BMW i3
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It's a tough job selling electric cars anywhere in huge numbers at the moment, with much of the buying public still skeptical of the potential benefits. Spare a thought for those trying to sell electric cars in Germany then, where buyers are traditionally even more conservative in their tastes. To this end, BMW has taken the very Germanic, no-nonsense step of telling his countrymen to "get over it" and drop their fear of electric vehicle technology. According to Bloomberg, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has told his fellow Germans they should put aside their fears of the unknown and embrace...
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Six New Plug-In Electric Cars Coming For 2014
This is an exciting time for electric car enthusiasts. From just a handful of choices only a few years ago, buyers in some states now have access to as many as a dozen different plug-in vehicles. It's set to get even better--over the course of the next few years, another six electric vehicles are...
Antony Ingram -
BMW i3 Electric Car: ReX Range Extender Not For Daily Use?
The upcoming 2014 BMW i3 electric car is generating a lot of quiet excitement--especially for its optional "ReX" range extender, a tiny two-cylinder engine that fits under the rear deck to power a generator. The i3 will be only the third high-volume dedicated battery electric car on the market...
John Voelcker -
BMW Electric Car Owners Get Gas-Powered Loaner For Longer Trips
Rightly or wrongly, many potential electric car owners are a little put off by the fear of occasionally running out of electricity before their destination--a condition termed "range anxiety". In reality, it's something that existing electric car owners grow out of, once they're used to their...
Antony Ingram -
2014 BMW i3 Electric Car Price: How Much Will It Cost?
With the 2014 BMW i3 electric car launch getting closer, the rumor mill is heating up. BMW will unveil its first production battery electric car at this fall's Frankfurt Motor Show, after showing a number of concept cars in both four-door and coupe forms. It has already given rides in BMW i3 test...
John Voelcker -
BMW i3 Electric Car, i8 Plug-In Hybrid: First Rides For Journalists
Two of the most exciting electric vehicles due over the next few years both originate from German automaker, BMW. The i3 city car and i8 sports car are both clean-sheet designs, developed from the ground up as plug-in vehicles. With carbon-fiber chassis, purpose-designed interiors and unique...
Antony Ingram -
If you've ever bought a car, you might have experienced the frustration that comes with a sales person who doesn't really know about the car they're selling. That's not an experience you'll have had in an Apple retail store though, where the Genius Bar program provides product experts to hand out advice and technical support for your product. Soon, you'll get a similar experience in BMW dealerships, with the "BMW Genius Everywhere" program. Trialled in the UK last year, the program is now being launched all over Europe--and a pilot program in the States will begin later this year, before full...
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BMW i3 Electric Car: Motorcycle Engine Range-Extender For 250 Mile Range
If you're a fan of electric cars, there's a fair chance BMW's i3 urban electric car is one of the vehicles you're most looking forward to in 2013. When it goes on sale in the fourth quarter of 2013, it's set to be one of the most advanced vehicles on the road--not least for its lightweight...
Antony Ingram -
BMW i3 Concept Coupe: New Video Of Electric Car
Which car are you most excited about for 2013? If the BMW i3 electric car isn't near the top of the list, we'd be surprised. Its bare figures may not be headline-grabbing, but on design alone it makes even BMW's current production cars look a bit half-hearted. You can see this better than ever...
Antony Ingram -
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 -
BMW i3 Coupe Concept Live Shots: Los Angeles Auto Show
BMW is committed to creating a full line of electric and advanced plug-in hybrid models—so much so that it's establishing them apart from BMW (and MINI), as an 'i' sub-brand, revolving in part around the idea that 'premium' and 'sustainable' aren't mutually exclusive. But design will have to...
Bengt Halvorson -
BMW Exec Reaffirms Commitment To Plug-In Cars
Automakers don't give up profits easily. So when one of the world's most profitable, BMW, commits to building a range of electric vehicles, they have to be taken seriously. BMW Chairman Dr. Norbert Reithofer has reaffirmed this commitment during a recent teleconference. "We consider electric...
Antony Ingram -
BMW could be set to unveil a new, sporty electric car at the upcoming 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show. Likely to be based on the BMW i3 electric city car, the new BMW 'i4' would be a more "fasionable and sporty" model to complement the i3 in BMW's increasing electric range. According to French magazine l'Automobile, the new car could be unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show later next month. The i4 name stems from BMW's new naming strategy, that reserves odd numbers for basic sedans and hatchbacks, and even-numbered models for coupes, convertibles and sports cars. An i4 would thus be based on the i3...
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BMW Experimenting With Infrared Heating For Electric Cars
Just how do you keep occupants of an electric car warm? That’s the question that automakers have been tackling for many years, as they bring mass-produced plug-in cars to market. Now BMW thinks it has the solution to keeping occupants warm in the middle of winter: infrared heating. The use of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW i3, i8 Will Be First BMWs To Sell Online
If you're selling a futuristic vehicle, why not sell it using futuristic means? That's the strategy BMW is looking to take with its i3 and i8 plug-in cars, when both go on sale in Europe in a few years time. The German automaker may well have just opened a specialised showroom for the cars in...
Antony Ingram -
First BMW i Store Opens in London, i3 Concept Gets New Interior
If you’ve ever visited central London in England and visited its famous Hyde Park, the chances are you’ve also seen one of BMW’s most prestigious showrooms, located along the highly-expensive and exclusive Park Lane. Now, weeks ahead of the BMW-sponsored 2012 London Olympic games...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
No Artificial Noises For Electric BMW i3 (Yet)
Put most people behind the wheel of an electric car, and you can guarantee one of the first things they'll talk about is the silence. Unfortunately, that silence has led some legislators to require EVs to emit a sound in order to warn pedestrians of their presence, stifling one of the genre's...
Antony Ingram -
BMW i3 Electric Car Spotted Winter Testing In Northern Europe
Last week, we were 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle, putting the Volvo C30 electric through its paces. But we weren’t the only people driving electric cars in the Arctic Circle as our colleagues over at Motor Authority found out earlier today. As our own Viknesh Vijayenthiran reports...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW’s 2014 i8 plug-in hybrid sports car might have been spotted wearing standard-issue "carmoflague" while cold-weather testing in Sweden, but now the German automaker wants to remind us how it really looks. The reminder comes courtesy of BMW’s latest teaser video, showing the i8 and its smaller sibling -- the all-electric 2014 i3 hatchback -- in a 1:10 minute short. But while the video is dramatic -- almost cinematic -- in its presentation, it doesn’t tell us anything new about the upcoming i3 and i8 electric cars. In fact, this particular video uses some of the same...
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What Comes After The 2014 BMWi3, i8? How About The i5 MPV?
If you’ve ever wondered why BMW’s upcoming 2014 all-electric i3 mini car and 2014 BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car are numbered the way they are, it’s because BMW plans to fill in the gaps with other plug-in models in future years. We all know that the BMW i3 and i8 are due in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 BMW i3 Electric Car iPhone App Screenshots Teased: 2012 Detroit Auto Show
We’re less than a week away from the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and that means automakers are eagerly dropping hints about what we’ll be seeing next week. For BMW, that means posting six screenshots from its unreleased iOS smartphone application for the 2013...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Are The BMW i3 And i8 Electric Cars A Mission Impossible?
At the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, BMW introduced its press conference with a preview of the next installment of the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie series. BMW features prominently in this production, with its plug-in hybrid supercar i8 as one of the team’s advanced tools. The movie's...
George Parrott -
Sneak Peek: BMW i3 And i8 U.S. Debut Before LA Auto Show
Yesterday afternoon, BMW hosted a Special Sneak Peek Preview Event of the BMW i3 and BMW i8 concept electric cars in New York. Both cars will make their official U.S. debut at next week's Los Angeles Auto Show. After an hour-long photo session, we were addressed by Richard Kim, exterior designer...
Tom Moloughney -
BMW Purif-i Hand Sanitizer Even Cleaner Than i3 Electric Car
The world of car-branded merchandise has resulted in some unusual items in the past. Ferrari, for instance is well known for its scarlet-clad teddy bears and a hugely expensive carbon fiber measuring stick. On the other hand, Porsche Design, a company affiliated with the sports car maker, makes...
Antony Ingram