Redesigned #BMW i3 Electric Vehicle With Longer Range Tipped For 2017

BMW is reportedly cooking up a new i3 electric vehicle for 2017, increasing the car's range and updating its design.

Electric vehicles continue to gain momentum, but BMW hasn't been very successful in this segment of the auto market so far. While the automaker has been offering i3 electric vehicles for a few years now, it hasn't seen stellar demand.

Nevertheless, a neat redesign and a longer range could give the small electric vehicle just the boost it needs to become more successful.

BMW i3 Makeover

German publication Welt am Sonntag reports (via Reuters) that the BMW i3 model planned for next year will have both its front and rear ends redesigned. No images leaked just yet to offer a glimpse of the makeover, so it remains unclear for now just how the next BMW i3 will look like.

Increased Range

The publication further reveals that BMW will pack new battery technology into its next-generation i3, enabling the electric vehicle to have a longer range. The current BMW i3 can go for 114 miles on a full charge, but the range can be increased up to 180 miles via a "Range Extender."

Welt am Sonntag doesn't specify how long the new range will be, but it does note that it would be an increase of less than 50 percent. This means that the BMW i3 coming next year will still offer a mile range below 200 miles.

That's well below the range of other electric vehicles such as Tesla's Model S, but BMW's electric vehicles are more affordable than Tesla's. The Tesla Model S with a P100D battery, for instance, can run up to 300 miles on a single charge, but it starts at around $134,000 before incentives. The current BMW i3 with Range Extender, meanwhile, costs $47,450 (not including destination and other fees).

BMW Autonomous Vehicle Plans

The German publication also asked Klaus Fröhlich, BMW's head of Research & Development (R&D), about the automaker's plans for self-driving vehicles. Fröhlich said that BMW wanted to see a common standard for autonomous vehicles across the auto industry so that it could use the same systems and number of sensors.

As a reminder, BMW already teamed up with Intel and Mobileye earlier this year to create an open platform for autonomous vehicles by 2021. Mobileye also worked with Tesla on the carmaker's Autopilot system, but the two companies parted ways back in September.

It remains to be seen what BMW will offer next, but it may also look to score more partnerships to expand its offers. Fiat, for instance, partnered with Amazon to sell cars online, albeit the option is available only in Italy for now.

Techtimes.com

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#BMW 's Vision Next 100 is the concept car of my childhood dreams

 BMW is on a world tour this year with a selection of concept cars that present its vision for the next 100 years of automotive development. Catering to our wildest adolescent fantasies, these cars are aggressively, almost absurdly futuristic, with this week's debutant Rolls-Royce and Mini models exhibiting a preference for pizzazz over practicality. BMW's own-brand Vision Next 100 vehicle is no less extreme, eschewing traditional things like a dashboard and rear-view mirrors in favor of high-tech alternatives.

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 I was already a fan of the futurism embodied by BMW's Vision concept when it was made official back in March, but seeing it in all its aerodynamic glory in London this week, I'm upgrading my excitement by a couple of notches. The car simply looks stunning, like a more practical, more gadgety version of today's supercars. It has a thoroughly streamlined shape that nevertheless still accommodates four people and even has room to include the design flourish of fin-like taillights (which I love). It's very much the sort of thing I used to sketch during boring math classes in high school, and it's that connection with the fantastic that makes BMW's concepts so compelling today.

 Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design, says that "if you are able to imagine something, there's a good chance it could one day become reality." Setting a developmental horizon of 20 to 30 years, BMW is looking beyond the current trend of adding more displays to the interior of cars, past even the proliferation of flexible OLED displays, to the point where "the entire windscreen will serve as a giant display." On the outside, a new Alive Geometry will shift the car's shape in accordance with how it is being driven, flaring out or tapering down as required.

 The purpose of the BMW Vision Next 100 cars is to create concepts that people can engage with, and the company firmly believes that the emotional driving experience must be informed by emotional design. That's why the headlights look like a falcon's talons and why the golden honey paintjob splinters out into small polygons as it morphs imperceptibly from the metal exterior to the darkened windows.

 I didn't get to see inside this particular BMW, but the company has helpfully provided video materials showing off what the ride would be like. Comprising both a Boost mode for the best of BMW's storied driving tradition and an Ease mode for a relaxing, autonomous ride, this vision of the future aims to be both thrilling and convenient.

 The BMW, Rolls-Royce, and Mini Vision Next 100 concept cars will be on show at London's Roundhouse from this Saturday through to the end of next week.


Theverge.com

#BMW i3 drivers get paid to delay charging

BMW i3 drivers get paid to delay charging

The arrival of modern electric cars has raised concerns about the possibility of a mass influx of charging vehicles overwhelming the grid. While there isn’t much indication that will happen yet, one California utility is trying out an experimental practice just in case.

Pacific Gas & Electric will pay BMW i3 drivers $1,000 in gift cards to participate in an 18-month trial, in which the utility will try to relegate charging to certain times of the day when the grid isn’t under heavy load. About 400 i3 drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area applied for the program, according to Bloomberg.

Called ChargeForward, the program will give 100 participants access to an app, which they’ll use to say when they need to charge their cars. The app is managed by BMW, which communicates with PG&E regarding available capacity. When capacity is constrained, PG&E will tell BMW to cut up to 100 kilowatts of charging, and the carmaker will in turn ask owners to delay.

Owners who need a charge urgently can opt out of the delay, and if cutting charging still doesn’t free up enough capacity, BMW can turn to an energy-storage array composed of recycled batteries from MINI E electric cars. These electric MINI Coopers were used in one of the pilot programs that were part of the i3’s development process.

The energy-storage array is located at BMW’s Mountain View offices. It has 240 kilowatt-hours of capacity, and harvests electricity from a 100-kilowatt solar-panel installation. BMW already uses it for onsite power, and discharges excess back into the grid.

In addition to the $1,000 gift card awarded upfront, ChargeForward participants can earn an additional $540 gift card at the end of the 18-month program, although that amount diminishes the more they opt out of delayed charging.

Ecomento.com