Tuesday 13th September 2011

Frankfurt: BMW i8

Meet BMW's range-extender supercar

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The BMW i8 is a modern-day 6-series that defies numerous conventions. Unlike its sister car from BMW's new 'i' eco sub-brand it is not all-electric - mounted in the back there's also a 220hp 1.5-litre three-pot turbo.

Up front, however, is the 170hp electric motor from the i3. Powered by lithium ion batteries with two-hour plug-in recharge capability the i8 boasts a 20-mile electric-only range. The engine then takes over, Chevrolet Volt range-extender style, but, more importantly, combines with the electric motor to provide eye-opening performance. Such as 0-62mph in under five seconds and a top speed capped to 155mph. It's four-wheel drive too, remember.

The real head-spinner is fuel economy. BMW says this will return more than 94mpg, despite all that performance. Even handling has promise because BMW has retained its 50:50 weight distribution and, thanks to batteries mounted in the central tunnel, also engineered in a low centre of gravity.

It looks absolutely fantastic. There are no BMW design oddities here - the see-through bits are to show off the LifeDrive construction and will be toned down for production. LifeDrive means, as with the i3, a rigid lower drive module onto which the pioneering carbon fibre reinforced plastic 'life module' is attached.

The headline fact is that it's coming to a showroom virtually as we see it here: the i3 will be launched in 2013 and BMW says the i8 will follow soon after.

[thewheelman]

Very interesting, i wonder what its price point will be?

[Roberty]

Looks good, ditch the Tree-hugger I-ste Drive system and shoe horn a V8 in the back and I'm in!

[Fetchez la vache]

As an aside I think it's about time whenever these types of cars are flouted that there are strict guidelines about what figures are used.
Range on electric only (eg was suprised at one of the lexus hybrids that the range was around 6 miles..)
Range & Performance figures when not using the electric bits (i.e. run out of electric juice)
Time to full recharge.

So far all manufacturers are quoting only the figures they feel best / they dare..

[jbi]

was anyone else hoping for an inline 8?

[thewheelman]

A 220bhp 1.5 3 pot turbo, that's quite some engine. IIRC, didn't VW do a 3 pot engine in the Lupo that was pretty impressive?

[Monty Python]

Fetchez la vache said:

As an aside I think it's about time whenever these types of cars are flouted that there are strict guidelines about what figures are used.
Range on electric only (eg was suprised at one of the lexus hybrids that the range was around 6 miles..)
Range & Performance figures when not using the electric bits (i.e. run out of electric juice)
Time to full recharge.

So far all manufacturers are quoting only the figures they feel best / they dare..

It says in the article it'll do 20 miles electric only. As for recharge time, that's not really an issue with range-extender hybirds, as the petrol engine will but in when required to charge the battery and power the electric motor. The only time you'll need the plug-in recharge is when you want to take advantage of cheap-rate electricity. In theory, you'll never need to plug it in at all.

[Fetchez la vache]

Monty Python said:

Fetchez la vache said:

As an aside I think it's about time whenever these types of cars are flouted that there are strict guidelines about what figures are used.
Range on electric only (eg was suprised at one of the lexus hybrids that the range was around 6 miles..)
Range & Performance figures when not using the electric bits (i.e. run out of electric juice)
Time to full recharge.

So far all manufacturers are quoting only the figures they feel best / they dare..

It says in the article it'll do 20 miles electric only. As for recharge time, that's not really an issue with range-extender hybirds, as the petrol engine will but in when required to charge the battery and power the electric motor. The only time you'll need the plug-in recharge is when you want to take advantage of cheap-rate electricity. In theory, you'll never need to plug it in at all.

Yes I know, but I bet "Such as 0-62mph in under five seconds and a top speed capped to 155mph. " isn't when the elastictrickery has been run out...

[Rusty-C]

thewheelman said:

Very interesting, i wonder what its price point will be?

I'm sure the price was mentioned in a weekly (which will remain nameless) and was fairly sensible. Our man Riggers thinks around Porsche 911 money, which seems reasonable. Can't believe I just said that about a leccy powered steer...

[350Matt]

looks like the jag cx75 is going to have some competition then

[neon_fox]

I hate it when these people quote '94 mpg' and then fail to mention that is after the car has been fully charged, so you've had to pay for the electricity to run the first 20 miles (or whatever). Until we have some sort of standardised economy benchmark for hybrids we'll never get a true idea of what the thing actually costs to run

[iphonedyou]

thewheelman said:

Very interesting, i wonder what its price point will be?

130k, according to Evo.

[tonym911]

Govt-mandated real-world economy figures for EVs are long overdue. Suspect they think they're helping the industry by giving them some startup leeway but the honeymoon period needs to be replaced by a dose of reality now.

[Mr Whippy]

Very nice.

Looks good.

Stats are good.

Assuming it still looks really nice at release, which I guess it will being at this level in the market, then it does feel very much like the genesis of the 'next gen' of cars.

It doesn't feel like a lie to me. I'm not really questioning any of the numbers, it just reads right and makes sense!

Probably zero tax bracket, combined with 75mpg+, awd for everyday use, yet also a good drive due to very low cofg and low yaw inertia, and I hope a fairly low total weight.


All good, massively looking forward to this one

Dave

[Ellieb10]

I'm as much of a petrol head as most on this site (I've got an Alpina after all) but drove a Tesla S last year and i've never slagged off the potential of electric cars since. The acceleration was mind bending. Once these are developed so they handle properly and light enough I'll be on the list to buy one.

plus the i8 also seems alot more interesting to look at than the new 6....

[Monty Python]

tonym911 said:

Govt-mandated real-world economy figures for EVs are long overdue. Suspect they think they're helping the industry by giving them some startup leeway but the honeymoon period needs to be replaced by a dose of reality now.

I wonder if they'll be as "accurate" as current mpg figures....

[soad]

jbi said:

was anyone else hoping for an inline 8?

I did, not going to happen though

[anonymous-user]

[quote=Ellieb10] Once these are developed so they handle properly and light enough I'll be on the list to buy one.[quote]


So pretty much when the energy is stored by something other than batteries then....... ;-)

(gasoline = 13kWh/kg, best current practical battery system = ~200Wh/kg so about 65 times worse ;-(


(ok, in a practical system, the gasoline is only converted at approx 24% to kinetic energy, and the battery/elec motor system at approx 65% (round trip efficiency, inc charging losses etc) but that still leaves the battery system over 20 times worse off)

So;

Gasoline + IC: energy conversion system = useless, energy storage = brilliant
Battery + Emachine: energy conversion system = brilliant, energy storage = useless

[dvs_dave]

Spotted out in the wild a month ago.

See here: http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t...

[bobberz]

I suspect this is one case where the "toned down" production version will actually look better than the concept. It currently looks a bit too "Tron" for my liking.

[Mr Gear]

neon_fox said:

I hate it when these people quote '94 mpg' and then fail to mention that is after the car has been fully charged, so you've had to pay for the electricity to run the first 20 miles (or whatever). Until we have some sort of standardised economy benchmark for hybrids we'll never get a true idea of what the thing actually costs to run

We DO have a standardised system, which is why you get figures like this. They can also quote infinite-mpg if you take it on a journey of less than 20 miles, but since the Euro economy tests are done over a fixed distance, you would only get that if your electric range exceeded the length of the test.