In an attempt to compete with the company Tesla Motors, the main innovator in the market of electric vehicles, BMW has officially unveiled its electric debut, won the commercial name i3. According to BMW, the new product is “the world’s first premium electric vehicle.” Parts of the body and chassis of the BMW i3 are made of carbon fiber, which allowed not only to reduce the weight of the car, but refuse to stand between the doors.
The power plant is a 170-hp electric motor (125 kW), which is located under the boot floor, and drives the rear wheels. Peak torque is 250 Nm. The electric motor is powered by a battery capacity of 22 kWh, which is enough for 130 – 160 kilometers.
From 0 to 100 km / h BMW i3 electric car accelerates in 7 seconds. Top speed in this case is 150 km / h According to BMW, it is limited in order to improve the energy efficiency of an electric vehicle. Weight BMW i3 is only 1195 kg.
In the middle of the BMW i3 is a comfortable place to accommodate four passengers. In the new media system is also implemented Connected Drive, equipped with a slot for SIM-card and speech recognition.
In Europe, the BMW i3 electric car will be available in November of this year, the cost will be about 40 thousand dollars.
BMW has announced that the sale will also soon appear modification i3, which in addition to an electric motor will get two-cylinder engine capacity of 650 cm3 and a power of 34 HP, which will increase the power reserve of at least two times. The cost of a hybrid version of the BMW i3 will be about 45 thousand dollars.
It is worth noting that BMW i3 has spent a lot of effort and resources, and even created a unit that will deal exclusively with the development of applications for electric vehicles.
Read another very interesting article about alternative energy of the Sun, water and air.
