Electric car icons in danger: BMW introduces i3 and i8 for disposition

04/03/2018

Electric car icons in danger BMW introduces i3 and i8 for disposition

BMW

BMW i3 (left), i8

BMW Show stock market chart is increasingly doubting the future of his two most prestigious electric cars, Both the i3 small car and the i8 sports car could soon no longer be produced, leaving BMW’s battery drive leader, Stefan Juraschek, the trade journal “Automotive News” know,

“These two cars are not capable of being upgraded to a family of vehicles,” said Juraschek. It was therefore too early to say whether there would be successor models for the two cars.

A BMW spokeswoman reacted evasively to manager-magazin.de on the report: “Of course, there will be in the future at BMW electric vehicles for the city and commuting (currently BMW i3) and hybrid sports cars (currently BMW i8),” shared she with. The term “i” but might not be needed for electric cars, if the battery drive has become standard.

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This threatens the two electric icons the role of experimental vehicles, which were indeed produced in relatively high numbers, but have an early expiration date. BMW manufactures both vehicles since 2013 and has about Two billion euros invested in development and construction of the production, Since then, more than 100,000 pieces of the i3 (from 37,550 euros) have been sold worldwide, of the i8 (from 138,000 euros) a few thousand. The cars helped the people of Munich to become a pioneer in electric cars.

What is needed are models that can easily be scaled to large numbers

But now that electric cars are to be mass suitable, the lavishly constructed flagship Stromer may not help any further. What is needed are models that can easily be scaled to large numbers.

This hopes Group CEO Harald Krüger rather of cars such as the i4 and the car iNext series, which will roll from 2021 from the factories. These should have a much larger electrical range and be manufactured in a modular system.

In contrast, the birth of i3 (battery electric, also available with gasoline range extender) and the plugin hybrids i8 one came Reinventing the automobile by hand Near. Developers found new, environmentally friendly solutions for most of the key components.

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So the body of both cars is made of lightweight carbon. For its production, a 700-million-euro plant was built in the United States. BMW also contributed one-sixth to producer SGL Carbon.

However, there were always problems with the time-consuming production. In part, BMW engineers also questioned the expensive material carbon, which complicates production expansion and a lower price on the i3.

At the same time, the carbon-fiber body justifies the myth of the first BMW series electric cars. And thus contributes to the fact that at least collectors should find a lot of positives in the possible out for the i-models – especially since the shell does not rust.

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