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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."

22 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. Reality check... by Nullifier · · Score: 3, Funny

    The new car is the world's first purpose-built electric vehicle made primarily of dollar bills.

    1. 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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    2. Re:Reality check... by quenda · · Score: 2

      ... the First Electric Vehicle made primarily of plastic.
      Carbon fibres are just the re-inforcing, so this car is no more "primarily carbon fiber" than a concrete building is "primarily steel".

    3. Re:Reality check... by nukenerd · · Score: 2

      Why couldn't they have converted a 1 or 3 series to full electric .. ?

      Because, as someone once posted here before, there are three rules about electric cars :-

      1) They must be tiny

      2) They must be ugly

      3) They must be quirky

      Admittedly, these rules are not always followed, but seem to have been in this case.

  2. 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 craigminah · · Score: 2

      Your commend reminds me of a signature line a project manager I worked with recently had:

      "you can have it fast, cheap, or good, pick any two."

      It is currently impossible to satisfy all the things you'd like, pick any two.

    3. 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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    4. Re:What a POS by jon3k · · Score: 2

      I don't see how this is horribly slow? 170hp in a very light (carbon fiber) and very small car makes for totally reasonable performance for the average human.

    5. Re:What a POS by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 2

      Actually, I meant 'muscle car', as a couple of other posts in the article comment thread were wishing it (or electric cars in general) looked more like a muscle car.

      All in all, I don't actually see it as ugly that everyone seems to be complaining about.

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  3. Re:Two-cylinder by bananaquackmoo · · Score: 4, Informative

    The engine is optional for people with range anxiety. You use it to generate electricity, not to drive the wheels directly.

  4. Re:Another butt-ugly electric car... yawn by jxander · · Score: 2

    All about aerodynamics, and walking the razor's edge ... how low can you dial the engine power, and still get reasonable performance.

    The Chargers, Challengers, GTOs, Camaros, Barracudas, etc of old contained so much raw power that they could push around big flat-faced grills, hood scoops, and a few extra tons of pig iron without missing a beat (well, your heart might skip a beat when you consider the single-digit mpg those behemoths pulled) This little 100 hp engine couldn't get a chassis like that out of the driveway, let alone up to freeway speeds.

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  5. More coverage at Top Gear... by Andy_R · · Score: 2

    Pictures and construction details here:
    http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/bmw-i3-production-car-revealed-2013-07-29 ...and test drive here:
      http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/BMW-i3-first-drive-2013-09-10

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  6. 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 hibiki_r · · Score: 2

      Yeah, and extra 22k can get you a much nicer car. You can say that of pretty much every car on the road. For that, you can also trade in my son's bicycle for a new car.

    2. 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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  7. BMW Aztek by hedley · · Score: 2

    Aztek redux now with battery and the prestige value prop logo.

  8. 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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  9. Re:Carbon Fibre Durability = Fiberglass by Overzeetop · · Score: 2

    How is fiberglass? It's basically the same thing, but with stronger, stiffer fibers. The matrix material is what you worry about.

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  10. Well, I think it looks cool by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 2

    Everyone is calling it ugly, I don't get that at all. This is nothing close to other hideous electric designs. I think they nailed the ergo for it. Priced right for the target demo, nails that parent's-2nd-commuter-car with the range, and has the space to pick up groceries on the way home or a couple of kids on "your" night. Your other vehicle is a minivan for the long distance stuff; this one for the work week.

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  11. Re:Two-cylinder by julesh · · Score: 2

    It won't cure range anxiety totally though, it only has a 2.4 gallon fuel tank.

    That should cure range anxiety completely: it is more than enough to get you home, however far you've driven on the batteries.

  12. Re:Two-cylinder by MachineShedFred · · Score: 2

    And if you're really worried, you can double it's capacity with one of these.

    That's another 200 miles of range!

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