'Strange-looking i3 doesn’t seem very BMW-y'
http://www.bmwblog.com/2015/11/12/the-bmw-i3-the-car-that-changed-bmw/ The BMW i3: The car that changed BMW November 12th, 2015 Nico DeMattia [image http://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-bmw-i3-front-three-quarter-in-orange-750x500.jpg The BMW i3: The car that changed BMW http://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/bmw-i3-fluid-black.jpg http://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-BMW-i3-Driver-Cabin.jpg http://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2016-bmw-7-series-lightweight-cfrp-02.jpg BMW 7 Series’ Carbon Core technology http://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/bmw-i3-fluid-black-color.jpg ] Every once in a while, an automaker creates a car that forever changes the brand. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it becomes a focal point for the brand’s history. BMW has had a couple of these cars in its past. The original BMW 2002 forever changed BMW, as it created a formula for a car that the Bavarian brand would forever replicate. The original E30 M3 was another car that changed BMW forever, as it put BMW on the map in the world of performance and precision. The next car to change BMW wouldn’t come until nearly three decades later — the BMW i3. The i3 is a peculiar BMW, in that at first glance, it doesn’t seem very BMW-y. It’s a strange-looking hatchback that runs on pure electricity and isn’t very fast. However, if you dig deeper into the car and actually drive it, you’d realize that not only is it a BMW through and through, but it’s the future of BMW. It’s where BMW is headed. Step into the i3 and you’re greeted by a cabin that looks like nothing else from the Bavarians. It’s open and airy, unlike the sort of driver-focused cockpits you’re used to from BMW. However, once you sink into the seat, it becomes instantly comfortable and familiar. It’s a BMW, just one for a different time. Everything is brilliantly laid out and it feels like something from the future. That’s what a good company does, it gives you things that you never knew you wanted and that’s what you get in the i3, an experience that you didn’t know you wanted but now suddenly do. Start the i3 and you aren’y greeted with the throaty growl of a straight-six, but silence instead. It’s an odd feeling to not have the BMW rumbling to life beneath you, but for some reason it still feels alive. One twist of the, surprisingly weighty, steering wheel and you realize that this car was indeed built by the same company that builds the M3. It’s meaty and accurate, like BMWs should be but unlike virtually every other electric car. The chassis responds to your inputs with alacrity and its rear-drive nature allow it to be every bit as nimble as the BMW sports cars you’re used to. Despite its futuristic feel, the i3 still feels at home to BMW owners. The aforementioned chassis is responsive for a reason and has much to do with the i3’s nimble readiness. Built out of an ingenious use Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic, the chassis is basically one piece. The CFRP passenger cell is one single unit, much like a Formula One car, and is bolted to aluminum subframes, as if it were a carbon fiber skateboard. This allows the i3 to be incredible light, rigid and dynamic, It’s a formula that works so well that it’s ideas are being implemented into all future BMWs via Carbon Core technology. the implementation is slow, admittedly, due to cost reasons, but there will be a time when all future BMWs use a similar chassis setup. But it isn’t just the i3’s chassis that is changing BMW, it’s the brilliant eDrive powertrain. While the i3’s powertrain might sound simple, being just an electric motor and a battery, the lessons learned from the i3 [EV], and it’s bigger i8 [pih] brother, are being utilized in future BMW vehicles ... Even the BMW i3’s faults teach BMW things about what the future needs to be. Some critics, mostly Tesla fans, cry about the i3’s lack of range and the fact that BMW is too focused on hybrids when it should be more concerned with pure EV and battery technology. BMW is focused on those things ... The eDrive powertrain is the walking stage, that intermediate step, and we have the i3 to thank for BMW learning that lesson. The i3 is the third BMW in the brand’s storied history to change the BMW for the future. The 2002, the E30 M3 and now the i3. That’s not bad company to be in. [© bmwblog.com] http://insideevs.com/since-launch-bmw-i3-worlds-3-best-selling-electric-car/ Since Its Launch, BMW i3 Is World's #3 Best-Selling Electric Car* [2015/11/13] Since Its Launch, BMW i3 Is World's #3 Best-Selling Electric Car*. 14 mins ... According to BMW, the i3 has become the third best-selling electric car worldwide. ... http://www.thequint.com/torque/2015/11/13/the-once-futuristic-bmw-i3-completes-2-years-but-is-it-old The Once 'Futuristic' BMW i3 Completes 2 Years, But Is It Old? [2015/11/13] After two years of its launch, the world of cars – once dominated by petrol and diesel ... While electric cars were often seen as the future, with the BMW i3 the next ... ... http://or-politics.com/finance-message/why-bmw-traveling-on-the-road-to-victory-in-electric-car/146259/ Why BMW traveling on the road to victory in electric car November 12, 2015 For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-i3-EV-The-vehicle-that-changed-BMW-tp4678751.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
