# Cabin fever, nails in tire, and Autopilot



## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

Feeling a little cabin fever, I was thinking about driving to the Mississippi casinos in Tunica. But I picked up at least two nails on the worn front tire making it unrepairable. Expected, I was planning to replace the front tires and ordered a replacement pair. So I switched to the backup, BMW i3-REx. A nice car, the 4 hour, 234 mile trip each way is not a problem except no BMW AutoPilot.

The BMW is a joy around town and pretty good on the highway. The MagicEye, dynamic cruise control works nicely. But without lane keeping and lane changing, it becomes another, long distance drive. So I've decided to wait for the new tires. AutoPilot takes so much of the burden so I can enjoy the trip.

In a couple of weeks, the Martin Luther King holiday will be here, Jan 18, and I can get a low room rate. The Christmas/New Years surge will have abated (or sent them home.) So the options:

direct to GoldStrike - the limit of current range, modest speeds makes it possible.
SuperCharge Tupelo MS or Memphis TN - either works with Tupelo being midway.
SuperCharger Athens AL - pretty close to Huntsville, a 'topper' charge going West and a stretch headed home.
Winter weather and winds will be the determinant.

Bob Wilson


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## Needsdecaf (Dec 27, 2018)

I'd go a lot of places these days before I went to a casino. Good luck man. Wear a lot of PPE. I'd wear one of these. https://microclimate.com/pages/air-detail

But 234 miles in an i3 REX? Do you just drive it on the petrol / generator mode most of the way or do you stop to charge? That's about twice the range of a REx, right?

I love the i3 and almost got one. But my daily drive is minimum 90 miles and frequently more and I didn't want to be firing up the generator every day. Plus, it's a bit tiny with all the bro dozers around here. Really the last nail in the coffin is the impracticality of the rear coach doors. I have a very narrow garage and two kids. We had an i3 loaner for a weekend and getting them in and out was a PITA. You had to open both doors, stand in the space between the car, wall, and doors, and then close the doors, in order.


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## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

Needsdecaf said:


> But 234 miles in an i3 REX? Do you just drive it on the petrol / generator mode most of the way or do you stop to charge? That's about twice the range of a REx, right?



Anything beyond EV range requires the REx. Mine is coded so I can start it early and run the tank towards dry. My benchmarks of CCS-1 charging between Huntsville and Nashville, ~120 miles, costs $24 in EV charges from EVgo and Electrify America versus $6 in gas. I only charge when taking a biology break or overnight.

My 2014 BMW i3-REx range:

*~72 mi EV*
~78 mi gasoline (after coding 78 mi * 2.3/1.9 ~= *94 mi gas*)
By using the gas, range extender, I can drive 70 mph, 24x7. It runs about 39-40 MPG.

Bob Wilson

ps. I have to use ~ 1/4th of the 72 miles, 18 miles, in EV mode before enabling the REx. My electronic tank limit is also coded for 2.3 gallons versus the original 1.9.


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