New Take On Small Batteries

I just returned from a 700 mile round trip, and I charged at mostly 50kW chargers. Only once did I need to wait on another car to charge, and several were free to use. I'm sure this will change over time, but for now I am enjoying the availability of these lower powered chargers.

Now I am not saying that road trips are a joy with a small battery, but it isn't as bad as I expected.

 

Honestly 140+ miles of 70mph highway driving is completely possible if the battery chemistry was updated like the 2019/2020 i3s to NCM 622. These days it's in the 811 and 9-0.5-0.5 variety.

If there were more charging forecourts like Gridserve, I'd be happy to go long distances with the SE.

 

Not an uncommon range in my 2021 SE during the summer, using cruise control on the freeway.

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Jul 14, 2022 at 18:12 ** 80.6°F ** Wind: 11.185 mph from SE ** Humidity: 59% ** Driven: 89 Mi ** Start-Batt: 100% ** End-Batt: 45% ** Mi / kWh: 5.6 ** GOM Reading: 45 Mi ** Range Left: 72.83 Mi ** Total Range (From 100% charge): 161.83 Mi ** Total Range (From 100% charge): 161.84 Mi

 

The Hummer is a dud from a road trip perspective. 9500 lbs, 200 kWh pack, awful efficiency. The Lightning and Rivian are very competent road trippers.

The sedans (and some SUVs) with 100+ kWh really shine for trips. I think even the BMW iX will put down 350 miles at 70 mph.

 

For me and the late Colin Chapman, weight is everything, so my SE's small battery is a pro, not a con.

 

Absolutely! Slowing down to 55mph on the highway is also an option.

Most of the DCFC network in my area is 50kW and the 350kW chargers get throttled in the cold to 44kW so effectively making it $1.6/kWh (pay by the minute conversion).

 

Region dependent. Driving a small car 55 mph on 75-80 mph posted roads near me is risky.

 

not just charge time but also sheer bloody weight. That Hummer EV needs to be outlawed. Just because it’s an EV doesn’t mean it’s “green” the entire exercise is to lower energy consumption as a whole. Something that it doesn’t do… there is causing more damage on the road and to already crumbling infrastructure. I asked this question to a GM rep from Corporate and got a blank look

that being said the SE needs a battery in the mid 40kwh and it will be perfect. There is lots of FUD in that article but the current SE was never sold as a long distance cruiser either. I’m sure BMW toyed with limiting the output of the motor but they had a goal in mind to keep it close to a ICE Cooper S. I have both and the SE is the better car. If you look at similar cars in its class they’re all much much slower.

It was being sold as a city car or second car. It’s also based on some pretty old tech EV wise. Reliable but still sorta old. The new SE will absolutely have a larger battery a more powerful motor.

After reading comments here about daily drive distances it seems the problem aren’t the cars but rather people enjoy living an hour from work

 

The problem with small batteries is expecting them to be normal cars with the current infrastructure. An honest 25% range bump would go a long way to smooth over that. Basically the best i3 pack crammed into the SE.

Many routes near me are impossible or completely impractical with the current battery. I could get somewhere but not back. Others require driving 20mph under on a busy single lane road. Some routes suggest going 15mi out of the way to charge, wasting another 15mi getting back on track. Most require 100% charging wasting even more time. In all of those cases the only charging option is one or two regionally managed 50kw stalls that you better hope are in service. None of this works so you are pretty much required to have a second car with more range.

 

There could have been an easy 20-30% capacity bump by going to NCM 622 (120Ah i3) over 333 (94Ah i3 wound jelly-roll or 60Ah i3 paper-ream). I suppose jelly roll sounds more appealing than flattened toilet paper roll.

 

lobby for better charging infrastructure

 

This is the problem with a BEV using an existing ICE platform but I have a pretty good idea why they didn’t give a capacity bump was because of corporate pettiness. Why buy an i3 when you could get a Mini.

That being said the current SE is at the end of its life and I expect the new model to have major gains. So sitting here arguing why BMW didn’t do this or that 5-6 years ago is a bit silly

 

I hope the 10-pound, 110-mile, solid-state, aftermarket replacement traction battery for my SE doesn't cost as much as I paid for my SE.

 

Seems easy enough. I think you are on to something.

 

Where do you live where it’s so bad? USA I guess ? If so I don’t understand the logic behind having a crappy network. Oh yea….

 

It will come right after fusion! Just a few years away …… for the last 50 years

 

Network reliability is huge, especially if you have to rely on a particular DCFC station along the way with no viable alternative within 50 miles. I'd rather have a proliferation of 50kW DCFC stations than a few 350kW ones. All the Teslas hog the 50kW free DCFC because they don't want to pay over $1/kWh (when converted by $/min) supercharging in the cold.

 

If the MINI fusion pack comes first, I won't wait for the solid-state LiIon battery.

 

I personally haven't found a major difference in range going 70 mph versus 55 mph, on hour-long drives. I think atmospheric conditions are more of a factor.