BMWi concept will debut at LA Auto show

According to Slashgear, BMW are going to be launching a new range of ‘i Cars', which would have done Steve Jobs proud. The new range are electric lithium ion i3 ‘megacity vehicle's' with a ‘plug in hybrid i8 high performance model'.

Rich Steinberg (love the name!), the manager of electric vehicle operations and strategy at BMW said “[The i3 and i8] are both sort of bookends in terms of the ‘Born Electric’ concept. The i3 is … a relatively small platform: four doors, four seats, pure-electric drive, lithium-ion battery technology. The i8 is on the other end of the spectrum … extremely high performance yet at the same time having an extremely low carbon footprint.”

The cars will have full carbon fibre bodies to keep down weight and cost which will improve the range, before a recharge. Surprisingly BMW are claiming some really impressive performance figures for these new cars. The i8 for instance can apparently hit 60 mph in 4.6 seconds.

The i3 and i8 should be available in 2013 and 2014 and are currently undergoing internal testing.

Kitguru says: There are no details as yet on the pricing but we would expect them to be rather expensive.

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