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Battery Deka or OEM BMW
You can get an Deka AUX18L from batterymart.com for $159 shipped to your door. Deka is the OE manufacturer of the BMW battery for the i3. My original battery lasted 7 years, it’s a no-brainer.
Pros: lasted 7 years
Vehicle:
BMW
Part number: AUX18L
But during the ownership i found it really reliable, the only things i needed fixing were: battery (it was the original one over 7 years old), tyres and brake discs/pads (consumables on any car) and the regular oil/filter services.
Pros: really reliable
Vehicle:
BMW X1
The battery is most likely to outlive the rest of the car. No need to worry. If the car has enough range for your daily need, then keeping it will be the best option.
Pros: battery likely to outlive car
Vehicle:
BMW
If you really want to buy this one (I find the price quite high, but I don’t know the specific market in Norway), buy an OBD adapter and EVScanner app on iOS with the BMW module. You can check the SOH of the battery and the general state of it as the replacement could be quite costly (around 1500 per module and you could have to replace up to the six if all fail or the BMS). I’d guess the SOH would be at best around 85%, maybe less. The engine itself is pretty reliable as it’s a detuned B48 from the 330i. Go to the infotainment and check the stats from factory and the percentage of eDrive kilometers (full electric) compared to the total kilometers, it would give you an idea of how the car was used and how much charging it got. This specific model of car is great to drive if you can charge everyday and you drive mainly short distances. I do around 80 km daily, almost all highway and my average consumption on those drives is 3.5 liters and 10 kWh/100, so it’s about 2/3 of the cost of my previous car, while beeing a lot better to drive. I’d still buy a 320 or 330i instead because there will be less things that could fail and I would probably not want to get such a high mileage PHEV without knowing how it’s been previously used. Source: I have a 330e from 2021 with 112k km and the SOH of the battery is 90% with around 1400 cycles. Average consumption since factory is 4.9 l/100 km and about half of the distance have been made fully electric.
Pros: great to drive, good fuel economy
Cons: high price, costly battery replacement
Vehicle:
BMW
Mileage: 112000 km
I took a drive in my i4 a couple of weeks ago that estimated I'd get home with 4% battery. Guess what I rolled into the garage with..... 4% battery. These modern systems are pretty damn accurate.
Pros: pretty damn accurate
Vehicle:
BMW
I just replaced both batteries in my 2018 740iX. Was original battery (build date was Aug 2017) so actually lasted 8 years which was surprising given other problems I had with the car!
Pros: lasted 8 years, surprising longevity
Vehicle:
BMW
I still have the original BMW battery on my 2005 e46 325i , I used a battery tester on it and still say it’s good
Pros: long lasting, still good
Vehicle:
BMW
I use Deka sealed batteries so less offgassing messing up terminals.
Pros: less offgassing
Cons: messing up terminals
The only issue we’ve had with it is recently a bunch of warning lights started popping up randomly but all at the same time. I assumed it was a wiring issue or something since none of the systems it said were disabled actually were. Dealership couldnt replicate it so it took a couple weeks of bringing it back and forth every time it happened before they were able to see anything on their end. Replaced the battery and it’s been fine since.
Pros: fine since replacement
Cons: warning lights popping up
Vehicle:
BMW
My new BMW X3 was reliable.
It reliably would NOT start whenever the temperature dropped below -20C, even with a battery tender on it. The dealer couldn’t find anything wrong with it.
Cons: would not start
Vehicle:
BMW X3
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Which battery to choose — Deka or OEM BMW?
If choosing battery across many manufacturers, check the part ranking. If your choice is down to two brands, the PartReview part comparisons help.
We compare battery across these categories:
- PR Score.
- Overall ranking.
- Vote balance.
- Average rating.
- Number of reviews.
- Feature ratings.
- Car owners’ choice.
Which battery are better — OEM BMW or Deka?
In March 2026 on PartReview, battery Deka were overall better than OEM BMW.
- Deka received a PR Score of 94 out of 100, and OEM BMW scored 80 points.
- Deka ranked 3 in the overall ranking, and OEM BMW ranked 6.
- The average rating is higher for Deka (4.4) than for OEM BMW (4.1).
-
Battery Deka have better feature ratings than OEM BMW:
- Lights - owners believe, that this property for OEM BMW is better than Deka.
- Cranking - drivers claim, that this property for Deka is outperforms OEM BMW.
- Indicator - reviews suggest, that this property for Deka is preferred to OEM BMW.
Which battery are more popular — Deka or OEM BMW?
Battery Deka and OEM BMW were equally popular according to data in March 2026.
By vote balance, battery Deka surpassed OEM BMW:
- For Deka, the ratio of positive (143) to negative (8) votes is 135 votes.
- For OEM BMW, the ratio of positive (128) to negative (32) votes is 96 votes.
By number of reviews, battery OEM BMW surpassed Deka:
- For battery Deka there are 50 reviews: 47 positive, 1 neutral, 2 negative.
- For battery OEM BMW there are 51 review: 38 positive, 7 neutral, 6 negative.
Which battery do car owners prefer — Deka or OEM BMW?
In March 2026, according to PartReview, battery Deka and OEM BMW have not taken top places in car-specific ratings. You can help by adding your review about these manufacturers.
Other comparisons of battery
If this comparison didn’t fully answer your question, there are many others on PartReview.
For example, comparisons of battery Deka with: OPTIMA, Varta, Bosch, OEM Subaru, OEM Volkswagen, YUASA, Tesla, Duralast, Exide, ODYSSEY.
Also available: comparisons of battery OEM BMW with: OPTIMA, Varta, Bosch, OEM Subaru, OEM Volkswagen, YUASA, Tesla, Duralast, Exide, ODYSSEY.
You can also see who is better among other battery manufacturers: OPTIMA or Varta, OPTIMA or Bosch, OPTIMA or OEM Subaru, OPTIMA or OEM Volkswagen, OPTIMA or YUASA.