Alpha Feedback - BMW i3

[Jason-ABRP]

To verify and improve our models we need your feedback.  There's many ways we could use help if you actually own one:

• Drive a plan and compare it to the actual battery used.
• Drive a plan with the browser active, and update your actual battery percentage in the browser.
• Contribute data via OBD or other methods.

The best way to improve the data is to provide data directly from the car.  Connecting your car not only improves the models, but allows you to follow up directly in the car while driving! We have several ways of doing that, but we need your help to figure out what will work with your car:

• An OBD reader can be used in concert with a custom app like LeafSpy, or a PID list and Torque Pro.
• If your manufacturer has an API to access data from the car we can set up access to that API, like we do for Tesla

If you're familiar with either of these, contact me at jason@abetterrouteplanner.com and I'll help figure out what we need to do to connect your car!

Thanks for providing feedback!

[Andreas]

I drove this plan last week:

Plan using 155 Wh/km

It ended up spot on. 

But originally I let abrp calculate with a reference consumption of 180Wh/km:

Plan using 180 Wh/km

Which wasn't even close to reality.

I assume the reference consumption for the I3 (without REX, but with heat pump) is more like 160 instead of 180. Driving style was going as fast as the speed limit allowed, used Eco mode, heater was on. Traffic was more on the average side.

[Jason-ABRP]

Thanks for the feedback! Sounds like our model is a bit overly conservative.  Probably room to adjust it a little more efficient.  Until we get a way to do real-time data from the i3, we'll intentionally leave the website about 10% conservative (which would be 170 Wh/km instead of 180).  Your personal efficiency is stored in your account settings once you've run a plan, so you can continue doing what I'm sure you've already done, and use your personal efficiency to get more accurate results.

On that note, do you have any suggestions for getting live data from the i3? Does the i3 have a webportal or app that tells you what your battery percentage / location / anything else about the car? Or do you know if you can get OBD/CAN telemetry from the car?

[Andreas]

Yes, 170 might be a good compromise. It also depends what model you are driving, the i3S or a model with REX will be closer to 170 than mine (which is full EV).

Regarding live data: yes there is the BMW Connected Drive portal. Although there is no official api, there are some workarounds available, like:
https://github.com/jupe76/bmwcdapi

The portal does give information about SOC, last trip, last avg consumption and last distance since last charge etc. It also reports location, but only while the vehicle is parked/locked, so not while driving. It also sometimes takes a while to update (let's say 15 minutes? Mostly 1 min.)

[Jason-ABRP]

Hmm, every 1 minute is not ideal, but workable. I wonder if we'd get complaints from BMW if we ping the interface every minute to ask for updated SoC, and fill in the speed / everything else from your phone.  We'd have to do this via a local app so we can get all the data we need to model the route you're actually driving, so would be a little while before I get around to it.

[Woody]

Dear Jason,

Next week I will receive my i3 94 Ah, really looking forward to that!
With the limited range your planner will be super useful, thanks for all the effort making the BMW i3 available!

It would be great to be able to log the OBD data, but nobody seems to have successfully done this since 2013 (!)
The only info I have is that a version of "BimmerLink" for the i3 is in the making (for now on pause due lack of time).
According "BimmerLink" the PIDs for the i3 are known (not to me), those are not the problem.

Would you be able to acquire the PIDs for the i3? (and for now use Torque Pro)
It would be really helpful right now.

Thanks!
Chris 

[Jason-ABRP]

I don't have anything special on the i3, and it would be hard for me to try reverse engineering the PIDs as I don't have an i3 to tinker with.  On BimmerLink's website, they list the i3 as supported.  Does BimmerLink offer any kind of webserver logging that you're aware of? It also seems to only be available on iOS, is there an Android equivalent?

[Andreas]

On 11/20/2018 at 9:42 PM, Jason (ABRP) said:

Hmm, every 1 minute is not ideal, but workable. I wonder if we'd get complaints from BMW if we ping the interface every minute to ask for updated SoC, and fill in the speed / everything else from your phone.  We'd have to do this via a local app so we can get all the data we need to model the route you're actually driving, so would be a little while before I get around to it.

I in fact DO ping the API every minute - at least if the vehicle is either in "CHARGING" or "MOVING".

But as I mentioned: the service doesn't update any values while the vehicle is moving - only while parked. So I think it's not of value for you.

[Woody]

Hi Jason,

I'm as much in the dark as you right now.
What I hope could happen is you try to contact Stephan Gauch of Bimmerlink (see on Bimmerlink site>Contact) and figure out a way to share the PID's with you/us.
He is familiar with the matter. I think you, with your background, would be most successful.
(I would be willing to help in funding the knowledge.)

Somehow, getting us driving and logging (with Torque Pro or later i3 Bimmerlink) is essential to making your i3 model as useful as possible.
I hope will be able to figure that out!

Thanks!
Chris 

 

[Jason-ABRP]

On 11/25/2018 at 1:15 PM, Andreas said:

I in fact DO ping the API every minute - at least if the vehicle is either in "CHARGING" or "MOVING".

But as I mentioned: the service doesn't update any values while the vehicle is moving - only while parked. So I think it's not of value for you.

It's a shame the API isn't more useful, it'd be a lot easier to set up for a lot of people, and once a minute is good enough to track plan progress for you as a user, and I'm sure I could eventually get enough data points to build a solid driving model from that.

I'll give a try to contacting Stephan Gauch and see what he's got, perhaps he's willing to help us out!

[Jilldris]

Here is some data about i3 120ah charge power if you want to add that model. (I dont have one myselfe) 

 

[Woody]

Hi Jason,

Since I got my i3 for about 3 weeks, I make good use of your planner. Thanks for that.

It still would be great to have a lot more data of the i3's coming to your database, but seems to be difficult.
Any outcome from your request to Stephan from Bimmerlink for some help, or a way to use the Connected drive server?
see: https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/bmw-i3-laden/habe-mir-eine-webapp-fuer-den-batterie-status-gebaut-t21224.html

Happy Holidays!

Chris

[Jason-ABRP]

Upthread somewhere it was mentioned that the BMW Connected service doesn't update battery percentage as you drive, do you know if that's true?  If we can get that, it'd be a good start.  I'll let you know if I make any headway with Stephan, do you know if there's an equivalent app on Android?  I noticed Bimmerlink only supports iOS.

On a related note, I really need an alternative to Torque for iOS, at the moment we don't really have any options for that.

[Woody]

Hi Jason,

A bit late, but indeed, BMW Connected does Not update battery percentage while driving.

It's gotta be the OBD port way...(for now).
With the i3 base increasing I hope we will get somewhere!

[Jason-ABRP]

I have pestered the Bimmerlink developer several times now, and he is unwilling to add a server logging option.  If he gets enough requests from users, he may reconsider, but for now that's a dead end.  Anyone good with OBD/CAN and could determine how to get the same data in Torque Pro?

[Bo-ABRP]

It took far too long, but now we have the 120 Ah models in ABRP too.

[Edward]

Hi,

I like you're routeplanner. I've added a image to this post with the load curves for Fast charging a 60Ah BMW i3, thanks to fastned, the blue line is for a 60Ah

This 60Ah charges with good speed to about 65% then it will start to struggle, from 85% even more. I sometimes see that the planner says 30 min charge for 100% from 35%, this however takes a lot longer, perhaps around 1h30 min, because of the last kWh's.

Is it possible to set the charging bandwidth max also in your calculations. Let's say 80% (and only go above it if the distance justifies a bigger charge)

 

Thanks, Edward

[Jason-ABRP]

@Edward - We actually use a very similar curve in calculating the charge time for the i3, and we optimize for the position of the knee-over.  We've had requests before to add a user configurable "max fast charge level" cutoff, but we're a little conflicted on that since it limits plans where you absolutely have to charge above that value to make it to your next stop.  Might make it a soft cap, where it merely penalizes plans more that fast charge above the soft cap, but doesn't preclude them.

[Timmy]

Note that the charging curves posted by Edward are only applicable with outside temperatures of approx. 10 °C or higher.  My maximum rate is 43 kW (2016 i3 94Ah).

Any colder than 10 °C and the charging rate drops severely to approx.  25-30 kW at around 5°C and even to 20 kW at around 0°C.

[Celestar]

Hi guys,

I'm a (proud) owner of an i3s 94Ah. Would you include this as a car model? I'd like to help providing data if possible.

As above, I've also made the observation that 170 Wh/km is overly pessimistic even for the i3s. I'll do some test run on a (hopefully free) highway this weekend. Maybe I can provide data up to 160km/h. On the other hand, the specs mention 27.2 kWh usable, but I'm currently at 29,58 (last full charge).

Celestar

[PaulS]

Hoping to take delivery of an i3 94Ah soon. (Next month or so...)

In the absence of data logging, is there any data that owners can provide to make the model better? I'll be happy to stick a OBD dongle in once I get it and see what I can find, but that's in the future somewhere. I'm amazed how little info there seems to be out there on this aspect of the i3.

[Bill N]

To add to this, is there anything owners can do to help improve the model even without an OBD device ?

 

Any specific tests we can conduct and report back the findings?

 

 

[Jason-ABRP]

If you're familiar with OBD / CAN, we're looking for someone who can help decode the BMW Extended PIDs so we can support the i3:

https://forum.abetterrouteplanner.com/topic/317-decoding-the-i3s-pids/

[Bill N]

On 5/22/2019 at 4:36 PM, Jason (ABRP) said:

If you're familiar with OBD / CAN, we're looking for someone who can help decode the BMW Extended PIDs so we can support the i3:

https://forum.abetterrouteplanner.com/topic/317-decoding-the-i3s-pids/

I'm unfortunately not able to use the OBD port on my car as it is used by the lease company for tracking purposes etc.

Is the best test otherwise to drive at a GPS verified 65mph on a flat road, on a still and mild day and then report back the consumption figure the car reports so that the ABRP reference consumption figure can be adjusted, if necessary?

Or is there better or additional tests that can be conducted (without OBD access)?

Also, what weather & other conditions does the reference consumption assume? (I presume, zero wind, dry & flat road, nil added weight - but what about temperature?)

[JM SPI]

Yesterday I drove from the Electrify America chargers in Normal IL to Springfield IL in my 2019 i3S (120 Ah BEV), 1 passenger, no luggage. Departing SOC was 70.0%. Outdoor temperature was approx. 90°F, no wind. A/C was set at 72. Drove at the speed limit on the interstate, higher than limit on local roads.

Model predicted my arrival SOC would be 24%. Actual SOC at arrival was 23.5% (the model doesn't use fractional percentages).

Model confirmed IMO!