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BMW Debuts First Electric Vehicle Made Primarily of Carbon Fiber

Posted by samzenpus on from the brand-new dept.

Elliot Chang writes "BMW debuted its 2014 i3 EV in New York City this morning. The new car is the world's first purpose-built electric vehicle made primarily of lightweight carbon fiber. The new 2014 BMW i3 electric vehicle will be powered by a rear-mounted 170-hp electric motor coupled with a 22-kWh lithium-ion battery. The range of the standard i3 will be 80-100 miles, but drivers wanting to go the extra mile, so to speak, will be able to opt for a two-cylinder range extender engine that will boost the i3s range to about 180 miles. The new i3s DC Fast Charger will be able to go from a fully drained battery to about an 80 percent charge in just 20 minutes when plugged into a public EV fast-charging station."

8 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. What a POS by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Butt ugly, $40,000+ and a mere 100 mile range. They will sell about 4 of these.

    1. Re:What a POS by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is it they keep making UGLY electric cars. I love the idea of an electric car. If they put something on the market that is:
      Not ugly
      Not horribly slow.
      At a reasonable price.

      I will buy one. So will a lot of other people. In my opinion the 100 mile range is (just) good enough. The range extender engine is a good idea.

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    2. Re:What a POS by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'll actually bet that it has a lower friction coefficient than many muscle cars. It's decently streamlined for it's job: Moving people/cargo around a city. It's also short (front-to-back) so it's easy to maneuver and park. I'll bet it can seat four (maybe two with real comfort, but I suspect the back seats aren't bad), or carry a decent amount of cargo.

      It's boxy because a box is an efficient shape to contain a large amount of space in a small amount of area. With this thing's range, it is not intended to cruise down the freeway; it's made for short trips inside the city.

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  2. Re:the only problem now is .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    MSRP is over 40,000 dollars.

    Not out of BMW's standard price range, and if you count the money from the gas you're NOT buying, it's probably a net gain very quickly.

  3. Re:Reality check... by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know... it is going to be crazy expensive, not all that practical.... and worst of all... ugly as sin.

    Why couldn't they have converted a 1 or 3 series to full electric+carbon fiber? The bourgeoisie would be kicking down the doors for a chance at something like that,

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  4. Butt ugly and another car designed for CAFE by AaronW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's yet another butt-ugly electric car designed to meet the California air standards to help offset carbon. With only an 80-100 mile range (180 with a gasoline range extender) and it's butt ugly looks I don't think Tesla has anything to worry about. It'll join all the Nissan Leafs that are constantly charging around here. For $22K more you can get a much nicer Tesla model S (not counting $7500 federal tax rebate) with a 208 mile range (EPA). The Leafs are actually rather annoying.

    For the few times when I actually do need to charge (and there's not yet a Tesla Supercharger) all the spots are clogged up with Leafs because they have so little range. A friend of mine has one and he's always having to look for a place to charge whenever he goes anywhere.

    Cars like this are fine if you're just driving around town or have a short commute, but even driving around the Bay Area these cars aren't all that practical unless you have a second car with decent range. At least it supports rapid charging though BMW is supporting the SAE standard referred to as "frankenplug" rather than Chademo which is far more common (but is only really supported by Nissan around here).

    Note that I'm rather biased since I drive a Tesla Model S. In my case I've only driven my gasoline car a couple of times since I got my model S. Once was to go to a camping trip where there's no charging anywhere along the way out in the middle of nowhere over dirt roads and the other was to haul some garden supplies I didn't want in my Tesla. I've taken it from the Bay Area up to Lake Tahoe (destination at 7200' elevation) with zero problems. I just had to stop in Folsom long enough to eat lunch while my car charged. It was 106F while driving through the Sacramento valley as well so I ran with the AC set to 72. I worked out driving down to LA isn't an issue either since I can get by with a fast charge in Gilroy (only a few minutes since the car still has a lot of charge) then one battery swap (90 seconds) along the way if I don't feel like stopping and waiting again. A good alternative to Gilroy is to just drive south all the way to Harris Ranch and charge there while getting a good steak.

    I think 150-200 miles is the magic number for EVs to really become practical for a lot more people here in the US.

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    1. Re:Butt ugly and another car designed for CAFE by swillden · · Score: 4, Insightful

      On the Leaf vs Volt access to the charging station, I think the Leaf owners have a point. Charging is optional for the Volt, not so for the Leaf.

      Of course, I own a Leaf, and have had the experience of having a Volt owner unplug my car at the airport parking lot, 15 minutes after I plugged in. When I got back from my trip it was questionable if I had enough juice to get home. Well, to be fair, I don't know for sure that it was the Volt owner who unplugged me, but it was a day trip and the charger was plugged into a Volt when I got home in the evening. On the assumption the Volt owner was uninformed rather than rude, I left a nice note explaining that the Leaf does not have a gasoline engine, and how the blue lights on the dash indicate charge state, pointing out that when you see a car with a single blue light flashing, you should probably leave it plugged in.

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  5. range anxiety is overrated by spage · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Unlike Slashdot commenters, most Americans live in multiple-car households. If your regular driving is less than the range you're set, because you use the family gas hog for those occasional journeys, or Zipcar.

    From the surprisingly favorable Top Gear review, "BMW reckons nearly all i3 buyers will use it as a second car so won't be doing long journeys, and it's optimised to make them efficient and fun."

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