BMW i3 60Ah Battery Pack Disassembly
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- čas přidán 14. 12. 2019
- [Had to mute 5.34-8.08 cause of music not being copy right free anymore. But not much content lost.]
In this video i'll take apart my old BMW i3 batterypack, it's a 60Ah from 2014 that had done 85000 km. I'll try to show you the steps I go through and give you an idea of whether this is an easy task or not.
At 5"40' I start getting the modules out.
The reason I have the pack like this is a recent upgrade to a 94Ah battery pack. It was actually cheaper and a more logical decision to just upgrade the battery and not the entire car (in my case).
There will be a few videos eventually covering the topic on using these cells as energy storage in a camper.
Music:
Track 2: Ikson - Together - Auta a dopravní prostředky
indeed very little videos on taking the bmw i3 apart.. thanx for doing this..
Most people wouldn't touch this battery without the insulating gloves and high voltage rated tools, but are doing the opposite- removing the protective plastic cover before going starting working with bare-metal tools. I like it!
Bro, don't encourage him! It's cool that he is doing a teardown and this video is great, but it's not cool do do the teardown in a way that puts your life at risk
This was so cringeworthy, even the most basic safety wasn’t adhered to.
Class 0 rubber electrical gloves are $15 bucks on amazon, rated to ~1000vac/1500vdc. Ground the enclosure/chassis and measure all the voltages across all phases before touching any wires. Also wear face protection in case of arcing. I test and work around 120-480vdc, and up to 25kV DC on multi-million dollar semiconductor equipment. We joke about licking the fingers and test the wires but I doubt anyone has the gut to do so.
In case someone asks, if anyone has seen a youtuber upload a battery system dismantling gone wrong... it's called survivorship bias. Thumbs up for safety first!
I would love to get a link for the class 0 electric gloves! Sounds like prices have increased and it gets a bit spendy when they are only good or certified for 6 months at a time 😬 thanks!
Brilliant video. I'm looking at buying an i3 battery pack
this is a great video - thanks! i thought the coolant travelled directly through the cell boxes. seeing that it’s just a metal-metal convection heat transfer, this means we can swap out batteries pretty much…
in several places in Europe you can upgrade the Bmw i3 battery but in my opinion the best is impexneth from the Netherlands and they have original 120ah Bmw batteries, not foldable and the price is around 6000 eur
Super Video!
GripSeal G70 series are extermal connectors , which are widely applicable to various cooling-water tube.
Very helpful, thanks. Were you able to get any diagnostic info from the pack before opening it up?
Great vids on the battery pack disassembly, thanks! I've disassembled a 36kWh e-Golf pack and that was a nightmare compared to the tidy i3 pack.
My next pack will most likely be an i3 pack and I'm toying with the idea of using the original battery box. It looks very nice and rugged, not to mention spacious and easy to open.
Setting up a 12S system, do you have any thoughts on how to connect the serial cells in parallel? I doubt the original balance leads are up to the job?
is it possible to remove cells from individual packs without harming them?
Great video! I have a couple of questions: 1. How it was your experience by swapping from 60 to 94Ah it was easy work? and what about range after upgrading?
very cool
Hi do know exactly what the dealer did to swap out the battery , as I have a similar project to do ? Did they require anything from you original battery?
Hello
Thank you for your video you do a good job for all i3 owners:)
One question, do you have i3 with heated seats? Because I am not and I heard it means that battery also is not heated when its charging. So tell me please do you see any Heater when you remove all cells? Or May be you see cable which connect to some heating platform, etc.? Thanks for your help.
Hi, I have heated seats in the car and the only thing under the modules is that AC-tubing that is made out of aluminum. It runs from front to back a couple of times and is the only way of controlling temperature on my pack. I'm pretty sure my pack heated up when I had it plugged in and ran that 3h heating program.
So I think it uses the AC system for cooling and heating, but that is just a guess. Could that be possible? Heating with AC?
@@BasinBjorn the OS number of this aluminium Heater is differnet Based on scheme from BMW. 61 27 7 625 078 without HS and 61 27 7 625 078 with HS. What is differnet in reality I do not know...
I'm very interested in your battery upgrade. I can't wait to see that video. Any estimated date of release.
Just posted it now, editing is not really my strength so it took a while:P
I think I'd wrap all the tools with either heat shrink and or kapton tape before starting to prevent accidental shorting. gloves would be useful too?
yah, you only get one chance; one strike you're out!
were you removing busbars with module jumpers still attached? or those silver plates just securing modules to each other?
thank you
60ah at how many volts , ?
Nice Video So what did you do with the battery modules ?
I sold 6 out of 8 to a guy that was gonna use them for energy storage in his house.
1 is in my teardrop camper to power AC and DC outlets.
1 is saved for a future project.
Can I just upgrade battery
Hi very good vid!
Do you know were we can buy used BMW i3 accupacks?
We need a few for a project.
Thanks!
What country are you in?
@@BasinBjorn the Netherlands
Not sure then, look at local salvage yards for wrecked cars. In norway they are listed at www.finndel.no and in sweden www.bildelsbasen.se
Read this reply on a video, they might be able to point you in the right direction:
"I change 60ah batteries to 120ah for 5000 eur (you leave your batteries 60ah or more - to be agreed). I have 94ah and 120ah batteries for BMW and other cars. If anyone is interested, please contact me: info (at) impexneth.nl "
Hi Bjorn, I saw from your videos that you have experienced with the BMW I3 ..:-)
so I am writing to you for your advice (I state that I work on lithium batteries and I have a good knowledge about the electronic charging principles)
I own an I3 94Ah but without the Fast-DC charged unit, I wanted to do an upgrade to install the dc recharge,
initially I contacted BMW and they replied that this upgrade is not possible, of course I know perfectly well that the bmw answer is false :-(
The BMW I3 with DC-fast recharge simply have an additional module (which is not installed in mine I3) but which I can buy as a spare.
of course I already know that I will have to replace some cables including the CCS-2 plug.
So I ask you, since you have worked on this car do you think an up-grade home made is possible?
Thanks for your advice
Hi Vencenzo, short answer is that I don’t know if that is possible to do as a DIY upgrade. I would guess that the car would need coding after installing the CCS. For it to use it.
But when I had my 60Ah battery replaced with the 94Ah the workshop said that 7kW Ac charger could not be upgraded to 11kW.
Not quite the same but a limitation in upgrade.
I would send an email to a few more BMW i-certified workshops to se what they say. Especially the one that did my battery upgrade, Bavaria Lillestrøm
+47 64 84 73 00
goo.gl/maps/rUYJ368fVpW5qKrF9
I understand that they are most likely not a place you could drive to but I would trust their knowledge more than other Bmw workshops.
@@BasinBjorn Hi Bjorn, thank you very much for your reply, I will try to contact the workshop you have reported to me, even if it is far from I live I am satisfied with a technical answer.
I bought the pdf high voltage manual service, after reading it I am even more convinced that it is enough to install the Fast-Reacharged module and the necessary cables, about the protocol, I don't think it's a problem, you try to think about the hypothesis in which you need to have it replaced the fast recharge module from your car because it is broken, certainly it is a job that can be done, my upgrade is equivalent to replacing a fast recharged module
The DC charge actually charges the battery directly (the AC charger is bypassed) unfortunately the AC / DC switch takes place inside the fast recharge module so I am obliged to install it.
Thank you again, I will try to contact the workshops you have reported to me...ciao
@@ultrabeamitaly1 don’t forget to let me know how it goes, whenever it’s complete. Always good to know. Good luck
Hi There... Did you change the battery yourself or did BMW do it, What was the price for accessory ? and what was needed for the swap? Thanks in advance 👍
No I had BMW do it, but since they don't offer this job with a new battery I had to source a used battery and have it shipped to BMW. Then drive the car 500km to get it there. Price for my used battery was 50.000 nok. Labor cost to swap was 25.525 nok.
@@BasinBjorn Ouch... Not exactly what I was hoping to hear. That was really expensive. How many Kw left on the olde battery when you look in the dash ? How many KM has the car on the clock. How are you charting CCS vs Type 2 ? How many days of charting below 0 °C and likewise regenerative braking.
Sorry to aske so much, but I have a I3 that have 98.000 KM on the clock and 17. something KW left. I am looking in to the degradation of the battery, so I am really hoping you have time for my questions. Thanks
May I ask how thik (in mm) those busbars are? Is it correct that they are made out of aluminium? The bend they have seem to be there to allow for some movement of the cells. Were the cells compressed, and if so how hard?
TIA / Markus
The busbars within the module is in aluminum. It’s really bendable, not sure of the thickness but maybe 1-1.5mm.
Right now I don’t have any batteries left from the i3.
@@BasinBjorn Thanks for the. Info. I could get hold of such cells and am figuring out what to use for the busbars. Really like the i3 aproach!
Hey bro , thanks for the teardown. Im interested in battery tray/carrier. Do you have a detailed photos of the battery carrier?
Hey! Unfortunately I don't have any photos of it empty, other then the videos here. I took a few photos after I opened it but they show the same as the videos.
I still got the tray/ box but it's kinda inaccessible right now. Won't be able to access it until I have finished building my teardrop camper (a few months).
@@BasinBjornthanks for the reply. If you willing to sell the battery box we should get contact. Thanks
Hej, har du kvar säkerhetsboxen kvar? Min har uppnått ålder för utbyte.
Hej, om du menar själva lådan som batterimodulerna ligger i så ja den har jag kvar. Inkl locket.
How did you tow that trailer back home, after the battery upgrade, do you have a tow bar on the i3?
I have the Eco Hitch from Torklift Central. Used that and a 120kg trailer to get the over all weight down. Not approved, but it worked. The i3 is actually pretty good at towing
That’s interesting, would make a very good subject for a video, I would like to see, as I’m sure many others would. 👍
Thanks for the tip! So what would you like to see concerning the towing? Range test? Or like a demonstration video?
As a 2015 I3 owner and an avid Tesla fan, I am looking to totally swap my car physically to a Tesla in about 5 years (this is totally a passion project, not looking for it to be affordable or anything). Meaning everything from the batteries, motor, and even infotainment will be taken out and replaced with Tesla parts. The car will hopefully be a Tesla as far as the OS is concerned (smaller amount of batteries obviously). Your video is exactly what I am looking for in preparing for that process. Is there any chance you would know how feasible it would be to remove the I3 battery packs as you did here and (with some custom braces) plop in Tesla battery packs? The biggest issue I can see is height restrictions, but my thought is to keep the stock "battery holder" in tact for easy installation.
B, cool video. Thanks. I got you on my list. Pls rtn if you haven`t done it
Is that 3.93vfully charged or do they goto 4.2v like 18650 lipo?
They go to about 4.2v at 100% charge. The 3.93v was the charge that was left in that given time.
The nominal voltage for the whole pack is 360V, meaning that the cell voltage should be 3.75V (8 modules of 12 cells each). Cells will float higher at high charge and open circuit (or charging). The pack voltage is what (unfortunately) limits the maximum charging rate to about 45kW (rather than 50) as a 50kW DC fast charger is limited to 125A (125x360 = 45,000W). As the voltage of pack rises later in the charge, it also becomes time to throttle to protect the cells, so even though the voltage has risen which would allow a higher power, the car never reaches that maximum 50kW. This is annoying being unable to take advantage of the last 5kW available from the charger.
@@BasinBjorn The maximum any indiviual cell see's is 4.08-4.1 volts. I know because I ran the electrified app in conjunction with the Veepeek dongle. They never get to 4.2 volts, nor do they get anywhere near 3.3-3.4 volts.
@@johnnyzee383 4,08 Volt Max charge and 3,3 discharge ?
@@AusbilderNF yes but 3.4 volt discharge at the bottom limit
Hello friend I would like to ask you where I can buy a single battery of BMW i8 16s 35ah battery
Not sure, but have you checked eBay? Or if you are close to Norway then www.finndel.no might help
@@BasinBjorn thanks for the info
What was the battery swap cost?
The swap cost 25.525 NOK at the dealership I went to. Approx 2500 euro. Plus battery.
Was it a second hans battery?
The answer was below 😊
B as in Bjorn that’s not terrible. Is 94ah battery new?
Hello B. THANK YOU very much for your vídeo. I have 3 BMW i3 in my small company and I can't make more than 100 km per charge now. I don't want to sell the Cars because I believe things should last long (like my Volvo S80 with 600000 kms). But I Will be in a point were I'll need to change the battery. So your vídeo is inspiring and very helpful. How was your experience to find a used 94Ah battery?
Hi Can you please tell me the size of the modules? Thanks
I have the size in this video:
czcams.com/video/w61o8vPF9AY/video.html
Lyden forsvant på 5m34s
I had to remove the audio at that mark because one song that was copy right free, was recently changed to be copy righted. It's in the video description.
Music on youtube have been difficult until i recently got Epidemic Sounds.
36kg per module I think
Damn
What a disappointing cooling system. Its seems so thin