Not aware that the “e” is back in Bimmer land? Neither was I.
This appears to be a 2018 7 Series, a nice enough car.
But around back, there’s an “e” instead of an “i”, sure enough. Maybe it’s a detuned version? Nothing else looks different. As far as I can tell, the last time BMW used the “e” suffix in a model name was the 325e of the mid-80’s. I’ll let you Google a full backstory, but it was a detuned six that gave little horsepower, but lots of torque and gas mileage for the time, relatively speaking.
Ah wait, now it’s coming into focus. We have an appendage there in the driver fender and sure enough,
we are plugged in!
I have only recently become aware BMW has in fact been selling plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for a number of years now. Embarrassing to be a “car person” and be so out of touch. In fact, they are in third place in annual sales worldwide, after Tesla (1) and BYD (2, a Chinese make).
They actually do pretty well here in the U.S. too. The 530e is their best plug-in hybrid (PHEV) seller. The plug in X5 gets a fair amount of love too. The recently cancelled gullwing gonzo i8 even manages 800 or so copies a year worldwide.
The 740e I fell in love with? Well, it’s the red-headed stepchild of the BMW Hybrid family in the U.S. I have one of just 339 model year 2018 740e’s that found their forever home in the States. The worst seller of the BMW Hybrid family.
How did this come to be? Well, the 2019 Suburban COAL I wrote up about a year ago is alive and well. My wife, who is a Realtor, went out on her own and the new firm needed a vehicle for accessing and showing properties in all kinds of weather (and terrain, being somewhat mountainous around here). So “my” company sold it to “her” new merry band of real estate agents. I put about 35,000 miles on it in the 14 months I had it, and I love it. I imagine the new 2021 Suburban would really knock my socks off.
I went looking for a used large sedan since I would have access to the Suburban still. I liked the 2016 Lexus ES350 COAL well enough, but I loved the 2007 S550 COAL I wrote up. I preferred something large and German, having had used S Classes from 1986, 1988, 1997, 2000 and 2007 over the last 20 years (some of which I have written up).
I started like most people do, online. I like the looks of the current 7 Series, 2016 to 2019, so I started with those. It got a new schnoz for a mid-cycle refresh in MY 2020 that I am not sure about yet, but the 2020’s were also too pricey.
The 2018 740i’s with a gasoline six seemed reasonable enough, and there were plenty of them coming off 24 and 30 month leases. I wanted all wheel drive, though, which was hard to find in my area.
I started looking to the north, around Maryland, Pennsylvania, etc. Close enough for me to drive to, and sure enough they had lots of all wheel drives up there, xDrive in BMW speak.
One at a Maryland dealer was a 740e all wheel drive. So that was the first I had heard of this model. They had it on the lot since January, and seemed willing to deal. We actually conducted the entire negotiations by text.
So long story short, it’s mine now and it has been great for me so far. I have only had it about a month, so I’ll have to save deeper observations for later. But in brief, it is the 255 horsepower, 2.0 liter gasoline turbo 4 cylinder from many other BMW models, mated to a 111 horsepower electric motor sandwiched between the flywheel and transmission, driving all the wheels through the same 8 speed ZF transmission found in most BMWs.
I have never driven any sort of hybrid aside from my mother-in-law’s former Lexus CT250, which none of us found especially pleasant to drive. So, this is another beast altogether. I have never driven a Tesla either, and I am sure they are stupendous cars. I am watching for Jim’s updates on his with great interest.
For someone with little to no public charging where they live (me), range anxiety (me), and the need to occasionally drive 500 or 600 miles in a day without planning out charging stops (me), a PHEV is a great compromise and makes me very hopeful for the future of EV technology.
Here is the dash at press time (not the best picture, sorry), which has been a kind of light week for me. I filled up Monday and reset everything. 280 miles later, I have covered a pretty good mix of country roads, interstate, and city streets.
I plugged in each night with the included 120v charger, which takes about 5-7 hours to fully charge the battery (you can install a 240v, 30 amp wall charger for a 2 hour result). I left the settings on “Comfort” which means the car makes all the decisions about gas use, electric use, and shifting, but it does not scrimp on heat, air, heated seats, etc., in the name of saving energy (you can lock out the heated seats or A/C, for example, in the name of energy conservation).
So after 280 miles, you can see I have averaged the equivalent of 51.2 mpg. I did pay attention to my speed, but I more or less moved with traffic. Not bad for a 4700 pound, all wheel drive German boat.
The blue “e83.5” is the electric odometer. So 83.5 of the 280 miles were exclusively electric driven. The gas gauge is at half, so we used half a tank for 196 miles of gas movement. The tank only holds 12 gallons though, to make room for the battery. So we used 6 gallons more or less for 196 miles, or 32 mpg under gas movement. Which is a little better than the EPA ratings of 25 city, 29 highway, 27 mixed for gasoline-only consumption.
I was concerned about the inconvenience of the smallish gas tank, but if I can average 450 miles or more on a tank, that is fine.
The small gauge to the left is the gas gauge. The small gauge to the right is the battery. When the battery is fully charged, it shows 15 miles of range. Which doesn’t sound like enough to matter, but clearly it is a help. The car uses regenerative braking to constantly charge, and the alternator is always charging the long range battery.
Every time you lift your foot off the gas in normal driving, like coasting down a hill, it goes into charging mode. When you brake, it uses the pads of course eventually, but light braking is caused by the regeneration. So the battery never really goes to “zero”. Like a non plug-in hybrid, it is constantly making enough juice to move you away from stoplights and creep in stop and go traffic under electric, etc.
The other interesting thing I learned is the heat and A/C are electric, run off the long-range battery at all times, and not supplied by the engine. There is not an A/C compressor under the hood. I guess a Tesla must work that way, I don’t know about other hybrids.
So, the BMW manual says to “preclimatize” on a hot or cold day when you are plugged in, such as prior to setting out for the first time of the day. It uses the “shore” power to run the heat or AC for a while, thus saving battery range and/or saving the gas engine’s efforts to recharge the long-range battery from a big heating or cooling job. You can set a schedule to do this at multiple times of day, if you head to work and head home at set times for example. You can also tell it to start the climate control from your phone if your days vary as do mine, so I did it from the phone while I had my coffee this morning.
Of course, I don’t know that any of this saves any money since you are also buying the electricity, but it is a lot of fun to watch. It does save gasoline, clearly, so if your power source is nuclear (like my utility provider) or renewable, then you are using “carbon free” energy to a limited extent. About one-third of my sample week of driving consisted of “clean”, nuclear-fueled miles (83.5 / 280).
(ED: since the battery has a 7.4 kWh usable capacity, and there’s roughly 10% losses in the charger, it takes approximately 10 kWh to charge the battery from empty. I don’t know the electric cost where the author lives, but the US average is 13 cents/kWh. Thus at that rate it costs approximately $1.00 to fully recharge the battery from empty. Whether the battery is fully empty or not each evening is another matter. That $1.00 electric cost comes to 7.2 cents/mile, based on its rated 14 mile pure EV range. Assuming the author can keep getting 32 mpg from gasoline-only operation (higher than its EPA rated mileage), at a price of $2.00 per gallon, that comes to 6.25 cents/gallon. So in strictly economic terms, electric operation is costing almost 15% more. So the benefit is primarily environmental, not economic, but that depends on electric cost and gas costs. The reason is because this BMW 740e is not very efficient in electric mode, rated at 64 mpge. A comparable-size Tesla Model S is rated at 117 mpge, or twice as efficient. Obviously these numbers will change depending on the local cost of electricity and gasoline.)
While the Editor’s comments are helpful and informative, I take issue with comparing the efficiency of a plug-in hybrid (like the 740e), with the Tesla Model S (which is a ground-up, pure EV). Seems like apples and oranges to me. The 740e and all plug-in hybrids, by their very nature, are intended as a “compromise” with strengths (ability to use gasoline and charge themselves, albeit slowly, without an outlet) and drawbacks (electric range and efficiency) compared to a pure EV. The 740e does better on the mpge rating as it’s true competition, the other large plug-in hybrids: Mercedes-Benz S550e (58mpge); Volvo S90 and XC90 (54mpge); the Audi A8 (53mpge), and Porsche Panamera (46mpge), to name a few. See here.
I have ordered an outlet power meter from Amazon to calculate how much money the charger costs to run. It says it is 10 amps, 1500 watts, so I guess it is about like a built-in microwave running several hours each night. That will shed more light on whether we are actually going in the hole financially, driving a car that uses less gasoline.
So what are the strengths of a lightly used 740e?
First and foremost: it’s a 7 Series in all other respects. It is a large, silent (gas or electric), safe, comfortable sedan. It is expensive when new, and feels like it in everything you see, touch, or operate. The fit and finish are beyond reproach. It will whisk you and three or four others in complete comfort to anywhere you wish to go. It has an air suspension, and renders both great handling and a great ride.
Does it use more gas than a Tesla? Of course it does, anything is more than zero. But you can drive as long as you want, more or less uninterrupted. You’ll use less gas than most any other large luxury sedan while doing it. 0-60mph is about the same (5.1 sec.) as a six-cylinder 740i. You are giving up nothing in performance or convenience, for the way many people drive, especially in rural areas.
Second strength: it suffers from the same (or worse) depreciation as most big German luxury sedans. We are talking Grade “A”, breathtaking depreciation.
This is of course a huge bonus if you are the second owner, like me. The sedan you see started at about $91,000.00, and then was festooned with over $15,000.00 of options.
Some are great ($3,400.00 for a Bowers & Wilkins sound system; $1,000.00 for front massaging seats and yes, there is a setting for your buttocks) while others are of questionable value ($1,700.00 for 360 degree cameras, as if a rear camera and parking sensors front and rear aren’t enough; $1,000.00 for black shearling floor mats).
The $3,500.00 “M Sport” package is just cosmetics, but gets you sportier bumpers and rockers, “M” wheels, “M”-only paint color choices, a black suede headliner, black stained wood, and lighted “M” door sills to spiff things up. Despite the high price of admission, the original owner had to pay extra for Apple CarPlay, blind spot, lane keeping, cross path detection, heated seats, cooled seats, and a host of other things that should have been standard.
So 30 months and 10,895 miles from the original in-service date, I paid $53,000.00 and change. The first owner (it was not a lease, surprisingly) took a hit of roughly $5.00 a mile. I guess that’s a rounding error to the one percenters out there. I’m more than happy to reap the benefit. As nice as the car is, I can’t wrap my head around paying over $100 grand for it, but it’s a free country.
Now, off to download some Eddy Grant!
M sport has turned into an appearance package that explains a lot its a bit like ythe XR badges on Aussie Fords but an interesting car and the fuel economy from such a barge is impressive.
Nice car. I must confess that’s I was unaware of the existence of a hybrid 7-series myself.
I can see why these are slow sellers, because they occupy an odd niche: Not green enough for Tesla buyers, and a four-banger is a tough sell for the traditional ICE 7-series buyer.
These were primarily designed for Europe, as it allows EV-only operation in dense inner cities, where the short range is not an issue, and of course it helps the makers meet the very onerous EU CO2 emission regulations, which are putting a serious crimp on fossil fueled vehicles. But they’re really just a stop gap until more full EVs come out.
PHEVs have not been as successful in the US as was planned and anticipated. Buyers want full EVs or just plain gas cars given the cheap price of gas. And of course buyers want Teslas, as there are massive incentives on all the other EVs on the market. $20k off on a Jag iPace. $10k or more off a new Bolt. Etc.. All of them are selling slowly, but they do eventually sell, and the EV market is growing. In Europe EV sales are brisker overall.
Interesting car, but just 15 miles of pure electric range? Sort of puts it in the “why bother?” category.
I look at this with interest, as I’m in the final research and saving mode for my planned EV purchase in the next 90-120 days. I’m primarily looking for something that’ll get me thru a normal day’s errands without touching a drop of gasoline (say 35 miles), and if I can use it for longer trips (Ashland to Jamestown, VA, 120 miles round trip) that would be a very appreciated bonus. Buying used, of course, although I’m willing to look at leasing new.
Which gives me a few alternatives: A used Volt would cover everything. Do the local stuff pure EV, while having a decent economic gas car for long trips, and the van only comes out for hauling. A used Leaf would handle everything local, but I’m using the Sedona for anything outside of Richmond. A used Bolt would cover nearly everything, leaving the van for long trips only. Plus variants of other competing brands slotting in the same way.
But 15 miles just doesn’t cut it. Nor does the 20 on the Prius Prime.
My opinion, which (granted) doesnt mean too much, is that if you go with Chevy or Nissan, then lease. If Toyota, then buy if you wanna keep it forever.
But that may change if Toyotas pledge to stop making boring cars leads to quality-cutting. Like their current recalls with fuel pumps. Maybe just lease anything at this point to play it safer.
But those 15, if I understand it correctly, grow as regenerative braking is used and the batteries are charged while driving on petrol. So in normal operation you could see the battery be charged back uo ti 15 several times per day leaving you with more than 15. I guess that applies mainly to city driving.
It does charge itself back, yes. So I am setting out for about a 200 mile round trip day tomorrow. It’ll run on electric to get me to the interstate, then float between gas, electric, and regeneration throughout my interstate and country roads trip. It’ll go down to single digits quickly, but then stay there due to charging itself back. It seems to really like two lane, country roads. Going 50ish on a country road doesn’t take much gas, and you are frequently taking your foot off the gas in rolling hills, leading to decent regeneration.
Just get a used Bolt, on Carvana around here they seem to be around $17k for an LT model with under 20k miles and about two years old. 238 miles of range and even if the worse case prognosticators are correct about cold weather sapping up to 40% of that (not sure how correct that is at all, I’ve stopped believing everything I read or see on the internet, too much is false or has unexplained caveats), you’d still have plenty for the 120mile RT. And you have your other half’s car as a fallback if really nervous about it and assume that there are zero charging stations anywhere along the route. Plug-in Hybrids are great and better than full gassers but really just a stopgap and much better suited to single car households where there is NO fallback (as if rental cars didn’t exist anyway). The biggest issue with a Plug-in is when you see the 30 miles or whatever and then it’s cold out or you’re harder on the throttle and the range drops faster than anticipated. Lose ten miles of thirty and you’re disappointed. Lose ten miles from a 238 mile pack and who cares.
The hardest part is getting over the psychological hurdle and just doing it. Like riding a bike without someone holding on the first time or jumping in the pool the first time. Once you’re in, it’s sink or swim and generally just great.
I approve of the license plate on this car.
This is very complicated set up even though it is nice to drive around, but if any issue ever come up, they are expensive and annoying to address. The battery size is only 9.6kwh with only useable 7.4kwh, in comparison with Tesla is about 70 kWh. With the size of this BMW, it can accommodate a larger size battery, say 20 kWh, this will make the electrical range up to 50 miles which offer pure electric drive for the Suburban household daily. Wonder what is exact type of lithium battery is it used? Who is the supplier?
A car I was unaware of, so thanks for educating me. Though it’s hard to imagine a 2 liter 4 cylinder 7-series, even with turbo AND a 111 horsepower electric motor. One comment about the 12 gallon tank: when we got our Prius with the 8-ish gallon tank, that was a novelty after years of driving cars with 16-25 gallon tanks. But not only was the range fine, fillups were quick. Easy for me, and nice for the other folks waiting at the gas station. Our newest fleet addition has a 31 gallon tank, and I feel for the folks fidgeting in line behind me at the pump as the gallons tick over.
Though it’s hard to imagine a 2 liter 4 cylinder 7-series, even with turbo AND a 111 horsepower electric motor.
Why? that’s a typical PHEV drive train. Total hp and torque are what counts. And turbo fours are making lots of power these days.
I guess he means that when you think 7-series, you don’t think “small four-cylinder engine”. I didn’t read it as criticism. More as “a lot has changed since this is being offered now.”
While the Editor’s comments are helpful and informative, I take issue with comparing the efficiency of a plug-in hybrid (like the 740e), with the Tesla Model S (which is a ground-up, pure EV). Seems like apples and oranges to me.
Well of course. My point was simply to show why your 740e is not cheaper to run on electric power than gasoline (depending on costs for each. By the way, I updated those numbers as I was using the battery’s full capacity; in reality only 7.4 kWh are usable. Which makes the cost about the same per mile.
I added this since you seemed in the dark about how much electricity it was using. It’s not that hard to figure out. Every battery has a certain usable capacity in kWh, just multiply that (7,400 Wh) by the per your kWh cost (13 cents) and add about 10% for efficiency losses. That will give you the cost of the electricity to charge your car. Not really necessary to by a meter.
I have ordered an outlet power meter from Amazon to calculate how much money the charger costs to run. It says it is 10 amps, 1500 watts, so I guess it is about like a built-in microwave running several hours each night. That will shed more light on whether we are actually going in the hole financially, driving a car that uses less gasoline.
The fact that the charger says “10 amps, 1500 watts” doesn’t tell you anything about how much actual electricity it’s using. Chargers are not like microwaves and other appliances; chargers only use as much electricity as the battery needs. It’s strictly a demand appliance. Kind of like the a/c or furnace in your house. You’re going to use the a/c a lot less on a col day than a hot day.
Assuming your battery is depleted when you get home (your display will show that) it will require about 8 kWh to recharge. The charger’s maximum capacity (10 amps 1500 watts) just tells you the maximum rate at which it can charge, not how much it actually uses.
Where you’re actually saving money is in the gas costs, as the 740e is rated higher by the EPA (27 mpg) than the 6cyl 740i (23 mpg) or the V8 (20 mpg). So you’re bound to be ahead one way or another. The hybrid aspect of the drive train works beyond just the initial EV range, so that’s where the improved gas efficiency comes from.
That’s right, and there’s also something the matter with those numbers; they’re not in accord. 10 amps × 120v = 1,200 watts, not 1,500. And 1,500 watts at 120v would be 12.5 amps, not 10.
North American house current is 120v ±5% (114 to 126), so it’s not a matter of range; we don’t have 150v outlets. I suspect the amp and or watt markings on the device are imaginary, which would immediately make me suspect other markings on the device (the safety approvals and certifications, for example—UL, ETL, CSA, etc).
As to whether the benefits are economic or environmental or “other”: there’s been some recent scrutiny of that question.
That study has an agenda, all it really shows are the law of unintended consequences, the gov’t can’t really force consumers to be “green” and mfgs will figure out a way to game the system, if it is profitable.
So with the gov’t incentives on PHEVs and the discounts that result from the mfgs needing to meet CO2 targets it can be as cheap or cheaper than buying the ICE version. That means that there are some people who buy them with zero intention of plugging them in or in some cases any place where they could plug it in if they wanted to.
There are also mfgs that “teach to the test” giving the vehicle just enough EV power/speed to meet the demands of the standardized test. So request acceleration/speed greater than that level and the ICE starts up.
In real world operation with someone who plugs it in regularly, and frequently don’t drive much per day, it is much cleaner than a standard hybrid.
I don’t know what “real world operation” really looks like in terms of how often PHEVs are plugged in—without dependable data, I’d just be guessing.
Tangentially relevant: the Prius is overwhelmingly the most common taxicab here where I live, and because of how they’re driven, when they’re actually moving they spend very little time in electric mode.
Sharp car, and for me the real benefit would be not having to go to the gas station as much if the car were mainly used for shorter around town trips. Of course if it’s merely needed to nip down the store now and then, a “Siebener” seems a trifle excessive. But you do take long trips regularly with it and then the electric range being short (initially) seems self-defeating coupled with the smaller tank. The self-regenerating aspect is what ties it all together in the end and with some minimal driving style adjustments tends to have it make sense as your overall mileage attests to. Many people I think will say they are turned off by the BMW’s complexity but would likely feel the same if it was a pure gasser anyway so not much difference there. BMW seemed to be fairly cutting edge when the i3 was released along with the i8 (Supercar just screaming for an all electric Tesla P100D-style powerplant) but then kind of let it all wither on the vine in favor of various more euro-focused PHEVs such as this and others in the lineup.
“Ed’s” cost calculation is a little off because it ignores the portion of the traction battery that is reserved for Hybrid operation. So only 7.4 kwh of it is considered the EV portion and 1.8 kwh is used for Hybrid mode per tygerleo’s numbers above. Once the battery drops to a remaining 1.8 kwh it switches to Hybrid mode. Now when it comes time to recharge you have to top up the hybrid portion first. If it is operating at target SOC then that means to recharge the battery is going to need on average ~8.3 kwh to fully charge, not 9.2 kwh. Of course it isn’t always going to be at target hybrid SOC every time you plug it in. You may have just entered the Hybrid zone right before parking or you might get good at draining it to min SOC on the final stretch to home. So some days a battery that shows as empty will take as little as 7.4kwh or as much as maybe 8.7 kwh, but never 9.2 kwh.
If you can watch the traction battery SOC on your phone app you can see that the time to an indicated 1% charge vary because of this.
The modern Ford Hybrids and plug in hybrids actually use GPS to determine your frequent cold soak/charging locations. When you near that point it will switch into EV+ mode which will raise the ICE start up threshold with the goal of bringing the battery to min SOC by the time it hits its parking space.
The heat is both electric and powered by waste engine heat, assuming the ICE is operating. Somewhere there is a thermos like device that has a heating element in it. That is all plumbed into the heater core loop along with an electric pump, diverter and shut off valves. When in EV mode the valves operate such that it creates a loop between the heater tank and the heater. Once the ICE is running the valves change position and coolant from the engine flows through the tank and heater core.
Because of this if you need heat, failed to precondition, and your trip is longer than the EV range it is a good idea to hit the EV later button at start up, run the ICE until it gets to temp and the cabin has reached the desired temp. Then go back to EV mode. The system will extract the heat from the engine and the electric heater will only need to maintain the temp using less energy and lowering the heater use impact on EV range.
Most hybrid use electric AC compressors, Ford and Toyota still mount theirs in the location a traditional belt driven compressor would go. Some of that is due to packaging since the rest of the components are the same as the ICE only version. But it is also done as a good way to lower NVH during engine off operation. The massive engine acts as a dampener to any vibrations and the engine mounts further isolate it from the rest of the car.
Of course my calculation isn’t going to be right on the money, because of all the variables. But we’re talking about pennies here, not exactly significant amounts, especially to the typical buyer of a BMW 740.
All great comments, thanks folks! I am in the dark, and forever will be, about some of the nuances of how it works. All I know is, a layman’s impressions from a month of driving:
It uses less gas than a non PHEV 7 Series
It is smooth and quiet in operation and switching back and forth. Smoother & less noticeable switching between gas and electric than the Suburban switching from 4 to 8 cylinders.
The 2.0 liter four has plenty of acceleration. Passing on country roads or merging onto the interstate are no issue.
Using the MaxE mode, you can drive around purely electric. Not far, mind you, but I went for Sunday errands to check on the RV, the grocery store and the hardware store without gas.
Based on this experience, I would not be inclined to purchase a pure gas car next time. I would want a PHEV or EV. Which I guess is a lot of the point of a transitional vehicle like this. It’s not a perfect EV or a perfect gas car, but it is a “gateway” car for someone like me.
Congrats on the car. It really seems nice.
I thought you had written up all your cars though. I hope you’ll write up the rest at some point. I always enjoy your posts.
A super-lux mobile Big Bertha that takes 5 for 0-60 and 60mpg Imperial meanwhile, all in a way almost certainly undetectable to the Hearst within – modern technology never fails to amaze, though here being modern tech by BMW, it will likely amaze by never failing to fail after about 5 years. That makes your half-price and warrantied buy a smart one.
I’m glad you said that you are and forever will be in the dark about the nuances of how it all works – it really is quite the Symphony of Stuff going on for motion and comfort to occur – because I am the same. When Scoutdude mentioned a thermos, above, my mind instantly began wondering if there was an attendant toaster, and I knew I had swum beyond my depth.
I wonder why it is that full-electric and a simple tiny recharger (like their own i3) isn’t done at this level? A 2-litre turbo four and 8 speed auto are big and heavy bits of kit, and a Tesla S proves electric performance isn’t an issue. It’s hard to imagine that the extra cost of adapting bigger batteries into an ICE-based platform like this isn’t offset by the loss of the bigger engine, etc., keeping in mind an ICE-less Tesla weighs more than this car. It would leave BM to make traditional cars in the majority, and for the usual price premium, a more meaningfully electric range-topper as well.