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Showing posts from January, 2014

BMW i3 Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Hil from Holland

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My i3 was delivered to my home on a flatbed truck, more than 300 kilometers (180 miles) from my i Agent. Traveling that distance in an i3 BEV on one charge isn’t possible and the i3 being my first EV, we agreed that the car be delivered! As it stands, I’m probably the first i3 owner in Fryslân, Holland and I’d like to report on my first month’s experiences! A while ago I announced that I would be starting a new series here called, "I was Born Electric on...". The series will be featuring readers who are i3 owners and who are willing to share their thoughts on the car after owning it for a while . They will begin the post by introducing themselves and stating the date they were Born Electric, which is when they picked up their i3. Last week we had the pleasure of kicking off the series with a post from Andy , who lives with his new i3 in the UK. We'll now be hopping over to Holland to visit with Hil and his new Ioni c Silver i3:             Hello, my name is Hil a

My New Side Job: BMW i Dealer Training

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It's -2 degrees F here in Canada and I'm talking BMW i3 at Budd's BMW in Oakville! I've written a few posts on my blogs about how poorly many dealerships have done when it comes to selling their electric car offerings. I blasted Nissan and GM pretty good a while back and had hoped that BMW would learn from the mistakes the other OEM's made when they rolled their EV's into their dealers' showrooms. However I'm starting to wonder if that will be the case. Electric cars are different in so many ways. If the sales team isn't prepared for the onslaught of questions that they are going to get hit with as soon as the i3 becomes available to order, then it will not only hurt sales of the i3 but it will certainly tarnish the BMW brand image. BMW dealers will have an even tougher time than the other brands had in my opinion because the i3 isn't just an electric car, it really is a revolutionary vehicle. Besides the typical EV questions about the car's

BMW i3: Tax Credits and Leases and Residuals, Oh My!

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Will BMW's financing options put the i3 out of reach for many of its enthusiasts? There ha ve been many discussions on various websites since an internal BMW document surfaced that led to people to believe the BMW i3 lease terms in the US would be very high. One potential i3 buyer even has his local dealer ( Stevens Creek BMW) work up a lease quote using the information on the document. The i3 he built had a total price of $55,978.52. With very little money down the lease payment came out to be $930 per month. There were a couple things that led to this very high lease estimation and I thought it would be worth while to discuss them here. The proposed i3 lease was posted by insideevs.com First, the residual values on the document were very low, around 40%. Unfortunately this is basically in line with residual values of other electric cars and there are basically two reasons for it. First, electric cars are new to most people and there is a lot of uncertainty regarding what the

I Was Born Electric On...The First BMW i3 Owner Review:

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  A while a go I announced that I would be starting a new series here called, "I was Born Electric on...". I'll be feat uring readers who are i3 owners and who are willing to share their thoughts on the car after  taking possession. They will begin the post by introducing themselves and stating the date they were Born Electric, which is when they picked up the ir i3. Without further ad o, I bring you Andy from the UK, ou r first i3 owner & Born Electric guest blogger:   Hi, my name is Andy and I was Born Electric on Saturday, January 11 th ,  2014. I came to the EV party a bit late in the day, as I was a typical petrolhead and dismissed electric cars as an irrelevance - underpowered, no range, ugly, the usual stuff - and even when I first saw the i3 concept, it looked weird & the projected price seemed way too high (I think a projected £40,000 base price was mentioned at the time).  So I ignored it and carried on driving my gas guzzling M3, even thou

Strong Turnout at JMK BMW For i3 Drive Event

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One of the i3's at JMK before they needed to take it off the showroom floor to use for test drives. I'd guess at least 50 test drives were given during the day. Manny Antunes, JMK BMW client adviser and BMW i3 specialist admitted he was overwhelmed with the amount of people that came to check out and drive the i3's the dealership had for the day last Thursday. BMW gave JMK two i3's for the day and the original plan was to leave one on the showroom floor and use the other one for test drives. However as soon as the day began it became clear they needed both cars for test drives because there were so many people there that signed up to drive an i3. Manny did a great job and was at it all day. He didn't even stop for lunch as there was a line of people waiting all day for test drives. Manny Antunes & I after a long day The problem was, once they took the car off the showroom floor there was nothing there for the people waiting for their turn to test drive one to lo

JMK BMW To Host The Area's First "i3 EVent"

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  On Thursday, January 16th, (tomorrow) JMK BMW in Springfield NJ is hosting a "Get to know the BMW i3" event from 10:00am to 7:00pm. For most, it will be the very first time they have the opportunity to actually see the i3 in person and test drive it. JMK client adviser and i3 product specialist Manny Antunes will be there to answer questions and take reservations on the spot if you decide to order an i3 while you are there. I have been working with JMK to help prepare them for the coming i brand cars and have already ordered my i3 through JMK. I appreciate that JMK recognizes that these cars are different, and will elicit different questions and concerns from their potential buyers so I have personally tried to help prepare them for these potential issues. It's encouraging that they understand this and have reached out to make sure they can offer the best possible customer experience and service.  That is why I recommend considering JMK if you are from the area and cons

BMW i3 Samsung Galaxy Gear App Overview Video

I'm heading off to NAIAS in a few hours to cover the show for InsideEvs and one of the things I'll be doing there is meeting Horatiu Boeriu of BMWBLOG and Samsung to review and discuss their new partnership with BMW and the BMW i3 Samsung Galaxy Gear App. The above Samsung TV video shot at CES in Las Vegas last week gives an overview of the features. Hopefully I'll get more info on the partnership at the show. You can enjoy this video for now.