I had one and severely miss it. Well, I don’t miss the one I had but I miss the EV part of it.
I had a 2015 BMW i5 which apparently that and the 2014 models had a whole host of problems, especially if you were like me and had the range extender which was basically a small motorcycle gas engine seated in the back and could be used to charge the battery. Being BMW’s first generations, it’s not too much of a surprise that they’d have issues but there was more beyond those like the small form tires that didn’t last long, were rare, and expensive and the 12v battery which was also expensive, rare, and difficult to replace…
Beyond all that, I just miss the simplicity and the feel of the EV drive. Stepping on the accelerator and you feel it accelerate. It has much lower maintenance, with the only trade off being that tires usually don’t last as long as an ICE because the battery adds so much more weight and the battery replacement can be pricey. But other than that, no oil changes, no transmission worries, no smog checks, no needing to let the car warm up…just hop in and go. I also miss the charging aspect of it. Sure, it sucked not having the same range as a gas/hybrid where I now get about 500 miles on a full tank, but I actually liked going to charging stations and just sitting there while my car charged. I also liked the price difference, so much cheaper. I also liked that I could be lazy. I didn’t have to “fill up” when I was tired on my way home or early the next morning because I would charge at home and have a full “tank” to use the next day.
I only got rid of the i5 because of the host of problems and got a hybrid instead which has been fine and a better car in many ways, but I still long to go back. I’ve been thinking very strongly about going and trading in for an EV each weekend that passes by. I’ve been researching possible EVs to go to and have a few in mind I’d like to check out now that the prices are way down.
I had one and severely miss it. Well, I don’t miss the one I had but I miss the EV part of it.
I had a 2015 BMW i5 which apparently that and the 2014 models had a whole host of problems, especially if you were like me and had the range extender which was basically a small motorcycle gas engine seated in the back and could be used to charge the battery. Being BMW’s first generations, it’s not too much of a surprise that they’d have issues but there was more beyond those like the small form tires that didn’t last long, were rare, and expensive and the 12v battery which was also expensive, rare, and difficult to replace…
Beyond all that, I just miss the simplicity and the feel of the EV drive. Stepping on the accelerator and you feel it accelerate. It has much lower maintenance, with the only trade off being that tires usually don’t last as long as an ICE because the battery adds so much more weight and the battery replacement can be pricey. But other than that, no oil changes, no transmission worries, no smog checks, no needing to let the car warm up…just hop in and go. I also miss the charging aspect of it. Sure, it sucked not having the same range as a gas/hybrid where I now get about 500 miles on a full tank, but I actually liked going to charging stations and just sitting there while my car charged. I also liked the price difference, so much cheaper. I also liked that I could be lazy. I didn’t have to “fill up” when I was tired on my way home or early the next morning because I would charge at home and have a full “tank” to use the next day.
I only got rid of the i5 because of the host of problems and got a hybrid instead which has been fine and a better car in many ways, but I still long to go back. I’ve been thinking very strongly about going and trading in for an EV each weekend that passes by. I’ve been researching possible EVs to go to and have a few in mind I’d like to check out now that the prices are way down.