- 3,957
- Cleveland
Tesla did that a decade ago. Might be wrong, but most eco cars today use Tesla technology under license, guessing this does, too.
GTP Cool Wall: 2014+ BMW i8
- Thread starter GranTurismo916
- 85 comments
- 6,485 views
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
The only modern production electric vehicles that use technology developed in conjunction with Tesla are those from Toyota and Mercedes (both were shareholders in Tesla at one point). And those are only the pure electric cars - Toyota and Merc's hybrids are of their own design.
- 3,207
When it was first revealed, I was indifferent. When I saw the Chris Harris video, I felt nothing. I'm simply apathetic towards this car, so I guess I must vote Meh.
E28
Premium
- 5,019
- Bristol
- Sofa
Cool. It's quick, futuristic, efficient, and is pretty revolutionary. Plus it looks like it's eaten a 911, and will draw crowds as quickly as any Lamborghini.
But... It's inevitably going to be driven by rich old people, it gets hated simply for being new, exciting, and (part-)electric, and will be absolutely thrashed by many other cars (and other BMWs). Also you can't put the windows all the way down, and they should make a roadster.
But... It's inevitably going to be driven by rich old people, it gets hated simply for being new, exciting, and (part-)electric, and will be absolutely thrashed by many other cars (and other BMWs). Also you can't put the windows all the way down, and they should make a roadster.
- 5,844
- On the run
- NaveekDarkroom
Yeah. I highly doubt anyone would be able to easily squeeze 100 mpg-US out of an i8, unless they're an extreme hypermiler or something. The Euro cycle is just too optimistic, and I've heard it's open to abuse. 30 mpg-US seems feasible though. Car and Driver got 22 out of the i8 in their testing, and they're apparently quite lead footed with their test cars. So 30 sounds easy.
- 9,401
- Western Sydney
- mustafur
All depends on how far you drive, if you don't drive far then infinite MPG is possible as it has electric only mode.
- 9,401
- Western Sydney
- mustafur
You answered your own question.
- 3,957
- Cleveland
better statistic is miles/kW when you have hybrids... you're still using energy, even if it comes from your local power supply
- 16,412
- Melbourne
- ScottPuss20
- CheetahsMeow
There's nothing bad about it, and it's a glimpse at what future sports cars could be like. Cool
- 34,949
- Indian Falls, NY
- slashfan7964
I am not thrilled.
- 3,202
- Murcie LP710
Meh. Future of sports cars it may be, but the Coolness of the hybrid technology is balanced out by the large price tag and the show-offy looks.
- 17,238
- United Kingdom
I think people need to be more pragmatic about economy figures these days. The i8 for you, may only achieve 40 mpg, but I'd be doing up to a 100 miles a week on battery power alone (about 20 miles a day). Even if I spanked it for 40 miles at 20 mpg on a Sunday, that's going to give me an overall economy of about 70 mpg. That'd be pretty good as far as I'm concerned (maybe not 134 mpg, but certainly would make 40 mpg "optimistic").
It's not so different to typical combustion engines I guess... my 320d can just about achieve 60 mpg if I'm reeeeallly careful, 43 mpg is realistic, but for much of my commute, it's difficult to get the average above 20.
- 87,319
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
I think the NEDC needs to be updated, rather than feeding people utter crap about how far their car will go.
Giving the combined fuel economy as "134.5mpg" leads people to think it'll do 134.5 miles for every gallon - not just once in a freak set of circumstances. With a 42 litre fuel tank (9.2 gallons), that suggests a range of 1,243 miles. Chances of that occurring are infinitessimal.
Unfortunately, the NEDC is a 7 mile (that's seven) preset use cycle - four cycles of urban stop-start and one cycle of extra-urban driving - and the i8 will run the first and traditionally least efficient first few urban miles on electric power alone - it has a 23 mile electric range. This generates two important bits of information. Firstly, the i8's fuel economy is generated solely from an 80mph run that lasts about six minutes and secondly, despite posting a 23 mile electric range, it's depleted that and is burning fuel by the end of a 7 mile test cycle.
It has little to do with spanking it, I'm afraid. BMW's own figures suggest a mixed cycle commute will run you to 40mpg.
The NEDC's urban cycle involves three acceleration phases of 0-15km/h in 4 seconds, 0-32km/h in 12s and 0-50km/h in 26s. None of that is a typographical error - the last acceleration phase is indeed 26s from 0-31mph - which is broadly half the peak acceleration figure of the famed Nissan Serena 2.3D. These are then followed by cruise phases of 8, 24 and 12 seconds respectively, followed by braking to a stop in 5 and 11 seconds in the first two phases and two separate braking phases (8s, 12s) with a 35km/h cruise in the middle for 13s for the last phase. Yes, 11 seconds to decelerate from 32km/h to a stop - I'm pretty sure you could achieve that rate of deceleration by putting your hand out of the window...
This incredibly gentle sequence is all repeated another three times, before the urban cycle is conducted - and yet the i8 is already burning fuel.
Now, I don't know about you, but the last time I accelerated to 32km/h in 12s I was fourteen and on a bike - and the vapour pressure from driving into thick fog will slow you down from that at the same rate... The sort of lethargic numbers you see posted above are so astonishingly divorced from any kind of normal driving habits as to be meaningless. I suspect that your 20 miles a day may well require some dinosaur juice, even if you charge it at work too.
It's frankly unacceptable that manufacturers can - quite legitimately, so it's not their fault - post ridiculous fuel economy ratings like this that are four times higher than the car will achieve in the real world.
It's wildly different to typical combustion engines as, although the test is still stupidly gentle and performed on a rolling road, they don't get completely free miles at the start of it.
And, lest we forget, even if the i8 ran completely on electricity for all of its life and we completely ignored the cost of charging it (because solar panels or something), it'd take three hundred thousand miles of 20mpg use of your 320d for you to break even on buying the i8 instead...
- 17,238
- United Kingdom
Very informative, just to be clear though I'm not saying I support the current test methods. There is a portion of the mileage that is "free", the economy any individual experiences will vary depending how much of the mileage falls within that free period... and simply to average out two peoples scenarios isn't necessarily going to be that representative either. This is why I think individuals will have to consider that kind of thing themselves more in future with vehicles like the i8 that not only have multiple power sources, but also multiple ways in which to utilise them, but yes, the base data needs to be more realistic.
Joey D
Premium
- 47,443
- Lakes of the North, MI
- GTP_Joey
- GTP Joey
You should be though. Think about it, cars like this show that even when oil gets to be too expensive to be a viable fuel option, we will still have fast, sporty cars and not be forced into driving a bunch of Nissan Leaf knock-offs.
I know you're rather traditional in your way of thinking about cars, but isn't speed and power made by some other means better than not having it at all?
- 4,487
- YorkshireLand
- SVTlover
- 23,800
- Philippines
Because oil companies actually have that much control over prices?
In the past seven years, speculators have pushed prices well beyond any price the market could support, and recession economics have pushed it down well below the levels at which most producers can break even.
Oil companies have little to no control over the price of oil. They're just paddling along, hoping to survive the price fluctuations.
- Also, we ARE low on oil. At 2008 levels of consumption, we'd have just a few decades left.
Only we're not burning oil like it's 08 anymore. And with deflation a very real and worrying problem in many parts of the world, we probably won't reach those levels again for quite a long time.
And if consumers aren't willing to pay for $80 oil, goodbye fracking boom.
