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(see update dated 12 Sept 2020 below)

So we are on Day 5 of owning our electric BMW i3 and love the car. However, we are Manhattan apartment dwellers and are learning that electric car ownership is primarily for suburbanites with a garage or ability to plug in at home. We do not have regrets yet, but it is going to involve more planning and lifestyle changes.

Our first experience was Blink level 2 charging in a garage at the Bronx Terminal Market. Finding the charger was a bit touch and go - no signage. We knew it was on level 1 near the Home Depot so we drove around a bit until we found the two chargers. Once there we found that we could not activate either charger with the Blink app or by waving a debit card in front of the charger. Both looked fully functional with touch screens active, but when we called customer service they told us that there were known issues with the internet connectivity of those chargers.

Our second experience was plotting a route with charging on the way to Harriman State Park to go camping. Our idea was that we could park near a grocery store and charge up while we shopped. None of the charging stations along the route seemed to be near anything that would be an appealing place to stop, except for an EVgo rapid charger in the Shops at Nanuet. Unfortunately, there were no grocery stores in that shopping center. However, after a half-hour of research, I finally zoomed in on Google Maps and saw that there was a Stop and Shop across the street. Success! Google Maps in Satellite View was also helpful in locating the chargers visually so we knew where to find them (lessons learned from the Bronx Terminal Market).

There were 5 charging locations and only one was taken, so I plugged in, activated the charger from the EVGo app, and headed off to the Stop and Shop. I had read that you should not use a rapid charger to charge your car past 80% to preserve the battery. I thought it would stop automatically. However, it did charge the car to 100% and charged us $14 for it. Given the fact that the max range on the battery is a bit over 100 miles, and gas rarely costs more than $3 a gallon, we bought the equivalent of 5-7 gallons of gas, resulting in the equivalent of 14 to 20 miles per gallon by price, not a very cost-effective rate.

This web site seems to give information as to why this is so expensive, including the fact that it is likely that when the battery went past 80% charge it throttled the rate of charging to level 2, even though we were paying the level 3 rate.

September 12, 2020 update:

We now are paying $350/month for a garage that is 5 blocks from our apartment in upper Manhattan (a reasonable price for this insanely expensive city) that has Tesla Destination chargers in it. We can charge our car for two hours before leaving on a trip or after returning, but we have to make the extra trip to the garage beforehand to plug it in or afterward to unplug it.

Finding DC fast chargers on a trip is a bit like a treasure hunt and still holds some novelty. Often it seems hit or miss getting the chargers to work. However, we are doing it because we are still committed to energy-efficient driving. The paradox is this: in terms of energy consumed, running on electric is equivalent to 111MPG, but because of the efficiency of the gas hybrid getting 45MPG, it is actually cheaper to get gas on road trips than to do DC fast charging.. 2 1/2 gallons of gas cost $6 (100 miles) and takes a few minutes, whereas a full charge costs about $11 and takes 30 minutes for the equivalent distance.

Still, charging for free in our garage and at free or lower cost level 2 chargers at destinations, or using wall plugs when visiting friends, still makes this a deal. And when COVID is over and I go back to work there are free Level 2 chargers in the parking lot!

No regrets. The electric Beamer is just plain fun.

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