We are lucky today to get the loan of the new plug-in electric hybrid Mini Countryman for the weekend from our friends at BMW. Jo, our sales and business administrator, drew the long straw and will get to enjoy the new car until Monday. It shows an electric range of up to 22 miles (25
Plug in Hybrid options are beginning to cascade across the entire lineup of BMW’s core offerings. BMW designates these PHEVs as the iPerformance line with the marketing tag line; “Charging is optional, thrilling is not”. The X5-40e was the first to market in October 2015, then came the 330e in March of 2016, followed by
Panasonic Corp. sees the future of solar on car rooftops. The Osaka-based electronics maker has started producing a 180-watt array of solar cells that can be fixed to the roof of an automobile. In February, Panasonic announced that its photovoltaic module would be used on the roof of Toyota Motor Corp.’s latest Prius plug-in hybrid.
The joint venture in autonomous driving by BMW, Mobileye and Intel has gained another partner in German automotive parts and tyre company Continental. As the development of the technology continues at a pace, manufacturers are finding themselves in needs of an alliance with technology companies to ensure they can keep up with the demand required
AS ELECTRIC cars become ever-more mainstream this BMW 530e is the latest example of new technology becoming normal. BMW’s new plug-in hybrid version of the already-successful 5-Series could revolutionise the electronic market, especially among business drivers. Plug-in hybrid vehicles work by combining a petrol engine with an electric motor and battery. That means the car
The Inevitable EV
Four decades ago, the electric car looked set to be an acceptable commuting vehicle within a few years. From 1977: “The electric car seems inevitable. As oil resources dwindle, it will appear far more prudent to develop an automobile powered by electricity, charged by an already-in-place power generation system, than to invest in huge plants
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