Gas 2.0

BMW’s new City EV is to be a four seater that is even shorter than the other i-Project BMW offering; the electric Mini Cooper.  That’s hard to imagine from this picture; this car looks more sedan sized. Electricity will be stored in a water-cooled lithium-ion battery pack that is expected to provide a 100-mile range.

Compared with most companies aiming at 2010 electric vehicle deliveries (at least in their press releases!) 2012 is a comparatively sedate delivery schedule.

This is despite having produced a series of perfectly functional BMW electric cars going way back…that never made it to mass production. For the 1972 Olympic games held in Munich, for example – BMW provided a fleet of bright orange electric cars:

…  43 horsepower – lead-acid batteries and not much range; but they were able to keep up with runners in the marathon.

BMW’s new concept electric City car is far more gorgeous than all these previous concept electric cars that they have produced over the decades.

Let’s hope they actually build it. But 2012 is a big step up. Only a month ago they were saying 2015 at the earliest:

“The City could  be built in Germany. Kranz was quick to point out, however, that there was still a lot of work to do and that the first mass produced model won’t be ready for sale until 2015 at the earliest.”

I really can’t see why BMW needs that long to add this. They recently launched the all electric Mini E — at least for leased trials – and electrification of the Mini is moving at the same speed as all the other electric cars with deliveries promised in 2010.

2012; coincidentally, is the year that the new California Zero Emisssions Vehicles legislation kicks in.

Via Good Clean Tech
Image from Autoblog Green

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