The BMW i3 is not exactly the most popular electric vehicle out there. If some people got over its peculiar design – which I love, by the way – others consider its range to be too short to make it a viable option. Even though your daily chores will most likely never require more than the 100 miles the i3 offers with a full battery, some still like to complain. Well, to offer more than you ever though you needed in an i3, the guys from Lion Smart managed to create a concept which can travel up to 435 miles on a single charge.
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The trickery comes in the shape of a new battery with a capacity of 100 kWh. That would immediately make you think about cutting up the floorboard of the i3 to make sure it fits inside but the guys from the German energy storage company claim their design has the same footprint as the OEM battery it replaces. Basically, they can store more energy within the same space, which definitely seems like the way to go these days.
Their pack is also lithium-ion made and according to them it will allow the i3 to travel up to 435 miles (about 700 km) on a single charge. There’s no word about what kind of testing procedure was used to get these results (WLTP or NEDC) and no word on how long it would take to recharge it, since the i3 can only take up about 16A with its standard charging port. However, their battery pack uses a fuse for each battery cell so that if one of them fails, only that bit is disconnected from the system to make sure the rest of the cells aren’t affected.
This looks like the perfect solution for what people always thought they want from their electric vehicles: more range. The thing is, while 435 miles seem like a lot, the bigger issue, which isn’t addressed here, is how long it takes to recharge it. Range isn’t necessarily the issue with EVs but it’s the charging time. If you could charge your car using a normal socket in 10 minutes, nobody would care that you’re limited to 100 miles on every charge, you’d be good to go in minutes. Nevertheless, what the guys from Lion Smart achieved here is impressive.
id buy it
Me too.
Me too. :)
Me too !!!
Why do knowledgeable people say things like electric cars to be viable need to be rechargeable in ten minutes. I would put 400 plus miles of range as a greater asset then 10 minutes of recharge time. In point of fact 40 minutes to 80% battery charging is sufficient for traveling with just 220 miles of range. With over 400 miles you are good to go anywhere.
Because that’s really the problem here. Think of it this way: nobody refuses to buy an M760Li because its range is just 250 miles. That’s because you can just refuel it in 5 minutes. I’m not saying it’s not a nuisance but it’s not something you can’t ever get over or that’s so troublesome, you wouldn’t buy an otherwise amazing car. That’s the number one reason why people are reticent towards electric cars, but they just don’t realize it yet.
I never drive more than 125 miles a day, and most days I drive fewer than 40. How often do people drive more than 500 miles in a day? Certainly there are people who drive a lot, but most do not. And most of the people who drive many miles in a day, I suspect, have two cars. It’s not a “problem”. It’s a choice.
The number one reason why people do not buy electric cars is that they don’t know about them. Manufacturers don’t advertise them; most manufacturers, even if they make one, don’t want to sell them, and certainly franchised dealers don’t want to have anything to do with them.
The AAA reports that more than half-a-million fossil-driving people run out of gas every year, leaving them stranded. Oops!
Living in Germany with the Autobahn it’s pretty easy why I don’t drive an e-car. It’s just not capable enough!
I need 6 hours for 850km in my 330 Diesel. I only see Teslas going slow on middle lane with 120k, while I can go 200k with cruise control for 500km without any hassle. I do these trips every 4-6 weeks, so it would be a nightmare with any e-car…
For just the city and around, an i3 would be my favorite choice, as it’s just so much fun to drive!
This is very impressive and this is what we call progress. The range the i4 and other BMWs will bring to us. ;-)
Charging just isn’t the problem with electric cars. You only need DC fast charging for trips and level 2 charging for everything else. Most people just don’t know enough about EV’s to intelligently make a decision based on their perception of charging issues.
It takes 5 seconds to plug in your car and you just walk away. The next day when you are ready to go somewhere you have a charged upvote to car ready to go. Trips at best are 5% or 10% of your driving and just aren’t a issue. If it is use a petro car for trips, or rent one.
The reamaining issues in EV’s are range for some of them, and people who don’t own their own homes, or live in apartments. We own our own home with grid tie solar and have a second vehicle that is petro so we don’t have any issues for charging. We love driving on sunshine.
I have a 2014 BEV in the Phoenix area for the past four years…never had a range problem. Now with a 2018 i3S Rex in NY…I just took it on a trip 500 miles to Cape Cod and a second covering 300 miles to Berkshires. Range anxiety is a fabrication of the fossil fuel industry and motorheads.
What are you smoking? Range anxiety is a real thing and if you didn’t have the gas engine backup you would’ve been screwed
No way cause I would not do the trip. It’s called planning..and knowing what your EV or ICE is capable of doing. That doesn’t take much in the way of common sense. Thousand of ICE motorists are stranded because they run out of gas and that’s poor planning. I would not do a 500 mile trip in an 80 mile range BEV. I’d rent a car for the one occassion.
I’m paying what equals 95 cents per gal of gasoline charging my EV at 17 cents / kWh. Screw $3.00 / gal. What are you smoking to want to pay such high fuel costs?
Planning!!! You buy and drive the car that meets your needs. Planning!!! With planning there is no range anxiety. You have so many options in EV choices today that range anixety is a purely a fabrication or better, conspiracy, of the fossil fuel industry and motorheads.
Well you see using a normal vehicle you don’t need to plan so extensively. Some people are dumb and will run out of fuel no matter what it runs on.
Price of fuel doesn’t matter to me. I’d gladly pay more for gas simply to not drive and electric car.
Saying this a fabrication makes you lose all credibility in what you’re saying. It’s like listening to a Tesla cultist or crazy far right/far left person try to explain their ‘logic’
Now that is true…Americans just want to buy and drive big ICE vehicles, no time to plan or think ahead of the consequences.
The price of EVs doesn’t matter to me. Just want to drive clean, quiet, no gasoline, pure power…and with solar panel I’m enjoying the best that technology today can offer.
I’ll never buy an ICE again..ever. Well if I had to buy another REX I would that i3S is lightening on wheels. I love seeing all those motorhead Anericans sitting at the green light while I zoom quietly ahead!
I think they must be all smoking weed too….! Lol
Your generalizations only further prove my previous statement. You can’t reverse climate change, or stop it. The most we can do is slightly sloe it down which won’t make a huge difference.
Please keep thinking how clean batteries are when we mine the materials, use OIL for the plastics and other materials inside the vehicle and let’s not forget where the majority of electricity comes from globally. There are many things I didn’t mention but you will never agree with me regarding what I’ve said. I’ll enjoy your dellusions thinking we don’t use fossil fuels for anything in electric cars. Do yourself a favor and look at the attached image, you can’t avoid oil it’s everywhere.
If you care so much about the environment please stop using all of these products and the thousounds more derrived from fossil fuels. Meanwhile you’re ridiculous mentalitiy makes me want a NA V12 powered car that gets 5MPG at best
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dcfae0e85fa273883cfacc01e7622b5020acb5ffeb146ba694a19300de878bff.jpg
Right you can only think about yourself…so sad…
“The report estimates that more than 140 million Americans live in areas with high levels of ozone. This puts them at risk for premature death, aggravated asthma, difficulty breathing and future cardiovascular problems, according to the report.”
As I suspected you neglected to actually read what I wrote and instead continue on with some nonsense. Do us all a favor and troll elsewhere. You can’t reverse climate change we all know this. Tell yourself whatever bs that makes you feel better man. Driving electric cars damages the environment more than current fossil fuel ones because of how power is generated and batteries are produced. This isn’t hard to figure out but I guess you don’t understand how things work or where they come from.
An i3S isn’t fun I think you’re confusing that word with boring. Tesla’s are no green cars to any degree, in fact they’re marketed as ‘performance vehciles’ more than anything.
I don’t mind paying $4-5 per gallon for fuel because an ICE will always sound better than electric motors. I’m not against having an electric motor to add more power to let’s say a supercharged V8 because that’s a good use.
Now you said it and I’ll quote you “Tell yourself whatever bs that makes you feel better man”.
What more is there to share as you just keep telling yourself whatever bs that makes you feel better man and smokin that weed…You been duped by the lies and the fabrications of the Koch Brothers, the fossil fuel industry, and your motorhead buddies.
You need to hold the past tight because you fear progress and the benefits that technology will bring. Thank goodness the world doesn’t need a few motorheads who want to live in the ’50s. And I will conceed one point that you might actually be right about ..it may be too late but lets try anyway…nothing will top the performance of an EV ..even my 2014 BEV i3 does better that 99% of production cars. BMW did a great job and now to have 400+ miles in the same battery space ..there is no stopping progress now. Thank goodness.
I love how you assume I’m some ‘stoner’ as you’ve described. I guess being a successful engineer means I fit a stereotype? For the record I do not smoke anything but I appreciate the choice words because you’re running out of ideas.
When did I say I was afraid?, Oh wait never.. you’re whole argument is following what most politicians do using an ad hominem rather than address what I’ve said. This is important because it shows you have no real comment for the merit of my argument. I have no issues with electric cars, but fossil fueled ones are simply better for the reasons people enjoy vehciles. Of course things will progress as will tech involving fossil fuels which cannot be eliminated from vehciles or everyday life. There will always be some form of oil used in cars whether you like it or not as I’ve previously demonstrated. This whole thing is rather amusing to me because it’s akin to arguing with an insane person. I know you’ll never agree with me; the words you type are simply entertaining.
Bye for now…
BTW if you live in the path of Hurricane Florence…get that your big ICE vehicle revved up and head for the hills… there will be a lot of damage and a lot of people suffering from these massive storms. and the flooding and the loss of property. The world is heating up and as you say, we just may not be able to reverse the climate changes that humans have precipitated.
I do own 2 BMW i3s. These cars are great in so many ways. Easy to get in and out and that is something lacking in the Model 3 and the Model S. Tsla seems to think folks don’t need cup holders in vehicle .. the Mod S has two. I think the i3 comes with 6 or 7. Did you ever get a chance to drive an i3 or any EV?
Fossil fuel cars and their attendant carbon emissions as well as the air pollution needs to go. Driving at high speeds for 500 km isn’t something we need for personal transportation. It would be possible to do 160 kph in an electric car at 200 watt hrs per km with drag coefficients of 0.13 but that body form isn’t currently available from mainstream automobile manufacturers. The aft portion would need to be deploy-able for highway driving and retractable for city driving. Nothing, I repeat nothing out there is as efficient as an electric drive train. The energy density problem is rapidly becoming a non issue.