Driving the BMW i3 up to Ridge Vineyards

 When I started working at Ridge Vineyards in Cupertino in 2015, I was still driving my 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, with its 16-KWh battery and 63 horsepower.  Driving four miles up the mountain was a slow, careful run up the hill.  I’d have to drive with the window down and whistle so the bicyclists would hear me approaching and move over.  If I tried to go faster, the drive would eat through my remaining charge quickly.  After a few months of these weekly trips, I noticed the car’s range starting to drop, and soon I had lost 15% of my battery capacity from the stress of driving up the mountain.  So, I stopped taking the i-MiEV to the winery and drove my gas car instead.

My drive up the mountain to Ridge Vineyards

Needless to say, when I replaced the i-MiEV by the 2017 BMW i3, I remained reluctant to drive the new car up the same mountain to Ridge.  I would only take the car up that mountain about 6 times a year (rather than weekly).  I would continue driving uphill carefully, hoping to learn how the battery would drain along the climb.  My speed went up because the i3 has 170 horsepower (2.7 times that of the i-MiEV) and weighs only 25% more.  The climb was much less stressful and took less time.  The rest of the time I would continue driving my older VW GTI up the hill, which was a hoot!  (Newer LFP EV batteries are less susceptible to this kind of degradation.)

One Sunday morning, the VW GTI would not start (the battery had died) and I was forced to take the 2017 BMW i3 up the mountain to Ridge.  I was planning to plod along as usual, but I soon spotted a coworker in my rearview mirror driving his Mustang turbo.  It didn’t take him long to be riding on my tail, so I adjusted my driving behavior.  Since the battery was certainly large enough to climb the mountain three times without any worry, I decided to have fun the remainder of the trip.  My car’s skinny front tires had me slowing noticeably for each sharp turn, but the blast of torque that launched the car out of the turns was as thrilling as the GTI was during the turns.  I was able to leave the Mustang behind as I left each turn and had a big smile upon arriving at the winery.  That one drive was probably the most fun I’ve had driving the i3.