Ultimate electric driving machine? Yes, it’s the BMW i3 e-car

People can sometimes behave like sheep. They will go somewhere, do something or buy a certain product simply because other people are doing so or because they recognise the brand. Call it consumer herd mentality. It’s one reason why the Toyota Prius sells so well in the States. BMW i3 Brands Hatch bound: the BMW i3 Here in …

[Anonymous Coward]

That's some battery

An 8 year warranty on a battery - that's impressive. They should go into the laptop business.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That's some battery

Devil in the detail.....

Will they swap out when you only get 90% of the original mileage on a charge? 75%? 50%? Or does it have to be completely dead.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Devilish Detail

Cant speak for the i3 but the Ampera's 8 year battery warranty is for at least 70% capacity remaining (at year 8) since it's got an engine too that doesn't mean you are stranded sooner, just that it goes to petrol a bit sooner. So not really a problem.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That's some battery

If you spend 8 years driving a car as ridiculous looking as that then I think you deserve a fresh battery.

[Fihart]

Re: That's some battery

Has there ever been an attractive BMW ?

Must confess a soft spot for the 1970's 2002 saloon.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: Has there ever been an attractive BMW?

They have made some hideous cars of late. However, here are some more suggestions for attractive BMWs:

M1

3.0CSL

8 series

I'll grant you that the pickings are slim among BMWs that the average person can afford though.

[Andrew Lobban]

Re: That's some battery

Everyone has different taste, but I fully admit to thinking that the i3 is a good looking vehicle. Something different, unique and dare I say futuristic. Certainly better than some of the electric/hybrid design disasters that have hit our roads in recent years,

[David Kelly 2]

Re: That's some battery

In the USA the traction battery is considered an emissions component which has a mandatory no-deductable non-prorated 8 year 100k mile warranty. In California and certain other heavy-handed states the warranty is 10 years or 150k miles on emissions equipment.

Tesla warrants their 85 kWh battery 8 years unlimited miles while the 60 kWh only gets the standard Federal warranty.

[Holtsmark]

Re: That's some battery

We have a product with an automotive size battery pack. early units have been in customer hands for eight years now, and we see no degradation.. so yes it is possible.

Note that the 8 years are with regards to natural aging of the cells (which is mainly dependent on charge state (higher is worse) and storage temperature (higher is worse). Each charge cycle also has an effect on battery life, but if you buy good cells, then you can get more than 4500 SAE cycles (80% discharge - recharge). I am convinced that we will all be driving electric cars in a not so far off future. The advantages are simply to many, and the technology is progressing steadily.

[David Cantrell]

Re: That's some battery

I'd love to be driving an electric car, but I remain sceptical that we will within the next decade or two. Not because batteries die, or because there aren't enough places to recharge - those can be overcome with a good warranty like this has, and with just building out some infrastructure. The real problem is that recharging takes too damned long. Even half an hour to recharge will lead to mammoth queues at recharging points on the motorway network.

Electric vehicles are great for short local journeys, but if you ever need to make a journey longer than the battery can support, then you either need some technology that doesn't exist yet for ultra-fast charging, or you need a car that can burn dinosaurs.

[Code Monkey]

I realise that being "seen to be green" is kinda the point for a lot of people but I wish manufacturers would make them look like normal cars.

[fandom]

It's ugly

That's it really, why bother buying a BMW to drive such an ugly car?

Why couldn't they make an electric car that looked pretty much like a series 3? That could have a chance, this doesn't.

[Parax]

Re: Why couldn't they make...

Have you seen the i8?

[Levente Szileszky]

Re: Why couldn't they make...

Yes and that's ugly too. WTF is wrong with BMW, they decided all their e-cars will be ugly as hell?

[Neil Barnes]

If only...

we weren't already only a few percent away from blackout on the electricity grid, according to the generators...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If only...

we weren't already only a few percent away from blackout on the electricity grid, according to the generators...

could be a selling point for electric cars if an idea from Japan (where, due to the nuclear power shutdown they are also very power critical) which allows the mains charging to be reversed so that the batteries in an electric car can be used to provide mains power to the house if there's a power cut!

[Adam 1]

Re: If only...

... and if only those generators weren't twiddling their thumbs all night with little demand.

... and if only we had distributed amongst the grid large battery packs that could charge up during the night and then return some of that energy to the grid during peak times.

Nah, I'm dreaming. That would require a country wide radio network upon which wireless communication could occur to request vehicles stop charging and or to request vehicles to return some of that charge. This is so impractical. It would require base stations to be built all over the place.

Seriously though, in a parallel universe....

Have you heard that some nuts want to power cars by filling them with highly flammable liquid hydrocarbons. Whenever you run low on this fuel, you will need to go to one of the filling stations and pump more in. I mean where is all this fuel going to come from, and how will it be delivered to these filling stations. Not only that, but the country is going to need to add exhaust fans into all the road tunnels and underground carparks so we don't get poisoned to death. The whole thing is just so impractical.

[hammarbtyp]

Real world driving conditions

I wonder what such a light slab sided car feels like in a decent cross wind on the motorway?

On the other hand maybe I don't want to find out.

[Geoff Campbell]

Re: Real world driving conditions

Was never a problem in my Aygo, which is quite similar in size, shape, and weight.

GJC

[Naughtyhorse]

FUGLY

Jeeeesus H Christ on a Fucking Bike! - that thing fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. the designer shoud have stuck to doing ridiculous running shoes.

[John Smith 19]

Re: FUGLY

True.

It's got that deformed looking front end that some Fiat SUV thinggies have.

Nasty.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Re: FUGLY

The lines and seams are a wreck. It's like half the parts were too small and the other half of the parts where stretched to cover the naked spots.

[Anonymous Blowhard]

Whilst the BMW has some good points, it still doesn't get around the major problem of electric vehicles i.e. where does all the electricity come from?

For a few thousand people in the UK, electric vehicles can be a realistic option; but there are over 28 million cars registered in the UK. If all of these were electric we'd need betweeen 10 and 20 coal or nuclear power stations to keep them running:

28,000,000 * 7.4 kW * 2.0 hours charging per day = 414400 MWh (assuming you only need to charge each one for 2 hours a day).

If the charging is spread evenly over 24 hours (a bad assumption, but gives the lowest power requirement) = 17,226 MW, so about 10 power stations; more likely the charging will be predominantly overnight so a more realistic figure is about 20 additional power stations.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of electric vehicles, but if the infrastructure isn't planned for them, they will just saturate the demand for electricity leading to rising electricity bills as the rich buy power for their thirty grand electric vehicles and the poor get priced out of the market.

And what about fuel duty? I don't think the government will want to support hte building of 20 power stations with a reduced income from fuel duty as people choose electric over fossil fuels; don't be surprised that if the proportion of electric vehicles increases there is a move to tax electricity usage for transport (like we currently distinguish between red diesel, for agricultural use, and diesel fuel for cars).

Other than that, it's fine, and I do like the interesting use of alternative materials in the BMW (but twenty five grand for a city car!?).

[Naughtyhorse]

not so even handed

I loath and detest all electric vehicles with a passion that could put an edge on a diamond.

stupid pointless wastes of time driven be sanctimonious wankers.

however,

your estimate of the extra generation requred is a bit off.

mostly these ludicrous running shoes will be charged over night, when demand is low.So there is plenty of spare capacity at the moment.

secondly BMW's designers... err fisher price in this case i believe, have very helpfully made this car look so stupid that small children _will_ point and laugh whenever they see one. The kind of tosser that buys a beamer will not tollerate this for long. They'll be queuing up to trade em in for ford probes quicker than you can say knife.

[James Hughes 1]

Re: not so even handed

And I think you are a sanctimonious wanker for thinking that.

Wood - meet trees. Can you see the problem yet?

[Colin Miller]

You are assuming that the daytime and nighttime electricity demand is the same; it isn't. As this PDF (page 16 shows) UK 9am-7pm demand is 45-60GW, whilst evening is 20GW to 45GW. If the cars can be set to autocharge using 20GW for 6hrs, that's 120GWHr, or enough for 7.5 million 16kWhr cars.

[Anonymous Blowhard]

@ Collin Miller

Thanks Collin, I'd forgotton about the day/night usage difference, but the point still stands that we'd need a tremendous jump in generating capacity to accomodate a full move to electric vehicles. I also didn't factor in any additional infrastructure to distribute the extra power (high tension links and sub-stations etc.)

I've recently been working in Norway, and it's the first time I've ever been in a traffic jam of electric vehicles (in the Bus/Taxi/Electric Vehicle lane at Sandvika); but in Norway the situation is better for electric vehicles as they have existing hydroelectric capacity, and can probably add more, to support their 2.5 million cars. According to this they already use three times more electricity per person than the rest of Europe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Norway

[ecofeco]

Solar panels on houses.

Problem solved.

Now you get to tell the electric company AND the oil companies to both fuck off.

In the US, Tesla has built its own FREE charging stations powered by... yep, solar panels directly overhead.

[JP19]

"Now you get to tell the electric company AND the oil companies to both fuck off"

For a few hours a day during the summer.

Tesla charging stations are not solar powered - slightly solar assisted at best.

In the UK it would take more than 2000 square meters of solar panel to run one Tesla supercharger for 8 hours a day and that's only when you are allowed abuse the grid as a giant free storage battery.

[DiViDeD]

BRILLIANT!! A couple of solar panels per house would work really well in, say, Aberdeen. Can't let that 5 daily hours of drizzly, grey winter murk go to waste now, can we?

[Berio]

good points

However, it will take a while before adoption of EV poses a threat to the grid given the high prices and lack of choice.

[formulagm2]

Parking ticket is in the post

El Reg incriminating themselves by posting photos of the car parked on double yellow lines.

[mamsey]

Re: Parking ticket is in the post

Parked? Looks as though it was left in the street and a taxi taken to the kerb.

[Fihart]

Re: Parking ticket is in the post

Ran out of puff and was abandoned.

[Dave 62]

how precise is a piece of string?

Excuse this first paragraph, this is just an aspie engineer being aspie..

"aluminium, carbon fibe and plastic" is hardly precise. Firstly, by carbon fibre, you mean CFRP and by plastic you mean a polymer the precise nature of which you do not divulge and I suspect that by aluminium you in fact mean an aluminium alloy. Furthermore you make no mention of the precise P within which the CFR is contained nor the nature of the CFs and their orientation nor do you mention the precise construction of the overall composite structure or the manner in which it is affixed to the other structures.</aspie>

An E92 M3 (as pictured) will do 0-60 in 3.9 seconds with M-DKG and ~4.1 without so I seriously doubt it's going to be slower to 50 than a car which takes 3.7 seconds to get to 37mph and 7.2 to 60, that would imply it does the 37-50 sprint in 0.4 seconds (assuming the slower manual box M3) and 50-60 in 3.1 seconds.

Yes, those numbers stack up don't they? Was my mum driving the M3?

I have nothing against the i3, I think it's an impressive car and it's commendable that BMW are pushing the boundaries like this AND I quite like the looks!

They only need to knock 95kg off the weight and 0.5 seconds of the 0-60, add 44mph to the top speed, give it wider tyres (say 205) and a proper driving position and ride height, bin the ABS and it'll be about as desirable as my current car (a 10 year old Clio :p).

[James Hughes 1]

Re: how precise is a piece of string?

Being desirable to you isn't really on their list, so I guess you'll be waiting some time. For the VAST majority or people it'll be fine.

If it wasn't so expensive It would be on my list to replace my 203k miles, 11 year old Honda Civic. (My other cars are a couple of Locosts, one race, one road - those for fun, electric for commuting)

[beast666]

Re: how precise is a piece of string?

Seen as you missed the opening <aspie> on your first paragraph and claim to be an engineer. I sentence you to write out your first paragraph 100 times with the correct <MrLogic> ... </MrLogic> formatting.

[Dave 62]

Re: how precise is a piece of string?

oh please, that is standard and accepted practice.

aanyway, I reckon "desirable" really is the most important trait for electric cars now, I need to drive one of these to be sure of comfort and NVH but it sounds like it pretty much does what a regular car does now, the only outstanding points are:

>battery life, I'm not sure what study of real-world used EVs, HEVs and REEVs has been done or what lease deals exist.

>real world fuel economy is like when running in range-extender mode (as in quite literally how many miles per gallon you can get, considering the conversion efficiency).

Otherwise it replaces most hatch backs which will never need to tow or do anything else particularly stressful and it's faster than most people will ever use.

/post

[Dave 62]

Re: how precise is a piece of string?

Seems autocar have done this properly and bothered to point out that the range extender not only gains 150kg (though I think I've seen bigger figures elsewhere) but also gains 0.7s to 60. So if you want to (supposedly) beat an M3 to 50 you have to sacrifice range.

But no one anywhere has yet told me what the engine is (i.e. fuel type, aspiration, what cycle it runs etc.) some are saying it's a BMW bike engine but I don't buy that and the power output is something pitiful and I don't imagine that running off the RE engine all the time can maintain full pace and no one has made any mention of what happens when that happens. I imagine BMW are deliberately being cagey about this but someone should be asking the question of them and frankly reporting the answer or lack thereof. I'm actually perfectly ok with this type of limitation, it's how I would do it.

The weight of the RE is also rather large for the relatively small tyres isn't it? Although I think autocar said the rears were wider (on the RE at least).

Really needs deeper seats too, are the flat seats really somehow much lighter? iirc 1 series seats are quite bad too though.

[IHateWearingATie]

Finally an electric car I may want...

.... but won't buy, as if I had £29k I'd spend £25k on a caterham, and £4k on a cheap runabout .

Seriously though, this is starting to tick the boxes properly - range extending motor I can use if I want to do the occasional longer trip; doesn't handle like it has jelly for suspension; decent performance; phone app to manage charging etc.

Still not going to spend £29k on one though.

[Mark #255]

Re: Finally an electric car I may want...

Agreed, it's just about there (as a 2nd car in our case).

But... it's ~£8k too much. By my calculations, it'd start to be cheaper than our Splash in about 14 years' time (which would probably be 4 years after we'll scrap it).

Even if you compare it to more luxurious competition, the TCO balances towards the i3 only after 6-8 years - just as the battery runs out of warranty.

[Andrew Lobban]

Re: Finally an electric car I may want...

Yes, agreed. So nearly there. Can't wait to buy one when they finally cross the line.

[MrXavia]

Re: Finally an electric car I may want...

Sorry but 29k is way too much, say 60 miles a day is a normal commute, which is all this is good for really, even a cheap £15K diesel can get over 60MPG, which is 260 gallons a year, 1182 litres, which at £1.40/litre is £1654/year to commute to work...

That £14k you save pays for your petrol over the 8 year battery life!

Until the cost of electric cars rivals the price of diesel they will not be as viable an alternative.

it is not as if an electric car is complicated either, and the only really expensive unique part is the battery!

[David Given]

Re: Finally an electric car I may want...

...and the power controller. A 125kW electric motor power controller doesn't come cheap --- a quick Google shows one for £9000. I once talked to a guy who did aftermarket conversions of cars; rip out the IC engine, install batteries and an electric transmission. He said that you typically paid 1/3 each for the batteries, motor, and power controller. That adds up to about £30k for this thing, which makes the price not unreasonable for what you get.

Not that I'm willing to pay it, mind, although this thing does tick all my electric car want boxes. I think it looks great, too.

Would be really interested to rent one, though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Finally an electric car I may want...

Isn't the answer two wheels?

I commute 24 miles per day at around 85mpg on a machine that cost under a grand and tax/mot/insurance less than two tanks of fuel in the car

[Spiracle]

Re: Finally an electric car I may want...

"Until the cost of electric cars rivals the price of diesel they will not be as viable an alternative."

You have to remember that the i3 is designed specifically to fleece Shoreditch hipsters. The technology'll go into the Mini version for the masses.

[Zot]

Nice review, I want one.

But it's far too expensive. :(

One thing that always amazes me with electric cars, is WHY do they always think they should design them differently from 'normal' cars? They are so often styled like they fell off a Transformer or some hideous child's toy robot. STOP designing them to look like toys!

[Anonymous Coward]

Did they intentionally make it look as uuuugly as the iPad/Phone?

How very pedestrian.

[stu 4]

generator

I'm confused - it says it can keep the battery at a stable level when engine on.

and it has 9 litres.

So it's getting around 45/50 mpg effectively if you were to just continually fill it up with petrol and have it maintain the 3.5% left in battery.

If that is true, then its managing to generate enough leccy from a 650cc engine to power the car.

125kw motor... now there is no way it's managing that.

even assuming they are suggesting its generator output is 60kw (at 360v apparently) that is very impressive... Well... utterly unbelievable tbh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 125kw motor

Do you think a 125kw motor uses a constant draw?

in reality its only close to that for a second or so when you put your foot down. on average the draw will be more like 40kw, which the generator should be able to sustain.

[Mark #255]

Re: 125kw motor

Indeed. You can work it out for your own car, given the energy density of the fuel (it's 32-40 MJ/litre for diesel), and your average MPG and speed.

I get ~27kW for a small family car (that claims 61mpg on the trip computer).

[stu 4]

Re: 125kw motor

"I get ~27kW for a small family car (that claims 61mpg on the trip computer)."

yes commentards I understand - hence my halving total power to 60kw to a guestimate.

even takin your 27kw - here is a typical 30kw generator~:

http://www.hardydiesel.com/diesel-generators/mitsubishi-powered-30-kw-diesel-generator.html

here's another:

http://www.generac.com/Residential/GuardianSeries/30kW/

1.5 litre and weighing in at around 2-3x what BMWs 650 does.

hence my comments that it is quite an achievement to get the necessary power of it it.

3 downvotes because I didn't dumb it down for the fuckwits....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 125kw motor

No, 3 down votes because you're flat out wrong.

Here is a BMW Twin cylinder 650cc producing 53 kW (71 hp) in a BMW F650GS.

So who is the fuckwit now?

[Gordon 10]

Re: 125kw motor

And that's relatively low powered for a motorbike engine you could almost double that with a 600cc 4 pot

[JP19]

Re: 125kw motor

"double that with a 600cc 4 pot"

Thrashing the nuts off it and with piss poor efficiency. An engine intended to give moderate life pushing around a couple of hundred kg of motorbike will be knackered in a couple of years given 1200kg to push around.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: 125kw motor

"An engine intended to give moderate life pushing around a couple of hundred kg of motorbike will be knackered in a couple of years given 1200kg to push around."

Fortunately it's only pushing a generator to recharge a battery pack when the car's running in range extender mode.

[Anonymous Coward]

Definitely targetting the 'deep pockets' demographic.

It's twice the cost of a Ford Fiesta, with less boot space, roughly the same amount of interior space and (I suspect) about the same running costs once servicing and insurance are factored in. And it's certainly faster but when you're nose to tail in a traffic jam, does that really matter?

Yes, it's innovative, but - £26,000 for a supermini!!! £26 grand!!!

26!!!!

Lord above.

Not saying it isn't clever, it's just SO expensive for an electric supermini.

Edit: Downvoted by an iPhone owner, no doubt. ;)

[honks123]

Re: Definitely targetting the 'deep pockets' demographic.

I just went to ford.co.uk and configured a Fiesta to the same specification as the BMW (automatic, sat nav, rear parking sensors etc etc). £18k. That's without any discounts though of course.

[Mark Major]

Of course, they're not going to say anything bad... yet.

"You’ll have to wait until El Reg gets one for a week-long test next month"

[bill 36]

still don't get it

your assertion "lays to rest any claims that electric cars are fundamentally impractical"

That cannot be true.

These vehicles are aimed at city dwellers and short distance commuters.

If you accept that most domestic buildings in the UK have only single phase power and that most city inhabitants park their cars in the street, how do they charge them overnight? Throw cables out the window?

As someone else has pointed out, you have to produce the power somewhere and somehow and with the current, no pun intended, hysteria around nuclear power all thats being achieved, expensively, is moving the pollution and co2 emissions somewhere else.

The Germans, since this is a German car, will phase out nuclear by 2022, 17 % of requirement. They already have solar producing 25% of their needs but what happens overnight in 2023 when they all want to charge their cars?

And the answer is?

Probably more coal burning and lots of nice French nuclear power.

Oh and Germany is already one of the most expensive countries in Europe per kw/h. I wonder why?

In any case, i'm all for us not polluting the planet and limiting power consumption, keeping the cities smog free and eliminating pollutants but i really don't get electric cars. Hybrids maybe.

[Chemist]

Re: still don't get it

"They already have solar producing 25% of their needs"

They do not !

Solar being ~4% in 2012 as far as I can see, coal+gas ~65%, wind ~8%

http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/germanys-energiewende-the-story-so-far/ (English)

I heard a German boasting recently that "they produced almost all of their elec. from renewables" - talk's cheap

[bill 36]

Re: still don't get it

er yes...i meant 5%

projected 25% by 2050

[Denarius]

Re: still don't get it

Good points Bill. have an upvote. For a small crowed island, I agree that hybrids are a more practical option in medium term until batteries drop in price by 50% and capacity increases 100%. This is no longer pie in the sky but plausible if half the new research on energy density becomes practical.

For those of us in big countries who need to cover big distances occasionally, a 500 mile range is still required, especially when towing a light trailer with a plane in it. Petrol and diesel cars do this well. And no, commercial air travel is about the same in total travel time and much more inconvenient unless cross continental. Trains, here? hah !

[honks123]

Re: still don't get it

I live in the middle of the country with an 80-mile (return) commute to the office, so the exact opposite of the city dwelling short distance commuter, and yet it seems for me the i3 is excellent. The more miles you do, the greater the savings in fuel costs. I believe I would save about £120 a month in 'fuel'(£140 a month in deisel versus £20 a month in charging). Even so, the monthly finance payments are twice those of my current 2.5 year old Renault. Over-all,financing and fueling an i3 would cost me £125 a month more than my current car, but then I would be driving a quite, refined, automatic, M3-performance BMW rather than a noisy underpowered-to-get-as-cheap-tax-as-possible manual Renault.

[Anonymous Coward]

BUT what happens when one runs out of juice? its a BMW so you know many of the drivers will be idiots and ignore the range guide..

When you get nearly killed by another car, there is a high chance they drive a BMW..... (yes there are good BMW drivers, but it seems dick heads gravitate towards BMW.

[Benchops]

How well does an i3 drive over a sandy bridge?

Has well as the zoe?

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally an IT ANGLE

[Peter G Green]

I've owned a Nissan Leaf for the past 8 months, and I can definitely say that you will all be driving electric cars in the next decade. It's fast (enough), comfortable, quiet and reliable. The only issue they need to address is the range. Living with the hills as I do, the quoted range of 100 miles is reduced to 60 miles. If you run the heater (there is no "waste" heat to pump into the place where the meaty bits reside) this range is reduced further still.

Making the car lighter as BMW have done can only be a good thing, and I genuinely hope the range improves once new battery technology we keep hearing about (a battery the size of a current 9v battery with enough power to start your car!!). It's the ONLY bugbear I have about my electric only car. And no, I'm not a "green to be seen" driver, my last car was a 520d, it's purely a cost saving measure given the price of fuel at the moment. I've reduced my monthly fuel cost from circa £130 per month to £40 a month on my electric bill.

You very quickly get into the routine of plugging your car in and charging it overnight. I haven't been to a garage (for fuel or problems) since I bought the car. It's fantastic and if your driving needs are met, I wholeheartedly recommend you at least consider an electric car.

I've sat in and played with the BMW i3, and I can't say I liked it. Nor was it easy to get into the rear seats, but I think with the experience they've gained from making the i3, BMW will make a serious day to day car that is purely electric. Once people start buying electric cars, the economies of scale will kick in and the cars WILL be cheaper. Come on all you lovely techy early adopters, jump in, it's great :-).

[Anonymous Coward]

Fast?

0-60 of 11.9 seconds and a top speed of 89mph is 'fast enough'?

For some, I suppose. People living in flat warm places where they don't have to be anywhere in particular any time soon.

Oh my paws and whiskers, it turns out the Nissan Leaf is perfect for pensioners in Bexhill.

[Peter G Green]

Re: Fast?

Bexhill pensioner? Me? Hardly... I'm a hard working, 44 year old Software Developer. I've only had to use my wife's car (for longer journeys) twice in 8 months. Electric cars are much more useful than Jeremy Clarkson would have you believe.

And I'd look at the 0-30 time too. Fast enough to annoy some boy racer who was driving very aggressively recently at some traffic lights.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fast?

As a "hard working" software developer who has to commute 25 miles (each way) on country A and B roads I'd be lucky to get two days worth of travel before needing a recharge. And as I only have on street parking (and at that, I'm lucky if I can even park outside my house) that's a big problem.

If my employer offered recharging, then maybe it would be practical, but then that only works if I can actually park on site and who's going to pay for the on-site recharging infrastructure anyway?

I'm not against electric vehicles, but currently they're not even close to a viable alternative for the vast majority of commuters.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fast?

Well, I'm not 'hard working' like you, because I can't imagine a driving limit of 60 miles to be acceptable. You're forced to alter your driving habits to fit the poor technology - which is exactly the way the ecomentalists want it.

[Vic]

Re: Fast?

> 0-60 of 11.9 seconds and a top speed of 89mph is 'fast enough'?

It is, actually.

A real 89mph is somewhere in the region of an indicated 100mph in most cars (modern cars all seem to over-read, to the tune of nearly 10% in many cases). You'll be hard-pushed to sustain that.

12 seconds to get to speed is no performance machine, but it'll do. That's faster than most of the traffic I see nowadays.

The trick to being quick is all in the observation, not in the machine...

Vic.

[Anonymous John]

How about an El Reg competition so that one lucky reader can win one?

[Anonymous Coward]

Two Words

UGLY FLOP !!!!!!!

[John Smith 19]

But misses out the important characteristics.

How long can it run submerged at periscope depth?

[M7S]

Design

Lots of comments about it being ugly and "why cant they make it look like a normal car".

- Ugly, a matter of personal opinion. The Ford Sierra was deemed ugly when it first came out but was soon accepted. There are probably many other similar examples but I'm not knowledgable in this area. Personally I quite like it.

- Why make it look like a "normal" car? It's got significantly different components to your average car and is designed for a relatively specific task. A grand tourer capable of taking a family of four and luggage for a fortnight on the continent it is not, so the three-box design, with all its particular limitations has been discarded. If you were designing a new type of PC now, based on say the Pi rather than the BBC Micro, would you insist on such a large beige box?

[Sulphur Man]

Batteries still suck

Why does the range extender exist?

Because the weight and cost of adding additional batteries to get the car over a 200 mile range on a single charge is too great. Much lighter and cheaper to deploy a small motorbike engine with a briefcase fuel size tank as generator, in the space where more batteries could go. That says it all about electric car technology right now.

Without a big breakthrough in battery longevity, cost and weight, the tech simply cant be accommodated in the styles of cars we choose to drive. The alternative, as experimented by Renault Twizy and risible G-Wiz, is to make us drive very unconventional vehicles which can alleviate some of the drawbacks of batteries.

People's motoring behaviours are definitely changing, I have no doubt - the sheer cost of motoring is forcing the issue. But even in the face of these rapid changes, electric vehicles are still falling far short of the 'affordable' mark. Far more research and investment into better battery tech is needed for anything to substantially change.

[Adam 1]

Re: Batteries still suck

Range alone isn't the real problem; it is recharge time combined with the limited range.

Even if the car could only drive 200KM on a charge, it would be doable if it only took 10 minutes to recharge it to get another 200KM. (chance to stretch your legs and grab a cuppa). But due to the recharge times for each cell, they feel obligated to put lots of batteries in. This adds to the weight and drags down efficiency.

Perhaps a good compromise is to build a trailer with a small diesel generator and fuel tank in it. For long trips, you can hook up the trailer but for the most of the year when the range is less important you don't sacrifice the luggage space or weight. These trailers could even be hired out rather than purchased if that is more cost effective.

[Anonymous Coward]

Diesel / petrol version?

Can we have this lightweight car in an old-school-fuel version?

What would the mpg be on that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Battery Safety

I am a bit surprised that no comment has been made as to any battery cell rupture protection features the vehicle may have, in the light of the recent Tesla reports.

I mean, the press made a big deal out of those, even though there were no fatalities and the outcome was comparable to what would have been expected of a combustion (and equally combustible :-P ) car. I think it would have been interesting to ask BMW how this car would handle those scenarios.

While we're at it, it would also be interesting to know how the thing compares to Model S (price, range, performance, features, ...)

One thing has to be said: the nav system of BMWs (at least on 5 series) is pretty slick.

[unwarranted triumphalism]

No

Toys go on the pavement.

[John H Woods]

Just showing my wife ...

... because my company car is up for renewal soon. But she just says it looks too much like the taxi in Total Recall ...

[Robert Grant]

Re: Just showing my wife ...

Tell her if she's going to compare stuff to Total Recall, she should start with how many boobs she has compared to that alien hooker. That's right, Mrs Woods. Not enough.

[arrbee]

Hmm, anything that implies 8 years and 100,000 miles are in anyway similar limits is probably not for me.

[JassMan]

Shame you can't upgrade to REX in your garage

This car would be much more useful if you could drive it as a BEV version during the week when you are going to work but when you want to go for a longer drive on the weekend, just jack up the car, clip in the IC engine with some giant dzeus fastners,plug the generator to the main electrical circuit - and hey presto, instant REX.

Also a bit of a shame the styling makes it look lmike its a VERY small car that has had some of of accident where it ended up inside the bottom half of a bigger car.

[ecofeco]

The Aztek

First off, it reminds me of an updated Pontiac Aztek. (google it)

Secondly, it's a Beemer. I don't know what the quality is like in Europe, but in the US, the reliability quality is crap for the price, so BMW is a name associated with "overpriced."

Nonetheless, I hope it helps sell more electric cars.

[Anonymous Coward]

Good review

I don't understand the comments of 'normal looking car'. I recently drove 800 miles and back and noticed an often reoccurring bunch of mingers from the likes of Citroen, Kia, Hyundai, Dacia, Toyota, Skoda (Yeti) and I've still yet to see an attractive looking BMW since the 90s. The Honda Accord, certain Saabs, Vauxhalls and Volvos all look the same, perhaps these models I noticed are considered 'normal'. The looks of the i3 don't surprise me at all. I guess if VW are reading then they'll be justified in just shoving batteries into the latest incarnation of Golf.

[MJI]

Re: Good review

Well there are a few of us at work who look at modern new cars and think - no they are ugly.

How many normal cars can now be called nice looking?

I do think the older 318is 2 door looks nice still, I can see one parked next to my big saloon.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apt number plate

G.F.Y.

[Peter 39]

propeller logo - NOT

According to BMW, the white-and-blue logo isn't representative of an airplane propeller. Although I do admit that it does have a certain resemblance, and aero engine is what the company started with.

Apparently it's really a piece of the Bavarian state flag. By the way - any good Bavarian will quickly correctly you if you you happen to refer to it as "blue and white". For reasons I don't pretend to understand, it's "white and blue".

[Al Taylor]

Re: propeller logo - NOT

You may we right about that. I asked the curator of BMW's museum in Munich about the design a few years ago, and he said it was indeed based on an aircraft propeller but I suspect the actual truth is lost in the mists of time.

BTW, I notice I forgot to mention the power output of the two cylinder petrol engine in the REX version, it's 25kW or 33.5bhp. The electric motor which is the same in both vehicles is officially rated at 125kW peak, 75kW nominal.

With luck I'll be giving the REX version a week long test in December.

Al

[Dave Nicholson]

Sheep? Yes, but very smart sheep.

When the Federal government reduces your tax bill as a subsidy, and the State government sends you a check...and let's you drive alone in the carpool lane...and let's you drive across bridges for $1 instead of $6...and let's you park for free and charge for free...

You start to understand why some people drive the cars that the government says are "good".

Not sure that information makes its way all the way to the tiny island nation of Uk, and it is great sport poking fun at silly Americans...but there are rational reasons why some buy a Plug-in Prius, for example.

If that makes us sheep, then what do you call people who pay $10 for a gallon of petrol for their 1.0 litre cars so they can wave to speed cameras every 100 yards? LOL.

[Robert Moore]

Had to be BMW

Better range since an BMW never has to waste electricity on running the indicators. :)

Same car made by any other manufacturer, would have 10% less range. :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Had to be BMW

Are you someone who sits stationary in a lane where you can only turn left and indicate left?

Are you someone who indicates going around a roundabout even though the roundabout has been divided into lanes and you're just following the lane?

What use is it to anyone by indicating the direction you can only go in?

BMW drivers won't do this as they have increased IQ.

[James Hughes 1]

Re: Had to be BMW @AC

Indication is not optional. Even in the circumstances you outline, it's easier for the cars around you to see what's going on if you indicate. Also, most of the roads/roundabouts around here, most of the road markings have worn off, so you have no idea which lane to be in anyway. BMW's tend to ignore lane markings anyway and just drive where they want.

Most BMW's I see, as well as old Vectras for some reason, seem to have the indicators disabled.

[Levente Szileszky]

Uhh, it's UGLY...

...as hell.

And it COSTS MORE THAN $40K...

...seriously?

A Tesla X, coming next year, is a beautiful-looking (eye of the beholder, 'eye know'), 7-people SUV, will "only" cost $60k - just what BMW is thinking? Or they expect it to become just another very expensive stupid status symbol...?

[Robert Grant]

Apparently a Windows Phone 8 version is being developed.

What's the point? There aren't any apps for it.

[Berio]

Almost there but not quite.

my view in a nutshell :

pro :

+ Performances

+ BMW knows how to make a car

+ Range would be enough for me 99% of the time

cons :

+ Does it have to scream 'I AM ELECTRIC' ?

+ It should be a range rather than a single model

+ Will have to wait 3 years before there's any second hand coming to the market at a reasonable price

[CRConrad]

Not quite up-to-date on modern small cars, this writer?

From the article: ...the i3’s coach doors open to provide very easy access to the surprisingly spacious interior much like a Ford B-Max

Yeah, well, even more like an Opel/Vauxhall Meriva, innit.