IEEE Spectrum April, 2015 - 48

BMW i8

long-range electric vehicles
and plug-in hybrids remain very
much in play, the world is still
waiting for one of them to go
beyond a mere plaything of the
wealthy to become the Model t
of its age.
general Motors has paid homage to that ideal with the Chevy
Bolt, an all-electric hatchback
with a 300-km range. gM aims
to sell it for roughly us $30,000-
though the Bolt remains a lightly
fleshed-out concept ahead of
its anticipated 2017 arrival.
another drawing-board
conceit was the MercedesBenz f 015, a car so automated that its driver would
be able to swivel to socialize
with backseat passengers-
another car we'll dissect if and
when it reaches production.
one showroom car that did
make our list, the Volkswagen
golf, shows that the technical
contest among fossil-fueled
vehicles, hybrids, and pure electrics is far from over. among the
world's best-selling cars, this
hatchback for the common man
is being offered in four propulsive flavors: turbocharged gasoline and diesel models, the
high-performance gasoline
gti, and an electric e-golf. even
hydrogen cars, which had fallen
back to pipe-dream status a
couple of years ago, are on the
upswing again, with the advent
of the toyota Mirai.
ford chief executive Mark
fields is one of a group of industry leaders convinced that a
return to pricey gasoline is only
a matter of time. With americans
buying more cars than during
any year since 2006, the whizkid models of 2015 face a tough
challenge: to provide enough
thrills to keep the party going,
even as they face, someday, a
last call on fossil fuels. n

aPR 2015

nORTh aMERICan

Rich in carbon, not in
carbon emissions

process that takes minutes rather than
the hundreds of hours needed to handcraft the material in recent supercars that
cost $1 million. a 7.1-kilowatt-hour lithiumion battery pack nestles below the floor. a
96-kW (129-horsepower) electric motor
drives the front wheels through a full automatic two-speed transmission. the rear
wheels get their urge from a 1.5-liter threecylinder gasoline engine borrowed from
BMW's Mini Cooper but turbocharged to
170 kW (228 hp). drivers manage the combined 266 kW (357 hp) and 569 newton
the i8 isn't the first carbon-fiber-intensive meters (420 foot-pounds) of torque through
car. But along with its cousin, the i3, the i8 a superlative six-speed, paddle-shifted
is the clearest indication yet that the future automatic transmission.
toggle up the console's edrive mode and
belongs to cars made from material that's
ultrastrong yet weighs half as much as steel. the BMW will cover up to 35 km entirely
Whereas the us $42,300 i3 is a toaster- on front-drive electricity, albeit at a leishaped urban runabout, the i8 is a two- surely 9.5-second pace to 100 km/h and
plus-two sports car that can sip fuel, cruise a 120 km/h top speed. But cleverly, those
on electricity for short hops, or scorch the 35 km don't have to tick off sequentially the
asphalt anytime you like. Channeling the instant you unplug from a wall charger. the
spirit of Messrs. Jekyll and hyde, i took test all-wheel-drive sport mode replenishes the
drives in new York and the Midwest, includ- battery on the fly, adding about 1 km of pure
ing thrilling laps at gingerMan raceway, in electric-vehicle range for every 17 km driven.
that feature enables drivers to preserve or
western Michigan.
the carbon-fiber passenger cell of an i8, add electric miles for urban use. a few citits technical heart, is molded in a patented ies, notably london, charge hefty entry fees

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as a splashy billboard for a plug-in
future, the BMw i8 is unmatched.
environmentalists who shake their
fists at guzzling Lamborghinis fall
in love. speed freaks who scoffed
at electrified sports cars change
their tune in 4.4 seconds, the time
it takes the i8 to howl to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour).
design mavens thrill to the BMw's
thermoplastic-clad, wind-cheating
teardrop shape.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum April, 2015