FÜRSTENFELDBRÜCK, Germany — Since BMW began the slow debut of its battery-powered car more than two years ago, the engineers from Bavaria promised that the i3 would be as fun to drive as a conventional BMW.

What if it was even more fun to drive?

BMW has bet considerable resources that the cost advantages of operating an electric car will outweigh the one big disadvantage — range. BMW says the i3, which will come to market in Europe in November and the United States next year, can travel 186 miles when equipped with an optional range extender, a motorcyclelike gasoline engine that helps maintain the charge when the car runs low. Otherwise, the car will be able to travel about half that distance, or about 93 miles, on a single charge.

The new car the company showed automobile writers on Monday at a former military airfield outside Munich had the pep and agility drivers have come to expect from BMW sedans — though not necessarily that of the Z sports cars or M series muscle cars. The i3 has some bonus features, like a quiet ride and a power recovery system that reduces the need to use the brakes since letting up on the accelerator quickly slows the car.

Executives hope the i3 will decisively persuade consumers to accept electric cars. “We are at the dawn of a new era,” Ian Robertson, BMW’s head of sales, told reporters on Monday

rest of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/business/with-i3-electric-car-bmw-tries-to-ease-range-anxiety.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0#h[BhbOtc,1]

This is brilliant. It will allow this vehicle to take a giant leap in this market by doubling the range at very low fuel cost.

And it's RWD, not flunk-wheel-drive like most electrics and hybrids.

You mean like the Volt? Which has been around for years. On-board generation is a good idea, but hardly a brilliant new one. They should have used a small diesel genset.

MV

They will be ok till the seals start leaking and the floorboard of the cabin has a couple/few inches of water in it and starts shorting stuff out. I drained two gallons of water out of the floorboard area of a seven series last night. Electronics on the car are going nuts.

__________________
Jim