Why Would I Need One?

We managed quite well with one charger for two electric vehicles. Recently, however, when we added a 3rd plug-in vehicle, a BMW X3 xDrive30e, and we needed to look for a better charging solution. We reached out to ClipperCreek and they sent us the HSC-D40P for review. We were also able to order one that utilizes our existing NEMA 14-50 plug, so no calls to the electrician. Alternatively, the ClipperCreek HSC-D40P can be ordered in a hardwired or NEMA 6-50 plug configurations.

The two electric vehicles we charge are a 2018 BMW i3s and a 2018 Tesla Model 3 Performance. To date, we have over 87,000 of pure EV mile driving. The fascinating part of the Tesla is that it shows you exactly how much energy you are charging where as the BMW i3 will just show when it’s fully charged. When I charge the Tesla by itself, it will pull 32amps/7.7kW on our 40 amp circuit. When you plug a second vehicle in simultaneously the ClipperCreek unit will split the current equally among the vehicles and do 16 amps to each.

Typically we will plug in both EV’s in when we get home in the evening. We have the BMW i3 set to charge immediately when it gets plugged in and then we have the Tesla set to charge early in the am. Though both are plugged in, only the 2018 BMW i3s is requesting a charge so it gets charged at 32amps. The i3 charges fastest as it has the smallest battery at 33 kWh vs about 75kWh battery for the Tesla Model 3.

Then early in the morning when the Tesla calls for its charge, it also gets 32 amps, as the BMW i3 is fully charged and no longer charging. The benefit for us is that at night we don’t have to run down to the garage and switch the charging head from one car to the other.

Dual-Charging Stations Will Become The Norm

We have lived with an HSC-D40P  for going on our second month. Most importantly, as we are going into the snow and winter season, I am extremely grateful for the ability to have two EVs plugged in at the same time. The real benefit of this is the ability to precondition off before we head to work. Preconditioning uses the electricity from “shore,” aka your charger to heat the car and the battery pack instead of using electricity from your battery pack of the vehicle.

ClipperCreek also sells a 50 amp circuit version, the HSC-D50. Both are sold with either a NEMA 14-50 plug, 6-50 plug or can be hard-wired. Both are great for a commercial application where two electrified cars need to be charging at once. It also works well for families like mine where we have multiple plug-in vehicles. Furthermore, it can be used in either a residential or commercial application.

Should I Buy One?

The ClipperCreek HSC-D40 is the ultimate convenience for multiple EV families. I didn’t realize how nice it was to plug in both our cars at night after work. No more, “Oh I forgot to move the charger” from one EV to the other mornings. The other benefit for those of us in the snow belt is that we can both precondition/preheat our cars at the same time in the mornings without arguing over who needs the charger more.

Lastly, the ClipperCreek unit was more expensive at $1349 than a single car charger but is far less than having to upgrade my entire electric panel and run a second plug to accommodate two chargers.

For a detailed video review watch here:

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In this new video from TFLC, we get to see just how far the hybrid X3 can go on pure electric range. The video starts out showing the car’s full battery charge and claimed 16 miles of range. That’s not very far and would probably make most customers feel at least a bit underwhelmed. However, the car actually delivers more than its estimated 16 miles.

Andre, one of the hosts of TFLC, drove the BMW X3 xDrive30e home and was actually able to make the entire 22.8 mile trip home without using the gasoline engine once. More than that, he even hit speeds of up to 50 mph at certain points. While he didn’t drive on the highway, he wasn’t driving at purely residential speeds. So, in real-world driving, hybrid X3 is capable of delivering very realistic journeys under pure electric power.

What’s interesting is that the BMW X3 xDrive30e displayed an average of around 3 miles per kWh, which isn’t incredible but isn’t too bad, either. When you consider that it has about 10-ish kWh of battery available (12 kWh battery pack but BMW builds in a buffer to promote battery longevity), it could actually be capable of around 30 miles per charge, if driven carefully. For most people, that could last all day, especially in heavily traffic-dense areas, where regenerative braking will help preserve the battery.

Additionally, when Andre drove the car the next morning, without charging it at all the night prior, he was able to recoup over 7 miles of range by using the gasoline engine. So if you’re using a mix of both gasoline and electricity during your normal runs, it wouldn’t be surprising to see most of your driving done under pure electric power, especially if you charge at night, or whenever else you’re home.

So while plug-ins might not have the pure electric range of BEVs, they can actually prove to be shockingly useful in everyday life. If done properly, and driven properly, plug-ins can truly be the best of both worlds.

The post How Far Can the BMW X3 xDrive30e Drive on EV Power? appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

BMW has a long history of plug-in hybrids

BMW has been making hybrids now for more than 10 years. The benefit of this is obvious in how seamless the transitions are from electric motor only, the petrol motor only, or a combination of both. In fact, when I tried to see how far I could go all-electric in a day in Minneapolis, I was surprised to see the car had snuck the motor on for 1.5 miles in a day where I managed 53 pure Electric Miles probably when I was merging on the highways. I don’t know because I didn’t hear the engine kick on or the shudder from an engine start.

The 2021 BMW X3 xDrive30e has three eDrive driving modes to select from. If you just jump in and drive, the X3 30e will automatically default to AutoE Drive. This is where the BMW watches your driving style and uses the navigation to anticipate the location you are in. Typically it will use the electric-only driving when moving in and out of the garage, low-speed city driving or once you are up to speed on the highway. It will generally draw down the battery in this mode to maximize your fuel economy. Keeping your battery charged up when you can help with your mileage, but you can drive on just gasoline if you are unable to charge.

Max E-Drive. You can drive up to about 17 miles pure eclectic motor only. This is powered by a 12 kWh, 34aH battery though only 9 kWh is useable per BMW. The electric motor has 107 hp/77 lb-ft so it’s really meant for efficient style driving. If you have found yourself unwisely pulling out in front of a car on a highway in this mode, no worries. A full smash of the throttle, you will feel a detent on the floor, and the car will override the eclectic only mode and kick on the gas engine to allow full acceleration to get you out of trouble. I use Max E-Drive mode extensively when city driving and use it so much my MPG is rated over 90 mpg. This does require frequent plugging in though if you are going to go over 20 miles of electric driving in a day. If you are still driving after running the battery down the car will engage AutoE Drive.

Battery Control. This third eDrive mode of driving will allow the driver to set the amount of energy you want or need to maintain in the battery. This is especially useful for those who live in major cities where there are major fees waived if you can drive pure electric in zero emission zones. In certain European countries, if you set the destination in major cities, this happens automatically. I left ours set at 70% though rarely used this mode.

Pedestrian Warning System Tone is wild. It almost sounds like a sound from a Sci-Fi Movie. The tone functions at speeds below 20mph and is useful to pedestrians and pure electric driving mode makes zero noise on its own. I hear it best in concrete parking garages and captured it well in our video review if you want to hear it.

No major design changes from the “regular” X3

Cosmetically the BMW X3 plug-in hybrid is virtually indistinguishable from the non-hybrid versions. The easiest way to spot it is the charging flap on the front fender on the driver’s side. The biggest changes are noticed from the driver’s seat with different dash displays for all the hybrid modes. BMW does add 440 lbs and downsize the fuel tank from 17.2 to 13.2 gallons to make room for the hybrid hardware and battery. The combined power output of the electric and gasoline motor combine for a total output of 288 hp/310 lb-ft torque and 0-60 comes in 5.9 seconds.

Having just returned from a 2,000-mile road trip to Mount Rushmore South Dakota, and now back in city driving solely Max-E Drive, pure electric, I realize that the X3 plug-in hybrid is really two cars in one. You need to go on a massive road trip. No problem, you use gasoline and in our case, we averaged a very respectable 33 mpg. This was purely on gas as plug-in stations were rare in South Dakota. Search them on nav and curiously Tesla SuperChargers were found more frequently than J1772 plugs. Now that we are back in the city, I haven’t used the gas motor at all as we can fully charge at home and there are over 1,000 charging stations in my hometown.

For us, the 2021 BMW X3 xDrive30e truly is two vehicles in one.

Conclusion

Things I would change? I wish the X3 30e had more electric driving range but understand that would have involved more weight. I also wish it would charge at a faster rate as Level 2 charging only adds 6 miles of range per hour, whereas our i3s can add 29 miles of charge from the exact same charger. All in all, we are very happy as the purchase fills our needs perfectly.

Watch our video for a thorough review including a peak under the car on a lift to find the lithium-ion 12 kWh battery pack.

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The hybrid configuration comprises a 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder petrol engine rated at 135 kW / 184 PS (181 hp), which is also equipped with TwinPower Turbo technology. Power is sourced through an 8-speed automatic Steptronic transmission, which works in conjunction with an electric motor developing 80 kW / 109 PS (107 hp). The combined output of the hybrid X3 reaches a maximum 215 kW / 292 PS (288 hp).

The performance achieved by the new X3 xDrive30e is rather remarkable. Acceleration from standstill to 100 km/h takes just 6.1 seconds, given the extra weight of the battery and the overall vehicle mass. As well, the plug-in hybrid version of the X3 is capable of achieving a top speed of 210 km / h (130 mph). What’s interesting is that the xDrive is functioning permanently, so the AWD cruise is possible even in electric-only mode.

According to the EPA, the 2020 BMW X3 xDrive30e stands at 17 miles (27.4 km) which allows some customers to significantly reduce the usage of the internal combustion engine during the daily commute. The energy efficiency in the all-electric mode is 60 MPGe – 562 Wh/mi (349 Wh/km). The hybrid mode returns a 24 MPG. The total range is 340 miles (547 km).

Even though the BMW X3 xDrive30i petrol unit has slightly better MPG -26 vs. 24 – the BMW X3 xDrive30e has a lower MSRP. The plug-in hybrid is priced in the United States at $48,550, but it gets a federal tax credit ($5,836). Total price: $42,714. The petrol-unit BMW X3 xDrive30i has an MSRP of $43,950.

2020 BMW X3 xDrive30e specs:

• Range (all-electric) EPA: 17 miles (27.4 km) and 340 miles (547 km) total | WLTP: 41-46 km (25.5-28.6 miles)
• 12 kWh battery (10.8 kWh usable)
• 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.1 seconds
• 0-60 mph (96.5 km/h) in 5.9 seconds
• top speed of 210 km/h (130 mph); 135 km/h (84 mph) in EV mode
• BMW xDrive system
• System output of 215 kW and 420 Nm of torque
  a 2.0-liter, 135 kW/184 hp 4-cylinder petrol engine with BMW TwinPower Turbo Technology and an electric motor integrated into the 8-speed Steptronic transmission with an output of 80 kW/109 hp
• AC charging (on-board): in 2.6 h @ 3.7 kW
• Towing capacity up to 2,000 kg

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