Gadgetory

well here it is BMWs first ground up high-volume electric car yeah they got some electrified threes running around but this is the real deal it's a whole new lines like they spawned another company it's the I division of BMW this one's called the i3 over my shoulder there you see the i8 will do a video on that some other time when it's closer to production that's a hot little plug-in hybrid sports car now what's going on here is what they call a mega city or mega urban vehicle it's highly urbanized electric vehicle it's got a lithium-ion pack in the belly the motors in the back the rear wheels are driven you get about 80 to 100 miles of range unless you option into a range extender two cylinder BMW motorcycle engine they can stick in the back that will give you 70 miles more range but it's not like a Chevy Volt where it just keeps going forever as long as you have gas it's kind of in the middle ground so how's this different from a Nissan Leaf first of all got some BMW driving DNA in it we're going to check that out in a future episode of cnet on cars get this thing on the road and really find out one of the biggest differences though is this is a carbon reinforced plastic construction this car only weighs 2,700 pounds including a 450 pound battery pack inside you're going to find an all LCD cabin you've got a small display right in front of you for traditional instrument panel and a great big 10 or 11 inch I Drive display on the right that is not much different than today's I Drive in top-end BMWs so the basic idea here is BMW has got a new line of cars that says they've planted their flag heavily in electrification not hybridization not so much diesel not so much anything that's got to go in the hydrogen space they are talking strongly about battery electric in these vehicles and a very different look and feel comes out q2 2014 it's about 42 grand base before you get those various state and federal subsidies so they're not setting a new record for cheapness but that's not what they do anyway you