The regenerative braking on the i3 is much stronger than the Volt’s, even in Sport mode and low driving gear. The i3 is clearly more of a performance car, while the Volt offers a more supple, softer ride. The i3’s steering is more direct and sensitive and the Volt’s brakes seemed a little spongy or squishy compared to what I’m used to in the i3. The i3 is much quicker, especially at higher speeds and has better braking and handling. The much heavier Volt absorbs road irregularities better and is quieter at high speeds, where the boxy i3 has noticeable wind noise. The two cars definitely feel very different. However, this was the first time I’ve driven a Volt since getting my i3 REx three months and about 6,500 miles ago. I felt very comfortable behind the wheel of the Volt as I’ve driven many of them and have always liked the driving experience that they offer. Also, since the i3’s electric range is double that of the Volt, the range extender will be used much less, so it’s reasonable to understand why it is less robust. The range extender has limits but I definitely believe that for the vast majority of people it will do just about anything they need. It’s not a do-all-under-any-condition vehicle. I think they need to make a better effort to communicate to the customers what the limits are, and I also believe the customer needs to be cognizant of the limits and keep an eye on the SOC under high speed driving up long inclines. That’s a problem that BMW needs to address. I have heard stories of people not being able to maintain highway speeds as the car drops to 45 mph suddenly. However I know the REx has its limits, unlike the Volt. I haven’t found any condition where it isn’t perfectly capable of allowing me to drive as long as I needed to, including hundreds of miles if I really wanted. There aren’t many long climbs in my area and I’ve driven with the range extender on quite a bit. The display only shows an average speed of 56.7mph, but much of the trip was done at 70+ mph This was driving about 15 miles in charge depleting mode and another 31 miles with the range extender running. In short, we couldn’t overwhelm it without driving in a an unsafe manner.ĭavid averaged 4.1 miles per kWh over a 46 mile drive at highway speeds. At one point he even asked if I minded if he did just that, but due to the other traffic we couldn’t really sustain a speed much over 70mph for long and we were not going up and long, steep inclines so the REx was able to put out enough power to maintain the SOC between about 4% and 6%. I promised David he could drive it as he wished, and even purposefully overwhelm the REx by driving fast enough to use more energy than the range extender could produce, should he desire to do so.
#CHEVY VOLT RANGE HIGHWAY 75MPH HOW TO#
It has been called everything from a “limp mode” to an “emergency use only” option, and quite honestly BMW hasn’t done itself any favors by not fully explaining how it works and how to use it properly. Even months after the launch, few people really understand how it works, what it can and cannot do. In my opinion, the i3’s range extender is largely misunderstood. Especially so if the temps are below 50F, you've got extra passengers/weight, there's precipitation, there's a headwind, etc.David was also very interested to find out how the range extender performed. And, of course, highway range is what matters most to most people.īottom line: don't expect rated range in highway driving at 70+ mph speeds. I do everything right from an efficiency standpoint (chill mode, slow accel/decel, aeros, high tire pressure, no climate use, etc,) and I can beat the rated range in city driving pretty easily, but not at sustained 70+ mph speeds. The highway-speed efficiencies/ranges will be worse. Īnd if you look at the Model 3 battery-to-wheels efficiency polls on TMC and TOO, most model 3 owners are not achieving average efficiencies necessary to match the 310 mile range. The Edmunds long term test drive shows them doing better in their Bolt than in their Model 3 vs their respective rated efficiencies/ranges. Click to expand.That may be true on paper, but idk how well it translates to real world driving.
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