Even if BMW dominates the auto industry, there is one major carmaker that poses serious threat on one particular segment; and that would be the EV market, which is marked by no other than Tesla, with all its high-performance electric vehicles.

In order to keep paces with the North American carmaker, the German engineers from BMW are currently working on entire EV fleet that would tackle each model from Tesla.

In this sense, there are recent reports stating that the BMW`s EV models will come with zero-emissions and impressive range mile.

For instance, BMW is planning an electric version from 3 Series as the main competitor for the Model 3 and Model S, with its arrival slotted by 2021, the model coming with a lot of technology, a range of up to 507 km and two power configurations: 315 horsepower for the RWD version and 402 horsepower for the AWD version.

The Models S from Tesla is so successful that BMW is reportedly planning a special EV model. This might come in the shape of a five-door coupe, sitting between the 5- and the 7-Series, with three electric motors and higher-voltage battery pack that would deliver a total range of 604 km.

Also, the Model X will get its fair share of competition from a future X3 eDrive, planned for 2018 and coming with 302 horsepower and a 70 kW battery pack, reportedly built in China. The electric version will also be the direct competitor of the new Audi E-Tron.

BMW plans continue with new plug-in hybrids as well, meaning a facelifted version of the present i3, arriving next year, as well as a new-gen of the famous i8, planned by 2022, which would be a full electric car, with around 670 horsepower, squeezed from three electric motors.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post Future BMW EVs Are On the Way, Will Tackle Heavy Competition from Tesla appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Not everybody knows that much about BMW’s ActiveE project, and who could blame them, as BMW seems to pile on such programs.

But if that is not common knowledge, the fact that most vehicles that partake in such programs will be recycled at the end is.

A recent picture caught on the road displays exactly that: BMW starting to recycle the converted 1 series that were used as prototypes in the ActiveE program. Many who drove such a vehicle will feel a bit sad and might be inclined to even buy these cars, but laws are pretty much clear, and the truck filled with crushed Bimmers will attest to that.

Still, not everything is scraped and recycled. A few units that took part in the project will be kept at various dealerships and even enrolled in the DriveNow fleet. Also, all batteries were kept to be used for study in Battery Second Life research, which is exactly what it sounds like.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW started crushing ActiveE vehicles appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

We said a few days ago about the leaked photos with the 2014 BMW i3.

BMW i3 is, without a doubt, one of the most popular units in the world. It has not even been officially presented and tons of articles with rumors, spy shots, official statements, assumptions and controversies were written.

The big day for the new BMW i3 should have been a Monday, the 29th of July, when the electrical vehicle is going to be officially displayed at three different yet parallel auto events in Tokyo, London and New York!

Easy to imagine, that was the plan of the German car maker regarding the official launching of its latest electrical vehicle. Nevertheless, things almost never go by the book in the auto industry, and photos with BMW i3 leaked in the media sooner than the organizers would have wanted it.

The persons responsible for this act are supposed to be the Dutch from Autoblog.nl, who posted photos with both the outside and the inside of BMW i3. Some say it looks little like the BMW models we all got used to…

On the outside, the only obvious connections with the German brand, aside from the logo, would be the double grille and the headlights, while on the inside, it looks incredibly simple yet complete!

The electrical BMW i3 will be powered by an electric engine with Li-Ion batteries carrying 170 HP and up to 130, perhaps even 160 km of driving per charging. Now feel free to analyze the images and tell us how you find this interesting change of concept.

Image Credits: autoblog.nl

BMW i3 Photo Gallery

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Marcus M.

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The post BMW i3 – Photo Gallery and Details appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

As I mentioned a few days ago, BMW funded a Hackathlon, a contest in which ideas about the electric vehicles and related problems went head to head to see which is best.

And now we finally have winners. For their brilliant innovation the winners got 3000 USD spread across seven different categories.

One of the more pressing matters that found a solution at this event involves electric cars being parked at charging station for extended periods of time. When another car might need just a quick charge to get home, the station would be blocked.

The solution came in the form of a smartphone app which allows drivers to sent an anonymous message to the driver currently charging his car and request access to the charging station. Of course, after the quick charge, they would hook up the first car again.

It is an elegant solution for using the scarce charging stations efficiently. The only problem I see with this solution is that it is based on an honesty system. And the human element in that system might prove to be faulty.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW’s Hackathlon has a winner appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

With the release date of BMW’s first “born electric” car approaching, more details surface on the internet. The latest bit of data about the BMW i3 we got our hand on is about the price it will carry.

While we still don’t know how much the range extender version will cost, the only electric version will fetch a sum close to an F30 BMW 3 Series.

Ludwig Wilisch, the CEO of BMW North America revealed that they plan to sell the BMW i3 for about 40.000 USD. That translated into a pretty well equipped 3 Series. But there might be a little wiggle room for anyone interested, as BMW officials are still discussing with state representatives about a 7500 USD federal tax credit.

The little i3 electric town car from BMW will still be quite expensive, and thus the number of units the German car maker will build will be low. There are also some interesting optional features that might make it more appealing to some, like a garage that doubles as a solar powered charging station, or, for the electric only BMW i3, a normal car will be made available in case you need to make a longer drive.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post The price for BMW i3 announced appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

A few days ago, I talked to you about the pros and cons of the new BMW i3 and its range extender. But until September comes, you won’t have to worry about that.

Right now let’s see what the new batch of spy shots tells us.

Seen recently leaving the production plant in Leipzig, this testing prototype uses the REx range extender. The BMW i3’s range extender is a 2 cylinder engine built by Motorrad Division and kept in the trunk of the car. As I said before, this engine won’t be powering the wheels directly, but instead will recharge the batteries.

From the spy photos we can also see the BMW i3 has indicators built into the side mirrors and wears a special kind of wheels. According to BMW, several hundred orders were already placed, even though no price was released. But a good estimate would put the BMW i3 around the 40.000 dollars mark.

Until the Frankfurt Auto Show, more pictures are sure to surface, both official and spied, and we will see more of the real face of BMW’s i3.

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Marcus M.

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The post BMW i3 with range extender spied appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

There have been many hybrids and full electric vehicles announced or launched these weeks. One of the highlights might be considered the BMW i3.

The numbers say that with a full charge, you will be able to do around 220km before the juice runs out. And some complained that it isn’t enough, so BMW gave you the option of a range extender.

So with the range extender you will now be able to get up to 350km, which is a nice improvement. And this improvement is obtained by using the 2 cylinder motorcycle engine to generate electricity for recharging the batteries on the run.

The bad news about this is that this does come at a cost. BMW stated that when the juice runs out and the range extender kicks in, you will notice it. The power will drop, therefore “the car will not be as agile.”

So it appears that the BMW i3 is not quite perfect. And even though some might complain about this flaw, I believe power is a good trade-off for increased range. Better late than never.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW i3 brings bad news appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Here is a quite strange situation but unfortunately the manufacturers of electric vehicles have to deal with it. We know that there are a plenty of pollution ways but do not forget about the audio pollution. The electric vehicles manage to get rid of both the CO2 emissions and audio pollution.

Unfortunately, the last one is not a very good news, indeed, as the silent electric vehicles will be a thread for the careless pedestrians which won’t notice the vehicles, leading to some danger situations.

The first series electric vehicle developed by BMW is expected to debut somewhere in 2013 but the Germans are already concerning and planing to introduce additional audio systems to warn the pedestrians. The new technology which proposes to make the electric vehicles safer is designed to be used at low speeds. For now we don’t know very much about the new system but there is no doubt that more details will be revealed as the debut date gets closer.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW to fit additional sound systems to make the EVs more noticeable appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.