Should there be a custom eDrive mode on the 530e?

Mcmanus1806 · 03-22-2019, 08:29 AM

So I have had the 530e for about 4 months now and I do regularly charge it, it gets supposedly 18 miles from a charge but I am lucky to get 12 with normal driving.

You have the 3 options, Auto eDrive, Max eDrive and Battery Control.

The issue with Auto eDrive is that the speed that it will automatically change over to petrol is 58mph, which means all the 40mph and 50mph drains the battery completely before you even get into a town. Normally I will get 1 way and have 0 charge left which means returning all petrol.

I was messing about with the settings and believe it would be best to have a custom eDrive so I could set the max electric speed to 38mph so that all of the accelerating is done via the battery, and long continues roads above 40 are done with battery control.

I tried doing it manually and after a 60mile round trip (very hilly) I managed to squeeze 45mpg and parked back up at home with 6miles electric range left for my journey later as supposed to 0.

What's your thoughts?

SteveinArizona · 03-22-2019, 10:18 AM

I have a few thoughts.

First, I believe (but have no specific proof) that BMW allows some of the excess battery capacity when you have reached "0" or "---" to still be available for boost.

Second, it is my understanding that using the car to charge the battery is not efficient. If your concern is having boost all the time, just set battery control to 20 or 25%.

What I tend to do is drive in auto mode. If I am doing local driving, when I am toward the end of my errands or trips, I check the remaining mileage on my gauge and will sometimes switch to max edrive to use up the remaining electrons before I get home. Currently, I am at 720 miles since I last filled the gas tank and have approximately 3/8 of a tank left. I am usually the first one away from a stop light so the mpg is not a reflection of hypermiling (unless one redefines hypermiling to mean leadfooting).

Incidentally, my 530e doesn't switch to the ICE at 58 mph. I drive roads regularly that have faster speed limits and I don't see the car switching to the ICE at that speed. I had my car coded and one of the codes was for the Alpina display. That gives me a tach even if I am driving in max edrive (where the tach is, of course, useless) but loses me the electron gauge (mine shows the miles remaining at the bottom of the gauge but the gauge is actually showing the engine oil temperature). So I can see when the ICE cuts in since the Tach will jump up.

Your proposal is interesting and I would like it. I have read a number of car reviews in the last number of years and one of the reviewer complaints about BMWs has been the complexity of the driver choices. So I think BMW has to try to walk a line between maximum options vs. simplicity. For me, I have found that most of the time it makes sense to let the car figure out what it should do [I might add here, in case it is relevant, that I drive almost entirely in adaptive mode).

***Gnome*** · 03-23-2019, 03:36 PM

Disclaimer, I have dynamic dampers so I have the additional adaptive mode.

In my car the max electric speed starts at 65mph when in Auto edrive and have sufficient battery. But it changes depending on the roads when I am also in adaptive mode. I've seen the max electric speed go as high as 100 on long downhill freeway stretches. Come to think of it, I haven't checked to see what it does in comfort or eco pro.

It also drops to 45mph when I just have a little juice. This is when the power meter also indicate max on battery is 15% instead of 40%.

In Max edrive the max electric speed starts at 80 and the max power on battery is 60% before engine kicks in.

For me, the most efficient seems to be just leaving it in auto Edrive. Unless I am pushing it I will get a pure 16-17 miles on electric, and up to 22-23 total electric with regen. I have a long commute and some stop and go or coasting can regenerate a bit even after main storage is used up.

From my hypermiling days in a Prius plugin, the most efficient use of battery is moderate freeway traffic going 40-45 mph. That will get the most miles on electric. Any faster and the wind resistance cuts down efficiency quite a bit.

My commute starts with a fast 15 mile freeway stretch at 70-80 mph. At first I tried using Battery Hold to save the battery for the later, slower parts. That was a Prius strategy. But I've found that leaving it in Auto edrive the car seems to know what to do and I get the same result. Yes, this car is better than a Prius in many ways...

Krash7172 · 03-27-2019, 08:12 PM

Yes, we should have a custom edrive mode. Other manufacturers are doing it. Having said that, I think they did a great job with auto and I haven't really changed modes since I first got the car a year ago.

This is a bit difficult to explain but my understanding is that when the battery gauge reads "---" , there is a bit reserved for eboost but also hybrid driving (just like a non-plugin hybrid). The only thing disabled is fully electric driving. I recall the image that shows power flow indicating that power was coming from both sources. They way I've explained to people is that if I plug it in, it drives like a Tesla. If I don't, it drives like a hybrid.

SteveinArizona · 03-28-2019, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krash7172

Yes, we should have a custom edrive mode. Other manufacturers are doing it. Having said that, I think they did a great job with auto and I haven't really changed modes since I first got the car a year ago.

This is a bit difficult to explain but my understanding is that when the battery gauge reads "---" , there is a bit reserved for eboost but also hybrid driving (just like a non-plugin hybrid). The only thing disabled is fully electric driving. I recall the image that shows power flow indicating that power was coming from both sources. They way I've explained to people is that if I plug it in, it drives like a Tesla. If I don't, it drives like a hybrid.

I actually have that IDrive display set as one of my memory buttons. From the Alpina display I can always see the tach and that will tell me when the ICE is running but the IDrive display will let me know if I am using one or the other or both.

But mostly I just use the tach.

Krash7172 · 03-28-2019, 01:08 PM

I played around a bit on my way to work and it switched from electric only to gas only at 70 mph. I had about 75% battery left when I got on the highway. Then something odd happened. It started using both gas with electric assist for a short period. I was driving 70-75 mph in traffic. I wasn't able to reproduce it.

Krash7172 · 03-28-2019, 07:05 PM

I saw similar behavior on the way home when I was sub 70 mph and battery was depleted. It went from electric only to gas only. At one point I saw electric assist but still don't know what causes electric assist to kick in. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about eboost. I was traveling at approx 40 mph in traffic.

jwong77 · 03-28-2019, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krash7172

I saw similar behavior on the way home when I was sub 70 mph and battery was depleted. It went from electric only to gas only. At one point I saw electric assist but still don't know what causes electric assist to kick in. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about eboost. I was traveling at approx 40 mph in traffic.

What is the indicator for when electric motor and gas motor are engaged at the same time?

Krash7172 · 04-01-2019, 03:55 PM

This screen...

SteveinArizona · 04-01-2019, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krash7172

This screen...

yes. And this is the screen for which I have used one of my memory buttons. So when I am in auto mode, I can always tell, if I care, which motor(s) are being used.

Krash7172 · 04-01-2019, 09:32 PM

But the point is that auto edrive is changing between single and dual motor operation when the battery is charged and when it is depleted. The original post is asking if we should have more control with a custom edrive. It's probably more complicated than most think but I would still like to have control of some basic settings.

03-22-2019, 08:29 AM	#1
Mcmanus1806 New Member 24 Rep 28 Posts Drives: Sapphire Black F36 420D Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: South wales iTrader: (0)	Should there be a custom eDrive mode on the 530e? So I have had the 530e for about 4 months now and I do regularly charge it, it gets supposedly 18 miles from a charge but I am lucky to get 12 with normal driving. You have the 3 options, Auto eDrive, Max eDrive and Battery Control. The issue with Auto eDrive is that the speed that it will automatically change over to petrol is 58mph, which means all the 40mph and 50mph drains the battery completely before you even get into a town. Normally I will get 1 way and have 0 charge left which means returning all petrol. I was messing about with the settings and believe it would be best to have a custom eDrive so I could set the max electric speed to 38mph so that all of the accelerating is done via the battery, and long continues roads above 40 are done with battery control. I tried doing it manually and after a 60mile round trip (very hilly) I managed to squeeze 45mpg and parked back up at home with 6miles electric range left for my journey later as supposed to 0. What's your thoughts?
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03-22-2019, 10:18 AM	#2
SteveinArizona Brigadier General 3086 Rep 4,210 Posts Drives: BMW 530e Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Greater Phoenix iTrader: (0)	I have a few thoughts. First, I believe (but have no specific proof) that BMW allows some of the excess battery capacity when you have reached "0" or "---" to still be available for boost. Second, it is my understanding that using the car to charge the battery is not efficient. If your concern is having boost all the time, just set battery control to 20 or 25%. What I tend to do is drive in auto mode. If I am doing local driving, when I am toward the end of my errands or trips, I check the remaining mileage on my gauge and will sometimes switch to max edrive to use up the remaining electrons before I get home. Currently, I am at 720 miles since I last filled the gas tank and have approximately 3/8 of a tank left. I am usually the first one away from a stop light so the mpg is not a reflection of hypermiling (unless one redefines hypermiling to mean leadfooting). Incidentally, my 530e doesn't switch to the ICE at 58 mph. I drive roads regularly that have faster speed limits and I don't see the car switching to the ICE at that speed. I had my car coded and one of the codes was for the Alpina display. That gives me a tach even if I am driving in max edrive (where the tach is, of course, useless) but loses me the electron gauge (mine shows the miles remaining at the bottom of the gauge but the gauge is actually showing the engine oil temperature). So I can see when the ICE cuts in since the Tach will jump up. Your proposal is interesting and I would like it. I have read a number of car reviews in the last number of years and one of the reviewer complaints about BMWs has been the complexity of the driver choices. So I think BMW has to try to walk a line between maximum options vs. simplicity. For me, I have found that most of the time it makes sense to let the car figure out what it should do [I might add here, in case it is relevant, that I drive almost entirely in adaptive mode).
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03-23-2019, 03:36 PM	#3
*Gnome* New Member 3 Rep 13 Posts Drives: 2019 530e Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: California iTrader: (0)	Disclaimer, I have dynamic dampers so I have the additional adaptive mode. In my car the max electric speed starts at 65mph when in Auto edrive and have sufficient battery. But it changes depending on the roads when I am also in adaptive mode. I've seen the max electric speed go as high as 100 on long downhill freeway stretches. Come to think of it, I haven't checked to see what it does in comfort or eco pro. It also drops to 45mph when I just have a little juice. This is when the power meter also indicate max on battery is 15% instead of 40%. In Max edrive the max electric speed starts at 80 and the max power on battery is 60% before engine kicks in. For me, the most efficient seems to be just leaving it in auto Edrive. Unless I am pushing it I will get a pure 16-17 miles on electric, and up to 22-23 total electric with regen. I have a long commute and some stop and go or coasting can regenerate a bit even after main storage is used up. From my hypermiling days in a Prius plugin, the most efficient use of battery is moderate freeway traffic going 40-45 mph. That will get the most miles on electric. Any faster and the wind resistance cuts down efficiency quite a bit. My commute starts with a fast 15 mile freeway stretch at 70-80 mph. At first I tried using Battery Hold to save the battery for the later, slower parts. That was a Prius strategy. But I've found that leaving it in Auto edrive the car seems to know what to do and I get the same result. Yes, this car is better than a Prius in many ways...
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03-27-2019, 08:12 PM	#4
Krash7172 Second Lieutenant 63 Rep 236 Posts Drives: 2018 530e, 2020 X4 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	Yes, we should have a custom edrive mode. Other manufacturers are doing it. Having said that, I think they did a great job with auto and I haven't really changed modes since I first got the car a year ago. This is a bit difficult to explain but my understanding is that when the battery gauge reads "---" , there is a bit reserved for eboost but also hybrid driving (just like a non-plugin hybrid). The only thing disabled is fully electric driving. I recall the image that shows power flow indicating that power was coming from both sources. They way I've explained to people is that if I plug it in, it drives like a Tesla. If I don't, it drives like a hybrid.
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03-28-2019, 01:08 PM	#6
Krash7172 Second Lieutenant 63 Rep 236 Posts Drives: 2018 530e, 2020 X4 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	I played around a bit on my way to work and it switched from electric only to gas only at 70 mph. I had about 75% battery left when I got on the highway. Then something odd happened. It started using both gas with electric assist for a short period. I was driving 70-75 mph in traffic. I wasn't able to reproduce it.
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03-28-2019, 07:05 PM	#7
Krash7172 Second Lieutenant 63 Rep 236 Posts Drives: 2018 530e, 2020 X4 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	I saw similar behavior on the way home when I was sub 70 mph and battery was depleted. It went from electric only to gas only. At one point I saw electric assist but still don't know what causes electric assist to kick in. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about eboost. I was traveling at approx 40 mph in traffic.
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04-01-2019, 03:55 PM	#9
Krash7172 Second Lieutenant 63 Rep 236 Posts Drives: 2018 530e, 2020 X4 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	This screen... Attached Images
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04-01-2019, 09:32 PM	#11
Krash7172 Second Lieutenant 63 Rep 236 Posts Drives: 2018 530e, 2020 X4 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	But the point is that auto edrive is changing between single and dual motor operation when the battery is charged and when it is depleted. The original post is asking if we should have more control with a custom edrive. It's probably more complicated than most think but I would still like to have control of some basic settings.
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