The i3 REx has an app, but the information it gives is quite limited and it depends on the car being able to get a good mobile signal so sometimes it doesn’t update reliably. It doesn’t really do real-time statistics. I had a nice device plugged into the ODB port on my Volt that recorded all the trip mileage and both fuel and battery consumption. It supposedly works for the i3 as well only they never managed to update it for my new vehicle at the server end of that one so I gave up on it.

It is curious that they don’t support the Stop-Start cars. The only reason I can imagine for is that the reading on the app may not be accurate as the connection with the device is cut each time the vehicle stops and could cause an issue, especially when in crawling traffic. Being Bluetooth it would need to pair each time, etc.

I believe the i3 REx has its own app which will present similar information to the Engie app doesn’t it?

I’d say I’m interested in such devices rather than actively looking for one. FWIW, my current car is range-extended electric (i3 REx) as was the previous one (Chevrolet Volt), my wife’s current car is stop-start (Mazda 3) and who knows what her next one will be.

I’m suspicious in particular of the exclusion of stop-start cars as that covers a lot of otherwise conventional petrol cars but it’s actually quite hard to find numbers (in 2013 Ford were claiming it would be 70% of their vehicles by 2017 but I have no idea if they made that target).

Hi Gustavo! I am assuming so. The iPhone (iOS) version of the app can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/il/app/id1158673150?mt=8

Hi Duncan. That’s a fair point but, as regular petrol (or should that be pterodactol?), currently out number those other vehicles I should say “work with the majority…”. I will amend this using the quote from the website. Thanks for highlighting this.

By-the-way, are you looking for such a device for an electric, hybrid, natural gas or stop-start car?

Hi Robin. Thanks for the comment.

I do see your point. If your dash shows how much charge/how well your battery is charging – that’s great.

We all realise, I think it’s safe to say, that we do have warning lights on our dashboard. I have tried other OBD II apps but the interfaces I have tried didn’t communicate with the software I downloaded.

From what I have *experienced* with the Engie is a package that works – and most consumers just want that.

The “advert spam” I am assuming is the mechanic suggestions. They’re adverts as much as the take-aways on Hungry House, Just Eat, etc. Again, a lot of people would rather have suggested places to go with user reviews. If you already have a trusted garage, use that. If you already have a system you like, stick with it.

However, if you don’t want to take the risk of buying a random interface and hope it links with some free software you’ve downloaded (which may contain viruses, etc or be flooded with *actual* spamverts) then, as I said in my review, the Engie is a real neat package.

Cheers

Jay