Introducing the BMW X5 xDrive40e Plug-In Hybrid (updated w/ US specific details)

[jarunis]

Originally Posted by ex-expats

I too have an X4 40e and the time to charge is now down to about 2.5h on an L2 charger...which also nets out to 7.x kWh of capacity or so. Has anyone figured out the way to check the current battery status (i.e., how many cycles, and what is the current capacity of the pack remaining) similar to checking a phone or laptop LiON battery pack? There has to be a way. When I ask BMW I just get...um well, we'll replace it when it fails with no indication of how that is determined (also not delineated in the battery warranty)...

Thanks.
ex

Interested as well. Following

[jarunis]

Maybe will help somebody.After replacing and coding DCM module car (X5 F15 40e) become alive , but eDrive and engine could not start and no errors or messages on ISTA. Solved when show room mode was disabled on ISTA

[tiger02]

We just took delivery of a 39k mi 40e for my wife. So far so good! I'll be back with plenty of questions.

[imkazaam]

Originally Posted by Andy_Kay

New user on here, but had my 2016 40e for just over a year and still loving it


360 cam, pan sunroof are the highlights

We're normally 95% electric only as we do short journeys. Still getting about 16-17 miles from a full charge.
It's done 102,000 miles but I think the previous owner mainly did petrol-only journeys. I think the odo on BMW Online showed it had done only 3,000 miles on electric when I picked it up last year

Beautiful car! Still loving it?

[bk335ilci]

Originally Posted by prodogs

advice on best engine oil for X5 40e?

I am wondering also? Stay with 0 20w?

[david_594]

Originally Posted by bk335ilci

I am wondering also? Stay with 0 20w?

This might depend on your driving style. Short trips and mostly on electric then 0w20 may be better. Most of your driving with the engine fully warmed up/longer trips then 0w30.

Over 4 years(and 95k miles) with our 40e and still loving it.

Finally needing to replace the brakes on it.
And 2 weeks ago an abrupt rear air spring failure.

[bk335ilci]

Originally Posted by david_594

This might depend on your driving style. Short trips and mostly on electric then 0w20 may be better. Most of your driving with the engine fully warmed up/longer trips then 0w30.

Over 4 years(and 95k miles) with our 40e and still loving it.

Finally needing to replace the brakes on it.
And 2 weeks ago an abrupt rear air spring failure.

How is the hybrid battery holding up ? What type of range you getting on electric?

[david_594]

Originally Posted by bk335ilci

How is the hybrid battery holding up ? What type of range you getting on electric?

No obvious issues so far. It doesn't seem like I've lost any obvious range with the EV battery. Maybe 10% at most?

I would say we have probably averaged 1 charge/discharge cycle of the battery in the time we have owned it.

[travellingkiwi]

Originally Posted by david_594

No obvious issues so far. It doesn't seem like I've lost any obvious range with the EV battery. Maybe 10% at most?

I would say we have probably averaged 1 charge/discharge cycle of the battery in the time we have owned it.

1? In 4 years? or 1 per day?

I have a 2017 40e. Originally a Japanese vehicle, I bought is in Auckland in Dec '22 with 77k km on it.

Now up to 82k km and yes it's lovely, although it's an elegance and not an MSport. The comfort seats & comfort access with surround cameras (Spec'ed by the original owner) almost make up for it

I charge mine every evening, for free courtesy of the local power company free power from 21:00 to 23:59 daily.

What I would really like is upgraded batteries... As would everyone who has one I guess. Oh, and a better display of WTF it's doing... I want to see battery %'ge, range on batter, range on petrol, etc all at once in the dashboard display. Not some vague single parameter at a time like the person who thinks capacitive touch is better than physical buttons when driving... person...

[AtomicRob]

Newbie here, figured I'd say hello and add my xDrive40e experiences to the thread. I bought mine used in 2020 and it's been my (almost) daily driver since, with a few long road trips as well.

For most of my daily driving around town, it's short trips and all battery. I rarely use gas. I really prefer driving electric because it's essentially silent, and the pedal response is just different/better compared to gas IMHO. Instant, silent torque is nice!

If I had to regularly make long trips or a long commute I'd want something with more range. Of course vehicles like that already exist although everything is a tradeoff between cost, luxury, size, etc.

I do wish it could start up in Max eDrive mode by default. Many times I have forgotten to switch that, and notice the ICE switching on a few blocks later... 30 seconds before I arrive at my destination...

[T_N_C]

Mine starts up with “Max eDrive” by default, what does yours start up with??

[SK40e]

Hey All,
Super new owner of a 2016 40e owner.

Couple of questions - when the charger is connected to a working outlet, the power and power fault lights both light up. second image shows the charger plugged into the car. The dash inside displays the cable symbol in amber.
Charger is a Delphi rated 120/12 AMPS(with an "i" on the front).
Could it be a faulty charger or incorrect one?
What do I have to set the charger setting on idrive? Think currently its set to the lowest.

Also, this is in a public garage. I did test the outlet with a hair dryer. It works. Also, have seen Teslas charging earlier. How can I confirm if its not the outlet itself? Can they block the socket for EV charging, Please help!

God bless!

[corduroy]

I've tried the parking garage at my work and it's so hit and miss whether the outlets will supply enough power for it to work. It seems that BMW (or the charger) is a little more finicky with the quality of the incoming power.

If I park on the 1st floor of my parking garage, I can get it to charge but it's not possible if I try to charge on the 5th floor. Those Teslas might be more hardy to accept more struggling power. I see a guy with a RAV4 prime at my work and he's only been able to get the basement and first floor to work as well.

[T_N_C]

BMW chargers with poor ground outlets will cause faults and is very sensitive to this.

[FREE100KSECRET]

Curious,

I am new owner of pre-owned X5 40E and although it charges up fully to 18 miles, it tends to drain even when X5 is not used for a week or more. Is this normal?

[corduroy]

Originally Posted by FREE100KSECRET

Curious,

I am new owner of pre-owned X5 40E and although it charges up fully to 18 miles, it tends to drain even when X5 is not used for a week or more. Is this normal?

I've had that happen when I had it scheduled to pre-condition in the morning. It would even drain the high voltage battery even in the afternoon when it wasn't supposed to pre-condition. As soon as I turned it off, I stopped having any high voltage draining. Seems like a glitch.

[bobdullin]

I have been told by my garage that I have to replace the electronic alternator on my 2016 X5 40 e. They are asking for 10 000€ to do the job. Is this a common fault and does the bill sound excessive? It does to me. Thank you for your feedback.

[FREE100KSECRET]

Curious, As a new owner of a 2016 40e I bought it when owner said it died and BMW wanted $5K to repair, so she decided to sell it cheap. It had a dozen fault codes and all related to low power which made sense since 12V battery went which is about normal for BMW batteries which go at about 6 years.

So I put in new 12V battery, registered it, and everything works except it won't start at all. Strange the starter does activate, but then stops before starting? It turns over for a second then stops, tach moves to 200 RPM, but it won't start. The engine malfunction is on display is on. Hybrid battery charges up to 18 miles but will not start in any mode. I get codes indicating short EME, DME, and EMU deactivated? Anyone ever have these issues when 12V dies. I see EME short can happen on cable under panel by the air compressor is located, so is this common issue as I see it has been reported to BMW.

Thanks,

[bk335ilci]

Originally Posted by FREE100KSECRET

Curious, As a new owner of a 2016 40e I bought it when owner said it died and BMW wanted $5K to repair, so she decided to sell it cheap. It had a dozen fault codes and all related to low power which made sense since 12V battery went which is about normal for BMW batteries which go at about 6 years.

So I put in new 12V battery, registered it, and everything works except it won't start at all. Strange the starter does activate, but then stops before starting? It turns over for a second then stops, tach moves to 200 RPM, but it won't start. The engine malfunction is on display is on. Hybrid battery charges up to 18 miles but will not start in any mode. I get codes indicating short EME, DME, and EMU deactivated? Anyone ever have these issues when 12V dies. I see EME short can happen on cable under panel by the air compressor is located, so is this common issue as I see it has been reported to BMW.

Thanks,

Did you replace both 12v batteries?

[FREE100KSECRET]

Originally Posted by bk335ilci

Did you replace both 12v batteries?

The aux battery was replaced before and holds charge with no issue. Checked several times, no drop in voltages.

Thanks,

[FREE100KSECRET]

Curious, anyone check their aux 12VDC batteries and found while engine not running and you have 14.93VDC voltage. That seems unusually high to me, so can this cause a no start issue and engine malfunction? I know low voltage causes many glitches and fault codes, so does a higher than normal voltage also cause EME and DME faults.

[Thecaptin121]

Hi all,

I got my BMW X5 40e in 2021 (3+ years ago), and I would like to share my review after using this car for this period.

First, I got the car with 30K KM on it, it was in near to new condition. The car was 100% free from any damage or previous car accidents (100% intact).

Feedback:

1. Electric mode: It's absolutely cool to drive quietly on eclectic mode only. Especially, when you are driving in cities in low speeds or in congested situations. Or when doing short trips around town.

2. The car does consume way less fuel in comparison to non-hybrid X5s, but not as advertised in the car manual

3. The car has what's so called "eBoost". Which when the electric engine jumps in to help the combustion engine when you accelerate. It gives this jumping feeling to some extend similar to one found in strong electric cars. However, this comes at the cost for some delay (also the turbo contributes to that), you'll always feel that there's a 1 sec (or a bit less) delay when you accelerate the car strongly.

4. The car HV battery is around 9KW (in best ~8KW chargeable, the rest is a reserve) which makes relatively OK to charge the car at home using 13A (~3KW) or 16A (~3.6KW). It needs between 2 to 3 hours to fully charge from empty. For me, now the battery capacity is around 6KW and it takes 2hours or a bit less to fully charge.

5. Battery capacity will depreciate continuously (as any battery) with usage and with time. As mentioned above, I am standing at around 6KW, which means I lost around 20% of the battery capacity. In simple numbers, I believe for the first 4-5 years of the car age (manufacturing date) you wont notice a noticeable range decrease. but after that I estimate that every year you will lose around 2KM of range. I started in 2021 with 24KM range, now I am at around 18KM range.

6. This car (as any other BMW) requires a lot of maintenance, it's expected to see an issue or two each year. I highly recommend getting a breakdown insurance with the car. For me it paid for itself. I had oil gasket leak when the car was 42K KM, then some suspension work (air suspension bags, and suspension front arms) on 45K KM, then fuel sensor and vapor relief valve issue at 55K KM. I didnt have a sever issue yet (car is at 62K KM) all issues seen practically can be ignored (even the leak, as it was like few drops per day).

7. In cold or hot days, when you need to run the climate control for either cooling or heating, that will eat up your battery and will degrade battery range dramatically to something like 10KM.

8. Keep in mind that the car is designed to work with an working HV battery, if the battery dies completely I dont believe the car will function normally, it will be much weaker. Remember that replacing HV battery is very expensive for the battery itself (~$8K) and for the labor (~ $5K-$6K). Refrain from getting this car if you get less than 15KM battery range.

9. When you are on a trip, and the HV battery gets empty after usage, the car feels weaker (when using combustion engine only) given its size and weight. Combustion engine power is around 250HP, and it wont feel as X5 anymore at this stage. Dont get me wrong, it is still strong, but not as X5 (35i or even 30i will be stronger in such case).

10. You can get a better performance and milage controlling the diving mode yourself (instead of the auto mode). Switching between "electric only" and "save battery" which doesnt use battery and also charges it. Depending on the conditions you are at (highway, traffic jam, ...etc.). By that you dont only get better performance and milage, but also you insure having some power in the battery at all times. While in "auto" mode, the car will always give priority to electric till it empties the battery (then it works to charge it). For example, if you are on a highway, the car will use the battery to drive, then when it's over, it will jump to combustion engine to drive and to charge, even if you are in the middle of a traffic jam at that stage. In this case, manually, it's better to put the car on "save battery" on the highway, and then switch to "electric" when you get to the traffic jam.

11. On long trips (100KM++) the car gives me around 18KM/L (5.5L/100km) if the trip is shorter you get a better milage making use of the electric availability, for around 50KM trips I get 25KM/L (4L/100KM). The longer the trip the worst milage you will get. For me the worst I got is 14km/L (7L/100KM) for around 300KM trip (remember, this comes with manual control of the driving mode, not sure if it will be the same on "auto" mode)

Final recommendation:

Get the plug-in hybrid X5s only if it's cheaper than fuel only alternatives (e.g. 35i, 40i, 35d, 40d). In my case, when i got the 40e, it was cheaper than 40i, 40d and 35d, and it was slightly cheaper (AFAIR, $1K difference) than 35i.
Otherwise, it doesnt worth the extra e-mode hassle IMHO.