BMW has 100,000 people keen to test i3

BMW’s newfound focus on vehicle electrification isn’t likely to be some flash in the pan affair. The automaker already has around 100,000 people around the globe eager to test drive its upcoming i3 electric hatch, according to the automaker’s sales chief Ian Robertson.

The information was revealed by the BMW exec during a recent interview with Automotive News. He also revealed that a “significant number” of deposits for the i3 had been received and that the car was likely to be a game changer for the electric car segment.

This will be due, according to Robertson, to the car’s industry shaping technology and relatively low expected pricetag. It has been previously reported that the i3 will cost about the same as a well-equipped 3-Series.

As for the innovative technology, this will include carbon fibre construction, which is usually reserved for cars costing in the six-figure range, new charging technology and efficient electric drive systems.
The basic i3 will come with a five-door body and electric motor rated at 125kW/250Nm, driving the rear wheels via a fixed-gear transmission. On a single charge of its lithium-ion battery, owners should expect a driving range of 150km.

A second version uses a 650cc two-cylinder petrol engine (from BMW's scooter line-up) acting as a range-extender to give 300km of travel when a full tank of petrol and batteries at 100 per cent capacity are employed.

Though we’ve seen many i3 concepts since the announcement of the original ‘Megacity Vehicle,’ we’ll finally get to see the production version at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show in September. The first showroom examples should arrive in overseas markets before the year is out, and land here in 2014.

BMW’s upcoming i3 electric car will be priced similar to a reasonably-equipped 3-Series sedan in the US, which means a starting price there of around $40,000. However, Australian buyers are likely to pay more than $60,000 when it arrives here in 2014.

That estimation takes into account our higher prices for cars, and the levels already set by the less-prestigious Holden Volt at $60,000, and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Nissan Leaf -- both of which were just under $50,000, with the Leaf taking another price cut recently to $39,990 drive-away.

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