So near, yet so far: BMW’s electric i3 city car

By Tessa R. Salazar August 27,2013

BMW’S first production-ready, all-electric car i3

The German automaker that has earned the reputation of producing cars of sheer driving pleasure has just come up with an edgy, new-age alternative to the fossil fuel-burning internal combustion engine. And, like all vehicles of its kind created by other forward-thinking car manufacturers, this vehicle signals the beginning of the industry’s independence from climate change-inducing Big Oil.

 

Ironically, the Philippines, one of the countries identified as most vulnerable to the drastic effects of climate change, may have to wait a bit longer than the others before its streets become populated with more cars producing less greenhouse gases.

 

BMW’s production-ready, all-electric compact, five-door hatch i3 would be commercially available in highly developed megacities such as Singapore by mid-2014. The i3 has already been unveiled in Beijing, London and New York, and was showcased on Aug. 21 in Singapore, where Inquirer Motoring saw the BMW landmark car up close and personal. BMW experts from Germany also flew in and met with Asian Carmakers Corp. and the Philippine media. They introduced the concept sports car i8, which would be a plug-in hybrid.

 

However, no one from BMW and ACC, BMW’s official importer and distributor in the Philippines, could tell for sure when i3 would be available in the Philippines, or even if it would be.

 

Eco-friendly clincher

 

THE i3 doesn’t need B-pillars for stiffness so it gets coach doors for easy cabin access.

Housed in a unique architecture, with exterior dimensions comparable to the 1 Series, yet with interior space equivalent to that of the 3 Series, the clincher with the i3 is its low-environment-impact features combined with typical BMW precision engineering tucked under the hood.

 

BMW engineers revealed they built this car from scratch, which means no components used here came from parts already being used by its combustion-engine vehicles.

 

The i3 generates a motive force of 125 kW from its electric motor, which is powered by a bank of lithium-ion batteries. As with electric motors, there is an instant zing (250 Newton-meters of torque catapulting the vehicle to 100 kilometers per hour in 7.9 seconds), leaving no CO2 emissions.

 

For the i3’s design, engineers used the 50-50 weight distribution. The battery pack is centrally positioned at a low center of gravity, ideal for an agile car and, in the engineers’ reckoning, for a truly dramatic dynamic drive.

 

The i3 rests on a chassis made of cutting-edge carbon fiber and aluminum. Apart from that, the i3 is composed of thermoplastics and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). CFRP, which has 50 percent lower density than steel or even aluminum, possesses the high level of strength and stiffness suitable for the passenger cell called “Life module.” The extruded aluminum used for the chassis carries the drivetrain and is called the “Drive module.”

 

BMW also revealed that the manufacturing plants in Leipzig, Germany, and Moses Lake in the United States, where these raw materials are being processed, use wind and water to generate  power and electricity, making them virtually 100-percent CO2-free. The envisioned BMW i models (perhaps an i1 to i9 Series is in the offing?) will consume 50 percent less power and 70 percent less water for their production.

 

BMW Group’s Manuel Sattig, project manager of BMW i, explains the i3’s eco-friendly production and supply chain. Photos by Tessa R. Salazar

The electricity in the Leipzig plant is generated from wind, while the Moses Lake plant runs on hydroelectric power for the production of the CFRP.

 

Range extender

 

The i3 will also come with an optional range extender (REx) module for longer drives. REx acts as a generator to recharge the batteries, doubling the 190-kilometer range. REx is a two-cylinder, 650-cc gasoline engine that works only as a power generator.

 

The i3’s day-to-day driving range runs to a maximum 190 km on a full charge, and 360 km with the REx.

 

BMW engineers say the i3 is based on the company’s 32 million km of experience with customers, a gigantic database that shows BMW car owners’ driving behaviors.

 

On top of all the technology behind the i3, BMW engineers stress the point that the vehicle will have no maintenance-intensive combustion engine, but only an “electric motor that can run forever.” The total cost of an i3 ownership, thus, decreases by 58 percent compared to running and maintaining a regular internal combustion vehicle.

 

What’s keeping the i3 from landing on Philippine shores? BMW engineers themselves provide the hint: The i3, they say, requires an infrastructure that needs the cooperation of the government, the electric power supplier and even telecommunications companies. In short, the i3 needs more than driveable roads for it to run without a glitch.

 

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