[mrlaws]

Hi all, this is my first forum post and I'd like to discuss my first impressions after having picked up a 2022 530e LCI in Skyscraper metallic gray (idrive7) with comfort+tech packs. I will also go over the driving modes and answer any questions for those looking to buy the hybrid. My comments refer to the LCI model as I have limited experience of the pre-LCI model, I also live in the UK so some of my comments may not be applicable to NA.

Having owned the car for 3 weeks now, it is my first hybrid car, coming from F16 X6 and there are a few observations that I have made.

Information for those who do not know about the driving modes

- When driving in hybrid (default) mode, the car utilises either electric or petrol power. The rev counter is replaced by a power meter, usually up until 40% of power, the car will be in electric-only mode, if the power meter goes past 40% the car will start the engine and you will drive using petrol. The POWER meter indicates how hard your foot is on the accelerator/gas. Or, if you go over a certain speed i.e. 60mph/100kmh the car will switch to the gas-powered engine. If the car becomes low on battery or runs out of battery it will limit the electric power output, until you eventually run out of electric and the car will be forced to run on petrol. But, through regen braking, it will add some electrons into the battery and you may be able to use spurts of electricity again.

The second mode under hybrid is hybrid eco pro, it introduces coasting when the foot is taken off the accelerator, whereas in normal hybrid this action would bring regenerative braking. (Note that the car has no option to change the level of regen braking, however changing to sport mode will maximise the level of regen braking, hybrid is somewhere in between and hybrid eco pro, there is no regen braking due to coasting, except for when you brake which will start to regen brake)

- Under sport mode there is 3 different modes, Normal sport, xtraboost, and sport individual. Normal sport is just sport. Under xtraboost, maximum engine performance is combined with maximum electric performance. Under this setting, you will achieve the greatest performance from the car, which will provide up to 10 seconds of electric boost. Under sport individual you can individually change the options for steering, suspension, engine, transmission to your preferred setup.

Observations

Switching between electric and the petrol engine is seamless, BMW has done a great job of hiding the transition to the point that you almost don't feel it, but you still do of course, but it's nearly perfect.

Under my personal use case for the car, driving in Central London where it is highly congested, my avg. speed has been a whopping 7mph since I have owned the car, and the electric range has been quite underwhelming. While I fantasised about the idea of an electric range of 30 miles, I would probably be happy with 25 miles, but on a full charge, the display usually reads 20-22 miles which reduces by 2 miles when AC is turned on. Granted, my trips are usually only 1-5 miles each time, which is most likely not enough to reach operating efficiency temperatures for the battery. In reality, I can achieve an average electric range of 13 miles shown on the iDrive after the complete depletion of the battery to 0%.

I attribute the poor range figures to the lower temperatures (averaging 6-7c/43f where I live) and the nature of my super short journeys. I believe turning the AC off would also increase the range by 10% at a minimum, turning the music off would also contribute.

Under my situation, I cannot plug in at home and benefit from cheaper kwh rates, only charging at points on the street which range from £0.55 - £0.67/kwh.
Having done a few rough cost calculations I'm still on the fence about whether it's actually cheaper or not to run the charge the car or just not plug in. These cost calculations are for the UK.

PETROL
Fuel tank size 46L // 46L = 10.11 UK Gallons
Avg. price of petrol in UK is 140p = £64.40 for a full tank
Avg 35 mpg (high?) = theoretical 354miles on full tank of petrol alone
Avg 30 mpg (medium) = theoretical 303miles on full tank of petrol alone
Avg 25 mpg (low) = theoretical 253miles on full tank of petrol alone
Considering the median 30mpg, for every £1 = 4.7 miles

ELECTRIC
11kwh usable (I have fully charged 11.09kwh on one occasion where the battery was fully depleted)
Under assumption of 20miles full electric range
If avg price/kwh is £0.50 (the situation in the UK)
Full charge = £0.50x11 = £5.50 + charging associated fees = £6.00
Meaning for every £1 = 3.3 miles

Of course, these are very rough calculations and the figures can fluctuate significantly if there are higher or lower efficiencies both ways, i.e. with 40mpg/20mpg or 15/25 miles of electric range. But the way I see it, it's either break even, slightly cheaper or slightly more expensive. There is little incentive to purchasing a hybrid vehicle, at least in the UK if you are unable to charge at home, which many many people are still unable to do. Simply, the infrastructure for electric vehicles is not there yet.

Thus electric and petrol consumption are very similar at 35mpg. Note petrol consumption will be higher in cities but lower on motorways (increased mpg) this relationship is inverted when talking about electric, usually they are better in the cities and worse at high speeds.

I also find it annoying that I'm unable to choose a driving mode where I can drive on petrol alone to reserve battery, my reasons for this are, that I may be driving in a traffic-free zone where I would prefer to drive on petrol power to preserve the battery for when I will be in stop-start traffic, where driving in electric mode will be much more efficient than on petrol, if I had ran out of electric. This has happened on a few occasions where I had completely depleted my battery before arriving to my destination and would encounter stop-start traffic where I'd be driving on petrol alone, but not less than 10 minutes ago I was driving at 30mph on electric on clear roads.

My semi-solution for this is to set sport individual settings all to comfort par engine for sport which will maximise regenerative braking and drive on petrol alone, (car will move off on electric up until about 2mph, which is good I think, to save fuel) although, the problem with this solution is that the engine is in sport meaning the revs are always held higher, which is not optimal if you are trying to maximise fuel consumption and efficiency from your vehicle. Not to mention that consistently switching backwards and forwards from hybrid/electric mode to sport mode can be tiring.

Some may mention utilising the battery control mode, but I have also attempted this and have a few observations. The battery control mode can maintain the level of charge in the battery at levels including 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% This means that you can tell the car to maintain a specified percentage of battery, and it will use up the electric until the level set, and stop there, where it will run on petrol alone. If the car is fully charged and you set it to 100% from the very beginning, it will not use any electric.

It can also utilise the petrol engine to recharge the battery at the expense of fuel as gas consumption skyrockets, i.e. if your SOC was 26% and you set the battery control mode to 80%, the car would run on petrol alone, and charge your battery back up to 80% and stop there.

The problem is that if your SOC was for example 72%, and you set it to 60%, The car does not attempt to maximise the 12% of the remaining electric range that it has, rather it still tries to use it up as quickly as possible, regardless of the situation if you are in traffic or not. The battery management system in hybrid mode always looks to deplete the battery almost as fast as possible.

The last option which I have been using is the paddle shifters whilst in hybrid mode. By shifting up or down whilst in hybrid mode, the engine will turn on and you can drive by the engine only until a few seconds of not shifting where it will swiftly revert to electric power. This seems like the most feasible solution that there currently is, but, I still prefer to drive in automatic mode rather than shifting manually.

The solution: I wish there was an option to change the parameters including speed and power for when the engine kicks in, i.e. instead of default 60mph/40% power, you could change it to 20mph/20% power. Or, a button somewhere on the steering wheel to toggle between electric/petrol power. Keep in mind that the car rarely uses both at the same time, (only when providing xtraboost where the accelerator is pummelled with the leg) it is either electric or petrol.

Another complaint is the navigation system on BMW, under hybrid eco pro mode, the car uses navigation data from iDrive for when you input a destination, the car will attempt to calculate the best time to use electric or petrol. It will almost always attempt to deplete the electric range by the time that you arrive at your destination. The problem here is that if you have multiple destinations or you cannot charge at your destination, the next journey or on the way back, you will have no electric range left. There is no way to let the system know that you will make a round trip, it doesn't account that it's a vehicle and has to do more than one point A to point B destination in its lifetime. Also, BMW navigation is not the best, I'd much rather use google maps or Waze which does not work with the optimised navigation system. (I wish Waze would show up on HUD btw)

Out of the G30 lineup, my pick would be the 545e which has the 3.0 b58, I regret that I did not spend a little extra to purchase this vehicle, with the engine's reliability and smoothness, it's the top choice in the bracket. I also wish for a higher electric range, I understand that the new G60 530e has a 100km electric range (likely 80km in the real world) due to the larger 22.1kwh battery pack. Although, the problem there is that it is an eyesore.

Thank you for listening to me rambling on, I'm not sure if this information is useful to anyone or not, but I feel that there were several questions that I had before buying the vehicle for which I could not find answers until I bought it myself.

[Johnny Grabble]

Originally Posted by mrlaws

There is little incentive to purchasing a hybrid vehicle, at least in the UK if you are unable to charge at home, which many many people are still unable to do. Simply, the infrastructure for electric vehicles is not there yet.

Very useful write-up - thank you. To the point you make above, most of these plug-in hybrids in the UK went to the company car market because of company car tax incentives (much lower rates for plug in hybrids than pure petrol or diesel cars) by far outweigh the penalty of higher fuel consumption. Colleagues of mine that now run G30 and G31 530e models (and who used to run various F10 & F11, G30 & G31 diesels) never put them on charge unless at home because - as your calculations also assert - the electrons are more expensive than the octane molecules.

[Volasko]

Originally Posted by mrlaws

I also find it annoying that I'm unable to choose a driving mode where I can drive on petrol alone to reserve battery, my reasons for this are, that I may be driving in a traffic-free zone where I would prefer to drive on petrol power to preserve the battery for when I will be in stop-start traffic, where driving in electric mode will be much more efficient than on petrol, if I had ran out of electric.

If you put the car in the battery control mode through the EV button, you can force the car to maintain a level of charge for when you want it, selectable as a percentage of total charge. Hope this helps.

[jeep]

Originally Posted by Volasko

If you put the car in the battery control mode through the EV button, you can force the car to maintain a level of charge for when you want it, selectable as a percentage of total charge. Hope this helps.

This or you can also put the car in Sport mode and the petrol engine will keep running.

[dishank_patel15]

Really helpful information @mrlaws!! Honestly, its not rambling at all... I am actually, thinking of buying G30 530e 2019+ MY. However, my mind is fluctuating between Lexus IS300h, 530e or 520d MHT . As I work in Warwick and live in Leicester (commute 50 miles), but have to commute only 2-3 days on-site, rest of the days mostly my driving is around city (cause of Indian family...lol). Any suggestion or any other car option I could go for???

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by jeep

This or you can also put the car in Sport mode and the petrol engine will keep running.

You would use Battery Control Mode to maintain a state of charge. Sport mode is all about keeping the engine awake to reduce the delay in starting it up. It doesn’t mean the engine will be used to charge the battery.

[capese21]

If you use sport mode the engine runs more so the traction battery isn't depleted.

[lemos]

do you use GPS for all of this? maybe with the car knowing in advance what you're doing, it will help it be more efficient ?

[FrostNixon]

Originally Posted by capese21

If you use sport mode the engine runs more so the traction battery isn't depleted.

Biggest issue is it stays in higher RPM, which increases the consumption, also makes it very throttle sensitive.

[capese21]

You can alter the setting for sport in the individual menu so keep the engine on more but have standard settings. Its a way of making the car use the engine more if you want to preserve the battery rather than using the battery up first.