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2019+ BMW 3 AND 4-SERIES FORUMS (G2x Generation) Local Forums UK First long journey in the 330e

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      11-29-2019, 02:50 PM   #1
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First long journey in the 330e

Drove from home in Oxfordshire up to Perth today. First time I've done a proper long run. The car was great, and certainly much more relaxing to drive than any of my F30 generation cars were. Lower wind, engine and road noise overall, lovely ride comfort, better stereo, more consistent DAB reception, and driver assistance systems that work great most of the time, in most traffic conditions, all add up to a good long distance car.

In terms of performance and economy, I set the battery to go no lower than 60% and did the 440 miles at 39mpg. All in all I'm pretty happy with that. In terms of pence per mile it's not far behind my wife's Merc C250d on a long journey and much cheaper most of the rest of the time.

That's me cruising at high speed wherever possible. Performance was good, more than quick enough to regain lost speed, but not quite up there with my old 335d.

This car impresses me more and more.
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      11-29-2019, 04:04 PM   #2
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Why did you set your battery to not drop below 60% just out of interest?

That’s a good run.
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      11-29-2019, 04:29 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by Cranester1983 View Post
Why did you set your battery to not drop below 60% just out of interest?

That’s a good run.
I wanted to see what it did with really just using engine power and not sure I'll get a chance to charge whilst I'm up here. I like to have some electric power in hand for extra boost sport mode too!
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      11-29-2019, 04:56 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Tengocity View Post
I wanted to see what it did with really just using engine power and not sure I'll get a chance to charge whilst I'm up here. I like to have some electric power in hand for extra boost sport mode too!
Fair one!
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      12-02-2019, 06:31 AM   #5
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How do you set the battery to not drop bellow 60%?
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      12-02-2019, 08:13 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by mlcgd21 View Post
How do you set the battery to not drop bellow 60%?
Use battery control mode, which allows you to choose a level from 30% upwards in 10% increments.

I'm currently en route back down and will update further in a few hours!
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      12-02-2019, 08:35 AM   #7
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Battery Control mode works nicely for charging too. Just test drove a G20 330e a week ago. The test car was at 50% battery when I started; drove the battery to empty in Electric mode, then set the Battery Control to 60% and continued driving for maybe another 35 minutes and the battery was back to 50%.
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      12-02-2019, 09:14 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tn1krr View Post
Battery Control mode works nicely for charging too. Just test drove a G20 330e a week ago. The test car was at 50% battery when I started; drove the battery to empty in Electric mode, then set the Battery Control to 60% and continued driving for maybe another 35 minutes and the battery was back to 50%.
I don't really understand this. Does that mean you'd never have to plug it in and you'd always have battery power?
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      12-02-2019, 09:40 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by Tengocity View Post
Use battery control mode, which allows you to choose a level from 30% upwards in 10% increments.

I'm currently en route back down and will update further in a few hours!
So in that trip you always drove in battery control mode? I never tried it.

In battery control mode if say you have 80% battery and you set it up at 50% minimum, does it allow you to drive in electric until the battery gets down to 50%? Does it give you full power or only the power from the petrol engine?
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      12-02-2019, 10:13 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by Chuckyarla View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by tn1krr View Post
Battery Control mode works nicely for charging too. Just test drove a G20 330e a week ago. The test car was at 50% battery when I started; drove the battery to empty in Electric mode, then set the Battery Control to 60% and continued driving for maybe another 35 minutes and the battery was back to 50%.
I don't really understand this. Does that mean you'd never have to plug it in and you'd always have battery power?
Yes, but the fuel economy in doing so would be much worse.
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      12-02-2019, 10:19 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mlcgd21 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tengocity View Post
Use battery control mode, which allows you to choose a level from 30% upwards in 10% increments.

I'm currently en route back down and will update further in a few hours!
So in that trip you always drove in battery control mode? I never tried it.

In battery control mode if say you have 80% battery and you set it up at 50% minimum, does it allow you to drive in electric until the battery gets down to 50%? Does it give you full power or only the power from the petrol engine?
Yes that's correct. It seems to drive as per hybrid mode, except using only what you've allowed it.

I drive home today, leaving Perth with around 6 miles electric range. I set it to battery control of 40% initially, which meant it had to charge up the battery for a bit. After topping up in Carlisle I left in normal hybrid mode for the rest of the way back to Oxfordshire. It managed the electrical energy very well, and without interfering further I got home with exactly 0 electrical range left and it saved the last 1-2 miles of electric for the urban part once I'd left the motorway. Trip computer says 37.8mpg, which sounds about right as average speed was a bit higher than on way up on Friday.
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      12-02-2019, 11:20 AM   #12
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Had a chance to really look at the fuel economy of this car over a variety of types of usage, with varying amounts of battery usage being allowed.

On the long motorway runs (several hundred miles) where the battery can help, even for just a few miles of given electric range, the fuel consumption is around 37-38mpg (brim to brim). If the battery is charged up during a longer motorway journey, even just going from 2 miles to 6 miles range, then overall consumption drops to around 33-34 mpg. It suggests to me that charging using the engine really doesn't make economic sense in that situation.

I also did a drive at weekend from Perth to Glen Coe, on quiet roads, with the car in sport mode for the vast majority of the time. I must say it works very well and the steering and suspension changes really do make the car more sporty to drive. It really flies when you need it to, and it handles so much better than any standard F30 car does. Lots of grip, traction, confidence, despite the sub zero temperatures. Really lovely neutral handling balance, and you'd never really tell that it carries an extra few hundred kg. That said, it was never driven more than 8/10ths given the conditions. What I liked is that sport mode kept the battery topped up, yet still give loads of extra pace. No idea how it does that, but the penalty was a return of 29mpg for the 185 mile round trip. Not bad at all given the performance that was used, but a far cry from the 70mpg on the commute, being able to charge.

Now, after my trip to Scotland, my average fuel consumption since new is 43mpg over 2370 miles. It was 55mpg before I left, after the first 1250 miles.

Trip to Scotland was 1140 miles, done at 35mpg, with no additional charging done in that time.
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      12-02-2019, 11:21 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tengocity View Post
Yes that's correct. It seems to drive as per hybrid mode, except using only what you've allowed it.

I drive home today, leaving Perth with around 6 miles electric range. I set it to battery control of 40% initially, which meant it had to charge up the battery for a bit. After topping up in Carlisle I left in normal hybrid mode for the rest of the way back to Oxfordshire. It managed the electrical energy very well, and without interfering further I got home with exactly 0 electrical range left and it saved the last 1-2 miles of electric for the urban part once I'd left the motorway. Trip computer says 37.8mpg, which sounds about right as average speed was a bit higher than on way up on Friday.
37.8mpg doesn't sound too great. Is that the sort of figure expected on a long run?
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      12-02-2019, 11:26 AM   #14
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37.8mpg doesn't sound too great. Is that the sort of figure expected on a long run?
I'd say it is if you've an empty battery, and do several hundred miles. That's not something I do very often though, so the benefit most weeks usage will more than offset for me.

Anyone who regularly does several hundred miles drives as main usage will be better off in a diesel.
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      12-02-2019, 11:59 AM   #15
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You say your average fuel consumption since new is 43mpg. Does that refer to the miles driven on the petrol engine or overall including both petrol and electric? If it's overall, and you add in the cost of the electricity used in charging, how economical would you say it's been compared to say a 320d?
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      12-02-2019, 12:07 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckyarla View Post
You say your average fuel consumption since new is 43mpg. Does that refer to the miles driven on the petrol engine or overall including both petrol and electric? If it's overall, and you add in the cost of the electricity used in charging, how economical would you say it's been compared to say a 320d?
That includes both petrol and electric. I don't have a 320d but my wife has a Mercedes C250d estate. That car average 47mpg, used mainly for a motorway commute, which I woudn't say is particularly good (expected 50mpg + to be honest). The cost per miles works out around 12.5 p per mile since we've had it. The 330e has worked out at 12.9p per mile since I've had it. Can't tell you about the electric cost, as I don't count it and charge half the time at work for free. It's not a lot however.

You have to really consider what your usage profile is though. My data so far is completely skewed by doing about half those 2300 miles with no charging. Normally on any given month using my car for my normal commuting, over 2000 miles it's going to do 60-70mpg!

If you have a shorter commute then it could be way higher than that.
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      12-02-2019, 12:14 PM   #17
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thanks for your feedback Tengocity, that makes the battery control mode more useful than I thought, for a big holiday trip, where it is not possible to charge the car, it makes sense to use it, that way full power is always available.
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      12-02-2019, 12:22 PM   #18
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thanks for your feedback Tengocity, that makes the battery control mode more useful than I thought, for a big holiday trip, where it is not possible to charge the car, it makes sense to use it, that way full power is always available.
Well, that's what I thought, as I always much preferred having my F30 330e with some charge in it, in case I wanted the performance or for stop start driving and crawling along in traffic.

If it's for performance though I actually now think that just putting it in sports mode may be sufficient, as using it like this on Sunday it never dropped below 11 miles electric range, despite giving up lots of performance and hard acceleration.

The next experiment to try would be letting the electric range drop to 0 or 1 and then using sports mode and seeing how it is.
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      12-02-2019, 12:24 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckyarla View Post
You say your average fuel consumption since new is 43mpg. Does that refer to the miles driven on the petrol engine or overall including both petrol and electric? If it's overall, and you add in the cost of the electricity used in charging, how economical would you say it's been compared to say a 320d?
You have to consider that with the 330e you have a 292 hp car, the performance is completely different compared to a 320d, 100-200 kmh for the 330e is around 14 seconds, and for the 320d it is around 27 seconds. Consumption can either be much lower than a 320d or much higher, it will totally depend on how much you charge it and drive it.

I have done 3500 miles and my average is 94 mpg + around 22 charges per month, most were free.

We have another 330e in our company which is driven by a director which had a 320d before, he drives a lot (he is a salesman), in the 320d he averaged 40 mpg, in the 330e he is averaging 47 mpg, with 1 and sometimes 2 charges per day.
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      12-02-2019, 12:24 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckyarla View Post
You say your average fuel consumption since new is 43mpg. Does that refer to the miles driven on the petrol engine or overall including both petrol and electric? If it's overall, and you add in the cost of the electricity used in charging, how economical would you say it's been compared to say a 320d?
Sorry, just another point on this 330e v 320d question... I really don't like 4 cyclinder diesels, so I am biased, but there is no comparision for me here - the 330e is way more refined, has a fair bit more performance too. 320d will have a larger boot, and a much better range though, due to bigger tank.
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      12-02-2019, 02:32 PM   #21
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If I put my sensible head on I ought probably to consider the G21 330e when it arrives as a chunk of my mileage now consists of the sort of runs which could be done mainly - and in some cases perhaps exclusively - on electric power. However, I understand the boot area is reduced quite significantly due to the need to accommodate the batteries and, if that makes the load area smaller than my existing F31, it would rule it out for me.

And, while it's more expensive to buy and run, my heart says I'd still prefer an M340i!
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      12-02-2019, 03:21 PM   #22
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If I put my sensible head on I ought probably to consider the G21 330e when it arrives as a chunk of my mileage now consists of the sort of runs which could be done mainly - and in some cases perhaps exclusively - on electric power. However, I understand the boot area is reduced quite significantly due to the need to accommodate the batteries and, if that makes the load area smaller than my existing F31, it would rule it out for me.

And, while it's more expensive to buy and run, my heart says I'd still prefer an M340i!
It's a bit smaller, but less impacted than the F30 330e one is. I would much rather have a M340i too for sure, but I run the M4 for weekend/fun/track usage, and between my wife and I we do not far off 60000 miles per annum in our cars, so I have to be pragmatic and sensible about running costs!
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