BMW i3 Owner's Map - Enhancement!

When I ordered my BMW i3 one year ago in March 2014 I and others on the BMW i3 Facebook Group were curious to connect with other owners. A simple post began by asking others where they lived. After a dozen people responded, that gave me the idea to allow the owners to list themselves on a map. So I started the BMW i3 Owner’s Map and began taking submissions in June 2014. 

I simply wanted to know where on earth were the other owners of i3s so I collected a name/ID and the address (specific or general). I also wanted to ‘evangelize’ this revolutionary EV that has captured my respect and (dare I say?) love!

Since June, the Map has grown to have over 1,000 listings and I have added a simple chart and table showing the distribution by country of owners on the Map. All of the listings are voluntary and do not represent all i3s made, but by my rough calculations the listing represent 7-8% of the total sold worldwide.

Now, 10 months later and with new 2015 BMW i3 model year beginning, I feel it is time to enhance the Map and add other data points. While there are a lot of things one could know about an owner’s car, my purpose is to get some glimpse into how the car is spreading in the world. Do people in big cities favor the BEV? Do people in colder climates favor the REX since cold shortens the effective range? How many people who do not control their parking space at home (possibly apartment or condo dwellers) own an i3 compared to those that do?

I am not sure exactly what to capture that would provide the most interest and value so I am asking YOU to help me decide. Please fill in this form with a lot of choices and I will get to work to update the map.

My BMW i3 Owner's Map Made the Offical BMWBLOG!

Well, this is cool . . . Tom over at the blog for BMW i3 posted about my i3 owner's map and was able to get it cross posted on the BMWBLOG for all things BMW. This little map is getting around and it is exciting to see that we are close to getting 500 owner's submitting there location. The i3, in less than a year is now one of the most global EVs around. Excellent!

 

How BMW i3 Active Criuse Control (ACC) Works - Through Google Glass!

I was commuting in my BMW i3 the other day and thought Id' try to share the experience of driving with Active Cruise Control (ACC) on. This is the "tractor beam" like feature in the car that allow you to turn over the acceleration and deceleration to the computer in the car. All of these videos were recorded live with Google Glass on the 101 North. 

The images are a bit hard to read on the i3 displays, but hopefully they give you a feel for what it is like. After I learned to trust it a bit, it is a liberating and actually safer way to drive, especially in stop and go traffic. While these three videos only represent 6 or 7 minutes, I used it in heavy stop and go for over an hour with no incident. I hope you enjoy!

BMW i3 Active Cruise Control (ACC) Demo #1

BMW i3 Active Cruise Control (ACC) Demo #2

BMW i3 Active Cruise Control (ACC) Demo #3

Guest Blog Post on the BMW i3 Blog

I was privileged to be asked to write about my experience with the BMW i3 since I got my car on August 11, 2014. We crazy owners call that being "born electric" and are enthusiastic about our experience. Check out my post over on Tom's blog and let me know what you think.

The Technology of Desire

There is a quote I like from the movie, "Amadeus" where Mozart is trying on wig after wig and after seeing three of the samples on he exclaims "Why don't I have three heads!". The technology subject of the scene was the 'wearables' of the 18th century and that advanced wig design was all about fashion and prestige. Not too different from our jeweled device cases or electric cars. On this last point, I am susceptible and in love!

I have wanted an 100% electric car for 20 years, since the EV1 from GM was heralded as the first of many. I remember test driving it and lamenting that the lease was wholly out of range on my salary . . . with kids and a sizable mortgage. Fast forward to 2011 and the 100% electric Nissan LEAF arrives on the scene, but its a wig I just don't like. Designed for the family and looking like a weird creature, I just did not have the desire for that technology. I have been a BMW owner since 2000 (with a brief gap in an old Mitsubishi Eclipse while buying a house!) and I needed a car to peak my desire before jumping into the all-electric technology. I knew hybrids were abundant, but to my mind, unless you switch over to an entirely new way of powering your mobility, its just not that interesting.

I equate that to personal cloud computing. I write this post on a Chromebook, using no MS software, no local storage, and no save button. When you can't install old technology (like gas in the BMW i3) and you force yourself to save content to the cloud, you work differently and think differently. So my i3 BMW battery electric vehicle (BEV) is on its way from Germany and I have followed the making and shipping of it all the way. Yesterday it made its way through the Panama Canal and with cloud technology I can track the ship real-time on maps and webcams has it threads through that 19th century technological wonder.

"Panama Canal Map EN" by Thoroe

I know webcams and GPS is not new, but my use of them is purely voyeuristic and born of desire. Since ordering this car, I have communicated with people all over the world via my own little mapping project; learned a great deal about amps, volts, and resistance; and forced myself to use cloud-based image editing tools discovering that they are now quite capable and can replace all of my need for those old ones I have installed on my old Windows laptop.

As evidence of that, and evidence of my 21st century impatience, I have followed the car for weeks and it slowly made its way out of the English Channel, across the open Atlantic and pulled into the Panama Canal on the vehicle carrier ship the Metis Leader.

I am not normally a stalker, but the combination of 20 years of desire and the ubiquity of information urged me to make screen captures of the various webcams online in the Canal. I made a short video out of them as the ship with my engineering wonder of a car went through the engineering marvel of a transportation route.

In the end this is all about transport: electricity moving me on the road, water moving cargo around the world, and technology transporting me to heights of geeky desire I have previously not known!

BMW i3 Mapping - Update!

I have been compiling an opt-in map for BMW i3 owners and owners-to-be I have "met" on various online forums. I have recently updated the map to include almost 150 people! I created more accuracy by adding specific postal codes so there is a unique dot for everyone. I also thought it might be simpler to have a form to collect new people for the map, so check that out below. If you need a correction, feel free to use the form for that, too.

BMW i3 Mapping

I have not posted here in a while because I have been busy buying an i3! We ordered this one which is currently sitting on a dock in Germany waiting to board a ship to the West Coast!

Yep, its true, adopting new technology at the $50k scale is almost a full-time job. That's because serious research is involved and getting to know a whole new community of people online who are in the same cult. After absorbing all kinds of pros and cons and experiences of the very early adopters, I thought I'd give back to the growing community by making a map of BMW i3 owners and owners to be.

These are folks I have "met" and interacted with on the BMW i3 Facebook group and the My BMW i3 Forum. I have mapped about 120 people to date! Click around and explore. In big cities, where there are more the one owner, clicking on the dot will only show the first one. If you are an i3 owner, let me know your name, city, & state and I'd be happy to add you! Check it out with a direct link or embedded below.