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Cost of owning a BMW i3

tomkiss.net

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Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#21

Post by api »

I recently got a used Leaf with about 70mi range for around $7000 (total cost including fees, tax, etc.). It's extremely low maintenance (no ICE at all) and while I haven't done math in this detail yet the "fuel" price even at California's higher electricity rates is less than half the cost of gasoline per mile driven. Once you factor in the relative lack of maintenance it's much cheaper to operate than an ICE.

Overall if you don't need really long range a used Leaf is a great deal. You can get them in virtually mint condition for under $10k. Just be sure to research and check out battery health. There's an Android app called LeafSpy that will use a Bluetooth ODBII dongle (these are cheap) and can query lots of detailed battery info so you can check out battery health after buying. Mine was about average in terms of capacity loss for its age and it gets around 70 miles per charge without issue.

Also note that the Leaf's mileage estimate tends to be a little pessimistic, at least in my experience. My guess is that it's designed this way to avoid stranding the driver. Gas cars are often a little pessimistic too for the same reason. They give you a bit of a reserve.

Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#22

Post by tibbon »

lnsru wrote: post #3

Very detailed writing, thank you! But this “Costs for maintenance totalled £3056.0” is shocking! It’s a golden car! Ok, it has internal combustion engine too, but 100€ maintenance monthly is shocking. 8 tires for 45000 km is also shocking. I am driving almost double that with one set (except nasty flats). Are other electric cars cheaper to drive?

While motorcycles and cars aren't the same; I've found tires for them are really expensive. I can get about 3000-10000 miles on a set, and the sets are $450 installed. There's cheaper tires out there, but good tires are a safety feature on them really and make a huge difference.

I always bought really cheap tires on my really cheap clunker cars and never knew the difference. I wonder if it's just volume of cheaper tires, or if expensive rubber is just more expensive?

Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#23

Post by antidaily »

czbond wrote: post #19
thinkcontext wrote: post #7

It's worth mentioning, at 10k miles per year this driver is significantly above the UK average of 7k. EVs are more advantageous the more they are driven, anyone buying one should do the math for their expected mileage.

Thank you for posting that. If they are in the US, 10k is considered low mileage per year. For working age adults, 18k is considered average. Source: Bc I'll be asked ;) https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

Wow. 18k is nuts. 50 miles a day? We lowered our last lease to 10k and wont even be close at end of the year.

Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#26

Post by stanski »

peterwwillis wrote: post #10

TCO is supposed to include the total cost; buy a car that didn't cost 17,400 and your price goes down considerably. Cost of car: 17,400 Fuel: 712.99 Maintenance: 3,056.08 Other: 940 TCO over 3 years: 22,108 Buy a 5,000 used car, and your 3-year TCO goes down to 9,708. But that's gonna be gas powered, so you have to lower the maintenance and raise the insurance and gas. And higher cost per mile means the amount of mil…

Minus the 11 grand for selling it after, no?

Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#27

Post by lazyjones »

Their i3 isn't even an electric car, it's a hybrid with a petrol engine (range extender).

The title claims the content is somehow about electric cars in general, but it's just one datapoint about one model and one owner. FWIW, my maintenance costs for almost 3 years with a Tesla S90D were so far: €290 for changing and storing winter tires. No repairs, no breakdowns so far, despite some abuse on italian country roads. Yearly cost for insurance and (0) tax was half as much as the 530xd I owned previously.

Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#28

Post by bumby »

lnsru wrote: post #3

Very detailed writing, thank you! But this “Costs for maintenance totalled £3056.0” is shocking! It’s a golden car! Ok, it has internal combustion engine too, but 100€ maintenance monthly is shocking. 8 tires for 45000 km is also shocking. I am driving almost double that with one set (except nasty flats). Are other electric cars cheaper to drive?

Also keep in mind that BMWs are notoriously expensive on maintenance compared to many other cars.[0] Around where I live, it's easy to find some relatively inexpensive used BMWs when people want to unload them due to high maintenance costs.

[0] https://www.consumerreports.org/car-maintenance/the-cost-of-...

Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#29

Post by stanski »

tibbon wrote: post #22
lnsru wrote: post #3

Very detailed writing, thank you! But this “Costs for maintenance totalled £3056.0” is shocking! It’s a golden car! Ok, it has internal combustion engine too, but 100€ maintenance monthly is shocking. 8 tires for 45000 km is also shocking. I am driving almost double that with one set (except nasty flats). Are other electric cars cheaper to drive?

While motorcycles and cars aren't the same; I've found tires for them are really expensive. I can get about 3000-10000 miles on a set, and the sets are $450 installed. There's cheaper tires out there, but good tires are a safety feature on them really and make a huge difference. I always bought really cheap tires on my really cheap clunker cars and never knew the difference. I wonder if it's just volume of cheaper ti…

I think it's just volume. But yeah it's a pain - they go relatively quick and they cost a ton. It's hard to skimp on safety though, especially if you don't only ride on dry and warm days.

Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3

#30

Post by Ididntdothis »

antidaily wrote: post #23
czbond wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for posting that. If they are in the US, 10k is considered low mileage per year. For working age adults, 18k is considered average. Source: Bc I'll be asked ;) https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

Wow. 18k is nuts. 50 miles a day? We lowered our last lease to 10k and wont even be close at end of the year.

Since I have moved to LA 20000 per year is nothing. It’s nuts and costs a lot of money.
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