tiger1964

"BMW goes to extremes to get around fuel pump problems..."

The Gasman

I think it's pretty cool. I thought about getting one for a commuter, but then I got a fitEV so after the Fit lease is up in 3 years I'll get the latest and greatest of what's out there.

mosesbotbol

I don't think they could've justified the use case with only a 100K car in the line up. BMW is no longer a driver's car, it's a car that drives you. A buddy just picked up a 2014 750ix and that car has just about drives itself; literally. Last car at that price I would buy, but the craftsmanship is very high. He is a die hard bimmer guy (has three right now), so if that is the guy they are catering too; they've hit the mark.

s4play

I will try to address some of the points noted here. Let me be the first to say I'm a gas motor guy as well, but it's hard to deny the economy of a "hybrid". Note I said hybrid and not EV. I have quite a few buddies who love performance cars, but all of us including myself own a hybid. They all have Prius but I think I have the coolest hybrid right now (CT200h) but of course I'm biased. My wife wanted one for commuting and after owning one that now has nearly 50k miles (she drives a lot) I can tell you the car is an amazing vehicle. It costs $30 to fill on regular gas, goes easily 300-400 miles and it's our GO TO car when we head out with the kids. Our gas hungry SUV's usually stay home unless we are planning to shop. I guess my point is a hybrid is very practical.

Now if we move to "EV" cars, I am still a skeptic. The day I test drove the i3, it was a perfect weather day and I was amazed how quiet the car was. Another forum member pointed out my incorrect analysis saying the i3 is only 5cm higher center of gravity than my M3! I was shocked but again this is all from my butt experience for a whole 15 minutes. I would have loved to drive the car on the highway to the city and see how it handles in a day to day scenario. Of course I would have to keep my eye on the 93 mile range. This is the part of EV's that I'm still not on board. We live very close to Tesla's Fremont facility and I see those cars everywhere. But even with the tax credits, would I own one with my own money? Probably not unless I work there and got a crazy discount.

BMW's i8 is completely SOLD OUT from what all the guys on the forum stated. Even if we wanted one, it's a long wait since all the cars for July debut are spoken for at $135k+ a pop! It seems BMW knows their market since the i3 is also a hot car.

There's not many cool looking EV's out right now. My neighbor just got his wife a Fiat EV and it's perfect for a little asian girl but I don't really a see a tough guy driving one...haha! Nissan Leaf, Prius, Fit, etc are all just form over function cars. Nothing special or stylish about it.

The Panamera Hybrid is a sweet ride but at over $100k it's just not practical. Same goes for many of the luxo hybrids. So it would seem in my eyes this market is still a niche market for either those who REALLY want to be green or have a unique commute or purpose. For normal folks I think hybrids is the best mix because at least I don't have to keep looking at the power range.

marthafokker

CT200h. You are driving a rebadge Prius, you know. Got better suspension, and toys inside. But the guts are just a Prius.

I have the Toyota Rav4EV, with the biggest battery outside of Tesla. With 100-ish range at 80% charge (~130 mile range at full charge), my wife and i still scare of range. If it had L3 charging, then it would not have been an issue. It really is good for daily commutes and city/neighborhood runs.

That is why plug in hybrids are the future to meet Obama's new fleet CAFE mpg requirement come 2025 (at 54.5 mpg). You will be seeing most players coming out with plugin cars soon. VW/Audi/Porsche are going this route. BMW and Merc are following soon with their X5 and C-Series with a plug. Mitsubishi is interesting as it is the only player with all-wheel drive capability with their Outland PHEV. Mitsubishi was planning April 2014 release, but Europe and Japan were so hot as a market that Mitsubishi delayed coming to US. Why sell at potentially discounted price in US, when you can sell at full MSRP?

derryck

I'm anxiously awaiting I3's to start hitting the used market. I do a lot of in town driving and have looked at the Prius a few times and just can't get past the underwhelming acceleration. I would like to replace my MDX as a daily driver/dog hauler with something that gets much better gas mileage but it can't be so slow that my MDX rapes it in a 0-60 sprint. I like the look of the CT200h a lot but I can't bring myself to pay that much for the same drive train as the Prius in a prettier package.

rob-2

I wonder how the batteries will age on EVs?

marthafokker

With Thermal management system (TMS); also called Battery management system (BMS), the battery will not degrade much. It's the Nissan Leaf without one that are getting into battery degrading problem now. Tesla has seen their Roadsters (software with more aggressive battery drainage) have about 10% range lost on their battery with 100k miles.

Once Tesla/Panasonic start production to be future battery assembly plant, we should see battery cost go down. Resulting in battery replace cost going down dramatically.

marthafokker

How about the Ford Fusion hybrid? It is a great looking car with some power. Or the C-Max hybrid if you need more space for the dog. Both cheaper than the CT.

NuncoStr8

Once my solar reflector project is functioning in orbit energy costs are projected to be close to nil. But in the meantime, we all need to consider energy costs. So what's your point?

Speculating on how things might change in the future costs people millions to billions collectively each year. Those losses are typically predicated with a speech asserting "get in now" yet people still lose money on speculative investments.

It's 3* as I write this. Two days ago it was 15* below zero at this time. That's Fahrenheit. My new car battery struggled to start my car. It gets even colder here. Batteries don't last long in cold, they lose charge just from the temperature and load depletes them faster. Places where it doesn't get so cold, batteries last longer. If someone is depending on batteries to keep themselves warm as well as power their car, they really need to restrict themselves to climates where that demand is meager. North of the snow belt, it's just a dumb idea for a lot of folks.

It's as if people believe history resets the day they were born. News flash: Plug-in electric cars are old tech. Older than the internal combustion engine. There is a reason we don't all drive battery powered cars. If you want to harken back to the 1890's, battery tech is your thing. The rest of us will acknowledge we burn things to make power efficiently. Plug-ins have their niche and I am glad they exist. But their existence doesn't invalidate the history that has shown they are not a very good solution to personal transportation for the vast majority of people who need transport.

A year from now I expect to read a post similar to "Wait until xxx/xxx has their new battery plant in operation, then ..."

Battery prices will not drop significantly. If you could sell a battery for $100 yesterday, it will be $100 tomorrow. One manufacturing plant won't change the price structure. It is being built because a group of people with the money to make it happen were able to multiply $100 times the number of batteries they could produce. NOT because they imagined a dramatic drop in the price of batteries worldwide.

I'm a big fan of old tech, but battery cars are seriously limited.