I3

It's My BMW i3 and I Will Have It How I Want It

Saturday 14th February 2015

The Rise of the 100% All Electric BMW i3. Let it be seen and heard!

Today I’d like to air my frustration with my fellow EV owners that think I’m wearing the wrong hat. Sing with me:

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me
I think I’ll go and eat worms
Big fat juicy ones, little thin squiggly ones
Watch them wiggle and squirm
Bite of their heads, suck out the juice
And throw their skins away
Nobody knows how I survive on
Worms three times a day!!

As the rhyme above says ‘nobody likes me, everybody hates me’ – well that is how I feel with my all electric BMW i3. When I visit the community forum on Facebook, I feel that all anyone cares about is why they bought the options that they did and why my choice was so very, very wrong. It seems an obsession among many. If I were to post, the most obsessed would tackle me to the ground over the choice of whether I should have bought the range extended version that comes with a petrol engine in the back, even if my question had nothing to do with that at all but, I’d also take a verbal bullying for my choice of wheels/tyres, interior trim and even my decision on what other EV’s I buy! How do I know I’d be attacked? I see it every day, people speak with such authority on topics they know so little about. I am simply unable to post comments as I would get my hands chopped off!

To be clear, this is a vocal minority and certainly not limited to the i3 community alone!

Now, I can make a great case for my choice of i3 – it’s 100% of what I like; electric, I don’t like tan or brown as an interior colour so I have gray and I love big wheels and fat tyres so it’s the 20″s for me. Okay, so they didn’t have the fat tyre option, or a winter compound so I had to go with the skinny ones that aren’t too great in deep snow – but oh well, maybe one day they will make a fatter tyre for the i3 or a snow tyre for those that want that.

Your choice of car is personal to you and everyone will choose what suits them. We are fortunate that they offer different options so we all get to chose what we like and have our cars reflect the person that we are. That is a good thing. But when a new member arrives at the community and poses the dangerous question “What should I get?” the answer isn’t a carbon copy of your car, the answer is….

GET AN ELECTRIC CAR!

… And welcome.

We all agree that we should get an electric car but, does it matter if it’s a Tesla or a converted milk float? There is an EV for everyone and everyone likes something different. And that is what we should be supporting. We all want to be driving electric cars and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what electric car you drive as long as you are driving electric. It doesn’t matter who made it. The really important thing here, is the fact that you are driving an electric car.

Are we running the risk that we are alienating new drivers because we can’t even agree amongst ourselves… or sometimes even have a civil conversation about it? Who’d want to join our group?

I’ve heard this phrase, ‘the circular firing squad‘ and I now know what it means. I bought my BMW i3, my SmartED and our Tesla Roadster as they suit my/his needs. Everyone has their own needs from their car and everyone will make their purchase accordingly. Let’s all remember that getting people in EV’s is the important thing here, not belittling those that made a different choice to you. How lucky are we that in 2015 we have so many EV choices, that is something to be celebrated with the world outside of our group.

I have strong feelings too, I don’t accept that BMW couldn’t put more batteries in the car and at least make it a 100 mile range EV. Okay, so it would have added extra weight, but really, do I care? I do not and I’ve heard the same from many friends. Also, why send a car out with the ability to fast charge without putting in the network first? It’s not like they haven’t known this car was coming. What were they all doing during the MINI E and the ActiveE trials? Having a little sleep maybe? We need to have a temper tantrum and stamp our feet and demand EV’s with longer range and a network of fast chargers. Sigh! If Tesla Motors can accomplish a longer range EV with their Model S and their network of Superchargers then why do all the other car manufacturers struggle so much? Where is the $60,000 i3 or $40,000 Leaf with the 200 mile range? Let’s have a discussion about that, see what ideas come to the surface.

But, there are days when I feel I have only one course of action to take…

“FOR SALE: A superbly, wonderful BMW i3! in excellent condition! Low mileage, well loved and washed often. Only sold to those who do not have a FaceBook account!!

Or…

I have a 100% all electric BMW i3 and I think it’s wonderful.*

There I’ve said it, it’s out in the open and I’m not taking it back, not now, not ever. And, yes I am now in hiding!

  • (Well apart from it’s odd issue or two, which appear to be BMW issues not Electric Car issues – go figure!)

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