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When we [Ars Technica] reviewed the BMW i3 back in 2014, the little rear-wheel drive city car left us quite impressed. However, the i3 has always had a couple of flaws in comparison with other electric vehicles out there; it costs too much and the range isn't very good, even if you go for the optional two-cylinder range-extending engine. It appears BMW has decided to address the latter issue, because from this summer the i3 will now come with a 33kWh battery in place of the current 22kWh unit.
[...] The new battery is 50 percent bigger, so more than 100 miles (160km) should be possible on a full charge. The gas tank for the range extender engine will also grow by 25 percent; expect to stop for gas every 75 miles if you try road-tripping. These range tweaks should help boost the i3's appeal, but before long the Bolt and Model 3 are going to make people expect 200+ miles from their EV as a bare minimum.
Happily for existing (and even potential) i3 owners, BMW says that current i3s can have the new battery retrofitted as part of a special program, although no one is saying anything about how much that might cost yet. Again, this kind of thinking is a promising sign for an industry that's never really considered upgrades as important. Tesla has excelled at pushing out new functionality to owners across the world on a regular basis, with both software upgrades and hardware retrofits, offering a better battery pack for Roadster owners in the past and underbody "armor" for the Model S fleet.
Tesla has shaken up the car industry with its award-winning electric vehicles (EVs) and supercharger network. Nearly every major brand now offers EVs or is seriously planning to offer them. A couple like Nissan and BMW have begun to build out their own charging networks. But this article highlights another way in which Tesla has re-invented the car: it gets better after you've bought it, through over-the-air software updates and battery retrofits that dramatically improve your EV's range. Will this upgradeability prove to be the "killer app" of the EV?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RedBear on Tuesday May 03 2016, @12:59PM
That is interesting. So far it's only been Tesla that was offering battery upgrades to customers with older cars like the Roadster. The auto industry really doesn't know what to do with EV buyers. Half the market for EVs want an EV that can be upgraded over time with a bigger battery for more range, and they even expect the manufacturers to develop and provide these upgrades. We can see that the technology is still in its infancy and is improving quite rapidly. Nobody wants to buy a car that's going to be totally lame with half the range of what new EVs will have within 3-5 years. But the automakers are all like, "You want us to do what now?" They have little interest in doing warranty repairs and recalls, much less doing anything to make an old car better than it was when it was new. They are used to making their money by selling people brand new cars.
On the other hand, Tesla has developed an extremely loyal following and an extremely enthusiastic future customer base because they've developed a reputation for taking care of their customers with awesome software and hardware updates that can make your car better over time. And they started with awesome range to begin with. The 3.0 upgrade for the Roadster gives it, what, over 400 miles of range? They're the only company that presents an image of truly believing in the potential of EVs and the importance of getting off oil for personal transportation. I get the feeling that if the other automakers want to develop such brand loyalty in the EV market they'll have to embrace a slightly different way of doing things. Because there are a lot of signs that battery technology is going to continue to advance for at least a couple of decades, and lots of folks are hesitating to buy EVs due to fears of poor resale value and non-upgradeability. Any brand that can convince people that they'll be taken care of will have an edge in capturing EV market share.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 2) by mmcmonster on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:55PM
Actually, Tesla has been offering battery updates to Model S owners as well. It's just not advertised as much, and even Musk was discouraging it.
See the second paragraph under 90 kWh Pack here: https://www.teslamotors.com/blog/three-dog-day [teslamotors.com]