BMW and Daimler Collaborate on Inductive Charging System For Future EVs

BMW's inductive charging system uses two electromagnetic coils. One attached under the vehicle and the other one is located underneath the car. BMW is using some retired ActiveE's for the test fleet.

Will the next generation BMW i3 have a wireless charging option? That appears very possible with the announcement that BMW is working with rival Daimler on developing an inductive charging system for their electric vehicles.

This follows a recent announcement from Toyota that the next generation plug in Prius would have wireless inductive charging available. Toyota is using technology from Massachusetts-based WiTricity for their system. It's unclear if BMW is also working with WiTricity or if they and Daimler are developing the system on their own.

The two things about inductive charging that have always made me question its viability are the charging losses incurred and the rate of charging. I'm just not willing to pay a 10% premium on my energy just so I don't have to take a couple seconds to plug in my car. Wireless charging will never be quite as efficient as conductive charging, but the technology does seem to be getting better. BMW claims the system they are developing is better than 90% efficient so that's good news. Personally I'd like to see it get closer to 95% efficient though, which would make the energy loss a little more palatable. The charging speed is another issue. The system BMW is working on is limited to 3.6kW which is only half the rate of speed the i3 can charge at. BMW has said that they are working on improving the charge rate to 7kW which would be a great improvement, but would that then lower the efficiency?

Inductive charging for public locations makes sense.

Public EVSE has cables stolen

The issues I noted above with inductive charging are based on home charging where the majority of EV charging occurs. However when you consider public charging, I definitely can see the advantages a wireless charging system would have. For example, you wouldn't have to touch a dirty connector that may have been left lying on the ground. Plugging your EV in on a public chargepoint in the rain or snow can be challenging at times and inductive charging could definitely improve the experience. Inductive charging could also cut down on charger vandalism, as some clever thieves here in the US are beginning to realize they can cut the cables off public EVSE's and sell the copper for a quick profit. Even if it is less efficient, it's likely a better method for public charging, all things considered. The charging rate would have to be faster than 3.6kW though, as larger battery EVs simply need faster charging than that. Take for instance a Tesla Model S. Charging inductively at 3.6kW a typical Model S will only gain around 8 to10 miles of range per hour when you factor in the charging losses and that just isn't good enough to be useful in many circumstances. The more efficient i3 will get around 12 miles per hour charging inductively at 3.6kW which is better, but still not nearly as good as the ~25 miles of range per hour achievable on a conductive public EVSE charging at 7kW.

An answer to a problem that doesn't exist?

One of my home EVSEs

Getting back to home charging I really think a lot of the angst over plugging in at home is generated by people that have never owned a plug in vehicle. When I talk to potential EV owners, they frequently ask me questions about charging. They want to know if it's inconvenient, if I'm always thinking about when I have to plug in or if I forget to do so. Honestly, plugging in your car at home is so simple that it becomes something you do without even thinking about it. It takes all of about 5 seconds, and as long as you position your home EVSE in a convenient location in your garage most people will never have any problems plugging in. If you talk to other plug in car owners the vast majority of them will say the same thing. I really don't see me spending a lot of money for a home based inductive charging system, especially if it charges slower and has greater charging losses than my existing conductive system. I really think this is something that non-EV owners believe they would need, but once they actually get a plug in car they realize it's not necessary. I'm still open to the possibility of home inductive charging, but it has to be fast, efficient, and not cost much more than the existing conductive home charging equipment does. In other words, I believe we are still some years away before I have a system like this in my garage.

BMW ///M i3: It's Coming - Soon!

A full range of official press photos of this semi-camouflaged Mi3 will be released a couple days before NAIAS in two weeks. This is the only one I was authorized to reveal.

About six months ago, Eric Loveday of InsideEVs.com wrote this article that predicted the BMW M performance division won't be making an M version of the upcoming BMW i3 or i8. I've known for a while now that that was not true, but the information I got from BMW was under embargo until now so I couldn't comment on it previously. I finally got a chance to look at a pre-production ///M i3 last week. The car I saw didn't have all the body work or the special wheels that the ///M i3 pictured above has since this one is being used for internal testing here at BMW's North American headquarters, but it did have all the performance upgrades and ///M badging.

I was lucky to be one of only a few people to get a sneak peak of the M i3 before its unveiling at NYIAS in two weeks.

Perhaps this was the intention all along, or maybe BMW changed their minds along the way, but both the upcoming i3 and i8 plug-ins from BMW i will get the "M" treatment. Back in August of last year I did a post about BMW offering a Sport Version to satisfy the desires of the performance minded i3 buyers and it turns out BMW was definitely listening. Honestly, I would have really been surprised if the i3 didn't have an ///M variant or at the very least, as I suggested, a special edition "Sport" i3.

One person posted this on Bimmerpost. Perhaps they were wishing for an ///M i3 also?

Recent articles have popped up around the web eluding to the fact that BMW was working on a "special edition" i3 and that it would have a more aggressive appearance, but many assumed that would be reserved for the i3 coupe which is expected to launch about a year after the 5 door hatchback i3 that is available now. That's may be so, but I have confirmed the ///M i3 will indeed be a modified version of the current i3 offering, and it will indeed be available soon after the initial US i3 launch. If the i3 concept coupe does make it to production, it would seem likely to get the same ///M treatment as the 5 door hatchback is.

I knew all along that if BMW really wanted their customer base to welcome the i3 and accept it as a true BMW then they would have to offer a performance version, just like they do with their other models. Performance is in BMW's DNA, it's what distinguishes a BMW from the other premium brands. To not make a performance version of the i3 would seem to be a mistake in my opinion. However I didn't expect it to come so quickly. I figured the ///M i3 would be launched sometime in 2016 to invigorate interest once the initial excitement over the i3 began to wane.

TopSpeed (www.topspeed.com) had their go at what they think the ///M i3 will look like

Loveday wrote, "We suspect that BMW will make available several performance-enhancing products for both the i3 and i8 in the near future, but both an i3M (Mi3) and an i8M (Mi8) seem to be no-goes." That's certainly understandable since BMW had said on more than one occasion that they will not be tapping the M performance division to tweak the i3 & i8.  So what do I think changed their minds? My guess is surveys; it's that simple. Last September I received an email survey from BMW i asking me about 50 questions regarding my interest in the i3. I'm not sure if I was included in the survey because I drive an ActiveE or just because I was signed up on the main BMW website for i3 information, but the survey focused on what options I would pay extra for. Almost all of the questions centered around paying for more range and paying for more performance, with one of the questions specifically asking if I would pay and additional $8,000  for an ///M version of the i3.

Fortunately the majority of the respondents must have answered as I did, saying yes we would be willing to pay extra for both range and performance. Yes, I know the i3 is focused on sustainable personal transportation for an evolving world, but hell, there's always the weekends, and i3 owners will want to autocross their cars just like 3-Series owners do. That's part of the BMW heritage, and part of why people gravitate to the brand.

TopSpeed's ///M i3 guess shown in coupe' form

Over the two weeks we should be getting all the details for the ///M i3 & ///M i8 models. The New York Auto Show opens on April 15th and both ///M cars will make their world premiers there. This will coincide with another special announcement regarding never-before released information about DC Fast charging for the i3, so if you are an i3 fan, head to the NYIAS this year. The Press preview days are April 16 & 17th, with the show opening up to the public on Friday the 18th and running until Sunday, April 27th.

The ///M i3 wheels will be a modified version of the optional 20" wheels available on the i8

Opening ceremonies of NYIAS will include Mayor de Blasio declaring the show officially open and that will take place at the BMW exhibit, likely next to the ///M i3 and ///M i8. This all but guarantees that pictures of the new performance-orientated plug-ins will be plastered in every newspaper in the NY metropolitan area. Unless BMW strategically places their gas offerings there which would be very disappointing.

Little is actually known about the spec's of the ///M i8, but I do have some of the details on the ///M i3. Besides a more aggressive exterior styling, including a new front grill and spoiler, monochromatic paint (Yes, the black hood and rear diffusers will be painted the color of the car) a larger rear spoiler and fender flares. The standard wheels on the ///M i3 will be the 20" Sport wheels that are currently available on the i3 (the 19" wheels aren't available on the ///M i3). However there will also be a wider wheel offering which puts a 20" x 6.5" wheel on the car with 245/40/R20 Brigestone Potenza S001 Tires. The wheels look very similar to the optional 20" BMW i8 wheels but they appear to be painted black in the press photo I obtained. The upgrade tire size is nearly perfect in diameter and the speedometer will not be affected at all. I suspect this will dramatically improve the handling, but it will certainly come with a price. I'd expect this tire and wheel combo to likely be about a $2,000 option, but for the performance-minded, it will likely be worth it!

Specification-wise all I know is that BMW is indeed using the same motor that the base i3 uses, it's just been modified to increase power output by about 25%. If that holds true, figure on about 210 horsepower and 230 lb-ft of torque. I was told the goal was to get the 0-60 times in the mid 5 second range and with that kind of added power I believe it is definitely within reach since the stock i3 BEV does it in about 7 seconds with 25% to 30% less power. The suspension will obviously be improved for performance and the interior will likely get the usual smattering of ///M badging and special seats which offer more support.

______________________________________________________________________

Now for the most intriguing part of this. The i3 has been designed around the philosophy of weight savings whenever possible. Many of these features will add weight which reduces efficiency. Plus, the more powerful drivetrain will likely use more energy than the stock set-up does. If someone were to drive the car hard (like it should be driven) then the range may only be 40 or 50 miles, and that's just not enough. So I asked if the ///M i3 would be available with the range extender, and was told definitely not; it will only be available in BEV form. Pressing further about the likely limited range of what will be a very expensive 40 mile electric car he replied, "The ///M i3 will have a greater electric range then the standard i3. It will also charge faster and offer technology unavailable in any other electric vehicle on the market." Now this is indeed getting interesting. There are really only two possibilities here that make any sense. It either has a larger battery pack, perhaps utilizing the space where the range extender goes, or BMW is using the higher density batteries that they have been testing in MINI-E mules for a couple years now. These cells are reported to have about a 30% greater energy density than the stock i3 batteries that come from Samsung have, so that would seem to work here.

I wish I could say I've had the opportunity to test drive it, but I didn't. I was only allowed a brief in person look at the one pictured above in Arravani grey which was at BMW NA's headquarters undergoing internal testing and give the BMW Press photo of the semi-camouflaged one on the track. Even without driving it or knowing what it's going to cost, I decided to cancel my Electronaut Edition i3 and place my order for an ///M i3. They aren't officially available yet so please don't call your dealer and ask to reserve one, that won't be possible until after the New York Auto Show. The ///M i3 & ///M i8 will also be available in "unique colors specific to the M division," I'm hoping Melbourne Red is one of them ;)

4/2/14 EDIT: As many of you figured out, this was an April Fools Post yesterday and I want future readers to realize that. If you take a look at the first letters of each paragraph that are in bold blue text you can see that spell "April fools", I'm surprised nobody commented on that here. I hope you enjoyed it and what I really hope for is a real ///M i3 form BMW sometime in the future!

How Long Will it Take To Charge an i3?

The i3 will charge in about 3 hours on a standard level 2 supply.

Since installing public charging stations at my restaurant in Montclair NJ, I have conversations with EV-interested folks nearly every day. One of the most popular questions they seem to always ask is how long does an electric car take to charge?

I wish I could just give a quick answer, but it's just not that easy. Nearly every EV takes a different amount of time to charge since they have different size batteries and the also have different charging rates. Then you throw in three different levels of charging (120V, 240V & 480V DC quick charge) and there isn't even a single answer for every car. For instance if I said the i3 takes about 3 hours to charge I'd be correct. However I could also say it will charge to 80% in under a half hour (DC QC) as I could say it takes about 15 hours (simple 120V household outlet) to charge and I'd still be correct. So I try to quickly explain the different methods of charging and the fact that every car is different without totally confusing the person or making it sound so complicated that they are are turned off by it all. After all, getting gas may be expensive but let's face it, it's very easy to understand!

The size of the battery, the onboard charger and the supply provided will all work together to determine how long your EV will take to charge. The vast majority of the time most EV owners will charge their car they will do so on a 240V electric supply, so I'll focus on that here. One advantage "little battery" EV's like the i3 have is since they have a small battery, they will charge relatively quickly, provided they have robust onboard charging capabilities. The i3's standard 7.7kW charger will fully charge the battery in under three hours which is pretty good compared to the other EV's on the market. Only Tesla (9.6kW charging standard) and Renault (43kW Chameleon charger) offer an EV with a faster level 2 charging rate than the i3.

Miles Per Hour:

One way to condense the conversation about charging time is to simply say how many miles of range per hour of charging you get. The i3's small battery (18.8kWh usable) combined with its relatively fast onboard charger will allow you to gain about 30 miles of range for every hour you are plugged into a 240v 32 amp supply. This will be something I really welcome. My MINI-E could accept up to 12kW's and I would get about 30 miles per hour of charging. However after a recent BMW software tweak my ActiveE only gets about 15 miles of range per hour and it feels painfully slow, especially when I need to charge to get somewhere. I am
so looking forward to getting back to charging at 30 miles per hour when I get my i3. Being able to charge quickly on a standard level 2 supply is really helpful and once you've been able to do so you don't want to go to a slower charging rate. The car becomes imminently more usable when you can charge it quickly so I'm glad BMW is offering a pretty robust onboard charger. Now of course I wish it was a 9.6kW charger like Tesla uses, but that's just the part of me that is never satisfied speaking. In reality 7.7kW's is fine for a car with a 22kWh battery. It will charge twice as fast as my ActiveE and deliver about the same range, and that will really make the car much more versatile.