[modo]

Is there a way to verify the battery (gross) capacity fitted to a 530e? The VIN decoders do not seem to show anything other than the 12v battery.
I know it changed to 12kWh in Autum 2019.

I thought the weight would be a clue, but from the spec sheets I've found the 9.2 and 12 kWh versions seem to have identical weight.

 

[Edd Beesley]

Is there a material difference in usable range? Either would appear to be extremely small for such a large and heavy car.

 

[modo]

I've had a Chevrolet Volt for a number of years with just over 10kWh usable power from its pack and only ever have to fill up for long journeys. I think the cars are similar weight (haven't checked, but I know the Volt isn't lightweight having a 16.5kWh battery (with only 10.5 usable)). Volt/Ampera owners get a genuine 25-45 miles range depending on weather, so an almost 3kWh difference could easily add a real 7 miles real-world use. Might not sound like much but can mean the difference between regular use of fuel or managing on electric alone for 95% of the time.

 

[cdlb]

I thought the weight would be a clue, but from the spec sheets I've found the 9.2 and 12 kWh versions seem to have identical weight.

I suspect the capacity change was due to an increase in energy density, rather than physically increasing the size of the battery so weight difference probably wouldn't be significant in the grand scheme of things. Have you checked emissions on the spec sheets? I'd expect the 12kWh version to be listed as lower CO2, assuming that they both went through the same test regime.

 

[modo]

I suspect the capacity change was due to an increase in energy density, rather than physically increasing the size of the battery so weight difference probably wouldn't be significant in the grand scheme of things. Have you checked emissions on the spec sheets? I'd expect the 12kWh version to be listed as lower CO2, assuming that they both went through the same test regime.

Thanks - yes that seems to solve the puzzle. I had looked at this before I found the spec sheets but nothing was clear (as different websites seem to have different CO2 levels I guess to the updated model not being an actual different model). But on the spec sheets there does seem to be clear unambiguous difference in CO2. So now can just match V5 to spec sheet to determine.

 

[cdlb]

Emissions rating should be on the V5C, so hopefully should be easy to match to spec sheets.

 

[cdlb]

Actually, if you know the reg plate of the car, bash it into this site and it'll tell you: https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/