2016 xdrive40e giving only 7 to 8 miles on max-edrive

[spulukuru]

i just bought a used 2016 xdrive40e with 30k miles on it and still under factory warranty.
I am unable to get 400 miles on the gas tank so that's less than 20mpg. this is on auto edrive with no charge.
Even with fully charged and climatizing before driving i am getting no more than 8 miles on max-edrive. This is just city driving in plano, tx. no freeway driving. My office is less than 7 miles and the battery is almost drained out by the time it reaches office. its shows 2-3 more miles on dashboard for the electric miles, when i reach office. when i take it out in the evening I don;t get those 2-3 miles and its already switching to auto-edrive in less than a mile.

do you guys think this is an issue with battery? everything i have read so far tells me i should be able to get atleast 10 to 12 miles. My car is kept in garage at home and office so its not trying to cool down the car in this hot weather. or the outside weather is too hot to get anywhere near the 14miles advertised.
The car drives real smooth and I liked the fact that it can give around 10 to 12 realworld electric miles and is sufficient for me to drive back and forth from office without the ICE kicking in. but it doesn't even last one way drive of less than 7 miles. also i looked at the blink charger at office. it took over an 1.5 hours for fully charging it back and i got charged $3.6. and then the charge lasted for a little more than my drive back home. that's less than 10miles. why pay $3.6 for electricity if i can pump gas for $2.5 that will give me twice the miles.

is this something the bmw shop should be able to take care as the car is under warranty or just another crappy purchase at on hand that i need to live with. I never drove a bmw before so i like the drive and the smoothness of the drive.

My cars
2011 Acura RDX -- more spacious
2015 Odyssey EXL. -- too spacious.
and i love both of them. but BMW is BMW

appreciate your help.

thanks,
srinivas

[-c-]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

i just bought a used 2016 xdrive40e with 30k miles on and still under factory warranty.
I am unable to get 400 miles on the gas tank so that's less than 20mpg. this is on auto edrive.
Even with fully charged and climatizing before driving i am getting no more than 8 miles on max-edrive. This is just city driving in plano, tx. no freeway driving. My office is less than 7 miles and the battery is almost drained out by the time it reaches office. its shows 2-3 more miles when i reach office. when i take it out in the evening I don;t get those 2-3 miles and its already switching to auto-edrive in less than a mile.

do you guys think this is an issue with battery? everything i have read so far tells me i should be able to get atleast 10 to 12 miles. My car is kept in garage at home and office so its not trying to cool down the car in this hot weather. or the outside weather is too hot to get anywhere near the 14miles advertised.

appreciate your help.
thanks,
srinivas

Yea I get 26 to 30 mpg average and over 700 miles per tank and work 6 miles from work.


I'd get the dealer to scan the batteries. Otherwise you have crazy drag somewhere that's killing your milage. You driving with the Ebrake on? Lol sorry I kid.....

The only
Time I get much less range than the 12 to 14 miles is in the winter.

[spulukuru]

what is Ebrake? I do keep the AutoH on, the one that holds the brake automatically on at the stop light or when the speed gets to 0.
The electronic parking brake is not on during drive. not sure if you can even drive with the parking brake on.
I think I'll take the car to the dealer to get it checked out.

thanks

[jonboyglx]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

i just bought a used 2016 xdrive40e with 30k miles on it and still under factory warranty.
I am unable to get 400 miles on the gas tank so that's less than 20mpg. this is on auto edrive with no charge.
Even with fully charged and climatizing before driving i am getting no more than 8 miles on max-edrive. This is just city driving in plano, tx. no freeway driving. My office is less than 7 miles and the battery is almost drained out by the time it reaches office. its shows 2-3 more miles on dashboard for the electric miles, when i reach office. when i take it out in the evening I don;t get those 2-3 miles and its already switching to auto-edrive in less than a mile.

do you guys think this is an issue with battery? everything i have read so far tells me i should be able to get atleast 10 to 12 miles. My car is kept in garage at home and office so its not trying to cool down the car in this hot weather. or the outside weather is too hot to get anywhere near the 14miles advertised.
The car drives real smooth and I liked the fact that it can give around 10 to 12 realworld electric miles and is sufficient for me to drive back and forth from office without the ICE kicking in. but it doesn't even last one way drive of less than 7 miles. also i looked at the blink charger at office. it took over an 1.5 hours for fully charging it back and i got charged $3.6. and then the charge lasted for a little more than my drive back home. that's less than 10miles. why pay $3.6 for electricity if i can pump gas for $2.5 that will give me twice the miles.

is this something the bmw shop should be able to take care as the car is under warranty or just another crappy purchase at on hand that i need to live with. I never drove a bmw before so i like the drive and the smoothness of the drive.

My cars
2011 Acura RDX -- more spacious
2015 Odyssey EXL. -- too spacious.
and i love both of them. but BMW is BMW

appreciate your help.

thanks,
srinivas

I have a 2017 with just under 21k miles on it and have an 11 mile commute. In the morning I have about 50-55% remaining with a bunch of downhills.

At night I get about 11 cause i have to go back up the hills so I usually am right at my limit to make it on battery.

One thing I notice is that the heating the car is a major drag on the battery. My son likes to switch the rear climate to 85 degrees and I can see the difference. So make sure heat is not on in the car.

Also if you are making it to work with very little battery left and you do not charge at work, even if you have 15-20% battery the engine will come on right away. If you do a full battery discharge driving the engine will come on 7% and keep the battery level around that amount.

[spulukuru]

looks like 11 miles is a stretch for me. also I did try again today with preconditioning in the morning eventhough the car was in the garage. Its A/C not heat as we have a near 100F weather in Texas. Today i started at full charge and the Trip meter showed 14miles at start. by the time i reached office that's just under 6 mile. it was already showing only 3 miles left. and when i started back in the evening it showed only 1 mile and the engine kicked very soon within the 1 mile distance from house.

I think i'll take it to the dealer and have it checked it out. battery running at 60% of rated miles is not what i was expecting.
good thing I have 2 more days before i can return the car. if the dealer can't fix it its going back to carmax from where i bought it. no regrets about buying from carmax though. just bad luck i guess.

thanks for your inputs. appreciate the help.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

looks like 11 miles is a stretch for me. also I did try again today with preconditioning in the morning eventhough the car was in the garage. Its A/C not heat as we have a near 100F weather in Texas. Today i started at full charge and the Trip meter showed 14miles at start. by the time i reached office that's just under 6 mile. it was already showing only 3 miles left. and when i started back in the evening it showed only 1 mile and the engine kicked very soon within the 1 mile distance from house.

I think i'll take it to the dealer and have it checked it out. battery running at 60% of rated miles is not what i was expecting.
good thing I have 2 more days before i can return the car. if the dealer can't fix it its going back to carmax from where i bought it. no regrets about buying from carmax though. just bad luck i guess.

thanks for your inputs. appreciate the help.

Batteries are warrantied for 10 years 100k Miles, I guaranty something is amiss.

It's posable you just have a bad cell.

Either way the dealer will be able to confirm but something is off.

[chumbedi]

You should get the battery checked

[chumbedi]

You should get the battery checked, seems to be a problem with the battery.
Please keep us updated. Thanks

[sj22]

Rear climate accidentally turn on is a big one. I make it a point to check its off in idrive every day.

[gwes]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

looks like 11 miles is a stretch for me. also I did try again today with preconditioning in the morning eventhough the car was in the garage. Its A/C not heat as we have a near 100F weather in Texas. Today i started at full charge and the Trip meter showed 14miles at start. by the time i reached office that's just under 6 mile. it was already showing only 3 miles left. and when i started back in the evening it showed only 1 mile and the engine kicked very soon within the 1 mile distance from house.

I think i'll take it to the dealer and have it checked it out. battery running at 60% of rated miles is not what i was expecting.
good thing I have 2 more days before i can return the car. if the dealer can't fix it its going back to carmax from where i bought it. no regrets about buying from carmax though. just bad luck i guess.

thanks for your inputs. appreciate the help.

What kind of charger do you have at home? What percent is the car at after preconditioning?

gwes

[spulukuru]

ok its gone to the dealer for testing, The service guy tried talking me into accepting that 8 miles is normal on this car and, throwing hot weather in texas and other bs to say its working as expected. i asked him to show me a BMW site or link that says the car needed to be driven without ac to get the 14 miles out of electric.
seemed like, according to his arguments, the car needs to be driven in air conditioned environment to get 14 miles and not driven with air conditioning on. what BS.
will keep you updated what they come up with.

[gwes]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

ok its gone to the dealer for testing, The service guy tried talking me into accepting that 8 miles is normal on this car and, throwing hot weather in texas and other bs to say its working as expected. i asked him to show me a BMW site or link that says the car needed to be driven without ac to get the 14 miles out of electric.
seemed like, according to his arguments, the car needs to be driven in air conditioned environment to get 14 miles and not driven with air conditioning on. what BS.
will keep you updated what they come up with.

Both air conditioning and heating have an impact on the mileage, but I wouldn’t think it would be as much as you’re experiencing.
The car doesn’t need to be driven in an air conditioned environment to get 14 miles, but at 100F+ temps, this isn’t the typical scenario that BMW is referencing with their numbers - if the car was driven in cooler temps it’s possible you might have a different experience.
Driving style and road pitch will also have an impact on your battery - you could certainly get only 8 miles out of it if you’re driving like a race car driver up hill the whole way to work - although I don’t think there are any hills in Plano so that part probably doesn’t apply.
There are a lot of things that affect the mileage - something you might want to check is the actual percentage of the battery, because 2mi range may actually be 20-25% battery remaining, just based on your previous miles driven and mileage. Also, depending your home charger (120v or 240v) and how long you leave it after it finishes preconditioning from those 100F+ temps, you may not be leaving home with a full battery either.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by gwes

Both air conditioning and heating have an impact on the mileage, but I wouldn’t think it would be as much as you’re experiencing.
The car doesn’t need to be driven in an air conditioned environment to get 14 miles, but at 100F+ temps, this isn’t the typical scenario that BMW is referencing with their numbers - if the car was driven in cooler temps it’s possible you might have a different experience.
Driving style and road pitch will also have an impact on your battery - you could certainly get only 8 miles out of it if you’re driving like a race car driver up hill the whole way to work - although I don’t think there are any hills in Plano so that part probably doesn’t apply.
There are a lot of things that affect the mileage - something you might want to check is the actual percentage of the battery, because 2mi range may actually be 20-25% battery remaining, just based on your previous miles driven and mileage. Also, depending your home charger (120v or 240v) and how long you leave it after it finishes preconditioning from those 100F+ temps, you may not be leaving home with a full battery either.

The 40e doesn't charge at level 2, I have the level 2 at home and the 40e is limited to 120v

I know stupid right!

Also his numbers are drastically dismal. Even 100 degree heat here in Chicago I can still get 12 miles with max AC.

When it's working good it holds its own.
But his numbers make me think he's got a bad cell.
It can happen, my i3 was in getting service and a guy was their getting a new battery and had dismal milage and 2 out of the 8 batteries had to be replaced.

I'd get a clean bill of health from the dealer first. Take it to another dealer if they say all is normal as a second opinion just to be safe.

[gwes]

Originally Posted by -c-

The 40e doesn't charge at level 2, I have the level 2 at home and the 40e is limited to 120v

I know stupid right!

Also his numbers are drastically dismal. Even 100 degree heat here in Chicago I can still get 12 miles with max AC.

When it's working good it holds its own.
But his numbers make me think he's got a bad cell.
It can happen, my i3 was in getting service and a guy was their getting a new battery and had dismal milage and 2 out of the 8 batteries had to be replaced.

I'd get a clean bill of health from the dealer first. Take it to another dealer if they say all is normal as a second opinion just to be safe.

The 40e absolutely charges with a level 2 charger. The onboard charger is 16A/220V, this isn’t as good as a Tesla or other EVs which do higher amperage, but it’s still a L2.

If I use level 1 (120V) it takes 6-7 hours to fully charge and when preconditioning it will use up to 20% of the battery capacity, it just isn’t able to recharge fast enough. Using 240V I charge in about 2.5-3h and the car remains at 100% through preconditioning. What kind of charging time are you getting? Do you have the settings set correctly in iDrive?

That said, I do agree - it’s likely some type of battery problem.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by gwes

The 40e absolutely charges with a level 2 charger. The onboard charger is 16A/220V, this isn't as good as a Tesla or other EVs which do higher amperage, but it's still a L2.

If I use level 1 (120V) it takes 6-7 hours to fully charge and when preconditioning it will use up to 20% of the battery capacity, it just isn't able to recharge fast enough. Using 240V I charge in about 2.5-3h and the car remains at 100% through preconditioning. What kind of charging time are you getting? Do you have the settings set correctly in iDrive?

That said, I do agree - it's likely some type of battery problem.

Mine only allows for level 1 120v charge, my i3 gives me options for both.

Maybe because mines a 2016? Not sure .....

[gwes]

Originally Posted by -c-

Mine only allows for level 1 120v charge, my i3 gives me options for both.

Maybe because mines a 2016? Not sure .....

I think it’s just how the menus are on the X5 - you can’t set the rate for Level 2 charging, it will always charge at the maximum it can on L2.

You can however set the rate for Level 1 charging, which is what it’s presenting you with there.

It’s probably because the internal charger in the i3 is a 32A charger (I think) versus the 16A which the X5 has. In the i3 you can toggle between Max and Reduced which is probably just toggling between 32A vs 16A. The X5 is basically always running in the reduced option.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by gwes

I think it's just how the menus are on the X5 - you can't set the rate for Level 2 charging, it will always charge at the maximum it can on L2.

You can however set the rate for Level 1 charging, which is what it's presenting you with there.

It's probably because the internal charger in the i3 is a 32A charger (I think) versus the 16A which the X5 has. In the i3 you can toggle between Max and Reduced which is probably just toggling between 32A vs 16A. The X5 is basically always running in the reduced option.

No worries all is good I just posted what it stated and shows on the screen. And what I was told what what I read in the reviews.

The i3 gives you level one and level 2 options so x5 only gives you level one.

Totally agree with you though not arguing it's sometimes hard to distinguish on text forums,

I'm sure it does something and makes a difference though I never tried 120v but as far as officially supporting a level 2 charger bmw said it doesn't support but you know most of all that is just bs anyhow. I've never met a bmw dealer that truly knows it's product.

Otherwise I have a feeling it's his battery and something's amiss

[spulukuru]

OK, so after 2 days of dealer BS and showing me all kinds of bmw literature on how to drive an hybrid/electric car. they handed over the car saying its working as per specs.
Now for the mileage the tech drove the car on ECOPRO mode and he got 11.8 miles before the gas engine kicked in and he documented that.
So I never drove the car in ECOPRO mode. I thought sport/confort/ecopro were ICE modes. The car always used to start in Auto Edrive and i used press the Max-eDrive to keep it in all electric. I thought selecting any of the other buttons on the drive shaft panel takes the car out of electric only mode. but looks like Max-Edrive works with both Comfort and Ecopro modes too. and in Ecopro mode i could see the range dropping close to the changes on the odometer. so for the 3.7 miles i drove on MaxEdrive with Ecopro it was close to 5 miles in the drop in the electric range. it was between 7 and 8 when i started and no its fluctuating between 2 and 3 now. also i noticed that with comfort setting battery drains faster than Ecopro. and in ECOPRO regen is happening only on hard braking. soft braking and releasing the gas pedal doesn't cause any regen. I'll charge it fully and then test it again tomorrow with Max Edrive + Ecopro to see what mileage i am seeing and how the ride is.
The AC seems a little weak in ECopro mode. not sure what else the ecopro mode does and how much it affects the ride quality.
Let me know how you guys are driving in Max eDrive. with Ecopro or comfort and what difference do you see in both ride quality and mileage. I'll post my readings tomorrow.

Since the discussion also went into charging the vehicle, i wanted to know if the Level 2 charger can be used with this vehicle. I just bought the Level 2 as i read that it takes less than half the time to with 240v compared to 120v. Now as mentioned above by "Colonel" I too see option for Level 1 charging only in the menu. I thought you can code it to use 240. If that cannot be changed and if the 240v charger is going to take the same 7 hrs that's kind of lame. why spend extra 500 for nothing.
Please let me know if are able to use the 240v level 2 charger.

thanks and appreciate your responses.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

OK, so after 2 days of dealer BS and showing me all kinds of bmw literature on how to drive an hybrid/electric car. they handed over the car saying its working as per specs.
Now for the mileage the tech drove the car on ECOPRO mode and he got 11.8 miles before the gas engine kicked in and he documented that.
So I never drove the car in ECOPRO mode. I thought sport/confort/ecopro were ICE modes. The car always used to start in Auto Edrive and i used press the Max-eDrive to keep it in all electric. I thought selecting any of the other buttons on the drive shaft panel takes the car out of electric only mode. but looks like Max-Edrive works with both Comfort and Ecopro modes too. and in Ecopro mode i could see the range dropping close to the changes on the odometer. so for the 3.7 miles i drove on MaxEdrive with Ecopro it was close to 5 miles in the drop in the electric range. it was between 7 and 8 when i started and no its fluctuating between 2 and 3 now. also i noticed that with comfort setting battery drains faster than Ecopro. and in ECOPRO regen is happening only on hard braking. soft braking and releasing the gas pedal doesn't cause any regen. I'll charge it fully and then test it again tomorrow with Max Edrive + Ecopro to see what mileage i am seeing and how the ride is.
The AC seems a little weak in ECopro mode. not sure what else the ecopro mode does and how much it affects the ride quality.
Let me know how you guys are driving in Max eDrive. with Ecopro or comfort and what difference do you see in both ride quality and mileage. I'll post my readings tomorrow.

Since the discussion also went into charging the vehicle, i wanted to know if the Level 2 charger can be used with this vehicle. I just bought the Level 2 as i read that it takes less than half the time to with 240v compared to 120v. Now as mentioned above by "Colonel" I too see option for Level 1 charging only in the menu. I thought you can code it to use 240. If that cannot be changed and if the 240v charger is going to take the same 7 hrs that's kind of lame. why spend extra 500 for nothing.
Please let me know if are able to use the 240v level 2 charger.

thanks and appreciate your responses.

Yes the level 2 will charge just fine in 2.5 or so hrs.

It's doesn't show support for level 2 but it accepts it.


Also driving style is huge on milage. Drive in eco pro like a granny and stay around 45mph max with soft acceleration and you should get close to the 14 to 15 miles. Hey cheap driving comes with a cost lol. Your bmw app will also track your driving style and rate your commute to help train you for maximum milage. I drive with the windows down and enjoy the cool mornings with the breeze in my face and get around the full milage supported by the vehicle. It's heavy and driving it hard will eat the range fast as hell.

The better you get you'll make it like a game. My i3 was only rated for 80 miles but I got 120 miles best with AC off and super conservative driving.

[spulukuru]

The charger i bought supports 16, 24, 32A does selecting 24 or 32 damage the charging port. or does it need to be 16A only. or will higher Amps mean faster charging.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

The charger i bought supports 16, 24, 32A does selecting 24 or 32 damage the charging port. or does it need to be 16A only. or will higher Amps mean faster charging.

I would pair it to what the x5 supports. If it's automatic I'd do that. Since it's 16amp keep it their as it won't support more.

I have the bmw charger and everything is automatic.

[david_594]

Originally Posted by spulukuru

The charger i bought supports 16, 24, 32A does selecting 24 or 32 damage the charging port. or does it need to be 16A only. or will higher Amps mean faster charging.

Setting the charger to 24 or 32 amps will not damage anything. This setting is based on the circuit break in you breaker box that the charger is connected to. By electrical code the charger should only pull 80% of what the circuit can provide based on the breaker and wiring. If the charger is wired to a 20 amp circuit, then the charger should be set to 16 amps, if wired to a 30 amp circuit then I would set the charger to 24 amps, and if wired to a 40 amp circuit then set it to 32 amps.

The car will only every charge at a max of 16 amps as that is all the onboard charger can support. The car communicates with the charger to find otu that max that the charger supports. This only matters if the plug a care like the i3 that can support 32 amps into a 16 amp level 2 charger. The car will then known to not draw more than 16 amps.

Clear as dirt? Right.

And for the record if I'm doing around town driving (30-50 mph) without major hills I can pretty easily get 13-15 miles on a full charge.

This is the charger I use:
https://www.shopbmwusa.com/PRODUCT/5...CENTERID=46826