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The BMW i3 - Busy Mit Watts

by Dave Armstrong 29 Jul 2013
The BMW i3 - Busy Mit Watts

The latest BMW is meant to join the green revolution. It certainly has a lot of credentials, but is it really original?; BMW i3 image; Credit: BMW

With 125,000 watts and 170 horses under the hood, you can drive 100 miles or 160km in a very short time, given the acceleration BMW supply their brand new car with. The clue is in the watts. It's totally electric with the usual lithium ion battery and totally in-house. So they didn't take a Leaf out of Nissan's book.

With 30-40% more power than the Nissan, and lots of leather, wood and natural fibres, the Bavarians are obviously intent on capturing the green market. With many electrical cars and hybrids to date, the emphasis has been on efficiency, given the cost of electricity and the relatively short battery life. Now we have a kind of green with envy car.

The Frankfurt Motor Show saw the concept of this BMW i3 on 29th July 2011.Now the video will be supplied worldwide, but mainly in Frankfurt, Beijing and New York, just in case you miss the news of the plastic birth (It's made of CFRP, carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic).

The silence of the vehicle can be taken as read, the consumption is from your local power station rather than fossil fuel and you can penetrate certain cities free, given the total lack of emissions. It's a given that the whole thing will be very much recyclable. Perhaps only an actual cycle could be more green, but don't forget the friendly "fog" from that local power station.

Details are obviously thin on the ground, with the launch still being prepared. 80% of the charge can be achieved within an hour, while the top speed can be reached with rapid acceleration, given the extremely low weight of electric cars. That's 150km/h in 7.9 seconds, for the electro-cognoscenti. Deceleration is also helped by the braking effect of energy recuperation. This helps to re-charge the battery. For those more familiar with the BMW attention to detail, pushing various buttons will be able to:

  • tell you about how much "juice" you have left and where to charge up

  • see how cabin heating/cooling affects energy savings (of approx.30%)

  • use EcoPro and EcoPro+ modes to reduce energy use.

    Standard for BMW, the driven rear axle also holds up the motor, gears and drive electronics, leaving a space at the front for storage. Let's call that the Hood. Then there's the spacious rear end, under the movable rear window (containing rear lights). We could call that the Boot.

    Enjoy the vid, but you must play it only once!


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