So who's getting an i3?

[ikarl]

If your commute is more than 25 miles a day (motorway or not) get the REX version!

Why do people try to make it more complicated than it is?!

In my office, there are 64 people, I'm in charge of business continuity so I know where everyone lives. A quick GeoMap shows that 78% of people live within 12 miles of the office.

[RossP]

ikarl said:

If your commute is more than 25 miles a day (motorway or not) get the REX version!

Why do people try to make it more complicated than it is?!

In my office, there are 64 people, I'm in charge of business continuity so I know where everyone lives. A quick GeoMap shows that 78% of people live within 12 miles of the office.

Why would you want to get the Rex version if your commute was more than 25 miles? It's got a range of 80-100 miles!

The Rex reduces BEV range, is £3k and incurs 5% BIK on the whole vehicle.

[toys]

Ordered mine on Tuesday, after a very impressive test drive:

Pure EV
Ionic Silver
Loft Interior
428 Wheels
Winter pack
Harman Kardon
Pro Nav

Just the small matter of the 6 month wait now! The V8 in the current steer will soothe my impatience in the mean time...

[Wills2]

covmutley said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufactur...

This suggests 65 mile range at motorway speeds. Not sure I agree with tone of the article though, they tried to run it flat and achieved it. I bet they could run a petrol car dry too if they really tried!

Of course they could but thankfully there are thousands of places you can fill it back up again in around 5 minutes and then carry on your way.

[Terminator X]

toys said:

Ordered mine on Tuesday, after a very impressive test drive:

Pure EV
Ionic Silver
Loft Interior
428 Wheels
Winter pack
Harman Kardon
Pro Nav

Just the small matter of the 6 month wait now! The V8 in the current steer will soothe my impatience in the mean time...

You won't even notice the difference, quicker than a M3 by all accounts ...

TX.

[covmutley]

Wills2 said:

covmutley said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufactur...

This suggests 65 mile range at motorway speeds. Not sure I agree with tone of the article though, they tried to run it flat and achieved it. I bet they could run a petrol car dry too if they really tried!

Of course they could but thankfully there are thousands of places you can fill it back up again in around 5 minutes and then carry on your way.

So dont buy it if you often do long journeys, or buy a Rex and fill it up in 5 mins and carry on.

It is obvious this car is not the solution for everyone, im just not sure why they needed to base a whole review around a journey that they knew they couldnt make when they set off!

[RossP]

covmutley said:

Wills2 said:

covmutley said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufactur...

This suggests 65 mile range at motorway speeds. Not sure I agree with tone of the article though, they tried to run it flat and achieved it. I bet they could run a petrol car dry too if they really tried!

Of course they could but thankfully there are thousands of places you can fill it back up again in around 5 minutes and then carry on your way.

So dont buy it if you often do long journeys, or buy a Rex and fill it up in 5 mins and carry on.

It is obvious this car not the solution for anyone, im just not sure why they needed to base a whole review around a journey that they knew they couldnt make when they set off!

I agree. That review was pointless. Let's road test a car specifically for journeys its not designed for.

[J4CKO]

toys said:

Ordered mine on Tuesday, after a very impressive test drive:

Pure EV
Ionic Silver
Loft Interior
428 Wheels
Winter pack
Harman Kardon
Pro Nav

Just the small matter of the 6 month wait now! The V8 in the current steer will soothe my impatience in the mean time...

Whats a Loft interior, one that is full of cobwebs and old crap you should really throw out nd Spiders ?


While I am at it, why does BMW put "Professional" in front of everything, its a Sat Nav system, how professional can it be, do they do an unprofessional one that takes you to the wrong place ?

[RossP]

So how many PH i3s are on the way? We could start a list!

1. RossP - EV
2. Fish - REX
3. andywaterfall - EV
4. skilly1 - REX
5. TimJMS - REX
6. mids - REX
7. Greg_D - EV
8. toys - EV

[AnotherClarkey]

RossP said:

So how many PH i3s are on the way? We could start a list!

1. RossP - EV
2. Fish - REX
3. andywaterfall - EV
4. skilly1 - REX
5. TimJMS - REX
6. mids - REX
7. Greg_D - EV
8. toys - EV

Interesting mix of pure EV and REX. ISTRC reading an article where BMW said they were expecting quite a large take-up of REX initially but then for it to tail-off to maybe 10% of sales once people realised how little they use it.

[TransverseTight]

Amateurish said:

oyster said:

How can you say it's like for like when you include the distribution loss for electricity but not for fossil fuels. You know, all those tanker deliveries don't run on pixie vapour.

I'm comparing the energy efficiency of converting the fossil fuel into energy at the wheel. That's why it's like for like.

If you want to include petrol distribution, then you should probably include the cost of building all the petrol stations, plus the cost of building your gas turbine, national grid network, refinery, extractions, North Sea platforms, pipes etc. If you've a more accurate model of comparative efficiency, let's hear it.

Heres the data you are loking for...

http://cafcp.org/sites/files/20091026wells2wheels....

the second graph on page 2 show the typical energy usage per mile, in BTUs unfortunately. Lower is better, and you can see that battery electric vehicles use about 1/3 the total energy of a gasoline equivalent.

I say people please go out on buy i3s, then the petrol will stay cheaper for longer and petrol heads can enjoy their V8s.

[Amateurish]

That report says that electric vehicles use about half the energy of petrol cars ("well to wheel"). Although it assumes fuel economy in the low 20s. So with a car doing 60+ mpg, it will consume *less* energy than an electric car.

[AnotherClarkey]

Amateurish said:

That report says that electric vehicles use about half the energy of petrol cars ("well to wheel"). Although it assumes fuel economy in the low 20s. So with a car doing 60+ mpg, it will consume *less* energy than an electric car.

Don't forget that it is in US gallons.

[DonkeyApple]

AnotherClarkey said:

I see most of the naysayers seem to have evaporated. It is a shame in a way that it took the 'brand power' of BMW to get things moving a bit faster on the electric car front but if that is what it takes then fair play to them - they went with a courageous strategy rather than VW's endless toe-dipping, half-hearted teasing efforts.

It is a shame. There are clearly negatives with the EV product but these are not discussed. Rather, the naysayers have been spewing tabloid junk like little Toynbees instead of adding to the debate and looking at the real issues.

It is a shame that it seems to have taken brand power to crack the ice but in reality it all too often does. Early adoption usuallyeans risking money and frankly, the people with capital to risk are not people who buy Nissan, Toyota or Renault products as a norm. So in that regard it does seem logical that those with money to risk have not been interested until someone like BMW steps up and says, this is out product and we back it with our brand.

The next 24 months will be very interesting as I think it will be the first period when we can see if this new niche is going to stick or fold.

[Kenny Powers]

So because it's a great car, people aren't allowed to have any negative views on the whole EV thing? Good one.

[BigBen]

AnotherClarkey said:

RossP said:

AnotherClarkey said:

While I agree that the Tesla model S is massive, the official UK pricing starts from £49,900, which seems rather good....

According to Auto Express it starts at £82,400 - that's a fair chunk of change difference. Where did you see £49,900?

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/model-s/65600/t...

I saw it in Auto Express as it happens, the official pricing has only recently been announced:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/model-s/66809/t...


I think at that price it is on the verge of being a bargain.

£50,000 is way cheaper than I expected it to be in the UK, does not look like a bad deal at all for such a large car with not a bad spec.

[AnotherClarkey]

DonkeyApple said:

It is a shame. There are clearly negatives with the EV product but these are not discussed. Rather, the naysayers have been spewing tabloid junk like little Toynbees instead of adding to the debate and looking at the real issues.

It is a shame that it seems to have taken brand power to crack the ice but in reality it all too often does. Early adoption usuallyeans risking money and frankly, the people with capital to risk are not people who buy Nissan, Toyota or Renault products as a norm. So in that regard it does seem logical that those with money to risk have not been interested until someone like BMW steps up and says, this is out product and we back it with our brand.

The next 24 months will be very interesting as I think it will be the first period when we can see if this new niche is going to stick or fold.

I think the £49,900 base price for the Tesla S is an audacious move - the people here going for i3's aren't skimping on options so list price clearly isn't putting too many off. The Tesla may be close enough to the i3 to tempt people to make the jump. Some attractive leasing deals and a free supercharger network might do the trick....

[DonkeyApple]

AnotherClarkey said:

I think the £49,900 base price for the Tesla S is an audacious move - the people here going for i3's aren't skimping on options so list price clearly isn't putting too many off. The Tesla may be close enough to the i3 to tempt people to make the jump. Some attractive leasing deals and a free supercharger network might do the trick....

I've missed that. Have Tesla dumped their prices in response to the i3?

£50 notes for what seems to be a nice family car with a 300 mile range seems pretty good. Even if I do think their touchscreen is a crap idea that makes the car lethal.

I thought it had landed in the UK at £80+?

[TimJMS]

That is a startling price reduction!

[TransverseTight]

Amateurish said:

That report says that electric vehicles use about half the energy of petrol cars ("well to wheel"). Although it assumes fuel economy in the low 20s. So with a car doing 60+ mpg, it will consume *less* energy than an electric car.

where did you get that figure from? I cant see it in the report. I'm wondering if you are mistaking the well to wheel us as the cars mpg when in fact a 20mpg figure would be closer to the overall energy use figure for a modern passenger vechicle which is what they are modelling using GREET.