BmwMegacityEv
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BMW puts a range-extending ICE in its Megacity EV, provides tonic for your range anxiety
When we first left the safe confines of our parents' home, many of us experienced separation anxiety. As we grow older, we suffer from disconnection anxiety -- and no, iPhone owners, that doesn't refer to your fear of dropped calls. Now, BMW is combating our range anxiety, or fear of being stranded when your car's batteries run out of juice, by putting an internal combustion range extender in its Megacity EV. BMW is taking a page out of the Chevy Volt's playbook by placing a small ICE in its EV that doubles the range of the vehicle from 50 to 100 miles -- all in an effort to assuage the (irrational?) fears of its potential US customers. The gasoline generator will be an option for those who wish to venture beyond the city limits, so if you want to keep it totally green you can still do so. Our Bavarian friends won't be bringing the Megacity to market until 2013, so that should give you enough time to decide if you want to hasten the death of the ICE or prolong its life a bit longer.
BMW Megacity EV gets sketched out in more detail
Admit it, you've been desperately refreshing this page in the simple hope of learning more about BMW's first all-electric vehicle. Originally announced with nary a visual clue to its appearance, the Megacity has now been fleshed out in the above futuristic sketch, which gives us an inkling of the car's design direction. Don't expect it to have too much bearing on the final product, though -- we do anticipate the real deal to have, y'know, tyres. BMW is also putting together an all-new chassis specifically for this battery-powered city transporter, and has already begun crash-testing the carbon fiber-equipped shells. In spite of its compact dimensions, the Megacity is being described as a "premium sustainability" vehicle, meaning its 2013 launch will be relevant to a somewhat select group of people.
BMW commits to Megacity EV by 2013, will start by testing ActiveE all-electric 1 series next year
BMW's first all-electric regular series production vehicle, the Megacity EV, has now been set in stone and inserted into the company's roadmap for a commercial launch in 2012 or 2013. The Bavarian automaker has gone official with word that it plans to use its Leipzig assembly plant to produce the car and further notes that it'll feature a similar setup to the ActiveE concept (pictured above), which is set for field testing in 2011. Essentially a 1 series that feeds off the electric grid rather than the nearest diesel pump, the ActiveE runs off an array of lithium-ion batteries á la the well liked but recently troubled Tesla Roadster, and will serve as a test mule for refining the underlying technology. Generating up to 170bhp might not sound all that impressive, but it should be more than sufficient for the urban commuters these vehicles will be aimed at. Now we just need Mercedes and Audi to match that release schedule and the electric car should finally have its day in the mainstream sun.
