For a lot of people, electric vehicles are still part of the great unknown–just like magnets, the origin of the universe and the internal workings of automatic transmissions.
And while electric cars have become the norm for many, we still hear a lot of questions from nonowners: What’s it really like to live with one? How’s the long-term experience? And, the …
How About Those First Impressions?
Going back to the first hybrids, things always seemed like they had to be a bit different–and not just talking about the manner of propulsion.
How’s that? Just unorthodox touches–like, for example, the Ford Mach-E’s door handles to many of the shifters, from the practically dash-mounted stick found in the earliest Prius models to the almost now-common rotary knob.
The BMW is, really, rather traditional. Traditional door handles, traditional shifter, traditional styling. On just about every level, it operates like a modern BMW: press the starter, shift it into drive, and go away.
On the road, it differs a bit from my M3. So much quicker. No lag. No waiting. No nothing.
Like any other EV, it’s all the torque right now. The big thing here is that it’s all surrounded by the usual BMW touches. The ride is quiet, the interior bits have a solid feel, the controls can be found where you’d expect them.
Need to open the hatch, for example? The button is in the door.
Into the Wilderness
Driving an EV to and from work seems rather routine: charge up at either destination and enjoy the ride.
Electric vehicles have simply turned every home garage into a gas station (with or without cleaner bathrooms).
But what about heading away from such safe harbors?
Nearly three years ago, I joined Porsche to drive some Taycans from Atlanta to the Rolex 24 At Daytona. This fairly uneventful voyage was intended to demonstrate how an EV would fare on the open road.
A group of us left Atlanta with fully charged batteries and stopped twice at Electrify America stations to fuel up.
But what if you leave the highway? Electrify America’s network is still mostly concentrated on the country’s major routes, but ChargePoint seems to be filling the gaps.
We decided to head from our home base in Ormond Beach, Florida, through Palatka. It’s a nice drive yet a bit underserved by both networks. What would we find out there?
We left home with a 96% charge (234 indicated miles of range) and, 48 miles later, arrived in Palatka with a 75% charge (now 183 indicated miles of range).
We stopped so someone could take a pit stop.
From there, we’d head north and check out all three miles the J.C. Penney Highway in Penny Farms–south of Jacksonville and east of the Florida International Rally & Motorsports Park, GRM’s official test track.
Again, we were heading to another area with very limited coverage.
Upon arrival in Penney Farms, we had covered 85 total miles total and had a 57% charge (133 indicated miles of range remaining). While there, we checked out the retirement community formed by the (once) retail giant. The dog barked as a statue of his likeness.
Even though we had spent some two and a half hours checking out a rather rural part of the state, we still hadn’t used more than half our charge. From there, we figured, we could easily, comfortably drive home.
But that didn’t sound like a fair test. Where was the nearest Electrify America station?
Turns out all the way up in Jacksonville, 44 miles to our north at The Avenues, a shopping mall.
The Electrify America app took us there–right to the far corner of the lot. (According to Google, just 350 feet–a one-minute walk–away from the mall entrance.)
We arrived at the charging station at 5:01 with a 42% charge.
All four chargers were full.
Turns out that one charger was in use, one was displaying an error message, one was blocked by an unoccupied vehicle and the fourth one needed a phone call for a reboot.
So we waited.
The people were nice and we chatted about–what else?–electric vehicles.
One couple was returning to Central Florida from South Carolina. They noted that this wasn’t the first time they had encountered a disabled charger.
A charger finally opened and, at 5:28, we plugged in.
At 5:49, we unplugged at 80%.
According to the receipt, we had taken on 32 kWh and, despite the “up to 350 kW” sticker on the charger, charged at a max rate of 132 kW.
We had added about 80 miles to our range as we now had 190 miles until empty. Total cost after taxes: $14.79 based on $0.43/kWh.
Perhaps the biggest kicker at this point: All four chargers were empty as we pulled away.
By then, it was getting late, so we headed home via I-95. It’s about an hour-long drive.
After 81 miles–that includes an errand–we wrapped up the day with 38% charge and 87 miles to empty.
Hey, there’s a Sport mode, too
Remember how I said something about this BMW operating like just about every other modern BMW? That means that it gets a Sport mode as well.
And that Sport mode adds sound!
It doesn’t sound like a traditional ICE engine. How to describe it? It’s a sound that changes with thrust. It’s not really mechanical and it’s not really easy to ID. More on this to come on this feature.
What About Free Electric?
Electrify America shows that we paid its usual rate for Florida ($0.43/kWh), but what about a free charge?
ChargePoint shows a free Level 2 J1772 charger at a nearby bank. Free is free, right?
As promised, the charger was open 24 hours, and there was no fee to grab some electrify. No issues using the app or making the connection.
But, also as promised, the 6.6 kW charging rate also slow: After 15 minutes, we hadn’t even added enough juice to cover the 6-mile roundtrip.
Lesson confirmed: Free Level 2 is good for employees and shoppers but maybe not the place to fill up on the road.
About that max charging rate - you typically need a fairly heavily depleted battery to reach it. 41% is not that. It would behoove you to educate your readers on this point, as GRM usually tries a little harder than MSN. The charger might have been capable of 350 KW, but your vehicle was not.
See the right side graph. This is why you're starting to see more manufacturers state things like "10-80% in 31 minutes", which is what BMW says about this vehicle.
Level 2 chargers are intended for long-term parking like overnight, and are not a viable replacement for rapid charge.
My suggestion for getting EA and other networks being built out with government subsidies is that the chargers should "fail open". Most of the problems are due to communication, and there's no motivation to fix them because they're taking in cash building more. So require that the chargers will charge unless told otherwise. Tesla Superchargers work this way, their first priority is to charge the vehicle if they can't get authentication. If we tie this requirement to the grant money, I think we'll see a marked improvement in uptime.
Electrify America chargers can be found along most major highways. The company has just one along I-95 in our county, with that station, conveniently, at our exit.
The charging station in our hometown of Ormond Beach, Florida, features six chargers, with four listed at 350 kW. It’s located just off the interstate at a Walmart.
So we headed there for another fill-up. Upon arrival at 4:25 p.m., we found only three chargers occupied. At this point, we had 35% battery life left.
Sadly, one of the 350 pumps seemed DOA–no screen, no one home.
We’re not sure if the first charger that we selected worked. The screen never progressed past the Authorized message. It sounded like the charger was pumping, but the screen never tracked our progress.
After about 10 minutes, we unplugged. The screen never changed, so we never received any details about the encounter.
We moved to another 150 kW pump, and this one seemed to work fine–and, judging by the progress now shown on the car’s display, the first pump did give us some juice. (The motorist who stopped at that charger after us, though, couldn’t make it work.)
After 17 minutes, we had taken our BMW to 85% for $8.60.
Again, this pump wouldn’t take our phone number for a receipt. It seemed that the touchscreen feature just wasn’t working. (I know, pay via the app.)
At 5:09, we finally left the charging station. We now had enough range for 201 miles.
So, tomorrow evening's big trip to Miami.
While South Florida has plenty of Electrify America chargers, I don't have a ton of choices on the way down:
Cocoa: 70 miles away.
Port St. Lucie: 151 miles away.
Palm Beach Gardens: 193 miles away.
Based on how long I can go behind the wheel, I'm thinking I'll be juicing up in Port St. Lucie. (Join me, we can hang.)
I'd also like to leave with a full tank, so heading back to our local station in a few since we don't have a level 2 charger at home.
Could I leave with enough power to just get me to that first stop? Yes, for sure. But would I be watching the countdown the entire way? Yup.
Once I get to Miami, no worries about recharging. 
Apart from the differences in replenishing the power source his does theism car compare with other cars in the same price range? If you were spending the coin and were power source agnostic are there other cars that offer the same or better comfort, performance, features, specialness, quality....
How's the air conditioning? Does it have a noticeable effect on your range?
In reply to APEowner :
That's a good question, and it ticks all those boxes: it's very comfortable, very fast, very well equipped and, yeah, feels like a BMW.
At least in my experience, a lot of EVs and hybrids have asked for some concessions–like unconventional styling (inside or out) or something different along those lines.
If you didn't know this one was electric, it feels, acts and looks like a normal BMW–except much quicker. This one reminds me way more of the Porsche Taycan than the Mach-E, for example.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:How's the air conditioning? Does it have a noticeable effect on your range?
a/c is very cold and can operate while the car is charging.
Honestly, haven't run the car without it as it's still summer in Florida. I'll see if I can do some A/B testing for you.
Sort of related, my wife says the heated seats are better than the ones in the Nissan Z. (The last car that we had.) "You couldn't really tell they were on," she says of the Z's heated seats.
There are a few charges at the Palm Beach Lakes exit at the outlet mall. That's a few exits south of Palm Beach Gardens.
No idea what level they are, but they are scattered throughout. There is also a cluster of superchargers, but that doesn't help you.
Whether talking EVs or not, I know I'm never the smartest guy in the room. My big question: How would an EV work once away from home?
If we had an EV, I realize we'd be charging at home. That's easy. But what if going to visit grandma and grandpa? Or crossing through the middle of nowhere?
So, we're learning stuff.
And I learned something this evening.
The EA charger that we visited in Jax sat at the edge of the parking lot. It wasn't near anything, but there were other people there and it was still light out.
The local charger here at the Walmart in Ormond Beach? It's currently surrounded by shipping containers. (Not sure if it's for storage, a remodel or what.)
As a result, you can't see the store's main entrance from the chargers–just the entrance to the garden department which, unlike the rest of the store, isn't open 24/7.
Basically, the chargers are rather secluded. They're near some bushes on the side of the lot.
My wife raised a very important point: She wouldn't feel comfortable charging there alone.
I went back tonight to top off for tomorrow's big drive. My wife came with me as Walmart is the only local place that carries the yogurt that she likes.
We arrived at 8:52 p.m. to find all of the lights in parking lot turned off–just a few flickered here and there.
Nope, my wife proclaimed, I'd leave if I was here alone.
What about charging? I asked.
I'd have to find one of those slower chargers in a place where I felt safe.
Slippery said:There are a few charges at the Palm Beach Lakes exit at the outlet mall. That's a few exits south of Palm Beach Gardens.
No idea what level they are, but they are scattered throughout. There is also a cluster of superchargers, but that doesn't help you.
Thanks for the tip. From what I see online, those are the slower ChargePoint chargers–good for shoppers but not enough for me on this trip.
Slight change of plans: I'm going to stop in Cocoa (70 miles away). I could probably make it the 150 miles to Port St. Lucie but, if there's an issue, then it would be a nail-biter to Palm Beach Gardens. Plus, realistically, I'll need to make a stop an hour into the drive.
All six EA chargers were open this evening. My wife went to Walmart to get her yogurt, and I made sure she safely got to the entrance.
One terminal was still down, but this time I had five chargers at my disposal.
The app perfectly linked with the charger, and I was pulling juice (is that the correct term?) within a minute of parking.
What to do while hanging in a dark Walmart parking lot?
Night photography.
Straighten out a crooked sign.
And then, from the dark corner of the lot, a dude emerged and walked past me. (See my wife's comment about feeling safe.)
I then went back to my photography.
A few minutes later, he’d pass me again, this time returning to the same dark corner of the parking lot.
About 14 minutes after I plugged in, my wife returned with her yogurt. (And cookies.) That’s her in the dark. (We were in radio communication the entire time.)
Since we had time and no one was waiting for a charger, we let the car nearly charge to capacity.
After half an hour, we were at 97%. That’s close enough, right?
Upon stopping the charge, I got this message: “Thank you, Free.”
Very much appreciated. Looking back at the photos of the charger’s screen, now I see the $0.00 session cost.
We charged for 31 minutes and took on 32.6150 kWh.
And, being a total pig, then hooked back up and filled to 99%.
At 9:35 p.m., we left showing a range of 239 miles.
Tell me more about the sound!
Some of the EV's (Toyota SUVs?) make a sound that I can't quite put my finger on. Just a humming that seems to change with speed of vehicle but it sounds..pleasant somehow? I thought maybe the engineers are doing something with the harmonics to mask the electric motor whine.
Maybe somebody realized that they could just sample the sound and make a major chord with the electric motor whine as the root? No clue.
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
The sound is tough to describe, and I need to record it so we can share it.
Likewise, I can't my finger on it. It's kind of a hum but more than that. (My guitar teacher has a terrific ear, so maybe he can ID the note for us.)
It kind of reminds me of an engine that wants to upshift. At slower speeds, it sounds okay. But above that, it feels like it needs to shift. I'll be alone in the car for this trip, so I'll spend some time concentrating on the sound.
To be honest, I prefer the sound off. Not that I mind the "fakeness," I just prefer the quiet.
Something I just realized regarding this car: I can't easily drive it to my parents' house. 
My parents live about a hundred miles off the interstate–we always grab gas before getting off the highway as there's not much cell service, either–and 120 miles past the last AE charger.
I see there's a charger about 45 minutes east of them. So, it's possible to drive up in an EV, but it would add a bit to the trip.
Or, we'd have to charge at my parents' house. I don't think they have a dryer outlet in/near the garage, so it would be off the standard plug.
So, learning stuff here.
David S. Wallens said:Something I just realized regarding this car: I can't easily drive it to my parents' house.
My parents live about a hundred miles off the interstate–we always grab gas before getting off the highway as there's not much cell service, either–and 120 miles past the last AE charger.
I see there's a charger about 45 minutes east of them. So, it's possible to drive up in an EV, but it would add a bit to the trip.
Or, we'd have to charge at my parents' house. I don't think they have a dryer outlet in/near the garage, so it would be off the standard plug.
So, learning stuff here.
The charging infrastructure is still not where I'd want it to be for me to travel with an EV.
However, due to the type of travel I mostly do I don't like to travel with my Wife's gasoline powered Ford Fusion either. It doesn't have the range, ground clearance, room or trailer towing capability that I prefer/need for most of my traveling. The way we use her car an EV would be perfect. It's home every night and seldom travels over 50 miles a day.
I don't think the infrastructure would keep me from buying an EV it would just be one more factor to consider when deciding what vehicle to drive when.
In reply to APEowner :
All very true. I'm also thinking that, for 99% of the people, the current charging network also work just fine.
We barely have cell service when heading to my parents so, yeah, they're a bit away from major civilization.
And I just checked the AE app for the charging station in Ormond Beach, Florida. It's the only one in our county, and it's right off I-95.
As of Tuesday at 12:45 p.m., three of the six chargers are available. That's not bad at all, right?
Also, I see chargers marked "in use" and "unavailable." Can I assume that unavailable means there's a technical problem?
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
My wife describes the exterior noise generated by our X5 PHEV as "screaming angels"
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