Questions about iMiev buying

[bartUA]

hey guys

want to buy imiev for my wife
so have few questions before buying because can't find any answers on it

1. how to check a SOC of battery? have a elm scanner if it helps. in near future want to buy MUCAR CDE900 (or mb some simmilar)
2. mb iMiev owners know a problematic places on what i should pay attention?
3. what about remote key? seems there is no any way to connect it to car if car does not have it?
4. should i install heater like a webasto or ? in winter we have -3 -5. does internal heater will handle that?
5. what type of battery is better? and how to know what type in current car?
6. i saw some cars have crystal headlights, and some have a "smokie" headlights. what is the difference?


seems that's all for now
if i forgot something i'll add it here. thanks a lot guys

 

[MickeyS70]

Hi there, welcome to the forum

First and foremost you should have a close look at the driving habits, what daily mileage does she do, is it city traffic or highway journeys, flat or hilly terrain ambient summer/winter temperatures etc.

The goal is to do your daily trips on a single charge, let’s say 50km a day. You will be looking for an I-MIEV that has an RR of about 100 km to be able to do this in winter conditions (with lights/heater & reduced battery capacity etc)

For an I-MIEV that generally means over 80% of SOH (state of health of the battery, >36Ah) is needed to achieve this, not many around that can still do that unless the battery was replaced recently.

Back to your questions:
1. Few if any apps work with an elm dongle, there is further info in this forum on how to connect via ODB. It’s SOH or battery capacity you want to look at (see above) as SOC (state of charge) on its own doesn’t mean a lot

2. Obviously SOH of traction battery but also the voltage/capacity difference between individual cells is important as the weakest one is used to determine the packs performance. Other components especially OBC (on board charger) have a tendency to fail on older models, spares parts aren’t easily available and costly unless you can source them second hand, a lot of DIY potential if you like a challenge, check for rust underneath

3. Remote control (charge/preheat) cannot be retrofitted but a remote key (lock/unlock) can be cut anytime.

4. The internal heater is well capable of -5 winter temperatures but it’s use will greatly reduce the range, also you cannot pre-heat while plugged in unless you have a remote control. The heated seats are surprisingly effective with little energy consumption.

5. There are 2 type batteries LEV50 (pre 2013) and LEV50N (later models), no way of telling what’s inside, best to stick to post 2012 models to get the improved chemistry

6. The stock halogen headlights are surprisingly good, no need of changing them to LEDs.

Mickey

 

[bartUA]

MickeyS70
yeah, you right i mean SOH not SOC

thanks for the answer it's really helpful

about headlights
i mean i saw cars with clear headlights and with headlights what have not clear or crystal headlights, they are like a smokie
it's for 100% factory thing but i dont understand a difference

and this

 

[MickeyS70]

.. mine has ‘Smokey’ ’ headlights with halogen bulbs, there were factory fitted LED headlights on some Triplets so I’m guessing these have clear/silver covers, anybody out there who can enlighten us?

 

[greenfox]

There was a small "facelift" where the iMievs got LED-Headlights, these are always silver. Peugeot and Citroen usually have the same halogen headlights as the iMiev but with a silver/chrome trim instead of black, though recently I have seen a few iOns with black headlights too maybe these got a retrofit or this is their facelift version