In this relatively short video, Gary Gastelu from Fox News takes a gander at the 2015 BMW i8.
Gastelu loves the looks/style, performance, handling, & efficiency of the i8. Who doesn’t?
You will hear Gary Gastelu, the reviewer of the i8, state:
“I don’t know how I am ever going to review a conventional car ever again…”
Looks like we are near the end of the era where performance cars get approximately 2 miles per gallon!
Source: Inside EVs
The BMW i8 is sleek and stunning, but it’s no V-8-powered supercar. Is it the car that will give plug-in hybrids sex appeal?
First, you need to know what makes the i8 go. This is no straightforward supercar: The i8 gets power in a complex way–it can be front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive, depending on the situation.
Here’s how: Between the front wheels there’s a 96-kilowatt electric motor–the equivalent of 131 horsepower. It sends power to the front wheels through a two-speed transmission.
That electric motor taps into a 5.1-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery mounted in the tunnel between the seats. It can run the car’s front wheels in its electric-only “Max e-Mode” up to 75 mph.
In the back, there’s a turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine producing 231-horsepower. That power goes to the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission.
Combine them, and you have 362 horsepower, and a 0-62 mph time of 4.4 seconds when using both powertrains together.
Put the BMW i8 into Comfort mode, and the i8 behaves like a hybrid, blending gas and electric power as needed. Go faster than 40 mph, and it sends power to every wheel, for all-wheel drive.
Flip into Sport mode, and the gauges glow red, a tachometer replaces the power meter, and the powertrains go into beast mode.
Can the i8 really be an eco-friendly sports car? The EPA says it can run in pure electric mode for 15 miles; in hybrid mode, the i8 earns ratings of 28 mpg combined and 76 MPGe.
Drive it like a sports car, and you might only see 50 mpg on average. But when you do, you’ll get attention. A lot of it.
Let’s be clear: The i8 really isn’t a track car. It strikes a nice balance between sporty performance and high efficiency. It has really neutral handling, and precise electric power steering with decent simulated feedback.
It also has what we call “engineered” noise: BMW pipes in simulated power noises to make the i8 sound more sporty. Those noises get louder in Sport mode…but the i8 never is really, truly, blindingly fast. It’s just quick.
The drivetrain is exotic, but the i8’s shape is truly outrageous. Sure, there’s a BMW grille and something like a 6-Series shape, but it’s all swept up in huge futuristic swoops and scoops and wings–which all help smooth out its aero profile.
It’s something of a chore to get into the i8, but once you’re in, the usual iDrive controller and infotainment screens will be familiar.
The climate control and stereo both feature actual knobs, which is nice, and the gauge cluster is an LCD screen, which reconfigures itself based on the driving mode you’ve chosen.
These front seats are very comfortable, with heavy contouring. You sit low in the car, but visibility is just fine. BMW may say the i8 is a 2+2, but don’t expect to put average-sized humans back there if an actual adult sits up front.
The BMW i8 hasn’t been crash-tested yet, and frankly we want to see it happen–its bodyshell is made of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic on an aluminum rolling chassis, and little crash-test data exists for cars made that way.
The i8 gets the standard suite of safety tech, from six airbags to the usual electronic safety systems, plus such active safety systems as a forward-collision warning system and surround-view cameras.
Priced from about $135,000, the i8 comes well-equipped, with iDrive and a 10.2-inch screen, navigation, BMW’s i Remote App, six-way power front seats, heated seats, LED headlights, and satellite radio. There are few options other than color.
So what’s the bottom line with the BMW i8? It’s a ground-breaking sports coupe with an advanced hybrid powertrain that has super economy and style, if not quite supercar performance.
Source: Green Car Reports
We were promised flying cars, teleportation and hover boards. We don’t have any of that. But now we have this: The BMW i8 and it’s a future that cannot get here soon enough.
My body hurt. My mind was numb. I had just spent a week in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show and was ready to fly home. But first I had to drive a brand-new 2015 BMW i8 to L.A. It’s a rough job, but someone has to do it.
The i8 is BMW’s latest supercar, able to go 0 to 60 in about 4.4 seconds with its hybrid electric/gas powertrain. The i8 looks like a Hot Wheels car, handles like a supercar and is as expensive as a high-end Porsche. With a starting price of $135,000, this isn’t the car for everyone. It’s actually a gateway into BMW’s other hybrid, the cute and cheap BMW i3, a shorter, sporty runaround that BMW is touting as their answer to crunchy hybrids from Honda, Nissan, and Chevy.
I set out, gassed up and fully charged. My time with the i8 was short. I had already spent several days cruising around Vegas where the i8 got more attention than the volcano in front of the Mirage. The car stopped traffic. People gawked from sidewalks and leaned out of cabs to snap pictures.
Stopping at a gas station was an exercise in patience. Everyone had to take a picture and tell me a story about a car they once loved but totaled. It got the most attention parked at a hotel across from CES where most thought it was part of BMW’s trade-show exhibit.
Nope, she was all mine for the next couple of days.
Since the i8 lacks a proper trunk, I jammed my luggage in the back seat and took off to LA down I-15. The sun was shining and the traffic was light. I didn’t plan on taking the quick route all the way to my airport hotel some hundred miles away. Nope, I had all day to get there and was going to make the most of my time with the i8. I turned off the expressway at the first sign of the Mojave National Preserve and found what I was looking for: empty desert roads. I smiled and I assume the i8 did as well.
It’s astounding BMW made the i8 at all. It’s a concept car turned production car. BMW released the stunning concept in 2009 at the height of the recession. Now, some five years later, I’m sitting on the side of an empty road with the i8’s scissor doors open and admiring the desolate beauty outside Las Vegas. All I can hear is a slight whine from the hybrid electric powerplant ready to be abused.
Nestled somewhere within the i8’s frame is an electric motor and tiny 3 cylinder, 1.5L turbocharged engine. They work in tandem to power the i8. The results will make treehuggers and gearheads equally happy.
When driven in hybrid mode, the i8 is quick and plentiful. It can go about 15 miles on effectively just electric power. When the gear shift lever is kicked over to sport mode, the i8 becomes exhilarating.
In either mode it’s quick off the line and at speed. Stomp the right pedal to the floor and the i8 flies to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. Even more impressive, though, is when passing is required. As I understand it, the powertrain uses the electric motor to give the moving car an instant boost and then seconds later the 3 cylinder engine takes over. The car leaps forward with supercar might and plants occupants into the seats.
The car simply thunders when driven in sport mode and hugs the roads like a modern supercar should. BMW piped some of the engine noise back into the cabin through the audio system. Sure, that might be cheating a bit, but the notes are genuine and raw. I found the sound to be the most surprising thing about the i8. I simply wasn’t expecting the hybrid to sound so mean.
Read more: Tech Crunch
We narrowed the field down to five nominees for the 2014 Tech Car of the Year award at the beginning of December, and now CNET’s judges have weighed in on our final choices. There were some strong contenders, making a unanimous choice difficult, but there can only be one…
This car represents a marvel of innovative engineering. Carbon fiber in its construction not only keeps the weight down, but cheaper production of this material could make it a standard for cars of the future. BMW took a risk with the design, putting something on the road that looks like it should still bear a concept label. LED headlights make for another important touch, along with a head-up display and driver assistance features. Judge Tim Stevens noted that “it’s undoubtedly one of the most interesting new cars on the road.”
With an electric motor driving the front wheels and a compact gasoline engine at the rear, the i8 combines all-wheel drive with plug-in hybrid fuel efficiency. However, in the same car you can experience a thrilling driving experience, eating up corners with this nimble ultimate driving machine. Judge Wayne Cunningham notes that the i8 “is an extraordinary technical achievement.”
Finally, BMW’s iDrive cabin electronics system sneaks in an impressive roster of connected features. The car comes with its own data connection powering online destination search and built-in apps. iDrive gets expanded features through the ConnectedDrive app on a driver’s smartphone, bringing in everything from social media to online music.
The Audi A3 came in as our favorite runner-up, embodying near-perfect connected cabin tech, but its drivetrain didn’t represent a significant advance. Also up for serious consideration was the Infiniti Q50S Hybrid, an amazing technical achievement with its drive-by-wire steering and efficient gasoline-electric drivetrain. Fan favorite the Tesla Model S made the nominees list for its impressive drivetrain, but when we reviewed the 2014 P85 Plus model earlier this year we didn’t find much advancement in its cabin electronics, and it still lacked any driver assistance features. Tesla’s recent update of the Model S addresses some of those issues, so we will likely be reconsidering it for next year. The Ford Fusion Energi made our nominee list for its excellent driver assistance features and economical plug-in hybrid drivetrain, but its cabin tech couldn’t carry it over the top.
Read more: CNET
Looks like the sports car of the future but does it actually drive like one? Take two in the BMW i8
The ‘real world’ offering in the rarified league of carbon fibre petrol-electric sports cars, the BMW i8 is no P1, LaFerrari or 918 Spyder in performance terms. Not that anyone who sees it seems to care. Indeed, while all of the above could slip by innocent bystanders as ‘just’ normal supercars the i8 has star quality in spades and is so obviously something new and different even non-car folk seem genuinely awe-struck.
Star quality that extends to whomever happens to be at the wheel too – pull up kerbside and by the time you open that carbon butterfly door you’ll have a small crowd and camera phone paparazzi waiting to hang on your every word about the driving experience. Crave the quiet life? Not the car for you…
That £99K starting price is interesting too, pitching the i8 directly into the line of sight of the serial 911 buyer who, just might, be looking for something a bit different or eying up electric friendly grants and congestion charging for driving to that City office block. Tempting as the F-Types, R8s, Merc-AMG GTs and similar alternatives at this price might be they all look a little dinosaur-like in the company of the i8, which achieves that rare thing of being incredibly expensive, exotic, unashamedly performance focused and yet totally socially acceptable too.
Harris drove the i8 in the sympathetic surroundings of California and Matt had a go up in the wilds of Scotland but for this test we used the i8 in more everyday surroundings, hacking the daily commute and heading up the M1 for a meeting in the way anyone might use a ‘normal’ sports car like a 911. Electrically plumbed parking spaces at the office meant a chance to charge the battery for maximum EV goodness but the rest of the time it was just a case of jumping in and using it like any other test car.
First thought? Getting anywhere near that official 134.5mpg is going to require your very lightest loafers, the best the PH clogs could achieve being less than half that on a mixed commute of stop-start motorway traffic and a bit of urban crawl. OK, so it was winter and we’re soft enough to want heated seats on in addition to the rather more compulsory lights, wipers and similar. Still impressive for a 362hp sports car, not so much for a supposed eco champion even driven in a style intended to maximise regenerative charging opportunities and minimise intervention from the 1.5-litre petrol engine.
An inbound journey with barely any battery saw 45mpg; the return fully charged had the trip showing 99mpg running on mainly electric for the first five miles of urban driving before dropping to a less impressive mid 50s once on dual carriageways and motorway. Dig deeper into the i8 literature and these are actually more representative of BMW’s official expectations. Funnily enough that triple-digit combined figure has rather drowned that out though. There are tricks to be learned – following a tip from the delivery driver we enjoyed the fact Sport mode that keeps the petrol engine engaged also does an excellent job of charging the battery. A rather more sophisticated answer can be found by programming your route into the nav, whereupon the computers analyse the profile and calculates where to use petrol power, where to switch to electric and where the best re-gen opportunities may lie. Clever stuff.
Read more: Piston Heads
‘You really have to be cut out for the kind of attention this car will garner: it’s like being famous overnight’
The BMWi8 is sleek, fast, futuristic and, most of all, defiant. The rules are, if you want to be green, you have to be crap. These were laid down in stone by eco-friendly cleaning products, and reinforced by decades of dirty hippies. The i8 is flash, showy, outrageously fast – and the future: one day, all cars will be like this – lighter, run on batteries – or cars will have ceased to exist.
The hybrid electric motor drives the front wheels, the turbo-charged petrol-triple engine the back. Sure, it plugs into the mains now, but as soon as they perfect the solar battery, this car is going to be first in line to run on sun. The frame is carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, somewhat lighter than aluminium, tonnes lighter than steel.
The resulting drive is, in any of the modes – SPORT, COMFORT or ECO-PRO (I’m not shouting; this is what BMW calls them) – more like driving in a video game than driving a car: silent, smooth, otherworldly. The speed dial is projected forwards into space, so only the driver can see it. This is handy, I imagine, if your passenger habitually tells you to slow down. Mind you, in this car, your passenger is going to tell you to slow down anyway. I defy you, feeling so protected (a high window line makes the world seem quite far away) and so omnipotent (thanks to the crazy raw power), not to go too fast, or at the very least accelerate in an ostentatious fashion.
Before you drive the i8, though, you have to get in; the doors open upwards in a gull-wing fashion. My kid asked me if it could fly. There is always someone taking a picture of it, if not as you approach, certainly by the time you’ve got the key out of your pocket. One time, walking purposefully toward it, then suddenly exhausted by the effort of explaining why I had it, even though it wasn’t mine, I just took a photo with my phone and walked away. You really have to be cut out for the kind of attention this car will garner: it’s like being famous overnight.
The cabin is swish and intuitive; in the dark, it comes alive with illuminated blue piping. The seatbelts are bright blue and heavily redolent of the professional pitstop. The posture is low and luxurious in a Swiss-watch-advert kind of way (“I’m reclining like this because I can afford to, not because my back’s gone”).
The motorway is where it gets to show off. It can make a decent noise, for a start, some of it simulated (people like that). More relevant is the ease with which it takes everything, and its remarkable fuel efficiency: at speed, something like 50mpg, roughly the same as a Prius, which feels like you’re pushing it along with your own buttocks.
The prototype for the i8 was in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I can’t figure out how Tom Cruise swung out of the low driver’s seat on his tiny little legs, but I can’t conceive of a more Hollywood-ready car.
Source: The Guardian
Connected Box Keeps An Eye On Lower Electricity Prices
At the Consumer Electronics Show, BMW has announced a release window for its i Wallbox Pro that unites domestic solar power and the electricity grid. The box itself was shown off during last year’s i8 drives and it rests inside a solar carport to control the simultaneous delivery of both solar power and the electric grid energy to recharge an i8. One drive attendee wrote how the Wallbox Pro display showed that it was providing 3.4 total kW to the coupe, with 2.8 kW from the sun and 0.6 kW from the grid.
At CES, BMW said the i Wallbox Pro, brought to life by BMW DesignWorks, will be available in 2016. For homes that aren’t equipped with solar power, or when solar isn’t available, the system will draw power from the grid when it’s least expensive.
The Munich manufacturer also announced a concept storage solution using discarded batteries from its electric cars, where excess energy from solar or other sources could be held for later use for a vehicle or the home itself. BMW will be demonstrating the i Wallbox Pro at CES.
Source: Autoblog
Best cars and options explored
The future of driving appears to be electric, with Formula E in full effect, supercars adopting hybrid drive systems and range getting further all the time. Fuel powered engines may have their days numbered. But is it time to make the change to electric?
Now that the big car manufacturers are creating hybrid and electric cars we can be assured that it’s the future. And thanks to infrastructure improving all the time for charging stations range isn’t becoming such a big issue. But last year’s Tesla owners won’t get updated with the latest self-driving tech of this year’s Tesla, not a very nice reward for early adopting.
So is it still too early to adopt? Are batteries in cars suddenly going to improve to make current models a joke? We’ve looked at what going on to help give you a clearer idea of what to do.
The selection of pure electric cars right now isn’t huge, but it’s more than ever before and range is now good enough for day-to-day use. Prices, in the UK at least, are kept reasonable thanks to government assistance taking £5,000 off the price and offering free tax. If you offset petrol costs too you’re saving even more.
At the top end there’s Tesla with its Model S boasting all wheel drive and self-driving smarts starting at around the £50,000 mark. But this is in a league of its own with sports car performance, plus the latest model is not actually going to be in the UK until July 2015, even if you can buy yours now.
Then there are established brands like BMW, Ford, VW, Nissan and Renault all making fully electric cars at affordable prices right now.
Range, charging times, price and power
When going electric most people will be juggling these few key numbers: range, charging time, price and power.
PRICE: Firstly there’s price, at which the Renault Zoe wins by a fair margin starting at £14,000. Nissan’s Leaf can be bought from £16,500, Kia’s Soul EV is £25,000, the VW e-Golf is from £26,000, and BMW with its i3 is from £31,000.
RANGE: The range winner, from the reasonably priced cars, is the Kia Soul EV with 135 miles. In close second is the Nissan Leaf with 124 miles. Coming in behind them is the BMW i3 with a 118 mile range along with the VW e-Golf also sporting a 118 mile range, followed by the Renault Zoe with 93 miles.
Of course if you include the Tesla Model S that wins with its base model eeking out an impressive 240 miles on a charge and its top end offering 312 miles a go. But you get what you pay for.
CHARGE: This is a fairly even playing field with the cars all offering a rapid charge to 80 per cent in half an hour. Across the board it’ll cost you to upgrade your home charger for faster charging but this can result in as fast as a 3-hour charge to full.
POWER: Electric cars deliver all their torque instantly and the engine directly powers the wheels, this means they feel really nippy pulling away. The Nissan Leaf utilises 107hp to do 0-60mph in just 7 seconds making it the quickest of the lot off the mark.
The BMW i3 has 170hp for a 0-60mph time of 7.2 seconds, the Renault Zoe has 83hp for a 0-60mph time of 8 seconds, and the VW e-Golf manages 0-62mph in 10.4 seconds thanks to its 114hp motor. In last place is the Kia Soul EV with its 108bhp delivering a 0-60mph time of 10.8 seconds.
So for price the Renault Zoe wins it, but for range and power the Kia Soul EV comes out on top.
Hybrids have been around for years with the Toyota Prius leading the way with its dual-drive system. These are now more common than ever with Uber drivers using Prius as the car of choice.
But the market has grown, especially recently, with plug-in hybrids that allow drivers to charge at home so they may never need to use the fuel engine, instead reserving that for long distance journeys only.
From the Volvo V60 Plug-in and Ford Mondeo Titanium Hybrid to the Golf GTE or the BMW i3 with range extender, hybrids are fast becoming viable alternatives to single engine cars. The extra you may spend on the new technology can soon be made back in the petrol and tax savings they offer.
Plug-in hybrid cars mean less of a worry about range than pure electric while also offering power and a reasonable price.
As with the Tesla we’re not going to include the likes of the McLaren P1, BMW i8, Porsche 918 and Ferrari LaFerrari as they’re all reserved for the super rich. And we’re only using plug-in hybrids as straight hybrids are fast becoming outdated in favour of the electric only options and extended range of plug-in hybrids.
PRICE: The plug-in hybrid range have all arrived at a similar time with manufacturers savvy to the government’s £5,000 contribution. For this reason they’re all very similarly priced.
The winner, by a narrow margin is the Ford Mondeo Titanium Hybrid from £25,000, with Mitsubishi PHEV GX3h from £28,250 in second and closely followed by the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid from £28,395.
Then we have the Vauxhall’s Ampera from £29,000, Audi A3 Sportback e-tron from £35,000, BMW i3 Range Extender from £34,000 and Volvo V60 Plug-in hybrid from £45,000.
RANGE: Winning with an impressive 967 mile range is the Ford Mondeo Titanium Hybrid but it only manages around 20 miles on electric alone. Closely behind that is the BMW i3 with range extender that offers a 930-mile top end with pure electric for 105 miles, making it overall cheaper to run than the Ford. The Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid can manage up to 700 miles in one journey but loses on electric alone with just 15 miles on a charge.
Audi’s A3 Sportback e-tron can last for 585 miles with 31 of those miles on electric alone. Despite its size the Mitsubishi PHEV GX3h manages 500 miles with 32 on electric alone. Vauxhall’s Ampera eeks out 310 miles with between 20 and 50 of those miles on battery.
CHARGE: As in pure electric cars this is a fairly even playing field with the cars all offering a rapid charge to 80 per cent in half an hour. Across the board it’ll cost you to upgrade your home charger for faster charging but this can result in as fast as a 3-hour charge to full.
POWER: The Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, as the name suggests, wins this with a 0-62mph time of 7.9 seconds thanks to 204hp. The BMW i3 Range Extender model is second offering 170hp for 0-60mph in 7.9 seconds.
The Vauxhall Ampera does 0-60mph in 8.7 seconds with 148hp, despite having 178hp the Ford takes 9.2 seconds to get from 0-62mph, the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid gets from 0-60mph in 11 seconds from 134hp, the Mitsubishi PHEV GX3h does 0-60mph in 11 seconds and has 186hp.
The winner for price is the Ford Mondeo Titanium Hybrid but the BMW i3 takes it for range with the Audi offering the most power.
The future of electric cars and hybrid machines is looking positive. Charging infrastructure is cropping up all over the country with Tesla’s Elon Musk promising to install his Supercharger network UK wide by the end of next year.
Crucially, right now, it’s possible to drive pure electric all the way from the top of Scotland to the bottom of England thanks to fast chargers along the way. It might take a little longer than petrol cars since you have to stop for half an hour to recharge, but it won’t cost as much by a long shot. So adopting right now, especially if you’re going for a hybrid, isn’t as risky as it once was.
Another issue is batteries. Developments are being made more and more regularly as car manufacturers pour money into research. But worrying about having an older battery shouldn’t be an issue as, hopefully, manufacturers will be able to swap out old for new future-proofing any car you buy now.
Next year Tesla hopes to offer a car which is nearly completely self-driving. But since that’s out of the price range of most people current electric car offerings are plenty futuristic.
If you’re already driving a car and the cost of petrol and tax are proving too much then electric or hybrid could be your way out.
Source: Pocket Lint
It’s here at last: Top Gear magazine’s massive, shiny Awards issue, in which we crown the very best cars of 2014.
And there have been some crackers from which to choose. From the ludicrous LaFerrari and revolutionary BMW i8 changing the face of hybrid, through Merc’s AMG GT S and Lamborghini Huracan pushing fast in a whole new direction, to the new Renault Twingo and Citroen Cactus proving budget doesn’t have to be boring, 2014 will go down as one of the epics in automotive history.
“The i8 is a milestone in the annals of automotive history and a glorious statement for an exciting and positive future. The i8 delivers – and then some.
It’s the kind of car we should celebrate, a beautiful vision of the future, delivered now. A car that tells us the future will be different, but still exciting. The i8 never places its technology in the way of simple enjoyment, and, despite the complexity of that mixed-media drivetrain, it’s all so easy to use, so natural, so right. And it has flip-up doors. Nothing says excitement like a set of beetle-wing portals.
We could have named the i8 Green Car of the Year, but it’s so much more than that. It’s Top Gear magazine’s Car of the Year. It’s the BMW i8.”
Other plug-ins that received awards:
“I’ve driven the LaFerrari very hard around Fiorano, twice, and even I can handle it. That alone makes it my Car of the Year. It’s also an artwork. It’s a massive indulgement, so it really has a duty to be beautiful, as a courtesy to other people who are forced to watch it go by.”
“The 918 is a direct product of racing experience and outstanding technological development and application. It melds electric and petrol power perfectly to move the supercar into entirely new possibilities. It feels, and is, unlike anything else before or now. It is my Car of the Year, no doubt.”
The BMW i8 has become something of an iconic car ever since the company showed it off as a concept back in 2009 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The car represents the German manufacturer’s first attempt at a pug-in hybrid supercar. The sustainably-focused sports car is part built in BMW’s wind-powered factory in Dusseldorf and has a design focus on using sustainable materials.
However, the car’s engines are produced at BMW’s Hams Hall manufacturing facility near Birmingham. The new three-cylinder engine is capable of powering the i8 from 0 to 60mph in less than 4.5 seconds, all while the vehicle delivers as much as 135mpg.
Transport minister Baroness Kramer said that the engine is a perfect demonstration of the UK’s commitment to the low-carbon transport. She said:
“The British-made engine for this ground-breaking car demonstrates that the UK automotive industry is at the forefront of the production of high-quality, low emission car technology. As our recent commitment to invest £500 million in ultra-low emission vehicle design, production and adoption shows, we want the UK to be a world leader in the global transition to ultra-low emission motoring.”
Read more: Next Energy News