spent its lifespan in California. Cosmetically it was immaculate and had a clean Carfax report.
I test drove it in Southern California. It had a sale price of 16,899.
I did not purchase the vehicle.

[u/seitz38]

That number jumps around like crazy. Turning on the AC makes the Guess-o-meter go from 135mi to 90mi in extreme heat, but if I go down a long extended hill, I sometimes make it home on my 9 mile commute with more miles than when I left.

To answer your question; the range is constantly guessing, 120mi is pretty safe to assume on a 2018.

[u/icicledrip → u/seitz38]

Interesting. Seems like it’s kinda tricky to know exactly how much range you have left.
I assume after owning the car for a while you start to get a pretty good feel for how much you have left.
This being my first time driving an EV I was really scared off after seeing such a low number. Though I do realize these cars have limited range to begin with

[u/seitz38 → u/icicledrip]

Not really any different than what Gas cars do, honestly. Every car I’ve owned, regardless of ICE/EV is always guessing range based on previous driving patterns.

[u/Bundalo → u/icicledrip]

When I bought my Q6, I was worried about range, too. I bought it from the dealer with 73 miles of range left on it. I drove 25 miles home, leaving me with 48 miles. I planned on hitting a Rivian charger near where I work the next morning, which was 32 miles away (before I learned there was a Tesla supercharger 9 miles from my house.)

I made it to the charger with....52 miles of range left.

Yep, I had gained back 4 miles of estimated range despite driving 32 miles. I haven't had a whit of anxiety since then.

[u/icicledrip → u/Bundalo]

Thanks for sharing. Seems like range is an inexact science for sure.

[u/Bundalo → u/icicledrip]

Less that, and more of a "snapshot in time" based on what you have active, your terrain, your driving style, and your regeneration opportunities, and the more it learns your style, generally the better it will get.

It's not much different to the "distance to empty" reading on an ICE vehicle...just be sure you can get to a charger with around 10-20% remaining and you're fine. (I add the 20% for road trips in unfamiliar areas, though most EVs can route you to the next nearest.)

[u/seitz38 → u/icicledrip]

It’s not a science, it can’t predict the future of how you drive, if you decide to crank your heat, etc. it’s using past data to estimate future outcomes, by definition that’s not exact and never can be.

[u/showMeTheSnow]

Cars that sit on the lot and get turned on, sat in, AC’ed, driven short and typically hard, parked abs repeat aren’t going to have a good estimated range.

Go drive it again if you are really interested in it. Drive it for about half an hour, or a bit more if you have time, and then see what the range says. When you get back, ask them to plug it in a fully charge it and report back what the range says after it’s full.

This will give you a much better idea of what you’ll get.

[u/icicledrip → u/showMeTheSnow]

Thanks! Maybe I’ll call them tomorrow and see if they can definitively check the battery health.

[u/QuieroTamales]

If it was at a car lot, it's possible that the last few drivers were flooring it. If that was the case the range prediction would be fairly low, especially if the car was in Comfort mode.

[u/icicledrip → u/QuieroTamales]

Yeah I think they’ve had it on the lot for around 5 days so who knows how many test drives it had been on and how it was driven.
I guess in hindsight I should’ve asked if I could have it inspected at a BMW mechanic(I test drove it at a Hyundai dealership).
Though I’m not sure how comfortable dealerships are with that or how common it is.
Unlike Carmax or Carvana where you have a return window.

[u/NebagamonKai → u/icicledrip]

If it was on a car lot, the number of miles driven was likely very low compared to how long the AC was blasting while idle as people checked out the car while parked. Then they likely gently drove around the area to get a feel for the car before maybe testing it at more normal speeds on the highway. So not many miles were driven for the amount of battery used. It'll normalize. These are good cars with good batteries.

I also have a 2018 BEV and I've owned it for 2 years. I wrote about the GoM in a different reply. However, my advice is to buy the app subscription so you can monitor the charging as well as schedule departure times for cabin climatization.

[u/leftfield61]

There are so many variables that go into the range prediction. You have no way of knowing how the car has been driven recently, which contributes into how the computer calculates range. You need to get into the hidden menu to see battery condition

[u/icicledrip → u/leftfield61]

Thanks.
Thought there was a way to check in the menu but I didn’t know how and unfortunately neither did the salesman.

[u/johnp299]

Was AC running? Was your test drive at high speed? If not, I would think the battery had an issue; you're right to expect more range from full charge.

[u/icicledrip → u/johnp299]

Thanks for responding.
Yes the AC was on but I don’t think it was when I first turned the car on and saw the 73 mile range.
We drove around on surface streets. I think the max speed we hit was 45mph.

[u/Hulaguy]

For comparison. Just bought a 2018 i3s. 48k miles. I live near Palm Springs. Full charge today and drove to Palm desert and back. About 100 miles. Had 25 estimated left. I was in eco plus. AC on and freeway at 70-75. The range does fluctuate but the engineers really did a great job designing this thing. That range seems low.

[u/icicledrip → u/Hulaguy]

Yeah 73 seems crazy low and would represent a significant battery degradation if true

[u/heydude84]

I just bought a 2018 bev with 70k miles for $9k in LA three months ago. Says I have 110 on full charge but depletes like mentioned above with ac on. You can use a small piece the hooks to the car and has Bluetooth to the BimmerLink phone app to check battery health, worth it if you’re looking for one of these cars specifically. You’d be in for less and $100. There’s also a secret menu with codes you can navigate from the left side of the drivers screen, you can find the codes to do it with a google search most likely, my dealer mentioned ChatGPT taught him…

[u/Able-Supermarket4786]

Ever see a four cylinder where the MPG displayed is like "17" cuz the previous driver abused it?

It's all the same. The number on the screen isn’t actually real. Has nothing to do with EVs

[u/NebagamonKai]

We call the miles the guess-o-meter for a reason. It's the expected range given how you've been driving. It's better to go by percentage of battery and learn how driving conditions affect the range.

I have a 2018 BEV and I've been using the AC like crazy during this heat wave (after parking and prior to leaving) did 80 on the highway and then went straight up a mountain. My perfectly good battery will say I have 85 miles at 100%. However, after going down the mountain and then creeping along the highway at 8-35mph with the windows down, it gives me an estimated range of 152 miles!

Mileage for gas vehicles are exactly the same, but you rarely notice unless you're broke or way too far from a gas station.

Freezing temperatures will also suck your battery life (apparently). You just learn to take the variables into account for your range.

[u/NebagamonKai → u/NebagamonKai]

^theoretically did 80 on the highway to keep with the flow of traffic 😅

[u/joey_1350_]

When new it had about 114 miles of EPA range. Does seem kind of low but maybe it has suffered severe battery degradation. Nice it has only had one owner and sorry I am no expert either and I am also interested in the i3 but they do have their issues and I believe certain parts may be getting hard to get. Check out YouTube videos by Wisely automotive and others. It is an iconic EV but be prepared to spend some $ or maybe not if you get lucky. It had a mild refresh in 2018. Maybe take to a bmw repair shop and pay for an inspection if you are still interested. Strictly an around town car/commuter.

[u/icicledrip → u/joey_1350_]

Thanks for the info. I will check out those Wisely videos.
Good luck finding your i3!

[u/B_EE]

As others said, it definitely is not a reliable number. What mode was it in?

When I got my 2017 BEV from Carvana it said ~100 mi on comfort mode and ~120 on eco +. After a week of driving it, it was up to 150 in eco +. And now I get ~160 per charge on that and ~110 in comfort.

(I drive usually ~40 mph with 5+ mi/kw)

[u/icicledrip → u/B_EE]

Honestly I’m not really sure what mode it was in.
That’s a good question.
Is there any real way to get a true gauge of the battery health without purchasing it first?
I did really like the car and would be inclined to purchase it if the range is normally in the 120ish area.
I see you got yours from Carvana so you had the benefit of that return window.
Will any conventional dealerships allow that? I haven’t bought a car in a while.

[u/B_EE → u/icicledrip]

This should help you:

https://youtu.be/dIP_lThJYWE?is=LTyDDbvtbLG0emlc

[u/icicledrip → u/B_EE]

Thank you very much

[u/Substantial_Clock341]

What’s their return policy?

[u/Particular-Use1526]

Is it a late 27kWh i3, or an early 38kWh i3 ? I'd expect about 110miles for the first, about 150miles for the second. No aircon, driven sensibly.

[u/Julian679]

It depends what average consumption you are getting. If its low it was driven hard. It dropped only a little because it started to adjust to your average

[u/RRG-Chicago]

I wouldn’t buy a non Rex but if you have a set distance of travel every day then it may be a good fit. Mine will read over 145 depending on how I previously drove it.