Hybrids!

[andys]

First day report on this, and it's not a positive one. BMW said, and it's been trotted out by each review, that the range of the latest model is around 36 miles, up from the 25 miles of the old model. My 3-4 day commute is 12 miles each way, so allowing for exaggeration I expected maybe 26-27 miles, enough to get me to work and back. So I was a bit taken aback to unplug this morning to read "Battery 100% - Range 25 miles" Set off and by the time I got out of my village, less than a mile at 30mph, it was down to 21 miles. So what did it it do on a completely full charge? 16.4 miles!
It's a nice enough car and eerily quiet (even when the engine kicks in), but bloody hell I thought VW were the master shysters when it comes to falling short of marketing claims.

 

[chriscroft]

I know the ambient temperature plays a big part in battery capacity/range; and also the all the extra power draw from lights & heat demands are relevant at this time of year; but why would a manufacturer manage customer expectations so poorly
Did you, by chance, have the car in Ludicrous/Insanity/F1 performance driving mode

 

[andys]

I know the ambient temperature plays a big part in battery capacity/range; and also the all the extra power draw from lights & heat demands are relevant at this time of year; but why would a manufacturer manage customer expectations so poorly
Did you, by chance, have the car in Ludicrous/Insanity/F1 performance driving mode

It was in the most low key electric-only mode, though the predicted range at startup stayed the same as I cycled through modes. I had the climate control set to Eco and drove smoothly with no hard acceleration, in fact most of the journey was a continuous 30-40 mph traffic stream. The heated seats were not on, though the auto lights were. I agree that ambient temperature will have an impact, which is why I was prepared to give them a break on about 10 miles, but it was hardly cold today, 4-6 degrees during the journey. What's it going to be in freezing conditions with the heated seats on and stop start traffic? 10 miles?
I've always reckoned on knocking off 15-20% from manufacturers' fuel economy claims, but less than half really is taking the p£ss and I'll kick up a fuss if it doesn't improve.

 

[chriscroft]

So does the electric propulsion motor drive through the traditional torque convertor gear box like the ICE petrol engine?

 

[andys]

So does the electric propulsion motor drive through the traditional torque convertor gear box like the ICE petrol engine?

On this model, yes. Don't get me wrong, it's a great drive train in use and it really was virtually impossible to tell when the engine kicked in on the way home in hybrid mode without looking at the dash gauge. I've charged it again tonight and will see how it goes tomorrow, and Sat will be a 230 mile drive in hybrid mode so I'll see what sort of mpg that gives.

 

[RattyMcClelland]

Wrong time of year for it. You will never get 30miles out of these hybrid/petrol batterys. Using the heater in the morning saps 5 miles of range immediately.
I have many customers with BMW hybrids and all get about 15miles in the winter and 25in the summer.
Battery's need to be around 20-25deg c to reach optimal efficiency. When it's close to 7 degrees outside it takes energy to heat up mass metal and your cabin.

 

[andys]

Wrong time of year for it. You will never get 30miles out of these hybrid/petrol batterys. Using the heater in the morning saps 5 miles of range immediately.
I have many customers with BMW hybrids and all get about 15miles in the winter and 25in the summer.
Battery's need to be around 20-25deg c to reach optimal efficiency. When it's close to 7 degrees outside it takes energy to heat up mass metal and your cabin.

I know all this, however BMW made a big fuss that this brand new version has a bigger battery than the ones you’re referring to, which do indeed get 15-20 in the winter and 25 in the summer, yet it seems the range is the same despite this increased capacity

 

[andys]

So second day I got 19.1 miles, a bit of an improvement. The only thing I changed was the steering, I had set it to sport as I dislike over light steering (one of the few things I really don’t like about the T6) which gave it a nice heavy unassisted feel. Oddly though, the manual says this uses more power, which seems counterintuitive but there you go. Whether this really gave me 2.5 miles range is doubtful but I didn’t change anything else, more likely to be temperature difference though.
I then deliberately didn’t put it on charge as I wanted to see what mpg hybrid mode would do on a longer journey. Yesterday I did 211 miles, mostly motorway with about 8-9 miles pottering in traffic going to the shops and pub. Absolutely stoked to see this when I got back


47.4mpg is way more than I thought , couple this with the slightly cheaper price of petrol which equates to almost half a mpg and it’s only 10% less on the same journey than the diesel car it replaced. The 9.3 miles at the bottom is the distance on this journey it was able to run on electric scavenged during brake/slowing recuperation which has contributed to the fuel economy. So lower electric range than expected but higher petrol fuel economy, swings and roundabouts.

 

[chriscroft]

So if it can achieve that sort of mpg, most of which will have been travelled when the battery capacity pre-charge has been used; the electric only range is kind of secondary?
Looks like these engines do make sense after all.

 

[andys]

So if it can achieve that sort of mpg, most of which will have been travelled when the battery capacity pre-charge has been used; the electric only range is kind of secondary?
Looks like these engines do make sense after all.

Just to clarify that was with absolutely no pre-charge, it was left empty from the previous day.Though in my case the range isn’t secondary, most of my working days I’m only commuting 25 miles a day, and I’m sure its fuel economy on that journey would be nothing like that. At the end of the day it isn’t a special new engine, it’s a 320i with an electric motor and a big hefty battery attached.

 

[BAZT6]

Thats not bad MPG for a car as big as 3 series BMW thats loaded up with a fair bit of extra weight, batteries, motor and relatively old tech engine. The BIK seems to be the clincher with these cars. Bit like when they wanted us to all drive diesels then put fuel prices up and now trying to put them off the roads. Baz

 

[andys]

A quick update after a week of use. It seems I jumped the gun a bit on criticising the range, it’s almost as if it’s loosened up with a few miles and after 16 the first day and 19 the second, it’s not dropped below 20 miles. It is certainly affected by temperature but oddly it’s best day before today of 23 miles was on the coldest day of the week when it was -2C here. It was a bright sunny morning though and the auto lights were off which I think was a a major factor.
Today though... 27 miles with 2 miles of predicted range left when I got home! Very happy with that, and maybe it’ll keep improving

 

[andys]

Apologies for the non T6 stuff, but don't read it if it's not of interest.

So here's a longer journey again, this time with a full charge the night before. 203 miles, predominantly motorway, with several 50 mph zones and one long stationary period due to an accident tailback, along with approx 20 miles of ordinary 30-40 mph roads with moderate traffic. The 50.8ml at the bottom is the distance travelled on electric power, almost exactly a quarter of the total, about half of which was from the overnight charge and the other half from recuperation. This means that the 55.3mpg is not a true reflection but I can correct for that.

The 25 miles due to the charge cost approx £1.73, equivalent to 1.42 litres of petrol at the 121.7p a litre I paid yesterday.
203 miles at 55.3 mpg means I used 3.67 gallons, or 16.67 litres. Add that to the 1.42 litre equivalent from the overnight charge gives 18.09 litres or 3.98 gallons.
Dividing that out gives 50.96 mpg, less than 2 mpg lower than my previous diesel car would do the same journey, close enough to the same as far as I'm concerned, so the BIK saving of £180 per month, rising to £250 next April is all cash in my pocket.

It will not suit all driving circumstances though. If you go over the charged capacity, or don't plug in at all, and do mainly town driving using only the petrol engine then it returns mid to high teens mpg! For that type of driving this wouldn't make any sense, I've never been able to get any recent diesel car below 30mpg no matter what so I still think the ultimate version of this would be using the 320d engine rather than the petrol. Anyway I won't update this again unless something changes significantly, hope the information helps someone decide if PHEVs are for them.

 

[jimmyjames]

I think most miss the point with Hybrid cars becasue they are blinded / fleeced by the media. They are more polluting than a diesel car in its lifetime due to the heavy chemicals and processes going into making the batteries. I won't be swapping to anything other than diesel until a reasonably priced hydrogen car is produced. Saying all that the Beemer is a lovely looking car

There is such a thing as cleaner diesel but despite me trying to get the information to the media they are not interested. Google GTL diesel fuels, its used a lot in europe but nobody has heard of it over here because the government is only interested in getting more revenue from fleecing us into new, so called eco vehicles.

The company i work for are in the prcess of converting gas to hydrogen for domestic heating in the UK which basically removes the carbon before the end user. The carbon is stored in the old disused oil fields for safe keeping and the hydrogen reserves will be kept in natural salt caverns. My point is good stuff is happening but Hybrids are not one of them. Each to their own and all that and its just my humble opinion.

 

[andys]

I think most miss the point with Hybrid cars becasue they are blinded / fleeced by the media. They are more polluting than a diesel car in its lifetime due to the heavy chemicals and processes going into making the batteries. I won't be swapping to anything other than diesel until a reasonably priced hydrogen car is produced. Saying all that the Beemer is a lovely looking car

There is such a thing as cleaner diesel but despite me trying to get the information to the media they are not interested. Google GTL diesel fuels, its used a lot in europe but nobody has heard of it over here because the government is only interested in getting more revenue from fleecing us into new, so called eco vehicles.

The company i work for are in the prcess of converting gas to hydrogen for domestic heating in the UK which basically removes the carbon before the end user. The carbon is stored in the old disused oil fields for safe keeping and the hydrogen reserves will be kept in natural salt caverns. My point is good stuff is happening but Hybrids are not one of them. Each to their own and all that and its just my humble opinion.

I completely agree with you, I'll openly admit that I'm doing this for financial reasons and not for any belief that this is environmentally better.

 

[jimmyjames]

@andys fair play bud, sadly i think a lot of people go into these types of vehicles with eyes firmly shut though which is saddening. I live and breathe renewables for a living so am firmly aware of most new technologies out there. The GTL would have been a real game changer as we would have maintained the low diesel c02 but with a massive chunk shaaved of the Nox emissions in town and cities. Genuinely the best of both worlds, saving the general publics respiritory systems and the ozone layer too.

 

[andys]

@andys fair play bud, sadly i think a lot of people go into these types of vehicles with eyes firmly shut though which is saddening.

As I mentioned, I firmly believe that this car should be running a diesel engine, and if it wasn't for the vastly overblown and misinformed backlash caused by the stupidity of VW, it probably would have. As soon as the tax laws turn against this type of vehicle I'll be out like a shot. Though having said that, I'm only a few years off retirement so not going to be my concern then.

 

[jimmyjames]

That was blown out of all proportion too. My T4 smokes like hell under load (age related bless her) but not at all under test conditions becasue the ecu injects fuel under load to deliver the power which cannot possibly be done under test conditions. All car manufacurers do it beacuse its how diesel engines work, VW were just made a scapegoat and seem to be the only one the reputation has stuck with. Its another con to get people out of the diesel cars the government talked us into all those years ago to boost car sales and the economy. Sorry, love my diesel cars and cant imagine getting anything else. I do however have an electric mountain bike and thats epic

Dont get me started on the global de-forrestation!

I will shut up now, i can feel my blood pressure rising lol

 

[Dannyb6467]

Forgetting the tax and supposed environmental benefit, electric cars go like stink!!
Cant wait to get one.
Don't get me started on electric bikes though......

 

[andys]

I've just realised I've had this car a year now so I thought I'd summarise how this generation of hybrid tech does.
In a nutshell, it does 29 miles on a charge in summer and a low of 23 in the winter. Having heater/lights etc makes a lot less difference than you'd think, but preheating the car before setting off (while plugged in) will knock 5-8 miles off the range. Once the battery is depleted, I get around 40 mpg, though this can rise to almost 50 on the motorway, where the regen tends to have more of an impact.

I'm the perfect use case for this car as my normal place of work is exactly 12 miles away, meaning that I can often run Mon-Fri on electric power only, with the rest of my mileage being almost entirely motorway. My cost per mile has been significantly below my previous diesel and hugely less than the petrol, though this has not been exactly a normal year.

So far, been worth it financially, even without the massive tax break. Utterly forgettable car though, I hope to never own another BMW or Audi again, unless I can find a nice nick E39 or relive my younger days with an E46 M3.