bmwkraftur.is

Rakst á þetta á northloop.co.uk, gaman að skoða þetta, set póstana í heilu lagi hér inn:

"Not sure if most people are aware but BMW make a fully electric car. They made some electric Mini's for a trial but they then made 1100 BMW 1 Series. 700 went to the US, about 160 went to the Olympics, but my work has got 3 to support the research, specifically into how these work in a car fleet/ car pool environment.
One of my old bosses has one of the 3 and is doing about 1100 miles a month, the other 2 are for car pool usage. Yesterday I managed to get one of the pool cars overnight...

So what are they like? The decals are a bit Marmite, but I quite like them, no point having something so odd and people don't know.



The "power bulge" in the bonnet looks nice and the body kit looks good.



First think you notice is they are left hand drive, all of them are, this is the reason we think not many people are using the cars in the pool, hence the one I got in has only done 895 miles in 4 months.

As they are demonstrators, they all have a decent spec, I would define it as nice, no idea what the equivalent spec is on a standard model. Full leather with most of the toys and the white theme continues throughout with the ActiveE logo's.









I had the compulsory briefing, which initially I thought of blagging with the "of course I driven one, loads in fact", but glad I didn't.

To start the car, insert the key into the slot, foot on the brake, then press start, just like a normal car, but not what I expected. The dial flicks up to ready, and there is a few clicks and buzzes, then its quiet.



And that was the briefing, apart from how to put into forward and reverse (hint: press the button on the side and push it forward for forward, backwards for reverse), the electric circuit decals continue everywhere.



Its even got an eco-pro mode to make it more efficient, which didn't get used surprisingly."

"Pulling off, its a bit like a normal automatic but the first real difference you notice is when you lift off the throttle the regenerative braking kicks in.
It brakes far harder than you would expect, easily as hard you would in normal driving and probably harder than most would. Once you get used to that, you never really lift the throttle fully apart from stopping for junctions. Junctions are odd, you lift the throttle still it stops, then you apply the brakes as it would start to roll on inclines as the regenerative stops.

As for "going" this you notice is very different to a normal auto above 5mph. It just goes, and by that, I mean it goes and accelerates at the same rate, no gear changes, no peaky engine, just a constant push in the rear. And quiet, not silent, there is a humming, Anne says its like a tram but I prefer to think it sounds like the cars from Logans Run.

First round about at the end of the road from work and swing it round, its wet and this is a 1 series with an extra 500kg, so I expect a bit of a shimmer/slide and the TC kicking in, but it has winters on and the torque just makes for great pickup out of the corners and the suspension is quite sporty. It's actually fun. :happy:

So I popped over to pick Anne up from the garage, who was surprised that I had a beemer, but not too unusual to borrow a car, I "forgot" to tell her it was electric. As we pulled off she was "surprised" to say the least, the weird constant shove takes some getting used to."

"The are a few nice things about it, the work BMW have put into it is good, the display give you loads of battery info.



BTW The heating and aircon is electric obviously but the batteries are heated/cooled to improve performance.





But my favourite is the reversing sensor graphics, where they have echoed the graphics on the car on the image.



The boot is f'in small, nothing there. useless. And under the bonnet is batteries, so no storage space apart from the back seats.





Half of this space is crash structure, to protect the batteries.

Ok, here's the down sides;
The range: it sucks, 100miles max, work limits us to 80, just in case. And lucky they do, after my little drive, I'd got 65 miles out of it and the range said 19 left. This is due to the cold weather, they now heat the batteries but it still isn't great.
The luggage space: I know its been mentioned, but by god, it makes the mx5 feel like a super tanker.
The brakes: You don't use them, I drove 10 miles in stop start traffic, never used them, so when you do use them, they are cold and wet and don't work well.
The noise: There is none and thats bad, sometimes, I nearly ran a cyclist over as he just shot across the road, I guess he didn't hear me, just the sound of rubber scrabbling for grip on the wet tarmac as I emergency stopped.


The benefits;
The range: Even at 80 miles its useful for commuting and general running around.
The drive: The instant go, it's quite addictive, 250ft/lbs of torque available always is good fun.
Commuting: The drive (see above) and the regenerative braking make commuting driving easier than any auto.
Spaces: they have reserved spots at work, which is much more important than you imagine at my work. I am now booking these when I go off site so I have place to park when I get back
Overall, would I have one? For me, if I had one of the pool ones permanently it would be brilliant for work commuting, shopping etc. and the BMW is a nice place to be. Would I have one as my only car? No way, never."