Driving Home from the BMW Dealer in Los Angeles

 My search for a low-milage 2019 BMW i3 (with all the goodies I wanted) ended in Calabasas, CA.  I flew south to pick up the car and planned my return drive home.  I would need to recharge twice along the 345-mile journey home, so I located two charging stations mid-route.  The first was in Solvang, about 115 miles away.  The second was in King City, 145 miles away (with no chargers between Paso Robles and King City).  That leaves just 85 miles to home.

My ride from the airport to the dealership was delayed by about 90 minutes, so as I was leaving, the Friday L.A. exodus had already begun and I was slogging through slower traffic along the drive to Santa Barbara.  Because of my slower speeds, the range estimator suggested I could drive about 190 miles on the charge.  I could have easily driven beyond Solvang to the next charger, but I hadn’t done the research for that, so I decided to stick to my original charging plan in Solvang.

After a bite to eat and a nearly full charge (96%), I was on my way again and set my sights on Paso Robles.  By this time traffic was much lighter and moving at the speed limit.  By the time I reached Paso Robles, I had 26 more miles of range than I needed to get to King City, so I felt confident I could make it all the way.  The drive was fairly level, but I neglected two considerations in my planning that impacted my journey.  First, once north of Paso Robles, the speed limit jumps to 70 MPH, which uses measurably more electricity than the slower speeds along the coast (55 to 65 MPH).  Second, I forgot about the winds through the valley on the way to King City.  At night, the winds blow strongly from north to south, meaning I was driving into a strong headwind.

By the time I was 30 miles from King City, my margin of extra range had dropped from 26 miles to just 16 miles, so I limited my speed to 60 MPH (at night in a 70 MPH zone).  At 20 miles away, my margin had dropped to 10 miles, and wasn’t stabilizing.  I had to react more severely and put the car into “ECO-PRO+” mode, which limits speed to 56 MPH, dials back acceleration power, and turns off the HVAC and seat warmers.  My margin continued to drop.  When I was just 10 miles away, my margin had dropped to 7 miles and I reduced my speed to 50 MPH.  I was grateful that I was driving late in the evening and not facing much traffic, so driving slower wasn’t as risky.  By the time I pulled up to the DC-fast charger in King City, I had just 6 miles of range remaining, which was much closer to the edge than I ever care to get.  I charged up to 85% before driving the final stretch home, leaving me with an ample margin for the last stretch.

Since this trip I have learned to expect no more than 170 miles of range (with my conservative driving), and to dial back the expected range when driving along 70 MPH stretches.  In hindsight, I should have stopped in Paso Robles to charge up, and then again in Soledad, making for a much less stressful drive.  The extra time spent charging would have been only slightly longer than the extra time spent driving slowly on the freeway, and would have been both safer and more relaxing.