The Is have it

BMW i3 review: A city car for the future

Exotic composites, environmental creds, and BMW's driving dynamics?

Jonathan M. Gitlin – Dec 19, 2014 1:00 PM | 162

Credit: Elle Cayabyab Gitlin / Aurich Lawson

Specs at a glance: 2014 BMW i3 (Range Extender)
Body type	5-door
Layout	Rear engine, rear wheel drive
Powerplant	AC synchronous electric motor, 2 cylinder inline internal combustion engine
Transmission	Single speed reduction gear
Horsepower	170 bhp @ 4800 rpm
Torque	184 lb-ft @ 0 - 11400 rpm
Steering	rack & pinion (electronic)
Suspension	Macpherson strut (front), 5-link (rear)
Tires	Bridgestone Ecopia 155/70R19 front, 175/60R19 rear
Top speed	93 mph (150 km/h), software limited
Battery	22 kWh lithium ion
Rated max range	150 miles (241 km) (battery: 71 miles)
Combined fuel economy	117 mpg
Combined energy consumption	27 kWh/100miles
Internet connectivity	Optional, not fitted to test car.
Weight	3130 lb (1420 kg)
Wheelbase	101.2 in (2570 mm)
Dimensions	157.8 in (4008 mm) x 69.9 in (1775 mm) x 62.1 in (1578 mm) (LWH)
Base price	$45,200
Price as tested	$47,050
Options added	Heated front seats, Andesite silver paint.

With the new i3 electric vehicle (EV) city car, BMW is making a pretty clear statement—the company is serious about designing and building cars properly adapted for the 21st century. It’s a radical departure from the Bavarian automaker’s mainstream offerings, looking like little else on the road. In fact, its looks alone are polarizing enough for some people to dismiss it instantly (looking at you, Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson). But keep an open mind about the i3's appearance, and you too may discover that it’s actually a very impressive little machine.

The i3 is part of a two-car 'capsule collection' called Project i, the other half being the stunning i8 hybrid sports car (first seen as a concept car in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol). The Project i cars use a range of alternative and sustainable materials in their construction along with electric or hybrid powertrains, but the automobiles retain BMW’s traditional emphasis on driving dynamics. What’s more, like the Tesla Model S, they aim to do so without the hair shirt that can be all too common with EVs. We plan to take a closer look at the i8 in the coming months, but BMW was kind enough to supply us with an i3 for a few days recently. Of the two, the i3 is undoubtedly the more relevant, particularly since it doesn’t come with a six-figure price tag. But with its unusual aesthetic and the still-in-progress adoption of EV infrastructure, is the i3 the car for an efficiency-minded city dweller?

Ars Video

There’s no denying it, the i3’s exterior is radical and attracts some attention: not as much as a bright yellow Corvette perhaps, but over the course of a week several people approached us as we were parking or stopped in traffic wanting to know more about it. We got more than a few double takes from people in other cars while on the road as well. What’s certain is that the i3 clearly signals to people that you’re driving something different, an effect the Toyota Prius benefited from in the beginning as well.

The i3’s body shares some traits with other cars designed primarily for an urban environment (such as the Mercedes-Benz Smart). It has a wheel at each corner and very short overhangs, including a very short hood. However, unlike most cars designed for cities, the i3 isn’t a two-seater. What’s more, despite the compact external dimensions, it has quite a lot of room inside. In fact, BMW will tell you the car has the same footprint as its 1-series while maintaining as much interior room as the larger (and best-selling) 3-Series.

Similar to Tesla’s Model S, the i3 was designed from the ground up as an EV. The car has two principal components. What BMW terms the ‘Life Module’ is a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer safety cell, and this sits atop an aluminum “Drive Module” containing the powertrain and batteries. The electric motor can be found at the rear, between the rear wheels, as can the range-extender internal combustion engine when fitted. Keeping the mechanicals and the batteries low down imbues the i3 with a low center of gravity that belies its upright stance and pays dividends with regard to its handling.

The fact that the Life Module is made out of carbon fiber is something to boast about in and of itself. And the i3 does; you can see exposed carbon fiber when you open the doors. Sure, it’s not the handmade 'pre-preg' used in exotics like the Pagani Zonda or in Formula 1 cars, but those aren’t suitable for mass production. Rather, the i3 uses a similar type of carbon composite—called Resin Transfer Moulding—to the current McLaren range of sports cars or the Alfa Romeo 4C. What’s more, that carbon fiber is actually produced in Moses Lake, Washington, in a joint venture between BMW and another company called SGL Group.

Continuing with the lightweight theme, the car’s body panels are all thermoplastic (rather than steel or aluminum). The two modules are put together on separate production lines and then bonded together by robots, followed by those plastic body panels. According to BMW, the way the i3 is constructed is as forward-looking as the car itself. Renewable energy powers the factories in the US and Germany. Sustainable materials are used throughout. The production line is highly automated, and, since there’s no welding or stamping, it’s less energy-intensive and a quieter place to work.

The i3’s interior isn’t as polarizing as its external visage, but it is just as forward-thinking. Freed of the packaging compromises inherent with more conventional car designs, it benefits from a completely flat floor. Because of this, the car offers plenty of room for four passengers, who sit as high up as in an SUV. We’re prepared to believe BMW’s claims about 3-Series space on the inside; sitting in traffic alongside the company’s X3 SUV drove home how efficient the designers were at packaging the i3. The 'suicide doors' (slang for a door hinged at the rear instead of the front) really help access to the back seats, as do the front seats, which are as thin as racing bucket seats without being uncomfortable.

From the driver’s seat the dashboard stretches quite far out toward the road ahead; it's seemingly longer than the relatively short hood. Many of the dash and door panels are made from compressed fibers of the kenaf plant (a relation of hemp), supported by a lightweight magnesium frame. More expensive trim packages add eucalyptus wood, as well as wool and leather to the seats (our test car was the base trim level, called Mega World in i3-speak). A gear selector is attached to the steering column (which adjusts for reach and rake), and that’s also where you’ll find the start button—no physical key here. Information is presented on a pair of screens, one in front of the driver showing speed, range, and one in the middle of the dash for navigation, infotainment, and vehicle status. This is BMW’s iDrive system, which no longer deserves the reputation its early iterations earned for being hard to use.

It’s a bright and airy place to be, even in the rear, although the Spice Grey interior might be a hassle to keep clean. We certainly felt guilty trudging wet leaves into the car during the near-constant rain that accompanied our test. The luggage space isn’t amazing when the rear seats are in use—BMW quotes 36.9 cubic feet—but the rear seats fold flat for bigger loads. There are plenty of cubbies and cupholders, plus a USB port as well as a 12v outlet for charging gadgets.

VIDEO: TL;DR? Never fear, you can watch this for our video take on the i3, by Ars video producer Jennifer Hahn.

Performance

The i3’s Drive Module packs an AC electric motor with 170 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque, along with a 22 kWh lithium-ion battery. The car we tested was also fitted with the range extender, a tiny (647 cc/ 39 cu. inch) two-cylinder engine, capable of 38 horsepower. This engine has no connection to the rear wheels, instead firing up and charging the battery once it’s depleted. The obsessive focus on keeping the i3 as light as possible pays off here. The pure EV i3 weighs a mere 2,860 lbs, and the hybrid version just 3,130 lbs. That's much lighter than a Chevrolet Volt and similar to a plug-in Prius, neither of which have as much power. BMW quotes a 0 to 60 mph time of seven seconds (7.8 for the hybrid), which would have been quite fast a few years ago. Top speed is limited to 93 mph. But more important for the i3’s niche as an urban transport is the 0 to 30 mph time. We didn’t figure the performance, but others have measured it at around 2.5 seconds, which is more than respectable. That's in line with our seat-of-the-pants impression.

Despite the performance, you really don’t get the urge to hustle the i3, even though it’s quite capable of carving up a twisty road. Near-50:50 weight distribution and a stiff chassis make it dynamically capable, as does all that immediate torque (and therefore acceleration). Rather, a number of factors contribute to a slightly more sedate driving style. The driver’s seat is comfortable, but it lacks side bolsters to hold you in place. The cabin has an air of serenity thanks to the lack of a noisy engine and driveline—in auto industry speak, BMW has done a lot to minimize NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness). The electronic power steering is precise but lacks feedback. And the harder you drive it, the more rapidly you’ll deplete the 22 kWh battery and then the 1.9 gallon gas tank (if fitted).

We’ve written in the past about the way that vehicles are using their instrument panels to shape driver behavior, and the i3 adheres to this trend. The main dash panel indicates whether the powertrain is expending or recapturing energy, with a sweet spot dead center where the car is traveling most efficiently. The accelerator pedal also helps in this regard; the first inch of travel actually lets the car coast along, maximizing miles per kWh.

The accelerator pedal also becomes the primary way you slow the car. The difference between an electric motor and a generator is merely the direction it's being spun, and as with most EVs the i3 will recapture kinetic energy under deceleration, sending it back to the battery. The more you lift off the accelerator, the stronger the regenerative braking. You quickly adapt to the pedal’s travel, reading the main display and the road ahead and anticipating when to coast, when to regenerate, and when you might have to actually move your foot over to the brake pedal.

The i3's main display. The semicircle underneath the speed reading tells you if you're using energy (right side) or harvesting it (left side). Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Range

The flip side to the i3’s impressively light weight and decent performance is range. BMW has designed the i3 to excel as a city car, and their research told them that the average driver only covered 30 miles a day. Their marketing material claims the i3’s 22 kWh battery affords between 80-100 miles on a full charge, but in our hands a completely charged battery still only indicated a maximum range of 70 miles (with another 60 miles available from the range extender). How you use the car can shrink that number further.

There are three different driving modes, toggled with a dedicated switch. Upon start up the i3 will be in Comfort mode; engaging Eco Pro increases battery range by around seven miles, and Eco Pro + bumps it a little further (along with limiting top speed to 56 mph). Running the heater, seat heaters, or AC affects the range—turning on climate control will drop the estimated range by between five and seven miles. Those tradeoffs will be common place; the car has a large glasshouse and so will be expected to heat up in the summer. When we tested it in early December, it could get pretty chilly inside without the heater on.

In addition to simulating a 10-mile daily commute and general around-town errand runs, we also took the i3 from Washington to Baltimore to check out its highway behavior. Cruising along I-95 at 65 mph drained most of the battery by the time we arrived in Baltimore, and a broken public charging point at our destination meant the return leg was conducted with the range extender running all the time, adding a little unwanted noise to the journey. Longer road trips would certainly be possible, but they’d be punctuated with fuel stops every 50 miles or so.

Once the battery is depleted it requires quite a lot of time to recharge. When we plugged the i3 into a 110v supply with an empty battery at 8am, the car calculated it would be fully charged by 4am the following day—20 hours later. When fed with a 220v supply, a full charge only takes about three hours. There’s also a fast DC charging option (which our car wasn’t equipped with) that apparently cuts charging time to just 20 minutes. All of this is contingent on actually having access to beefed up charging stations. BMW will sell you a 220v charging point which can be installed at home, and some public parking garages have DC fast chargers, but there are still competing standards (and therefore plugs) for the latter, which means no guarantee of compatibility.

Connectivity

We mentioned earlier that iDrive no longer deserves its reputation of being hard to use. It’s evident that BMW has been improving the system throughout the years, and the version fitted to the i3 is intuitive to use even for neophytes. It’s operated with a controller that sits between the front seats (or via the steering wheel) and uses the center display on the dash. Connecting a phone via Bluetooth or USB was flawless, both for media playback and also making calls.

The press car wasn’t fitted with the Technology and Driving Assistant Pack, which meant we were unable to test out BMW’s ConnectedDrive features. Those include being able to check the i3’s status via a mobile app (iOS or Android), as well as controlling certain iOS apps. The limited setup also meant no adaptive cruise control either.

The navigation would absolutely benefit from ConnectedDrive working: robbed of data updates, the car wasn’t able to compensate for traffic conditions and wasn’t great at finding charging points either (although it displayed gas stations automatically). In general, we find that embedded navigation systems still can’t compare to a smartphone app, and until we spend some time with a data-enabled version of iDrive, that opinion won’t change.

Price

There’s no getting around the fact that the i3 is expensive. The base EV is $41,350, and the range extender version starts at $45,200, although both qualify for a $7,500 federal tax incentive based on battery size. The two available trim upgrades will cost $1,700 or $2,700, and it’s another $2,500 for the technology pack that enables ConnectedDrive. Adding DC fast charging is $700, and a home 220v charging port is $1080; together with the technology pack, those are probably essential options for the i3. That means an i3 will cost $15,000-$20,000 more than a Chevrolet Volt, Toyota Prius, or Nissan Leaf.

Does that mean the i3 is a bad value for the money? For quite a few people, the answer will probably be yes. On the other hand, it’s packed full of lightweight composites and advanced construction techniques, making the car unlike just about everything else on the road. It also carries a BMW badge (which will be important to some), and the interior is more upmarket than the American or Japanese cars.

Conclusion

After BMW picked up the i3, we found new appreciation for what they’ve managed to create. The BMW weighs roughly the same as this author’s Saab 9-2x, and it gives up about 50 horsepower and 30 lb-ft of torque to the older car. Yet for city driving, the BMW actually feels like the faster vehicle. The almost-instantaneous torque of the electric motor is probably to thank for that as well as a single-speed gearbox. Yes, we know which car to pick for a road trip, particularly if it involved Skyline Drive or California State Route 1. But when commuting in a metropolitan city, the i3 is in its element.

The problem of long charging times will, in our opinion, continue to present a real hurdle toward more widespread adoption of EVs, in particular, adoption of EVs among the i3’s target city dweller market. Most people who live in inner cities don’t have a garage or off-street parking. That means no guarantee of parking outside their house or apartment, even if it were feasible to run an extension cord out of a window at night (it’s not). That means being dependent upon the largesse of strangers, in this case public parking garages or work-provided parking spaces with power. And even though there are apps for finding public charging points, more than once we discovered they were broken, fewer in number than described, or in use.

Assuming one had somewhere to plug it in at night, though, and the i3 starts making more sense, particularly the range-extended i3. In fact, a straw poll around the office found quite a few people who were OK with the price tag compared to domestic or Japanese EVs or plug-in hybrids—thanks to BMW’s reputation.

Listing image: Elle Cayabyab Gitlin / Aurich Lawson

Jonathan M. Gitlin Automotive Editor

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

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