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There are many reasons for considering making an electric car the next car you buy or lease. Besides the many environmental benefits, the promise of energy security, the silky-smooth driving experience with instant torque available without delay and low maintenance, one of the best characteristics of electric vehicles is how little they cost to operate. I've covered this topic here before, but this is something that really needs to be driven home. While Electric cars are currently more expensive than their conventionally-powered counterparts, the total cost of ownership over time can certainly be less, and in some cases much less. Just as with gasoline cars some EV's are more efficient than others, but the average EV needs about 30 kWh’s of electricity to power the vehicle for 100 miles. For example, the EPA rating for the Nissan LEAF is exactly 30 kWh’s per 100 miles. A Tesla Model S 60 is rated at a combined 35 kWh’s per 100 miles and uses a little more energy since it’s heav...

You get a better view of just how tall and thin the tires on the i3 are without the body in place Note: This was originally posted on February 17th, 2014. I have had so many people message me about tire and wheel size information that I thought it would be a good idea to repost it. One of the more talked about features of the i3 is its tires. Not for decades has there been a car with such tall and narrow wheels and tires. Since the 70's, the trend has been for tires to get wider and wider, and that is especially true for performance cars since more rubber on the ground generally means better roadholding. Performance is critical for any BMW Then came along the i3. It's BMW's quirky-looking mega-city car, and the first electric car from the brand. With all the incredibly unique aspects of this vehicle, it's still the tires that catch most peoples attention when they first see it in person. They just aren't used to seeing such tall and thin tires on a car, let alone a...

BMW has been hosting i3 training events to get their client advisers up to speed and ready to sell the car. I'm very happy to hear they are doing this because I was really beginning to get concerned that they wouldn't properly prepare their sales staff for this unique vehicle. I even dedicated a post a few months ago to this very topic. I've now talked to a few client advisers that have done the training and they reported that they did indeed get a lot of useful information which will help them service their clients. The i3's tiny fuel tank is seen here at right in front of the battery pack in the center of the car.  This is where the heat pump is located and why you cannot get the heat pump if you have an i3 REx This week the latest round of training sessions are being held up at BMW headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, NJ and details of what is being taught are starting to leak out from some of the client advisers that are there. A couple things of interest shared were de...

The awards keep piling up for the BMW i3. Less than a week from winning the 2014 World Green Car and the 2014 World Car Design Of The Year , Kelly Blue Book just awarded the 2014 BMW i3 the "Best Green Car of 2014". The Nissan LEAF finished second  with the Toyota Prius third. Four of the top six cars were either all electric or PHEV's. Here's how the top ten placed:

Is it me or does the i3 look especially good in custom designer wraps? Now that the i3 has been available in select European markets for about five months now, pictures are surfacing of i3s with colorful full-body wraps. The i3 will likely be a popular car for businesses to use because of tax incentives and low operating costs. Plus with its funky-unconventional styling it is sure to grab attention, especially with bright, colorful body wraps. The stock colors available on the i3 aren't very bold, with Solar Orange the only color that really stands out. The rest of the colors are basically grey-scale with a white, two silvers and two greys. I've been thinking of doing something custom to my i3 when I get it, and seeing all these custom wrapped i3s has pushed me to decide to go for it. I've already identified where I'll be getting it done but I'm still on the fence about what color. I'll likely be wrapping my i3 soon after getting it provided I can get the timely...

Breaking news from InsideEvs.com . The BMW i3 swept both awards it was a finalist for which were 2014 World Green Car And 2014 World Car Design Of The Year. Here's what InsideEVs had to say: From the shortlist of finalists, a winner in both categories emerged. Here first are the shortlisted automobiles: World Green Car - Audi A3 Sportback g-tron (+ Audi e-gas) - BMW i3 - Volkswagen XL1 World Car Design of the Year - BMW i3 - Mazda3 - Mercedes-Benz C-Class The winner, in both categories, is the BMW i3 . So, BMW can now add 2014 World Green Car and 2014 World Car Design of the Year to the list of awards the i3 has racked up. In regards to the 2014 World Green Car award, BMW’s Dr. Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Sales and Marketing, stated: “To have the BMW i3 named World Green Car of the Year is a great honor.  From the production process onwards, the BMW i3 is a truly sustainable vehicle, created with the needs of the 21st century city in mind.” Mean...

Bloomberg News reported this morning that BMW has raised i3 production an additional 43%. They got that information directly from BMW board member and production chief, Harold Krueger. What that means is instead of the 70 units a day that was previously reported, BMW is now making 100 i3's every day which amounts to around 23,000 units per year. They already have built 5,000 cars in 2014 which works out just about exactly to the 70 units a day that BMW claimed they were making. This announcement from Krueger comes only a couple weeks after it was revealed that BMW has ordered additional molding machines that make body shell components. The additional equipment obviously hasn't been installed yet so it's likely when it is installed BMW will have the ability to increase production even further. This is all good news for BMW and the EV industry in general, as it continues to demonstrate that there is definitely a healthy demand for electric cars that people find desirable.

If you already drive an i3, you've probably seen this warning pop up on the dash. The rear coach doors have been one of the more talked about features of the i3. Most people seem to favor conventionally opening rear doors, especially when they are considering hauling the kiddies around in the back as it can be difficult to open the doors in tight parking spaces. Surprisingly, the feedback I've gotten from many early i3 owners has been generally positive in regards to coach doors, (or at least there haven't been any complaints!) so perhaps in practice they aren't as cumbersome as many predicted they might be. However there does seem to be a problem that has popped up with regards to them. As soon as the first i3's hit the roads I heard from a few of the first owners that the rear door ajar warning light would come on often during cornering. I didn't report on it since it was only a couple people and there are always minor build issues with new models. I figured B...

It's been called edgy, futuristic, polarizing, ground breaking and even flat out hideous. It has funky lines, rear coach (suicide) doors that can't be opened unless the front doors are and rear windows that are permanently closed. The nose has a pronounced "underbite" that any respectful orthodontist would love to correct and the tires are so skinny they look like they should be on something coming out of BMW Motorrad , and certainly not on a proper BMW automobile. The internet is full of extremely harsh criticism of the i3's exterior styling. However most seem to praise the interior for it's modern, stylish and open feel, especially for such a small car. I don't think I've read a single article where the author didn't at least approve of the interior design, while most gave it very high marks. The term "Scandinavian loft" has been used frequently to describe the modern, open feeling the i3's interior offers. But then there's the ...

*Hat tip to insideevs.com for finding this first! BMW has been holding i3 training events to get the new BMW Product Geniuses up to speed on what they need to know about the car. As I have written here many times, there is so much about this car that is completely different than anything BMW has ever sold before that they really need to dive deep into the training of their client advisers and especially these new Product Geniuses. As good as the car is, if they fail to have the ability to properly help the customer decide if the car is right for them, then they won't sell nearly as many as they could have. This is going to have to play itself out before we can gauge if BMW did indeed do everything they could have to give the dealers the tools they need to sell these vehicles. However in my opinion this video is promising. Not only is BMW holding training sessions where the Product Geniuses will learn about he cars, but they are getting the chance to take once out and do an autoc...

Back in February we featured  Steven from The Netherlands as a Born  Electric  guest blogger . At the time he mentioned to me that he was planning a road trip with his i3 REx that would take him on a fantastic journey from The Netherlands through Germany and France to the final destination of Switzerland. The funny thing is, I almost was able to meet him along the trip because I was actually in  Switzerland  the week before he arrived and my wife and I even spent an afternoon at the same lake in Zurich you see pictured below! In any event, once I heard Steven was  about  to engage upon this 1,100 mile road trip I asked him if he  wouldn't mind sharing the details here once he returns and he was kind enough to do so. I get a lot of questions about the range extender, and many people want to know if it is possible to take it on a long trip. This post doesn't answer every question, but it does give some insight into how the car will perform on sure a...

I wrote this post a few days ago for BMWBLOG. There has been so much speculation and incorrect information circulating in regards to the OwnersChoice with Flex option that BMW FS is offering on the i3 that I wanted to get some info out there on it. It's a new product, so it's certainly understandable why there are questions. However I've read where people have gone as far to call it a "convoluted scam" as if it's just a way to charge the customer more money and in fact it's the opposite. Using OwnersChoice with Flex you can drive off in a base i3 BEV with no money out of pocket for as little as $494/month depending on where you live.  Now that BMWBLOG has had it for a couple days and InsideEVs has run it also, I figured I'd put it up here also. If you have any questions, please fell free to ask in the comments and I'll answer whatever I can.  BMW i3 Bottom Line:  $494/mo With No Money Down There has been a lot of speculation with regards to financ...