BMW i3 electric car Review and Specification

At the launch event for the BMW i3 I started pondering whether I should change my name to iEnglish. Don’t you think that makes me sound so much more modern? Or does the shameless hijacking of Apple’s product prefix look like a desperate attempt to get down with the kids?

That doesn’t seem to have occurred to BMW’s irony-free marketers, which is a shame because the engineers at the Munich motor works have put too much clever thinking (as well as a mooted £2 billion) into developing its new i3 electric car for it to be saddled with such a naff, plagiaristic name.

Nevertheless the sense of occasion at the Amsterdam launch was palpable, with the fleet of i3s looking like a scene from a Philip K Dick novel. This is a striking and intriguing car, but not a beautiful one. It sits high on skinny 19in Bridgestones, the narrowing side windows look ungainly and small, rear-hinged back doors like an afterthought.

We’ve written about the i3’s aluminium, carbon-fibre and thermo-plastic construction before, and there’s no doubt that the i3 is a different sort of electric vehicle (EV). It’s rear-wheel drive for a start, although that doesn’t hugely affect the driving experience; a kerb weight of 1,270kg (2,799lb) does: a pressed-steel i3 would weigh about 1,500kg (3,306lb).

BMW is certainly taking the more complex and expensive route for its attempt to turn zero-emissions vehicles into a showroom revolution.

BMW’s conception of the i3 as the ultimate hipster lifestyle car goes far beyond an approximation of driving Zen; they’ve designed it to be an extension of a modern digital reality. The i3 comes equipped with a suite of apps that actually work. It has a center-console screen with a somewhat above-average GPS, but it’s not a crummy iPad knockoff like the ones seen in so many contemporary cars. The real magic comes in the smartphone connectability; in particular, there’s an app that directs you to the nearest parking station with an electric charger and gives you an alternate route involving public transportation or even walking. This wouldn’t work in a city like, say, Houston, at least not right now, but it’s perfect in Amsterdam, which has more than 700 public charging stations within the city limits alone, or in a San Francisco of the very near future.

The i3 gets more than 80 miles per charge, and can totally refresh in six hours. The charging cable cleverly hides under the front hood, and it locks in place when you lock the car. So if you want to drive it all day, you can; there's also a version with a tiny motor borrowed from BMW's motorcycle unit that acts as a mini-generator, but BMW provided none of those to us for testing, pushing only the electric version instead.

So let’s address the 800-pound carbon-fiber gorilla in the room: The i3 almost seems to mock the concept of BMW as “the ultimate driving machine.” That said, it goes fast. Very fast. We never took the i3 over, say, 85 mph on the motorway, but it got there with amazing quickness, as though I were calling down to Scotty in the engine room and saying “warp drive.” The car gave a little whirr, and then we launched, awesomely, into the Delta quadrant. It rocketed us forward into a beautiful, noiseless, solar-powered future.

The i division now has 400 employees, and with the launch of the i8 sports car next year, it’s just going to keep growing. The i3 goes on sale in Europe in November, and will sell in the U.S. for a little more than $41,000, which is just about the cost of a tricked-out Chevy Impala. In other words, it’s not an inexpensive car, but it’s hardly beyond the reach of BMW’s core customer. It’s going to be hugely successful, and we’re going to have to change our conception of what a BMW car looks like.

The key to evolution, Charles Darwin taught us, is that the most successful species aren’t necessarily the smartest, or the fastest, but the ones that are most able to adapt to change. While the rest of the dinosaurs wonder about that bright light in the sky, BMW has evolved.

BMW i3

Tested: 22kWh lithium-ion battery driving an AC electric motor, rear-wheel drive
Price/on sale: From £25,680 including plug-in car grant (Range Extender £28,830)/ November 16
Power/torque: Electric motor: 168bhp/184lb ft. Range Extender engine: 32bhp/41lb ft
Top speed: 93mph
Acceleration: 0-62mph in 7.2sec (7.9sec for Range Extender)
Range: 80 to 100 miles (160 to 186 for Range Extender)
CO2 emissions: Zero at tailpipe
VED band: A (£0)
Verdict: A brave and partly successful attempt to change the electric vehicle terms of trade. The i3’s construction and the range-extender option address some inherent drawbacks of battery cars. The weirdo looks and hug-a-tree interior fabrics don’t. Drives well and likeable as a second car, but still not an alternative for the family hatch
THE RIVALS
Ford Focus Electric from £28,500 inc £5,000 grant
Yes, it is on sale, although modest doesn’t begin to describe Ford’s 12-month sales target of just 30 cars. A 140bhp electric motor and 23kWh lithium-ion battery gives an 85mph top speed, about 100 miles range with a 10 hour recharge. It’s a Focus, with a battery instead of an engine. It’s also too expensive.
Nissan Leaf from £20,990 inc £5,000 grant
The 2011 Car of the Year, now cheaper to buy, with a wider model range, and built in the UK. A practical and likeable EV, but the availability of big discounts on the list price suggests that it needs some help to sell.
Renault Zoe from £13,995 inc £4,448 grant; plus battery lease from £70 per month
Cute, good to drive and a decent urban runabout. Top speed is limited to 84mph, 0-62mph is in 13.5sec. Reasonably priced including the plug-in grant, but limited-mileage battery leasing packages won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.