No doubt from time to time you’ve heard hype about the all electric BMW i3. Or maybe you’ve been eagerly anticipating your new BMW earth friendly design for some time. If you have questions, please read on, we’ll attempt to answer as many as possible.
The BMW i3 is designed to let the driver choose. He or she can choose from three drive modes: COMFORT, ECO PRO and ECO PRO+. In COMFORT mode the i3 has a range of 80-100mi when the range extender (REx) is not used and 160-180mi when the range extender is employed. ECO PRO delivers a 12% increase in range and ECO PRO+ delivers an increase of 24% above the COMFORT range. The maximum MPH reached, is dependent upon which mode you are driving in. In one mode you would only be able to reach 56mi per hour, while in another mode you could go up to 93MPH.
The i3 can be charged from a conventional socket. A fast charge from 0 to 80% can be completed within 3 hours. If the BMW i3 is being charged at a public charging station, the same can be achieved in less than 30 minutes.
What kind of acceleration does the new BMW i3 have? The electric BMW i3 comes with a 170hp engine and according to BMW, it can reach a top speed of 60 MPH in less than eight seconds.
Wondering how experts in the field feel about the i3?
Here are some quotes taken from Wikipedia:
“The BMW i3 was selected by the Green Car Journal as one of the five finalists for the 2012 Green Car Vision Award. In July 2013, the Wired and The Christian Science Monitor media sources published favorable reviews for the model.
The BMW i3 won the Car Design of the Year award for 2013 in the production category at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show. The i3 was selected by a panel of senior design directors. The other runners up in the production category were the Jaguar F-Type Coupe and Porsche 918 Spyder. The i3 also received an iF Product Design Gold Award for “the incorporation of sustainability in all facets of the interieur and exterieur design.”
The BMW i3 was selected as finalist in three categories for the 2014 World Car of the Year Awards. At the 2014 New York International Auto Show was announced as the winner of the 2014 World Green Car of the Year and also 2014 World Car Design of the Year.
In the first UK Car of the Year Awards, the BMW i3 won in two categories, UK Car of the Year 2014 and Best Super-mini of 2014. The winners in each category were voted for by a panel of 27 motoring journalists in the UK. The i3 was also a finalist of the 2014 European Car of the Year awards. It ended up voted in second place. The i3 was ranked first in Kelley Blue Book Top 10 Best Green Cars for 2014. At the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show the BMW i3 was announced as the winner of Green Car Journal’s 2015 Green Car of the YearAward.”
Are you convinced that a BMW i3 is the right choice for you? That may be true, but don’t be surprised if the need arises to be placed on a wait list.
As of February 2014, BMW was producing about half of the planned production. As a result of high demand and slow production rate, the delivery wait was extended until September 2014. Hopefully production delays will be fixed and we can expect a full shipment of i3’s from BMW in the near future! In the meantime, do you need to get your name on that list?