[Hansell]

Originally Posted by marsb007

Apparently my car thinks I'm an asshole...

I have eco pro on, and don't floor it from stops or anything since I'm still breaking in the car. Ohh well. I'm curious how bad my range will be if I just leave it in comfort mode.

[Ghanziang]

Since the car only displays range, is it possible anywhere to see the actual available charge? Is the range different due to my driving, environmental (temperature) or just the last time I drove the car? I have been right at 16miles when I pull out of the garage lately, but sometimes I will get only 15, or as much as 17.

G.

[gnessel]

Originally Posted by marsb007

So everything that I've read so far states that this car should be getting about 20 US miles of range on electric. We all know that's also probably BS...

BUT...

On a Full charge in the morning, my car has always shown 13 Miles of range, and that's with me not even rolling out of my driveway. I've only had the car for 2 days...

Suggestions?

As background, it's charging on a level 2, maximum rate. My charger reports approximately the same range. I do all preconditioning with the car hooked up.

I just expect the car to at the very least lie to me and start off with 18-20 miles off the bat. Then go ahead and tank it..

It depends on how you drive it while in electric mode. Here's how to know:
?Put car in ECO PRO mode
?Put eDrive into Max eDrive
?change display to MPG on dash. (This will actually show miles per Kw in this mode.)

When I picked up my car, it showed 1.8. After a month of driving, mostly locally, it now shows 2.3 and my fully charged range is 16 miles.

Hope this helps.

Pic of mine in Bluestone Metallic with M Sport package:

[jukkha156]

Originally Posted by gnessel

It depends on how you drive it while in electric mode. Here's how to know:
?Put car in ECO PRO mode
?Put eDrive into Max eDrive
?change display to MPG on dash. (This will actually show miles per Kw in this mode.)

When I picked up my car, it showed 1.8. After a month of driving, mostly locally, it now shows 2.3 and my fully charged range is 16 miles.

Hope this helps.

Pic of mine in Bluestone Metallic with M Sport package:

Stunning looking 530e. Love the lighting of the colour indoors.

[SteveinArizona]

I started at 11 and I am now usually getting 16 miles after a charge.

Currently I have been driving in adaptive mode with auto edrive. Occasionally, on the way home if I am doing local streets I sometimes shift into max edrive for the rest of the way home. Doing mostly local driving but also some 20 miles trips (my commute when I go to the office is 20 miles of mostly highway driving) I currently show slightly more than 50% tank full with 320 miles driven.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by gnessel

It depends on how you drive it while in electric mode. Here's how to know:
?Put car in ECO PRO mode
?Put eDrive into Max eDrive
?change display to MPG on dash. (This will actually show miles per Kw in this mode.)

When I picked up my car, it showed 1.8. After a month of driving, mostly locally, it now shows 2.3 and my fully charged range is 16 miles.

Hope this helps.

Pic of mine in Bluestone Metallic with M Sport package:

This post makes the most sense I've read on EV range. A "miles figure" based on 'average' consumption.

Like the potential range for a 12 gallon tank of fuel at 30mpg is ~360 miles, at 20mpg is reduced to ~240 miles.

[Ghanziang]

@gnessel I picked up my car in the exact same spot. Also bluestone metallic. I think they did a better job of delivery on your car, mine still had inventory stickers and someones Hershey's kiss wrappers in the cup holder. :-( This did wash it, as it was still dripping wet when I received it.

Back to this thread, the average range calculation does make sense. I will try the eco pro -> max drive -> display change to see how I do.

G.

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

I started at 11 and I am now usually getting 16 miles after a charge.

Currently I have been driving in adaptive mode with auto edrive. Occasionally, on the way home if I am doing local streets I sometimes shift into max edrive for the rest of the way home. Doing mostly local driving but also some 20 miles trips (my commute when I go to the office is 20 miles of mostly highway driving) I currently show slightly more than 50% tank full with 320 miles driven.

Started, as a new car at 34 km from dealer, now I am usually no more than 25-27 km full charge.

[ZigmundUK]

Originally Posted by marsb007

... 20 US miles of range on electric. ...

US miles

[Krazee-Eyez Killa]

Very interesting to hear, I have ordered a 530e and love to hear what typical range is like on full electric.

[TopgearLA]

I think BMW has caught wind of all our posts. The 530i is now cheaper to lease and purchase according to this months offers.

[MXNSITH]

Originally Posted by TopgearLA

I think BMW has caught wind of all our posts. The 530i is now cheaper to lease and purchase according to this months offers.

My first 'week' with the car I was consistently at 12 miles out of the driveway. Preconditioning helps a lot. After 5 days of a constant 48 mile round trip commute it now shows 20 miles backing out of the driveway. This morning I got to my destination with 16 miles used on gas and 11 miles left electric. Overall I'm very pleased but I've also only had the car since Dec 29th.

I use the OEM charger as my daily level 1 and use Eco Pro on eDrive while using the Nav in both directions. I set the ACC to 75 mph and nearly the entire commute is on the freeway.

[MontyP]

Interesting to read the experience of others with respect to electric range. I have now had my 530e for one year and am very pleased with it overall (leaving aside issues with the Connected App which are unrelated to the car itself).

I was at the dealer for the car's first service last month and the sales rep asked me how I like the car. My only real "complaint" was the electric range. Before I bought the car I read a lot of reviews that talked about electric only range of 30 miles which sounded great. In fairness to BMW Canada, the information they published listed the electric range as 24 kms. As my daily commute to work is approximately 11 kms each way I envisioned commuting on electric power alone. Alas that has never happened. Firstly, even on the warmest summer day with no pre-conditioning (which definitely drains the battery) my car has never showed more than 22 kms of range. Secondly, I have never come close to 22 kms of electric only driving - my best being approximately 17 kms.

The actual electric consumption appears to be affected not only by temperature (which significantly reduces the battery's range) but also traffic. For example, driving to work last week when the temperature was relatively mild and traffic very light, I started with 18 kms of range (after pre-conditioning with the car in a garage) and got to work with 5 kms of range remaining. This morning, when the temperature was lower and traffic heavier, I left with 15 kms of range and had zero range left at least 1 km before I got to work.

I tend to drive in the Auto eDrive mode.

As I said to the sales rep, if BMW was able to increase the battery size to give me another 10 kms of actual range I'd be ecstatic.

On a positive note, my fuel costs are significantly lower than any of my previous BMWs (my last being a 750Li) although I have not tracked the additional cost of electricity. Furthermore, the car's range on the highway is excellent. We have a cottage in Quebec (about 530 kms from home) and my one concern was being able to get there without having to stop for gas. I am pleased to report that the car drove from home to cottage with 70+ kms of range remaining (and this on a 40 litre tank!).

[oogie_m]

I picked up my car March 2018 and at the time a fully charged battery showed a range of 13 or 14 miles. Daily driving in the summer (38 mile round trip, 85% highway) with preconditioning in the summer yielded up to 20 miles of range on a full charge, but 19 miles was the normal day-to-day number. At one point I got it up to 21 miles on a full charge. I didn't do anything special to get this. I just drove the car at the default setting until all the electric range was gone and then switched it to sport mode. This would normally yield 2 miles of EV range to get home from the freeway exit.

I slowly started getting more conservative with the driving to maximize my fuel mileage. Eco Pro mode every time, really babying the throttle, etc. Ironically the EV range started dropping when I started driving this way. By October, my max range was 15 miles on a full charge. So as an experiment, I started driving "normal" again from November onward and the range has crept back up (16-17 miles). I'm assuming higher temps in the spring or summer will yield 18-19 miles on a full charge.

Just something to consider for folks that may obsess over this detail. Oh and the range reading is totally inaccurate. When I got the 21 miles reading, it already went down to 20 miles by the time I pulled out of the garage, and down to 19 miles by the time I turned the corner.

[jwong77]

I don't see any option to precondition the battery on the BMW Connected app. Is there an option somewhere in iDrive to precondition the battery?

[MXNSITH]

Originally Posted by jwong77

I don't see any option to precondition the battery on the BMW Connected app. Is there an option somewhere in iDrive to precondition the battery?

It's actually climatization along with a departure time.

From the home screen click Charge & Set Climatization. Next screen set a departure time and scroll to the bottom. Enable climatization.

Basically your car will now set the temperature of your car off AC so you don't use the battery at the first part of the drive to set the climate.

[MontyP]

Pre-conditioning refers to the pre-conditioning of the car rather than the battery. It is the same as the Climatize option. You can set the car to warm up or cool down prior to departure. Using the pre-conditioning feature drains the battery it appears even if your car is plugged in.

[lnaukkar]

Originally Posted by jwong77

I don't see any option to precondition the battery on the BMW Connected app. Is there an option somewhere in iDrive to precondition the battery?

530e doesn't have preheating for the battery like i3. Only way to pre heat the battery is to set it charge it right before you leave. However that's not really that convenient and I have always had it set to charge right away. So, you either have a garage and the battery is sort of heated up or you don't and it isn't.

However, preconditioning the cabin uses battery energy and it causes car to start charging, so all that heats the battery if only by a little.

[jwong77]

Thanks all, I think I misread oogie_m post. I thought I read that he preconditions his car battery, thus he gets 19-20 miles of ev range on his car. I think he just meant to say that despite preconditioning his car, he still gets 19-20 of ev range on his car.

All I can say about my car is I've never seen it post any ev range higher than 16 miles. It would be nice to get 19-20, but I guess it's not possible.

[MXNSITH]

Originally Posted by jwong77

Thanks all, I think I misread oogie_m post. I thought I read that he preconditions his car battery, thus he gets 19-20 miles of ev range on his car. I think he just meant to say that despite preconditioning his car, he still gets 19-20 of ev range on his car.

All I can say about my car is I've never seen it post any ev range higher than 16 miles. It would be nice to get 19-20, but I guess it's not possible.

That's a bummer. Again this morning I backed out with 19 on the dial. The app seems to be off though. It showed 21 which got me excited until I jumped in the car.

[SteveinArizona]

Drive like a hypermiler and you will see higher numbers. But why buy a BMW if you are going to drive like a hypermiler?

[BMERevs]

Originally Posted by Chem14

For some reason if you precondition it drops the range to 13 instantaneously. It then has to charge back up to 18-19 miles. I am not sure why the instant drop? I could understand if the range drops as it warms up the car and battery, but instantly??

If I don't pre condition, mine usually has 18-19 miles of range. Not sure if the variability is due to the weather?

My 530E went to service for a "engine warning" and tech said car need software update, since my range in the charging screen changed from 17/19 to 13/14 any thoughts ??