RE: Dealers confirmed for BMW i3 and i8

[premio]

Beautiful cars, I hope this is the future.

[greggy50]

danp said:

what like all the other carbon fibre bodied EV's out there?

I like the cars is the I30 fully carbon bodied for £35k? If so that is a bargain considering how much fuss Alfa was making about getting the first £50k fully carbon car wi

I made the post in disagreement to the one above both these cars will be huge sales hits as the I30 seems good value carbon or not at only 5k more than a plug in hybrid and as I already said the I8 is one of the best looking cars I have seen in a while and whilst £100k is a lot of money I think that is still pretty good as it seems a lot more car than a similar priced tesla

[Nick644]

ewenm said:

And there are hundreds of cars that meet those usage requirements already (if not the electric in town bit - range extender tech may be the answer here). For others perhaps an i3 would fit their requirements for a second/third/city car. An EV doesn't fit my current requirements but that doesn't mean I think they are rubbish or useless for everyone.

There's no requirement to buy an EV, more choice is good IMO.

I do think they're a bit irrelevant if you need a coal fired power station to provide electricity.

[gofasterrosssco]

edinph said:

£35,000........................ I'll write more when I stop laughing!

I'm laughing (ok, I'm not really) at the fact your laughing...

These are surprisingly cheap compared to forerunners! Yes, they are more expensive than another mass-produced combustion engined car (which have been produced for over 100 years now), which is to be expected. For a city / suburban car, I don't think the ~100 mile range will be a problem for the majority of potential buyers.

Yes we'd all love them to have a ~400 mile range and weigh 1,000kg and cost £20k. Why do people think something is crap just because it doesn't do something bigger or better? I'd rather the likes of BMW focused on a proper niche market (like all-electric city cars) than another not-quite-as-big-but-with the-same-sort-of-looks-and-high-driving-position 'sporty' 2WD SUV thingy... No?

Factor fuel cost (lower), road tax (non-existant), and a daily / occasional conjestion charge, then £35k for the some of the newest 'tech' available in a car and its not much more expensive isn't actually too bad compared to a well-speeced hot-hatch. Yes, its an early-adopter-type vehicle, but the better for it..

[bakker110]

Strange that the bit I paid most attention to is that the next mini cooper s is anticipated to have a 3 cylinder engine!!

[BillericayDickie]

Fleckers said:

will the car have a noise so people can here them coming ?

Yep, they go 'kerching, kerching, kerching'

"You only have to look at Renault's relative lack of success so far with its EV programme for evidence of frosty customer reception to electric cars." - This is because in Renault's core market (France) it is considered de-rigueur to drive a battered old snotter with more dents than a blind cobbler's thumb.

[gofasterrosssco]

Nick644 said:

ewenm said:

And there are hundreds of cars that meet those usage requirements already (if not the electric in town bit - range extender tech may be the answer here). For others perhaps an i3 would fit their requirements for a second/third/city car. An EV doesn't fit my current requirements but that doesn't mean I think they are rubbish or useless for everyone.

There's no requirement to buy an EV, more choice is good IMO.

I do think they're a bit irrelevant if you need a coal fired power station to provide electricity.

Yeah, but the point is, it doesn't NEED to come from a coal-fired power station. It can be powered by nuclear, gas, renewables etc. And we shouldn't assume BMW built it for the UK of course, many other countries have different power generation profiles.

[The Jolly Todger]

Nick644 said:

I do think they're a bit irrelevant if you need a coal fired power station to provide electricity.

But what if the coal it burned to produce enough electricity to drive 100 miles is less polluting and cheaper than the oil required to do the same? I'm not saying it is, but it might be.

Edited by The Jolly Todger on Tuesday 21st May 15:04

[MDian]

Does anyone know a rough idea of how much a full 6 hour charge would cost in electricity terms? I see all this banding on about saving the cost of fuel, but electricity is needed and isn't exactly cheap either.

[RemarkLima]

gofasterrosssco said:

Nick644 said:

ewenm said:

And there are hundreds of cars that meet those usage requirements already (if not the electric in town bit - range extender tech may be the answer here). For others perhaps an i3 would fit their requirements for a second/third/city car. An EV doesn't fit my current requirements but that doesn't mean I think they are rubbish or useless for everyone.

There's no requirement to buy an EV, more choice is good IMO.

I do think they're a bit irrelevant if you need a coal fired power station to provide electricity.

Yeah, but the point is, it doesn't NEED to come from a coal-fired power station. It can be powered by nuclear, gas, renewables etc. And we shouldn't assume BMW built it for the UK of course, many other countries have different power generation profiles.

Exactly! The energy transfer of power stations to electric motors will be of orders of magnitude more efficient than an ICE.

The UK isn't the world - Interestingly, New Zealand often runs a power surplus (mass of Hydro and Geothermal power). I'd imagine Iceland could happily run a power surplus from Geothermal, and really it wouldn't be inconceivable to run powerlines from there to the UK (don't know, but with enough motivation...).

I say it on every electric car thread - These are a good thing for the Petrol Head, more petrol left to burn in V8's, V12's and race cars!

[ktm301p]

I remember thinking how good this looks in the adverts the i8 featured in ages ago. Not sure about the price tag but it definitely looks the bizz!

[dingocooke]

Carnnoisseur said:

The i8, should the specs prove accurate, are not just great to look at, but seriously capable also. However, I believe their looks would be improved if they colour coded them to one colour (not necessarily red btw).

They should build that with a V8 or V10 in it; s o d the electric nonesense; it's just a smoke screen to comply with legislation on manufactured vehicles overall emissions ratings surely??

I know progress will be made, but is anyone seriously going to want to spend £100k on a car with an 80 mile range, and takes 6 hours to charge up? Ok 30 minutes with a fast charge, but that wont be cheap energy to buy at your local electric 'pump'!!

I just dont see the electric car has been thought through properly when normal use is considered; pop to work, pop out at lunch, go home, drop kids at after school do, go do shopping, fetch kids; oh b u g g e r cant fetch kids battery is flat in Tesco car park......

[Nick644]

RemarkLima said:

gofasterrosssco said:

Nick644 said:

ewenm said:

And there are hundreds of cars that meet those usage requirements already (if not the electric in town bit - range extender tech may be the answer here). For others perhaps an i3 would fit their requirements for a second/third/city car. An EV doesn't fit my current requirements but that doesn't mean I think they are rubbish or useless for everyone.

There's no requirement to buy an EV, more choice is good IMO.

I do think they're a bit irrelevant if you need a coal fired power station to provide electricity.

Yeah, but the point is, it doesn't NEED to come from a coal-fired power station. It can be powered by nuclear, gas, renewables etc. And we shouldn't assume BMW built it for the UK of course, many other countries have different power generation profiles.

Exactly! The energy transfer of power stations to electric motors will be of orders of magnitude more efficient than an ICE.

The UK isn't the world - Interestingly, New Zealand often runs a power surplus (mass of Hydro and Geothermal power). I'd imagine Iceland could happily run a power surplus from Geothermal, and really it wouldn't be inconceivable to run powerlines from there to the UK (don't know, but with enough motivation...).

I say it on every electric car thread - These are a good thing for the Petrol Head, more petrol left to burn in V8's, V12's and race cars!

In that case, I hope they invent a battery pack you can take home to charge, as most cars in city centres, (all over the world) are parked on the street over night. That is of course unless electric vehicles are to remain the preserve of only the richest in our society.....and lets hope Europe, Asia and the rest of the world adopt cleaner, more efficient ways of producing power over the coming 30 years. I'd love to see the middle East lose its vice like grip over the rest of the world when it comes to production of oil!

Don't get me wrong, if I had the right property in a city centre and surplus money to spend on an electric vehicle, I would. I am attracted by their quiet running, cleaning up city centres, (especially from carcinogenic diesel particles) and if they are cheaper to run on a daily basis than diesel/petrol, avoid congestion charges and relaxing to drive, these are big bonus's. We will see. I would certainly love a drive in the i8 and as I said earlier, the sheer beauty of the thing makes it worth £100K.

[gofasterrosssco]

dingocooke said:

Carnnoisseur said:

The i8, should the specs prove accurate, are not just great to look at, but seriously capable also. However, I believe their looks would be improved if they colour coded them to one colour (not necessarily red btw).

s o d the electric nonesense

Good point, I mean, what has electricity ever done for us?

Edited by gofasterrosssco on Tuesday 21st May 15:16

[StottyZr]

bakker110 said:

Strange that the bit I paid most attention to is that the next mini cooper s is anticipated to have a 3 cylinder engine!!

Definately innovative. With a 25% smaller capacity and quite a hike in power over the current 4pot, it should sound interesting too.

[gofasterrosssco]

Nick644 said:

RemarkLima said:

gofasterrosssco said:

Nick644 said:

ewenm said:

And there are hundreds of cars that meet those usage requirements already (if not the electric in town bit - range extender tech may be the answer here). For others perhaps an i3 would fit their requirements for a second/third/city car. An EV doesn't fit my current requirements but that doesn't mean I think they are rubbish or useless for everyone.

There's no requirement to buy an EV, more choice is good IMO.

I do think they're a bit irrelevant if you need a coal fired power station to provide electricity.

Yeah, but the point is, it doesn't NEED to come from a coal-fired power station. It can be powered by nuclear, gas, renewables etc. And we shouldn't assume BMW built it for the UK of course, many other countries have different power generation profiles.

Exactly! The energy transfer of power stations to electric motors will be of orders of magnitude more efficient than an ICE.

The UK isn't the world - Interestingly, New Zealand often runs a power surplus (mass of Hydro and Geothermal power). I'd imagine Iceland could happily run a power surplus from Geothermal, and really it wouldn't be inconceivable to run powerlines from there to the UK (don't know, but with enough motivation...).

I say it on every electric car thread - These are a good thing for the Petrol Head, more petrol left to burn in V8's, V12's and race cars!

In that case, I hope they invent a battery pack you can take home to charge, as most cars in city centres, (all over the world) are parked on the street over night. That is of course unless electric vehicles are to remain the preserve of only the richest in our society.....and lets hope Europe, Asia and the rest of the world adopt cleaner, more efficient ways of producing power over the coming 30 years. I'd love to see the middle East lose its vice like grip over the rest of the world when it comes to production of oil!

Don't get me wrong, if I had the right property in a city centre and surplus money to spend on an electric vehicle, I would. I am attracted by their quiet running, cleaning up city centres, (especially from carcinogenic diesel particles) and if they are cheaper to run on a daily basis than diesel/petrol, avoid congestion charges and relaxing to drive, these are big bonus's. We will see. I would certainly love a drive in the i8 and as I said earlier, the sheer beauty of the thing makes it worth £100K.

But its to do with supply and demand. There's currently no (or very little) demand for on-steet recharging, so they won't be introduced until there is. I mean, what came first - the car or the petrol station network?

[ewenm]

Nick644 said:

I do think they're a bit irrelevant if you need a coal fired power station to provide electricity.

For me a major plus of EVs is moving the pollution from urban areas to power stations - that's the real environmental benefit IMO, not the CO2 stuff.

[Nick644]

ewenm said:

For me a major plus of EVs is moving the pollution from urban areas to power stations - that's the real environmental benefit IMO, not the CO2 stuff.

Agreed.

[KTF]

Is the full list published?

The dealer over the road from work converted a section of the showroom about a year ago and has been using it on and off as a handover area since.

My money was it on being used for the 'i' section...

[srooks]

StottyZr said:

Definately innovative. With a 25% smaller capacity and quite a hike in power over the current 4pot, it should sound interesting too.

Not sure PH have got that bit correct. Consensus so far is that the f56 S and JCW will carry over the four cylinder “Prince” engine. I hope consensus is wrong!