The door to the world of an electric-motoring future has just been pushed open a little wider with the recent launch of the all-new, and very exciting, BMW i3. This revolutionary city car was on display for the first time in Macau last month at the 2013 Macau Auto Show at the Venetian, and Macau CLOSER spoke Mr Kevin Coon, Vice President of BMW Group Importer Office Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
“We launched the car simultaneously in Beijing, London and New York in July, then at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September and then came straight to Macau, which is pretty cool,” says Kevin Coon.
Unlike many Electric Vehicles (EVs) that have been launched over the past couple of years, the i3 was a clean sheet design conceived as a dedicated EV from the outset. This has resulted in some very interesting design and engineering concepts.
To begin with, the chassis and passenger cell are basically two completely separate units. The lightweight chassis or ‘Drive Module’ is almost entirely aluminium, while the upper ‘Life Module’ is crafted primarily from very strong, very light carbon fibre. The overall weight is just around 1,200 kilograms.
The i3 is powered by a 18.8 kWh lithium-ion battery which can power the car over a range of about 160 kilometres, depending on how you drive it. The battery can be fully charged in about three hours, and BMW have also designed a wall charging unit that they hope to be able to sell for only US$1,000 extra. Not much when you consider you won’t ever be buying any more petrol.
But the most important thing of course, is that it is totally emission free. And its green credentials don’t stop there.
“The factory where this car is built is run off the energy of five windmills, and we use 70 percent less water. The carbon fibre we use is not only very light but also very recyclable,” explains Coon.
Even the very futuristic interior uses environmentally friendly materials including hemp-reinforced plastics.
“This car is totally sustainable, uses totally environmentally friendly materials, so you can drive it with a guilt-free conscience. Our hope is that we can really touch the heart of our customers who are saying ‘hey I want to be mobile but I don’t want to pollute', so this is really a revolutionary step”.
Outwardly the design is also very different, the only obvious traits of the brand being the BMW logo and the instantly recognisable kidney grilles – purely decorative in the case of the i3.
“The visually distinctive design was absolutely essential, because the BMW i is a separate sub-brand, so the design is key to differentiate the product to say ‘I’m all electric’”, notes Coon.
Loyal BMW customers will of course be interested in drive and handling, and while this is certainly not a performance-focused car, it has been receiving excellent on-road reviews. The electric motor has an output of 170hp. Top speed is 150 km/h, and the car does 0-100 km/h in 7.2 seconds.
The i3 is not the first EV that BMW has made – Kevin points out that they actually had a very early prototype at the 1972 Olympics – but it is certainly a major milestone for the marque as it looks to the future of sustainable, mega-city motoring.
“BMW has made a commitment to being socially sustainable, economically sustainable and environmentally sustainable. We have committed billions of euros into research and development, and we are very convinced it is the right thing to do. In 2016 we will be 100 years old, so if we don’t lead this revolution, who will?”