Test drove a BMW ActiveE today

[MTN Ranger]

Luckily today, I got to do a test drive of the new BMW ActiveE EV car. I know these are not that common yet - this is one of only 700 in the U.S. for a two year lease period. This vehicle is based upon the 1 Series and is the successor to the alpha level MiniE program that recently ended. The ActiveE is the beta test for the drive train to be featured in the BMW i3 to debut in 2015. More info here LINK and LINK2.

I haven't driven a modern BMW (I owned a 1990 BMW 318i) and the stick shift takes a little getting used to. I took the car up to 80MPG on the highway - it was quick, solid and extremely quiet (even quieter than the Volt at that speed). The regen on the ActiveE is almost exactly like the regen in the Volt in L mode. I hardly had to touch the brakes. The solid nature of the Volt is also seen in this car due to the size of 32kWh battery giving the car the heft of a 5 or 7 series (4000 lbs). The 0-60 MPH is quoted at 8.5 seconds and seems a little quicker than the Volt, but really not that noticeable.

The interior is basically similar to what you get with a regular 1 series. The back seats make the Volt look expansive; they are cramped. The rear is also hard to reach since this is only a two door car. The trunk is a little disappointing since the battery and other components take up about a third of its volume (not dissimilar to the Focus EV). This is understandable in a test vehicle based on a regular ICE platform. The i3 will be totally different since it is designed from the ground up as an EV. Under the hood, was interesting. There is a big plastic cover that extends over half of the engine bay. It is almost entirely empty underneath. The EV components only seem to take about half of the total capacity.

Overall it was a fun ride and a positive peek at BMW's contribution to the EV race.

[DonC]

Great opportunity. Thanks for the report. Amazing it can be quieter than the Volt at 80 MPH.

[MTN Ranger]

Great opportunity. Thanks for the report. Amazing it can be quieter than the Volt at 80 MPH.

This may be a case where the sealed trunk removes a lot of road noise. I think the hatchback is the biggest source noise on the Volt. There is also less glass area in the BMW too.

[Jeff N]

Luckily today, I got to do a test drive of the new BMW ActiveE EV car.

Cool! A great blog by an ActiveE owner is http://activeemobility.blogspot.com/.

[BAZINGA]

Once the uber machines enter this space in the automotive world you watch how quickly all the nay Sayers climb on board.

[SharkVolt]

They probably have much quieter tires on it.

[kickincanada]

My winter tires were much quieter than the factory tires on the Volt. I was shocked. GM should find quieter tires or more sound insulation in the back.

[DonC]

Once the uber machines enter this space in the automotive world you watch how quickly all the nay Sayers climb on board.

Ha ha! So true. The bigger question is whether, when the i8 comes out at $100,000, the car media will spend a lot of time figuring out how many electric miles it will take to make up the price difference between a Prius and an i8.

[Toasty]

whats on the screen?
any dash pics?

[Voltster]

The sentences that jump off the page at me from the Wikipedia article on the car is "BMW is planning to offer an optional gasoline range-extender engine." & "A range extended version that functions similarly to the Chevrolet Volt is also being considered by BMW."

I guess this means that BMW approves of the technology in our cars.