BMW ActiveE
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One of the earliest electric-car prototype test fleets of the modern day was made up of several hundred MINI E two-seaters, which hit U.S. roads on two-year leases from 2008 through 2010. MINI E drivers who loved driving electric--which is to say, many of them--were offered replacement BMW ActiveE electric cars, and the electric MINIs were taken back by BMW. DON'T MISS: First Drive: Mini E Electric Vehicle Is Far From Ready For Primetime Now, however, a few Delaware residents can have the chance to lease a piece of electric-car history. The University of Delaware is offering a "small number"...
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2014 BMW i3 REx: Range-Extended Electric Car Drive Report, By Very First Owner
This past Wednesday, May 21, I picked up my shiny new 2014 BMW i3 REx range-extended electric car from JMK BMW in Springfield, New Jersey. The car, in Laurel Grey, was the first range-extended i3 delivered in North America, and I will always appreciate that BMW gave me the honor of being the first...
Tom Moloughney -
Crushed BMW ActiveE Test Fleet Headed For Scrapyard (UPDATED)
Just two weeks ago, drivers of the BMW ActiveE fleet of electric test vehicles were delighted to see that their cars would have a second life. BMW announced that it would redeploy 80 ActiveE electric cars to its DriveNow car-sharing program in San Francisco. MUST READ: 2014 BMW i3 Test Drive: No...
John Voelcker -
BMW ActiveE Electric Cars Join DriveNow Program As Drivers Give Them Back
The BMW ActiveE lease program is over, but the cars will live on with the DriveNow car-sharing service.
Stephen Edelstein -
Not All BMW ActiveE Drivers Moving To BMW i3, Poll Finds
BMW ActiveE drivers question the i3's price and practicality.
Stephen Edelstein -
BMW ActiveE Motor Failures: The Price Of Leasing A Test Car?
It's become increasingly common for carmakers to solicit volunteers to lease new-technology cars for a year or two, to gather real-world data about how the cars are actually driven and used. But those cars remain development prototypes, not production-quality vehicles. And as BMW ActiveE drivers...
John Voelcker -
Much of the discussion around electric cars centers on their cost: high initial purchase price, low per-mile running costs. But electric cars don't just compete against economy cars with high fuel efficiency. As last week's unveiling of the 2014 Cadillac ELR range-extended electric luxury coupe showed, there will be plug-in electric cars across multiple segments. Late this year, BMW will start selling its 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric car, bringing plug-in power to the storied Bavarian brand. Leading up to that effort, it has launched two separate electric-car test fleets, putting prototype...
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BMW Celebrates 40 Years Of Electric Cars, From 1602 To i3
Think BMW, and your first thoughts may turn to sports sedans, luxury cars and sports cars. None are known for being particularly green, but BMW is set to change that when it launches the i3 electric compact car, and the upcoming i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. In fact, BMW has been developing...
Antony Ingram -
Electric Car Trip From SF To LA? Take Note Of King City
It's no surprise that California is becoming the heart of electric car ownership. Its weather, state incentives and even public attitudes make for an ideal environment in which to run an EV, and a healthy network of charging stations ensures that drivers can even tackle occasional longer trips...
Antony Ingram -
BMW Launches ActiveE DriveNow Electric Car Sharing In San Francisco
We quite like the BMW ActiveE. It's a good-looking, comfortable, quick electric car, and its existence will help develop BMW's first true electric production car, the 2014 BMW i3. Now, thanks to BMW's car sharing service DriveNow, residents in San Francisco will also get to enjoy the ActiveE's...
Antony Ingram -
BMW ActiveE Safety Recall For Possible Power Steering Failure
BMW is recalling its ActiveE electric cars to replace a potentially faulty component whose failure could leave drivers without power steering. According to the text of the recall, "variations in electrical current" may occur within the electric power steering, leading to a sudden loss of the power...
John Voelcker -
Want To Know What An Electric-Car Only Race Sounds Like?
Visit any major race track on any day of the week and there’s bound to be a cacophony of noise as professional race teams or enthusiastic amateurs drive lap after lap in praise to the gods of gasoline. But what would it be like if every car going around the track was powered by electricity?...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
New York or San Francisco? Bagels or Sourdough? East or West? If you’re from the east or west coasts of the U.S., you’ll know that there’s a (mainly) friendly rivalry between the two when it comes to culture, food, sports and even politics. Now we can add electric cars to the list, specifically how many electric miles are driven, courtesy of BMW ActiveE ‘electronauts’, and electric car advocate and BMW ActiveE driver Michael Thwaite. Using the appropriately named website wotnogas.com, Thwaite has aggregated the total miles driven by participating ActiveE drivers...
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BMW ActiveE Drivers To Benefit From Cheaper Solar Power
"Yeah, but where does the electricity come from, huh?" comes the oft-sneering question when the subject of electric cars is brought up in polite conversation. Sneery it may be, but there's an underlying point if your main source of power is something like coal. However, BMW ActiveE drivers will...
Antony Ingram -
BMW ActiveE: Extended Drive Report (Video)
BMW’s 1,000-strong fleet of ActiveE electric cars are stationed around the world, with the largest number of test cars concentrated in the U.S. Earlier this year, we got the chance to step behind the wheel of the very first BMW ActiveE to be delivered in the U.S., but earlier this week, we...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW: We've Been Making Electric Cars Since The 1972 Olympics
BMW might be more than a year away from bring its first production electric car -- the 2014 BMW i3 -- to production, but the German automaker wants you to know that it isn’t new to electric cars. You may not know it, but BMW’s electric car history spans 40 years. As part of its...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW Opens Registration For ActiveE Electric Car Leases
Want to boldly go where few have gone before? If so, you might just have what it takes to become an "Electronaut", BMW's term for the select few who'll be piloting the 2012 BMW ActiveE for the next few years. BMW has started the recruitment process to find 700 potential ActiveE drivers. BMW's...
Antony Ingram -
BMW ActiveE First Drive: At The Wheel (Video)
Yesterday we reviewed the BMW ActiveE electric car after spending an afternoon in the first ActiveE delivered in the U.S. Now, we have a brief video clip to take you inside the car, hitting some of the high points of the driving experience. The clip starts with the car at rest in the remarkably...
John Voelcker -
The first BMW ActiveE electric car in North America was just delivered last Friday. Now, with only 600 miles on that car, we've driven it. Our first impressions of BMW's final electric test car, converted from a standard BMW 1-Series two-door sedan, are favorable. It's solid, comfortable, performs well, and feels far more like a production car than its predecessor, the Mini E. We're on record as calling the Mini E crude and unlikable. That didn't stop its drivers from raving about it, but the ActiveE is simply a far, far better car that we found much more enjoyable to drive. Our drive came...
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BMW Delivers First of 700 ActiveE Electric Cars In New Jersey
Regular readers may recognize the name of Tom Moloughney, who has written several stories on his experiences living with a Mini E electric car for two years. Now Moloughney has moved up in the electric-car world. On Friday, he was the first U.S. customer to take delivery of a BMW ActiveE, the first...
John Voelcker -
With 4,000 VIP BMWs, How Green Are London's Olympic Games?
Like a karaoke singer following a top rock band, London has its work cut out in hosting the 2012 Olympic games, following China's impressive 2008 games. The city won't have as much trouble beating Beijing's pollution levels though, which is why London is claiming its games will be the "greenest...
Antony Ingram -
First Drive: BMW ActiveE Electric Car Prototype
A couple of weeks ago, BMW invited me to come to Munich and take part in the first drive of production versions of the BMW ActiveE, their second battery electric test vehicle. A bit of background: I've been something of a high-profile MINI E pioneers, maintaining an active blog about my...
Tom Moloughney -
Electronauts Only Need Apply For 2012 BMW ActiveE Electric Car
Over the years automakers have used a huge array of techniques to entice members of the public to become test drivers in their electric car test programs. Often however, high lease fees combined with the requirement that lesses give back the prototype or limited run electric car at the end of the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW's UK MINI E Test Ends: Drivers Happy, But...
A few months after BMW and MINI's electric car study ended in the United States, a similar scheme run in the U.K. has also come to a close, and the results are in... ...and if you've read the results of the American tests, the figures coming from the U.K. will all look very familiar. Basically, all...
Antony Ingram