Tesla has revamped its Model S electric car line-up, dropping the price of of the Performance model but frustrating would-be owners by considerably increasing some option pricing. The changes, previewed by Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk at the Teslive event last month, could leave some buyers still finalizing their cars paying 8- to 9-percent […]
Electric vehicles have come a long way from their humble beginnings, and this new BMW looks like a good combination between performance and economy. While it’s design does look a bit bulbous to me, its capabilities sound like they’re more than enough to make up for that.
The BMW i3 is a rear-wheel drive EV with four seats. The engine produces 170 hp and it has an 80 to 100-mile range on a single charge, which will work for most people’s daily commute and more. It accelerates from 0 to 60 in 7 seconds. BMW have combined carbon fiber and plastic to make the passenger compartment lighter than other cars, and it’s still supposed to be stronger than steel. It weighs only 2,700 lbs.
One of the available options is a gas generator for people worried about running out power on long trips. You can get it for $41,350 in spring 2014.
[via GreenBiz]
Land Rover has been tinkering with all-electric 4x4s for awhile, but now the automaker is finally ready to put its petrol-free prototypes to the test: its Defender EV is going to work. An upgraded version of its all-terrain monster has been tasked with hauling tourist trains around the UK’s biome wonderland, Eden Project. Of course, the beast of burden has undergone some changes since the test stages, losing its hard top and gaining an extra battery to even out weight distribution while extending its service range. The 50-mile range / 8-hour usage cycle is still low by consumer standards, but in this specialized setting the £2, 10-hour recharge is almost negligible.
Filed under: Transportation
Via: Autoblog
BMW isn’t counting on brand cachet and outlandish styling to sell the new i3 EV, with the “range-extender” gas generator option getting an even more fossil-fuel-reliant companion in the shape of access to a loaner X5 SUV. The backup option, which BMW will market as an “add-on mobility” feature Bloomberg reports, will effectively offer i3 converts access to the more traditionally powered X5 for a number of weeks each year.
The package – which will be an optional extra on top of the $41,350 starting price of the i3 – is yet to be finalized, with BMW still to decide on how much it will cost drivers as well as how many days with the X5 they’ll get. Still, it’s being positioned as a way to drive an eco-friendly vehicle the majority of the time while still having the reassurance of a regular one for family holidays and the like.
The base model i3 offers between 80-100 miles of electric-powered driving in typical conditions, BMW has said, recharging through either regular household outlets or via dedicated high-voltage power points. However, as a cost option, BMW will outfit your i3 with a “range-extender”: in effect a compact gas engine that is used as a generator to recharge the car’s Li-Ion battery array.
It’s an approach we’ve seen other companies take to prolong range, albeit with a little remaining reliance on traditional fuels. Cadillac’s upcoming ELR, for instance, offers a similar system as standard, with a gas engine working to keep the batteries topped up rather than directly driving the wheels.
BMW claims that with the range-extender option, the i3 will drive more than 180 miles.
Even those who don’t opt for the range-extender or the X5 will still have ways to prolong their use of the i3, however. An ECO PRO mode trims the top speed from its already-limited 93mph to around 75mph, in addition to curtailing acceleration in the name of economy.
Meanwhile, a more draconian ECO PRO+ mode can further reduce the power demands, by turning off supplies to non-driving-essential features like the radio. BMW estimates a 30-percent boost in range with ECO PRO+ active.
As for the BMW X5, the company took the wraps off the 2014 model back in May. While it may have little of the eco-conscious features the i3 offers, the refreshed SUV isn’t lacking in technology or power, with a 3.0-liter, triple-turbocharged gas engine pushing out 381HP and 546lb-ft of torque in the M variant.
BMW i3′s cure for range anxiety is a gas-guzzler on demand is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
BMW’s i3 concept has been kicking around for quite awhile, and so far we’ve seen the carbon fiber chassis, a you-wish prototype, many of the specs and even the price. All that remained was to see an actual car, and BMW has finally pulled the covers off of it today. The $41,350 (US pricing) vehicle will run for 80-100 miles on a charge while going from 0 to 60 MPH in seven seconds, thanks to the 22kWh battery, 170-horsepower electric motor and relatively slight 2,600 pound heft. If you opt to pay $45,200, you’ll be able to nearly double the range, thanks to an optional 34-horsepower two-cylinder backup motor. That’s pricier than the $39,145 Chevy Volt (which also has a backup gas motor), but BMW has equally high hopes for its premiere EV. It launched a dedicated sales channel for the i3 and future i-branded EVs, and even created a division dedicated to creating mobile apps for such cars. It’ll arrive in Europe in November and we’ll see it stateside during the second quarter of next year. Check the source or video after the break for more.
Gallery: BMW i3 Press Gallery
Filed under: Transportation
Source: BMW (International), (USA)
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
We’ve driven a number of EV‘s over the years — from the Ford Focus Electric to the Tesla Model S — but none have been as affordable as the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV. It costs $19,995, including the $7,500 federal tax credit, and just $17,495 in California, thanks to an additional $2,500 credit. The Spark EV is GM’s first pure electric car since the company scrapped the EV1 program in 2002. It’s a five-door supermini designed to carry four people plus luggage in comfort. While it’s primarily a city car, it’s perfectly at ease on the highway. We recently got the chance to take one for a spin in lovely Portland, Oregon, so hit the break for our impressions and hands-on video.
Gallery: Chevrolet Spark EV hands-on
Filed under: Transportation, Apple
Today’s golf carts certainly serve a purpose, but despite opulent add-ons like plastic rain shields and windshield wipers, the electric buggies littering the world’s fairways and outdoor venues can hardly be considered luxurious. Now, with Mercedes-Benz considering a compact vehicle of its own, the cookie-cutter people mover could be a thing of the past. The German automaker recently debuted its Vision Golf Cart concept, a solar-powered two-seat carriage that includes such amenities as heated and cooled seats and cup holders, air vents, speakers, a joystick control, iPhone dock, heads-up display and LED headlights. Sounds pretty posh.
Gallery: Mercedes-Benz Vision Golf Cart
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Daimler
Remember when it was hoped that BMW’s first fully-electric production vehicle would set you back around $35,000? Well, tough. The company has announced pricing for the car, with the i3 setting you back $41,350 before federal and state incentives, plus a handling fee of $925 in the US. Meanwhile, Germans itching to get their hands on the plug-in whip will be spending €34,950 ($45,990) — but that small additional premium does have one benefit. While the US model won’t arrive until the second quarter of 2014, the European i3 will land in Germany in this November.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: BMW USA, BMW Europe
Electric vehicles are pretty great since you don’t need to hit the gas station and drop $50-$60 on a tank of gas every week (depending on how much you drive, of course), but charging times for electric vehicles are the trade-off to not paying for gas. For some EVs, it take all night to completely charge a dead car battery, but Tesla is aiming for much faster times than that.
Tesla CTO JB Straubel says that the company is attempting to cut down on recharging times for its cars down to “5 to 10 minutes,” which is almost unprecedented. Currently, Tesla’s Supercharger stations can charge a Tesla Model S battery halfway in only 30 minutes, but the company says that’s still too long.
Basically, Tesla wants to cut the time down so that it’s not any longer than the amount of time it usually takes to pump a full tank of gas in a traditional gas-guzzler. However, the challenge is optimizing the charger’s power of delivering juice to the battery fast enough without overheating the battery and frying it.
Of course, though, Straubel notes that it could be awhile before Supercharger stations can charge a Tesla Model S battery in as little as five minutes, but it seems the method is very much possible, and Tesla is looking for a way to make it happen. Of course, there’s also the super-quick battery swapping technique.
The battery swap only takes a couple of minutes, and Tesla is looking into that if drivers don’t want to wait for their battery to recharge. However, if the company can get charging times down to under 10 minutes, it will most likely completely change how we look at electric vehicles and could change the minds of many EV naysayers.
SOURCE: MIT Technology Review
Tesla targets 5-minute Supercharger recharges for Model S is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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