Why check the SoH?

​

From new you would expect the battery pack in your car to be able to store 100% of the advertised capacity. However, over time the capacity will diminish according to how many times you charge and discharge the battery and other usage conditions. In other words the battery over time will wear out with use.

 

It's obviously important to check the SoH during the negotiation of a purchase of an i3 but just and important to perform periodic checks as the battery is warrantied. If an officially Australia or NZ delivered car, BMW guarantees the battery to least 70% capacity for 8 years or 160,000 kilometres. The stated usable capacity for the 2014 i3 is 18.8 kWh. Therefore, the battery would need to degrade to 13.15 kWh to trigger a warranty claim

​

Most electric vehicles need a complex application to view their SoH but not so with the BMW i3. All you need to do is follow the (relatively) straightforward instructions in the video below.