RE: BMW i3 prices confirmed
Discussion
kambites said:
No carbon fibre chassis and panels, ceramic discs to reduce weight, etc. as far as I know?
yes it is a CFRP cell...not seen "mpg" numbers yet, assume one owns the batteries as opposed to lease.lots more details here:
http://www.bmwblog.com/2013/07/10/bmw-i3-official-...
Electric cars are only useful to people with garages and/or drives. Pointless! as the people they are supposed to be aimed at live on top of each other and fight to get a parking space with a 100m of their homes.
Think of the H&S issues of loads of extension cables draped all over the pavements
Think of the H&S issues of loads of extension cables draped all over the pavements
jazzyjeff said:
Something for the badge fanboys to drool over if they don't want to buy a Chevy Volt for around the same price...
Well in this instance the badge doesn't really come into does it? as you say the volt is the same price and the I3 is better looking and performs better..why wouldn't you buy it over the volt?milu said:
Wonder what it will cost to charge up?
Would say a £40 saving in petrol each week go a long way to buying one if the elec price is low?
That's the million dollar question and why I wouldn't be buying one. My daily commute is 12 miles and there's a possibility to charge the car both at home and at work. I'd keep a petrol car for longer distances, however I would imagine the cost of the electricity will be quite a lot and the savings won't be quite as large as one would expect.Would say a £40 saving in petrol each week go a long way to buying one if the elec price is low?
However, if you're in the market for a car in that sector, I don't think it'd be a bad choice - just not worth actively changing for it.
croyde said:
Electric cars are only useful to people with garages and/or drives. Pointless! as the people they are supposed to be aimed at live on top of each other and fight to get a parking space with a 100m of their homes.
Think of the H&S issues of loads of extension cables draped all over the pavements
Not entirely. A lot of councils are starting on initiatives to provide charging points in city centres (I know Coventry have done this) and indeed a lot of employers are looking to do the same too.Think of the H&S issues of loads of extension cables draped all over the pavements
It's easy to understand that the technology is in its infancy still and that infrastructure, etc all has some way to go. Seriously - were the same conversations about petrol not held when cars were first put onto the road? "What - it uses petrol and we'll need to have a petrol station within reach whenever we want to go anywhere?"
If anything, surely, putting in the infrastructure to run electric charging stations is far easier than putting in petrol stations and keeping them supplied?!
Funk said:
My third concern is with electricity prices. As people move to electric cars, there will be a decrease in fuel duty for the Government. At present VAT is 5% on energy. There's no way the Government won't increase the levies on electricity and as there's no way of distinguishing between domestic use and 'fuelling' a car with juice, it can only mean an increase in electricity prices overall.
Have you got a source saying that levies will go up on electricity?Also, which government are you talking about? The current coalition or an as-yet-unvoted government?
This sounds like nothing more than your conjecture presented as fact, but if you've got anything to back it up I'd like to see it.
It is interesting stuff, but I don't really trust batteries. I used to charge my phone once every five days, but now the battery doesn't hold its charge, so I have to charge it every day. How long before a similar thing happens to the batteries used in these cars and what impact will that have on their range?
Also, on a cold wet winter night when you are driving home from work with the lights, wipers, stereo, and heater on, how many miles will that reduce the range of the car by?
Also, on a cold wet winter night when you are driving home from work with the lights, wipers, stereo, and heater on, how many miles will that reduce the range of the car by?
custardkid said:
who says electricity is green.
80% coal and gas!
interested to understand if the specific energy from burning centrally is better than locally in a car?
surely the transportation and heat losses are similar?
that's before you get into the Battery argument
Its a argument that I personally don't think is enough to say electric cars are pointless.80% coal and gas!
interested to understand if the specific energy from burning centrally is better than locally in a car?
surely the transportation and heat losses are similar?
that's before you get into the Battery argument
But it's very tricky to put an absolute number on it.
The advantage of centrally generated power is similar to a thin client computer network. If you upgrade the central part then every node runs that bit better without any changes. Same here - the graph shows more or a trend towards renewables and this is no doubt rightly or wrongly likely to continue. As such without any further changes electric cars will become more efficient as a by product.
However, car manufacturers are being very clever and the current top notch engines are producing performance and efficiency that even 10 years ago would have been hard to imagine. So I don't think that IC engines are dead yet. Similarly, leccy motor tech is far ahead of 10 years ago and getting better.
My personal view is that we'll strike a balance rather than have one outright winner. There's no denying that IC engines have good range, improving economy and no range anxiety. The network is in place to support them and it just "works". Regardless of the tesla video showing how fast a battery swap can be you can't skirt around the fact that the network isn't in place worldwide and it's going to cost billions to make it such. One day, sure but not for a reasonable amount of time.
Commuter cars are ideal to be mainly electric - it just makes sense. No real range issue, no problems in slow moving traffic, no pollution in the city streets, no noise...
So I see a place for pure ICE, hybrid and pure electric all getting along just fine.
Sure there may be plenty of petrol but it's not going to magically get any cheaper.
Aaron W said:
no im not a gordon brown loving asshole i have a mind of my own and know if you look into shale oil you would see it is the future my bentley gt supersport is better than the crap electric thing here
What, the Bentley GT Supersport you carefully omitted from your list of vehicles in your profile?Subaru impreza 22b
Infiniti fx icp425 icp425
Pretty sure you are missing some capital letters, too. As well as manners, common sense and the ability to compose yourself in a discussion.
croyde said:
Electric cars are only useful to people with garages and/or drives. Pointless! as the people they are supposed to be aimed at live on top of each other and fight to get a parking space with a 100m of their homes.
Think of the H&S issues of loads of extension cables draped all over the pavements
That's a fair point, but I can see some of the hourly use car clubs like zipcar buying these. Makes senses as long as the previous user has remembered to leave the car on charge.Think of the H&S issues of loads of extension cables draped all over the pavements
custardkid said:
who says electricity is green.
80% coal and gas!
interested to understand if the specific energy from burning centrally is better than locally in a car?
surely the transportation and heat losses are similar?
that's before you get into the Battery argument
If you're a geek, you'll love this...80% coal and gas!
interested to understand if the specific energy from burning centrally is better than locally in a car?
surely the transportation and heat losses are similar?
that's before you get into the Battery argument
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
xRIEx said:
Funk said:
My third concern is with electricity prices. As people move to electric cars, there will be a decrease in fuel duty for the Government. At present VAT is 5% on energy. There's no way the Government won't increase the levies on electricity and as there's no way of distinguishing between domestic use and 'fuelling' a car with juice, it can only mean an increase in electricity prices overall.
Have you got a source saying that levies will go up on electricity?Also, which government are you talking about? The current coalition or an as-yet-unvoted government?
This sounds like nothing more than your conjecture presented as fact, but if you've got anything to back it up I'd like to see it.
With the 'fuel' moving to electricity from fossil, you'd have to be a bit daft to think they're not going to find a way of taxing it especially given the massive revenue loss. That's before we even factor in only 5% VAT rather than 20% VAT as well.
Steve126 said:
It is interesting stuff, but I don't really trust batteries. I used to charge my phone once every five days, but now the battery doesn't hold its charge, so I have to charge it every day. How long before a similar thing happens to the batteries used in these cars and what impact will that have on their range?
i like the idea of the range extender for this reason, i'd imagine it monitors and charges the battery as required to optimise it's performance and life..the gen1 insight system appears to have been pretty durable.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff