Seoul Motor Show 2011- Miray Concept

MINI-E Dismantle, Battery Pack Replacement

It all started about a two months ago when I sent an email to Richard Steinberg, manager of electric vehicle operations and strategy for BMW North America. I asked him if BMW would replace the battery pack in MINI-E #250 because the original pack now has 53,000 miles and is beginning to degrade so my range is suffering. Richard gave me the usual company line about how the lithium ion batteries are expensive and if they did it for me then they'll have to do it for everybody and it will blow their whole bloody budget out the window.

First we disconnected the high voltage battery

Nonetheless, he said he would call Munich and see if it could be arraigned. A few weeks later Richard sent me an email and directed me to give him a call. I did just that and he prefaced the call by saying he wanted me to know he did all he could, but the BMW top brass wouldn't authorize it. He then told me all about a conference call he had with none other than BMW CEO Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Project i boss, Dr Ulrich Kranz as well as Hugo Vangeem and Marian Hawryluk who are electric vehicle project managers for BMW. Noticeably absent from the discussion was BMW North American president, Jim O'Donnell, but from what I'm told, they don't really let him make any decisions around there anymore anyway.  In any event after some discussion, the answer was "No new batteries for Tom".

I ordered 7 boxes, each with 5kWh

Those of you that know me, know that I don't particularly like being told no. In fact, I've been known to go to great lengths and at great expense to turn no's into yes. This wouldn't be any different. If BMW wouldn't give me a new pack, I'll just install one myself! So the quest began. 

We begin to take out the PEU

I quickly realized that it's not difficult to procure batteries for an EV as there are lot's of home conversion websites you can order anything you need from. It was a cinch to get the same exact cells used by BMW in the MINI-E. So last Saturday it was time to do the dirty work. Luckily, I have become friends with one of the area's leading EV mechanics and he offered his shop and services to do the swap. He really likes the MINI-E, so he looked forward to the opportunity to take one apart.  It didn't take us long to realize that much of the cars electronics had to be removed to replace the battery pack so we figured it would be better if we just did a complete dismantle. EV's are really simple and taking one apart and putting it back together is much easier than an internal combustion engine car, where only a experienced mechanic should even think about doing so.

Opening the PEU isn't allowed: oops!

Lot's of wires to reconnect!

  

EVERYTHING was removed!

Mind you, this isn't exactly allowed by BMW so there might be some splainin' to do once they realize I took part one of their precious prototypes. In the end, we did the swap, put everything back together and MINI-E #250 is running like new. If anyone want's some more photo's of the car when it was all taken apart, just ask!

PEU & motor assembly is all one piece

The suspension was in great shape

UPDATE: After a week of driving #250 with the new batteries, I can report the range is back to like it was when the car was brand new!
Mission accomplished!

UPDATE #2:  4/2/11: Just in case you didn't figure this out yet, it was an April Fools post and never actually happened. The car still has great range, although it may be starting to have slightly less now that it has been charged over 1,000 times and driven 53,000 miles. I plan on doing a range comparison post soon that will compare the cars range in different temperatures in the first year and second year I've had it.

If I had done what I said I did, BMW would probably be at my door today with a bus load of lawyers and repossess the car from me. Before getting the car, the trial lease participants all had to sign documents that we wouldn't alter the car in any way, we aren't even allowed to change a tire or put on window tint. Besides that, the battery pack is located behind the seats in the car so if we did change the pack, we wouldn't even have to open the hood, let alone dismantle the entire car!  I did take a photo of us removing a muffler, but figured if I posted that one, nobody would have been tricked! I hope you had fun with this!

BMW i3: Light Weight Means Less Energy Storage Needed

The Power Electronics & Battery System of the i3's Drive System

The previous post here showed a video about CFRP, the material that will be used in the "Life Cell" of the 2013 BMW i3. The picture above is part of the other component of the cars unique LifeDrive architecture, the drive system. This is the energy storage and power electronics the car will employ. Suprisingly, it may only use a 16 kWh battery pack, exactly half the size of the pack in the upcoming BMW ActiveE, yet give the vehicle roughly the same range of the larger, heavier and less efficient ActiveE. However it is possible that the 16 kWh is the "usable" amount of energy which would mean the pack would be around 20 kWh.

To put that accomplishment in even better perspective, the battery is only about 45% of the size of the battery pack currently in the MINI-E's yet the car is bigger, has two more seats, much more storage space and is expected to offer the same driving range.


The batteries used will be the same that are in the BMW ActiveE, which will launch as a trial lease program this fall. They are newly developed Lithium-ion cells which will be using a nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry made by SB-Limotive. SB-Limotive is a joint venture of Korean conglomerate Samsung and German parts giant Bosch. The ActiveE will use 192 cells in 25 modules in three separate battery blocks as opposed the the picture above where the i3's batteries are all located in one enclosure, a result of the car being a purpose-built EV and not a retrofitted ICE platform like the ActiveE. The i3 will use only 96 cells, in 48 smaller modules(only 2 cells per module) packed in rows under the Life Cell driving compartment and be thermally conditioned.

The end result means two main things. The battery is usually the most expensive part of an EV, and since the battery pack will be half the size of the ActiveE, it will cost significantly less to manufacturer, helping to keep the selling price of the i3 to a reasonable point. Secondly, less batteries means less weight and helps to further increase efficiency.

Complete Battery & Drive System of the 2013 BMW i3

Of course, none of this information has been "officially" released by BMW so it is speculation on my part. However, since it has been "reported" and "rumored" by many different media outlets I think it's safe to assume it is mostly accurate. The only question I have is whether the 16 kWh is the total pack or the usable amount which is usually about 80% of the packs total energy storage capacity.

NISSAN ESFLOW; GENEVA 2011

Cadillac ULC (Urban Luxury Concept); A substitute Maybach in hectic city ?

Where do You Want Your Personal Transportation Energy To Come From?

  This is a question I ask people frequently when we are discussing the future of electric vehicles.

Do you want to give him your money?

You can continue to buy gasoline, and send about 70 cents of every dollar you spend on it out of the US. That's right, about 70 cents of every dollar you spend on gasoline leaves the US economy. It's true not all of it goes to the radical Middle Eastern countries you hear me crowing about. Actually, Canada is our biggest supplier of oil and they are far from radical and threatening to the US. However, I don't want ANY of my money going to regimes that hate us and funnel some of that money to sponsor terror groups.

EV + PV is a great combo!

After a hundred years of having no choice but to use gasoline, we finally will have a choice. You, as a consumer will have the power to decide for yourself what kind of fuel you want to use for your personal transportation. One of the most satisfying things about driving an electric car and having a solar array is knowing that I produce my own energy for my car. It's something that you would probably never think about unless you had an EV and a solar array, but it's really liberating. We have all become so conditioned to think that when you need fuel for your car you go to a gas station. It can't be that bad, everybody does it right? Well, if you think that sending a billion dollars every day out of the US economy isn't that bad then yeah, I guess it's not that bad.

I'd rather he get my money than OPEC

Even if you don't use solar electric to charge your EV, using domestic electricity is cheaper, cleaner and it keeps every penny of what you spend on electricity here in the US. Your money goes to the coal, natural gas or renewable energy supplier that supplies the fuel to the power plants. It goes to the power plants that employ local workers, and it goes to your local utility that again employs local workers.

Just about every major auto maker is currently working on electric cars that they will be selling in the near future. The first BMW EV to be sold will be the 2013 BMW i3 which is what the MINI-E program was designed to gather information for. There are already cars like the Tesla Roadster, the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt on the market that can completely eliminate your need to purchase gasoline or in the case of the volt, drastically reduce it.

Today's electric cars are basically the first generation production EV's and will have some limitations like range and charge time so they will not work for everyone, just yet. However a good percentage of Americans could live perfectly fine with a 100 mile BEV as one of the household cars and I suspect many will embrace the opportunity to buy a car that can be powered either the sun or a domestic energy source. At least we finally now have a choice.

BMW i3 & CFRP, Perfect Together

One of the main goals BMW had with the development of the Megacity car now known as the i3, was to reduce the weight as much as possible while providing a strong, safe passenger cell. The extensive use of carbon fiber reinforced plastics or CFRP, has allowed them to do just that. While the use of CFRP isn't a new idea in the automotive industry, using it as extensively as BMW is on the i3 is groundbreaking. It's been written that by using CFRP as extensively as they are, it has cut the weight of the vehicle by as much as 700lbs. This will allow BMW to use less of the expensive batteries and still hit their target 100 mile range. That will also reduce cost and further reduce weight since the batteries are also heavy. The above video talks about how BMW is using CFRP and references the i3 a couple times.

Hybrid Porsche 918 sketches

BMW Website now has i3 Information

BMW now has an i3 section on their website. While it doesn't have any new information that hasn't been available here and on the internet for a while now, at least they have begun to post information about it. While it's still over two years away from production, there are a lot of people following it and waiting for every bit of information as it's released.

BERTONE B99 GT, GENEVA 2011

Lilli Bertone with CEO Marco Filippa