Born Electric Guest Blogger: Meet Christopher from Massachusetts

Christopher on pick-up day! Born Electric 8/6/14

An EV Awakening

Hi, my name is Christopher and I was born electric on August 6, 2014.

In retrospect, ending up behind the wheel of BMW’s new electric i3 feels like it was inevitable.  If you let it, life has a funny way of getting you where you belong.  My path into an i3 took about seven years, but with the benefit of hindsight, it feels like destiny.

The car I took to college in the late 80s was an Inka orange 1972 BMW 2002. That was followed by a jade green one, which I still vividly remember driving across the country in the summer of 1989.  I have been a fan of the BMW brand since those days and have owned five of them of various types in a continuous chain over the last 30 years.  For me the design, the handling, the safety, the quality, the purity of focus, the racing heritage - all of these things made BMW a brand I kept coming back to.  I have also always been drawn to the geeky technical side of things in life, so the cutting edge in technology, including as applied to automotive design, has been an enduring interest of mine. 

But as I have grown older I have become more and more concerned with trying to protect some semblance of our environment for my children’s generation.  And, probably in part because of my kids, as I have matured, I have become a more conservative and less aggressive driving, realizing that while pushing hard does not really shorten your trip, the stress and increased risk of aggressive is likely to shorten your lifespan.  Work, urban living, extreme road congestion, and family responsibility all conspired to make storming around in a sporty car less of a priority.  Given my day to day reality, a thirsty high performance car is simply the wrong tool for the job.

So not surprisingly, over time, the BMW brand’s focus on luxury, power, speed and performance slowly drifted out of sync with my mental frame of reference.  I still loved and admired the cars, but the idea began to gnaw at me that burning gas just for the joy of it was an irresponsible thing to do, especially day in and day out while commuting. At least for me, there had to be a better way.

As my daily driver, a beloved BMW 3 Series wagon, tuned somewhat severely by Dinan Engineering for more performance and handling, hit about ten years old in around 2010, I began to feel the first stirrings of a need to replace it with something better suited for the job at hand. Something more reliable, more comfortable, more efficient, more sustainable.  I began, as a sideline, to leisurely consider the options available in the market at that time. 

My 3 Series Dinan-tuned wagon

Some of the BMW diesels were interesting, but they were a bit too expensive - the pay-off was way too long given the high price of diesel in my region of the US.  The early BMW hybrids were not serious, or credible, efforts.  The small nimble 1 Series cars were sort of appealing, but there was no reason to downgrade to one of these from the beloved Dinan wagon.  So I began to look at other options. When we converted our home to solar my search began to look more seriously at the growing market for non-BMW hybrids and electrics.  I had always followed the hybrid and EV technology, but the cars suddenly seemed like plausible alternatives for the first time. 

So after a bit of research, we took the plunge and replaced my wife’s BMW 5 Series Wagon with a Prius V wagon.  With its arrival, the surprising pleasures of driving as efficiently as possible first became apparent to me.  The car was a bit of an eye opener. Setting the cruise for 65 and just chilling out in the right lane was a whole new experience for me.  Before long, between the hybrid joining the motor pool and the solar house generating a surplus of electricity each year, I had been bitten by the EV bug badly.

But there was still nothing I was tempted to bite on for myself.  I really didn’t like the way the Prius felt and drove and handled (it might crash test well, but in reality, to someone used to the solidness of a BMW, the Prius feels like a pretty flimsy car and drives like the transportation appliance it is).  Given the demands of my work and lifestyle I didn’t feel comfortable with a 60-70 mile range EV - I needed to be able to jump up and drive 125-250 miles at a clip if necessary, and couldn’t imagine spending good money replacing a car that could easily do that with a more expensive one that couldn’t.  And I didn’t want a big sledge-hammer of a car like the 16 foot long, 4700 lb, Tesla.  They are undeniably excellent cars in many ways, but the engineering approach, the size, the cost, and the short track record of the manufacturer completely ruled them out as an option for me personally.  So I was kind of stalled. (pun acknowledged)

The concept i3 is revealed

Not surprisingly, BMW’s announcement of the i Division in 2011 really caught my attention. The first BMW i car was still years away, but I began following the project closely and learning everything I could.  At each step of the way, I felt BMW made the right choices.  The emphasis on total sustainability in design and manufacturing.  The emphasis on lightness as a way to make the car more efficient and get to longer range (a sharp contrast to the just-add-more-batteries school of design).  The willingness to do radical things and use radical materials to advance the state of the art.  The focus on trying to keep the price reasonable.  The boxy, geek-chic utility of the package.  I began to feel certain that this was going to be my next car.

As the project progressed, I continued to read everything I could find to keep up to date.  The leaks and speculation grew increasingly enticing.  I was biting my nails that BMW would not make a design choice that suddenly disqualified the car for my needs.  My main concerns, even in those days of exaggerated range estimates, was whether it would go far enough on a charge and whether it would be prohibitively expensive.  If the rumors of reasonable pricing “between the 3 and 5 series” were comforting, the announcement of the Rex was a total revelation.  Once it became clear that this car was going to be available with a very smartly-designed range extender, it became inevitable that it was going to be my next car.

Tom and Dr Julian Weber, BMW's Head of Innovation Projects E-Mobility at the i3 launch in July 2013 in New York City

With great excitement, I watch the world-wide unveiling of the i3 on my laptop at work one morning in July 2013 . And I followed the European launch of the first customer cars that Fall very closely.  As the US release drew closer, and final US pricing was announced, I began to make my plans.  I joined Tom’s excellent i3 Facebook group and began to learn about the real-life issues reported by cars in the field.

Oddly, my first opportunity to put down a deposit and order a car came before the first test drive cars were available in my area.  But the deposit was refundable, and demand was projected to be through the roof, so I put down a deposit in early February 2014.  The Launch Edition requirements were a bit of a headache, but my first few test-drives confirmed all my instincts were correct.  It was clear from a couple test drives that this was a very special car.

As manufacturing issues stacked up, I tracked the Leipzig production weeks and watched with despair as my build date slipped repeatedly from mid-March into late April. However finally in late April the build began. As a projected single week in the factory turned into an inexplicable six week delay in the Leipzig plant, I vicariously enjoyed the tales of the first cars being delivered in early May to the Electronauts who had tested the i3 drivetrain in the Active-E program.

  

MY ClipperCreek EVSE

Widespread reports of initial quality hiccups, combined with mounting delays, really tested my patience (and at times probably the limits of some of my online i3 friendships.)  But the joy most people took in the car combined with the knowledge that BMW would stand behind their multi-billion dollar investment in this project and the certainty that a large silent majority was not having any issues, was enough to keep my tattered faith intact. Having Tom and some of the other experienced Electronauts there to answer questions and offer advice was indeed extraordinarily helpful.

Tracking the Don Juan

Researching and installing a charger kept me somewhat busy as May and June dragged on and my shipping delays mounted. Eventually, my car made it to the port of departure in Bremerhaven in mid June and, after another wait, finally got on a boat in early July. Tracking the boat was painful given how close, and yet so far, my car was.  But eventually I caught a glimpse of my ship on a webcam in Halifax Nova Scotia, and it suddenly started to feel very real for the first time. Arrival at the vehicle processing center in New York was like entering a black hole - the car sat in processing for three weeks before being released to trucking, and that was only after placing a couple calls to get it prioritized.  And, naturally, the trucking took forever.  Long enough, in fact, that the car arrived about two hours too late to take on a multi-state loop to visit family that had been planned to take advantage of the car’s arrival. 

So off we went in the Prius, and in a great irony, the just-arrived car sat for several days before I could pick it up.  But eventually I made it to the dealer, and after 30 years of BMW enthusiasm, 7 years of evolving awareness, three years of studiously following the i3 project, 6 months of post-deposit waiting, the perfect car for me arrived, and I was born electric on August 6, 2014. 




Has the car met my initial expectations?  Without a doubt.  The design and build quality is outstanding, and the car is as comfortable as any I have driven.  But the way it performs has been the biggest surprise.  This car is just such an amazing juxtaposition of serenity and fury.  Driven hard, it leaps off the line with instantaneous torque - you can drive a week and never meet a car that can beat it from a green light down a city block Out in the country, when accelerating out of tight corners, it has enough power to break the rear wheels loose (and trigger the traction control) even on dry roads.  But driven more gently it is supremely smooth and silent and tranquil.  The ride is firm as to be expected of a teutonic car, but the drivetrain is so quiet, and the cabin so tight and noise-free, that the car is just amazingly relaxing to travel in.  Further stress reduction is afforded by the optional automatic cruise control, which allows you to set your maximum speed and forget it from there forward.  The car will track the traffic in front of it and maintain a safe distance regardless of traffic speed (even down to stop and go speeds) and then silently leap forward when the road opens up in front of it.  A dream for urban and suburban commuting.  This is a car that will play when you want to play, and lay down the miles without tiring you when you just need to get efficiently from point A to point B.  To paraphrase E.B. White’s famous words about Wilber: “That’s one swell [automobile].”

Christopher Mirabile is an early stage investor in Boston MA, USA.  He is the co-Managing Director of Launchpad Venture Group and the co-Founder of angel portfolio management site www.Seraf-Investor.com. He blogs about technology, investing and entrepreneurship at www.scratchpaperblog.com. and Tweets under the name of @cmirabile

Customer Reactions From The First US BMW i3 Test Rides

The i3 used for ride-alongs at the San Diego National Plug in Day event. Photos courtesy Chris Llana

This weekend there were over about 100 National Plug In Day events held around the US. I was at the North Jersey event held at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. I was there with my new ActiveE and we had a total of about 25 electric vehicles in attendance. By all means it was a great day and we helped spread the word about how great plug in cars really are. However across the country at the San Diego Plug in Day event something special was happening. BMW had an i3 there, and for the first time in the US they were taking customers on test rides.

No one was allowed to actually drive the car, as it is a pre-production i3 and only BMW employees are allowed to actually drive it, but the driver was definitely giving the passengers a taste of what the i3 is capable of. He wasn't just rolling around a parking lot at 15 mph like many EV ride-alongs do, they went for a real drive on the streets and the driver was punching the accelerator to show off the power as well as the cars grip on the road. Since I wasn't there, I reached out to three people, Peder Norby, Grant Kluzak and Chris Llana, that were there and had the opportunity to go for a test drive to get their impressions.  

Peder and Grant are very experienced electric vehicle drivers. Chris doesn't yet own an electric car, but has been closely following the electric vehicles currently on the market and intends to buy one soon.

First up is Grant Kluzak. Grant drives a Toyota RAV4 EV and his wife Kristine drives an ActiveE and here's what he had to say:

"At the San Diego National Plug-in day event I had the opportunity to ride as a passenger in a pre-production model of the BMW i3. Since my wife is the primary driver of our BMW Active E, I am somewhat of a professional passenger in an electric BMW. I had a slight hang-up on the overall look of the i3, however after the ride, I now think the look fits the vehicles behavior. It's not an SUV and it’s not a traditional BMW sports car. It is truly a cross-over. You do not feel as low to the ground, or sporty as you do in the Active E. 

It appears to handle nearly as well as an Active E, possibly even accelerating faster. One truly amazing feature is the incredibly tight turning radius which will be very handy in tight parking lots or small city streets. The driver told us that the regenerative braking feel is nearly the same as the Active E and that he finds himself one pedal driving most of the time. I’m excited about this because I drive a Toyota RAV4 EV and find the regenerative braking is too light compared to the Active E. The interior cabin was comfortable and supportive as we would expect from BMW. There is an interior finish on parts of the dash and doors that looks and feels like felt. We were told that it is made from recycled carbon fibers. I really liked the look of this new material and was glad to hear it is made from recycled material. 

Riding in the back seat behind the driver was comfortable for me a six foot two large man. That is not something I can say about the Active E and the i3 was much easier to get into with it’s “suicide” doors in back. There are plenty of cup holders, two in the back and one fixed and one movable between four different locations up front. The BMW engineer I talked too found it amazing that Americans were so fixated on the cup holders in our cars. Apparently there was much debate between the US and Germany on the number and location of the cup holders. I think they got it right with one per passenger. Yes, it’s a four seat vehicle. Having loosely followed the development of the i3, I was under-impressed with the slight glimpses we saw of the vehicle along the way. I did not think it would be a good follow on to the Active E. Having now ridden in an i3 and getting to see and feel the ride comfort, I can’t wait to get behind the wheel and test drive one. I think it has great potential as being the vehicle we will replace our Active E with."

Photo courtesy Peder Norby

Next it's Chris Llana. Chris has been a longtime follower and commenter on my blogs and he even helped me out with photo-shopping for my April Fools post here this year.

"I attended the National Plug In Day event in San Diego on Saturday.  There were about 110 privately-owned plug-in cars there, of all sorts, as well as more than a dozen plug-in cars available for drives and rides (the Model S and the BMW i3 were passenger rides only).  There were seven ActiveEs there (and almost 40 LEAFs).  

 I arrived early and headed right for the i3.  Not a lot of people there at that time, but lots of enthusiasm.  I ran into Peder Norby there; there were at least a couple of other ActiveE drivers inspecting the i3.  The car looked better in person than in photos, Tom, as you have mentioned before.  The interior, in particular, was much nicer than the photos let on.  The driver's position was very comfortable, with ample head and legroom for my more than 6'2" height; the steering wheel was very nice, and placed to perfection.  Visibility was great.   

  The back seat was the big surprise -- very usable by full-size adults, and the front seats did not have to be moved forward to give room for the backseaters' legs.  At one point, both Peder and I were in the back seat -- both of us commented about how comfortable it was, for short runs at least.  Peder is about as tall as me, and not a small man.  We pretty much filled all of the available space, with no extra headroom, but that means most adults will find the back seat more than adequate.  

  I was in the i3 for the first ride of the day (in the front passenger seat), along with two others in the back seat (including one ActiveE driver).  A BMW engineer was driving.  The drive was out on the streets surrounding the parking lot where the event was held -- city speeds, no highway travel.  The acceleration from a stop was impressive, even with four people in the car!  I can only imagine what it would be like with just the driver in the car (and 500 fewer pounds).  With the windows open, the car under hard acceleration sounded like a muted jet engine spooling up -- very cool sound!  The ActiveE driver in the back seat said it was quieter than the ActiveE, and after one spirited take-off, told the driver he had just sold a car!  All in all, I was very impressed!"

Lastly, it's Peder Norby weighing in and he's a real EV pro. Like me Peder has been BMW's e-mobility trial lease programs since 2009. Peder had a MINI-E and now has an ActiveE as well as a Honda Fit EV and has racked up nearly 70,000 all electric miles. Here's what Peder wrote on our i3 group's Facebook wall:

There was plenty of room for Peder and Shawn in the backseat

"I think Shawn is 6'2" and I am 6'3" We thought we would put the two biggest guys in the back. Warning do not try this in an ActiveE! I would never think of trying to shoehorn myself back there.

Lots of room in the i3 for a small car. With the drivers seat fully back there is 4 inches between the seat and the back seat as compared to the ActiveE where the seat touches the back seat. Width wise up front I would say larger than the Active E but not quite as wide a as a 3 series. The space in the rear of the seats is very good, with the seats folded down there is a lot of room. Similar or greater to the Honda Fit EV. The Fit EV is a touch wider but not as deep.

Sitting in the back was very comfortable and we had a 6'0" driver in his comfortable driving position in front of me. I was just fine and not cramped.

Test drive was great, MUCH faster than a Mini-E which is MUCH faster than an ActiveE, and it all comes from the rear so much better control. The driver punched from the lights and it was very impressive even more so than the Mini-E.

Best impressions are:

That the car looks much much better in person, It is very planted on the road at speeds just like the ActiveE and unlike the Honda Fit EV (I love the Fit EV but its a bit of a tinny dancer on the highways. The car for me seemed even quieter than the ActiveE. The interior on the test car was the highest class and it was indeed higher in quality than the ActiveE,

Insights, The rep said that if dealers are taking list it's not official from BMW but unique to the dealer. He also said that BMW will be reaching out to the Electronauts and that they will be in the first group to get the cars. The driver of the i3 said he has lots of seat time in both the i3 and the ActiveE. He described the range on the freeway of both cars as similar and range in the city of the i3 as superior to the ActiveE.

One very interesting conversational detail was that the braking distance in the i3 is among the best of the BMW cars including the M cars. They are validating the stopping distance currently but that it is going to be a big surprise to a lot of people. That bodes very well for performance and for safety

We made some circles in the parking lot and I have never been in car with that tight of a turning radius. The carbon fiber roof is awesome, many areas where you can see the carbon fiber such as the sills and when you open the rear hatch. BMW left a lot exposed and that is good. Love the rear lights.

Very Impressed." 

Peder also maintains a blog about his electric driving experiences and wrote a post on the i3 driving event. You can read the whole post here. So I'd say so far so good. The people at the event that had the chance to go for a ride all seem generally impressed. I suspect it won't be long before BMW gets a lot of production i3's delivered here to the States and opens up actual driving events, that will be the real test.

BMW i3 Press Release

BMW NA sent out a press release today titled " The Ultimate Driving Machine in a new era of mobility" It's a pretty comprehensive press release and a bit long to post in its entirety here so I'll provide the link HERE and let you read it direct. 

Some notable highlights:
~0-60mph in approximately 7 seconds (woo hoo!)
~The range extender has no effect on luggage capacity.
~Navigation system will be optional.
~The high-voltage battery consists of eight modules (each with 12 individual cells), which together produce a rated voltage of 360 volts.
~It achieved a .21 kilowatt hours per mile rating on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). This cycle is less strenuous than the EPA test. 
~The 22kWh battery weighs about 450lbs
~When plugged into a public DC fast-charging station (50 kW) it only takes about 20 minutes for the battery to reach 80 percent capacity.

BMW i3 Cost a Hot Topic

There are lot of unknowns with the i3. BMW has been very careful to only leak out small details, much to the chagrin of journalists and enthusiasts interested in the car. However the most sought after piece of information that everyone wants to know is how much will it cost?

It seemed like we finally got some clarity on that a couple days ago when Diana Kurylko of the Automotive News wrote a story that claimed the i3's would be "priced at about $40,000". The story was of course picked up by many other outlets and suddenly everywhere you looked on the internet you saw "BMW i3 to cost $40,000". I was skeptical of his from the start. While I have no official inside information on what the price will be I do not believe it will be as low as $40,000. I'm thinking $43,000 to $45,000 as the base price, with options like the range extender and premium electronics packages pushing the price up to and even over $50,000.

Willisch handing me the keys to my ActiveE

So after re-reading Kurylko's piece a few times, it became clear to me that she came up with the $40,000 figure herself, not from anyone BMW. During her interview with BMW NA CEO Ludwig Willisch, he told her the i3 would be priced "roughly the same as a well-equipped 3-series sedan" and Kurylko added the $40,000 herself, assuming that is what a well-equipped 3-series sedan costs. Only she was wrong. A well equipped 3-series costs closer to $45,000 depending on what you consider well equipped. Realizing this I posted my doubts on the BMW i3 Facebook group page and opened a thread for discussion. John Voelcker of High Gear Media, one of the leading journalists in the US covering electric vehicles, was the first to comment and I could see he was interested in getting the facts straight. He later posted that he contacted BMW spokesman Dave Buchko to follow up on the Automotive News piece and Buchko cleared things up a bit, reiterating that Willisch only said the i3 would be comparably priced to a well-equipped 3-series and didn't offer any specific price, and that such a car costs more than $40,000 He actually said a well equipped 3-series "falls more in the $45,000 to $50,000 range." Voelckers entire follow up story in GreenCarReports can be seen here.

So the hope of a $40,000 base i3 price was short lived. Personally I never thought the price would be that low. I believe it will be in the $43,000 to $45,000 range before any tax incentives so the final cost on a base i3 without options should be under $40,000 after the $7,500 federal tax rebate for those that qualify. Add a nice array of options and the range extender and you're probably talking $52,000 -$53,000, or about $45,000 after the federal tax credit. Final pricing probably won't be announced till after the i3's official debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September.

Video: McNish's Facebook interview with Audi UK

By Johan Laubscher

Link to Audi UK Facebook page

The Audi UK Facebook page recently asked their fans to send in question for the "Facebook interview" with Allan McNish. A week after the request for questions the Audi UK page has posted the interview with McNish on Youtube. A few of the fan’s questions were chosen and the Scotsman McNish sits down in this video to answer those questions. Here is the video with one of the most popular Audi factory drivers, enjoy: 

McNish's Facebook interview with Audi UK

Join the BMW i3 Facebook Group!

On Facebook? Do you want to get the latest BMW i3 info and join discussions about the car? I've created a BMW i3 Facebook group for anyone interested. Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_127721967301673#!/home.php?sk=group_127721967301673