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Showing posts from December, 2016

BMW i3 Deep Dive Book Now Available

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The BMW i3 is anything but the average car. Not only is it BMWs first electric offering, it's also the only car available today that has an optional auxiliary power unit; the range extender. It's really unlike any car that's ever been available, and unsurprisingly, it's often misunderstood. Most people really don't understand how the range extender works; what it can do, and what its limits are. This is, unfortunately even true for many of the client advisers selling them! So getting information on how the  car works out there is very important. BMW has produced a series of videos that help to explain the i3. While very helpful to new owners, they don't go into too much of the technical details that many people are also interested in. The book is filled with graphs on charging, range, power, consumption, etc Enter BMW i3 owner and engineer, David Bricknell. Earlier in the year, David published a book called "Electric Vehicles and the BMW i3" that was

BMW's ChargeForward Initiative Seeks Participants

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Do you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and drive a BMW i3, i8, X540e, 330e or 740e? If so, would you like to get paid to participate in BMW i's award winning ChargeForward initiative, while helping to shape the future of electric vehicle charging? BMW is seeking 250 individuals to participate in the second phase of the ChargeForward initiative, which will last approximately 24 months. The first phase of the program is now complete, and volunteers are needed for the second phase, which begins in January, 2017. This phase includes vehicle to grid managed charging, and stationary energy storage systems which utilize repurposed MINI-E battery packs. Back in 2015, this program won the ESNA Innovation Award for EV Battery 2nd Life Energy Storage System. From the ChargeForward website: The second phase of ChargeForward, from January 2017 through December 2018, is expected to demonstrate expanded benefits of charging optimization through management of both current and projected future c

BMW And ReachNow To Offer i3s As Building Amenity in NYC

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BMW has long said that BMW i wasn't created exclusively for developing and manufacturing their plug in electric vehicles; that it would also be devoted to developing sustainable mobility solutions as well. Car sharing is one of those mobility solutions that are getting a lot of attention lately, and not just from independent companies like Uber and Lyft. OEMs are also getting into the car sharing game, and GM’s Maven car sharing service is now in 13 US cities. BMW’s car sharing arm was initially called DriveNow, but was recently brought entirely in house (DriveNow was a partnership between BMW i and Sixt) and rebranded as ReachNow. The three i3's and two 3-Series sedans used for the car sharing program were parked in front of The Solaire for the announcement on Thursday, December 8th.  ReachNow was launched earlier this year in Seattle, Washington. They then added service to Portland, Oregon and recently became available in Brooklyn, NY. However yesterday, BMW i and the Albanes