Some Geniuses Are Swapping 200-Mile Battery Packs into BMW I3s | Hacker News Reader

Some Geniuses Are Swapping 200-Mile Battery Packs into BMW I3s

theautopian.com

39 pointsJojoFatsani12 comments

I bought an i3 in 2015 as I needed a car fast and could buy an i3 for little money and without paying taxes on it. I thought it'd be a temporary solution untill I found a proper car I liked.

It's now 2025 and I'm driving my 3rd i3. I just love the way it handles. Basically feels like driving a bumper car on steroids. I'm not even ashamed about its silly looks anymore. Really fun well built car.

Just wish it got carplay/android auto. Although there's aftermarket solutions.

Probably for similar reasons, I loved the handling of a Fiat 500e I hired a while back. It was basically a grown-up go-kart thanks to the weight distribution from the battery pack, plus the instant torque.

Plus it wasn’t actually very fast, and my experience is that small nippy-but-not-fast cars are the most fun to hustle around.

Heh, I almost bought one recently (they're really cheap). Unfortunately we couldn't figure out how people in the back seat could get out on their own - our testdrive ended up with the salesguy trapped in the back seat for like 10 minutes because we forgot to let him out ...

Replacing the whole pack is the way to go in battery replacement.

Key problem is the battery management system needs to send exactly the same messages as the previous one and at the same time handle the new cells correctly.

Someone would have had to reverse engineer the i3 BMS communication with the rest of the car for this to work. (I believe there is a repo on GitHub).

Similar swapping can be done with the Nissan Leaf.

It's a bit unfortunate that the car manufacturers themselves still aren't making official battery replacement an option.

Like battery emulators?

This is great.

After seeing the Leaf upgrades I do hope that we continue to see these aftermarket batteries that keeps EVs alive long after the manufacturer has given up.

If I could buy an "upgraded" leaf from a reputable company (normal warranties, non-outrageous insurance), I would do it in a heartbeat.

I have to imagine Im not the only one who wants a simple, incredibly reliable electric vehicle. No self driving, no GPS telemetry, no heat seater annual subscription.

Electric vehicles can be so incredibly simple, and yet electric vehicles like rivian/tesla have an absolutely outrageous servicing/mile driven ratio.

They have to be dirt cheap tho and no one will do decent work with all the liabilities and certifications in a civilised world when there are plenty of Chinese junk for just a bit more.

I'd rather wait for solid state batteries to be swapped in. Lighter, safer, shorter charging and higher energy density.

Flimsy construction, no coolant lines, no thermal probes. WTF is this? Did someone in China really made car battery the way they make bad bicycle batteries?

Yes, 100% they have. And now they’ve moved from e-bikes to cars it seems

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