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Can do a Durban return. Free charging via my solar business system and lifetime free charges at BMW charge points with one at Gateway soon. No services. No costs for 5 years. 8 year battery guarantee and every option from auto park to active cruise control.

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13 hours ago, SolarNoob said:

I bought an electric Zero motorcycle about 18 months ago. Enjoy it, you will never look back.

Also interested in these. What is the range and how much power do they take to charge?

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Author

Some user info on this incredible car.
First there are no fast DC chargers in KZN only the type 2 charger that can do 80% in around 3 hours.
The cars gps only shows one at BM in the Bellaire area. The one at SMG BMW Umhlanga opposite Gateway does not show.
There are 2 chargers coming to Gateway "soon".
Last Sunday did a Durban return from home in Eshowe. Travelled at 115kph in EcoPro mode with aircon running. Was raining a bit and needed wipers. Daytime running lights on the whole trip. Got to La Lucia mall having driven 130km and still 70km range showing. Lot of downhil initially from Eshowe helped.
Next stop was charger at SMG Umhlanga where we arrived with 28% charge.
Spent 1.5 hours shopping at Gateway and got back to the car with it at about 65%. I had set a pre-condition departure time as it was a very hot day so the car was cooled to 22°C waiting for us. It does this while on mains and saves batteries.
Two more stops in Durban and a lunch stop Umhlali area. Got into Eshowe on 5% battery after using the Rex for about 30km. Needed 3l petrol to fill. Aircon the whole way as was over 30°C day.
Overall I was seriously impressed. If BM had a fast DC charger or had spent a bit longer charging we would have not needed the rex.

Edit:- Total round trip of 285km and 3l petrol used. I charge for free from my business solar system.

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On 11/25/2016 at 4:46 PM, Gerald_db said:

Some user info on this incredible car.
First there are no fast DC chargers in KZN only the type 2 charger that can do 80% in around 3 hours.
The cars gps only shows one at BM in the Bellaire area. The one at SMG BMW Umhlanga opposite Gateway does not show.
There are 2 chargers coming to Gateway "soon".
Last Sunday did a Durban return from home in Eshowe. Travelled at 115kph in EcoPro mode with aircon running. Was raining a bit and needed wipers. Daytime running lights on the whole trip. Got to La Lucia mall having driven 130km and still 70km range showing. Lot of downhil initially from Eshowe helped.
Next stop was charger at SMG Umhlanga where we arrived with 28% charge.
Spent 1.5 hours shopping at Gateway and got back to the car with it at about 65%. I had set a pre-condition departure time as it was a very hot day so the car was cooled to 22°C waiting for us. It does this while on mains and saves batteries.
Two more stops in Durban and a lunch stop Umhlali area. Got into Eshowe on 5% battery after using the Rex for about 30km. Needed 3l petrol to fill. Aircon the whole way as was over 30°C day.
Overall I was seriously impressed. If BM had a fast DC charger or had spent a bit longer charging we would have not needed the rex.

Edit:- Total round trip of 285km and 3l petrol used. I charge for free from my business solar system.

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Nice. 

It might be worth-while to install some flexible solar cells on the roof, perhaps? Look at how the solar racers do it. 

  • 1 month later...
  • Author

Have had our i3 for 2 months now and driven 3100km pure electric and 360km of blended Rex and electric. Used about 14 litres of fuel in the range extender. All recharging from my business solar system.

587e2a4392ba3_2017-01-1613_03_38.jpg.2a7

Definitely makes my mates F-type look a bit small.


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  • Author

After phoning around (cos the SA i3's have not got charge stations loaded correctly - will be sorted 1 day) I find the only high speed CCS DC rapid charger in KZN at Supertech BMW Durban .....and... I kid you not...they have installed it in their showroom so there is zero access afterhours. WTF. These things cost R450k and are for a quick stop and go 50 minutes to full or 40 min to 80%. SA BMW dealers have no idea.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Author

6 days flat and my new Rolec 3-phase 32amp 22KW wall pod charger has arrived from the UK. The i3 94Ah has a max charge of 16amps 3-phase totalling 11KW so a bit future proofed.

aec627f2fe7a6832d9927a440d34f895.jpg

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  • Author

The reason electric vehicles as a rule have noisy brakes.....

20170207_190935.thumb.jpg.928932f2a47acb

Rust because we just hardly use them. Got to remember to hit brakes harder at intervals to try to keep them clean especially if the weather is wet. Regeneration is great and you rapidly get used to right pedal only driving.

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Just now, Gerald_db said:

The reason electric vehicles as a rule have noisy brakes.....

20170207_190935.jpg

Rust because we just hardly use them. Got to remember to hit brakes harder at intervals to try to keep them clean especially if the weather is wet. Regeneration is great and you rapidly get used to right pedal only driving.

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Most vehicle's brakes do that if they're not driven often ;)

Quick question, does yours make any noise when you drive? I've read somewhere, that in the USA, electric vehicles cause most deaths on the road, since the blind can't hear them coming. So they need to fit some noise making devices to them, even a "cow bell" could work. Just curious if it does come out with a suitable safety device from the factory. 

  • Author

Yes makes a pedestrian warning sound from an external speaker by default. Sounds like a noisy aircon.

Oh, that car is in daily use with disc looking like that. 4500km up in 11 weeks. Definitely not parked off.

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6 hours ago, Gerald_db said:

Rust because we just hardly use them.

In my experience there is just a massive difference between drivers when it comes to brakes, and I would expect that difference to be much more visible with an electric vehicle.

For example... I bought my present vehicle with just 42 000km on the odo (that's practically new as far as I am concerned). By the time it had 60 000km on the pads and disks were finished. I had no idea if it was the previous owner, myself, or the car. The car was still in service plan, so it took a bit of effort to find the right parts outside the dealer network (because the dealer wants 4 times more), but that is another story. That was 7 years ago. I'm now at 153 000km with plenty of use left on the current set.

In other words, my driving style probably gets double the mileage out of the same set of brakes :-) That same driving style only gets 30 000km out of a set of tyres though... so it's not all good :-)

  • Author

In other words, my driving style probably gets double the mileage out of the same set of brakes :-) That same driving style only gets 30 000km out of a set of tyres though... so it's not all good :-)

Agreed. A friend and I bought the same model Prado. He needed new tyres at 32k and I got 128k out of the exact same tyres. I kid you not.

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  • Author

Got tired of the 14 hour slow charge so imported a 3-phase 22KW commercial office/hotel charge unit from the UK. Installed behind my business and pumping electrons into the i3 perfectly. I am loading it on Plugshare as a commercial charge point @R20/hour so that it is a legit business expense. The weak UK £ made it cost only R7500 inc courier and import vat.

2017-02-13 16.50.24.jpg

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