BMW to Introduce All-Electric City Car by 2015
15 September 2008
BMW will introduce a new city car in 2015 that will offer an all-electric option, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer told the German newspaper Die Zeit in a wide-ranging interview.
And now comes the paradigm shift: in 2015 there will be offered a very new-looking vehicle with two drive systems. One with a very efficient combustion engine, because there are still regions in the world, where [that is] appropriate. And secondly as a pure electric vehicle.
The 500 electric Minis BMW is currently testing (earlier post) are a first step towards a mega-city EV—a very compact vehicle—Reithofer said.
Good morning BMW.
Too little, too late.
Posted by: pinki | 15 September 2008 at 01:47 AM
ELECTRIC CARS IN 2015 IS UTTER NONSENSE. FOR A RESPONSIBLE CO DATE SHOULD BE 2008. BY 2015 THE STRESS ON WORLD WILL BE TOO MUCH DUE TO POLLUTION AND OIL COST.
Posted by: NIRMALKUMAR WALA | 15 September 2008 at 07:31 AM
WALA;
The good news is that BYD may have over 1 000 00 PHEVs and BEVs on the road by 2015.
Another good news is that Toyota, Honda and many others may have produced 10 000 000 + HEVs, PHEVs and BEVs within the same time frame.
You certainly won't have to wait for BMW to catch up.
Posted by: HarveyD | 15 September 2008 at 07:58 AM
Germans like to plan and plan and plan.
They don't like to switch plans.
So on the positive side, they will probably have the car mentioned available in this time frame
Posted by: TM | 15 September 2008 at 11:28 AM
HarveyD
We know your enthusiasm about electric but are you so sure about Homda ? I just read to day that they don't beleive in EV or PHEV because they think the batteries won't meet teh performance people expect. So don't take your fantasy for reality, I believe in electric vehicle but they will stay small city cars for quite a long time to come. batteries have a along history of unkept promise and a track record of extremely slo and incremental progress and I don't see this really changing. ICE will still the core technology of the auto industry for the next 20 years, because they still have a significant margin of progression and they will progress faster than battery. The Electric revolution will be slow and uncertain
Posted by: Treehugger | 15 September 2008 at 08:52 PM
If people see that most of their trips are local, then this could catch on. I problems is limited utility. If they are going to spend a lot of money on a vehicle, they want it to do everything. So, you have a car that has limited utility, but cost more. This might limit acceptance more than technology.
Posted by: sjc | 16 September 2008 at 10:54 AM