The BMW i8 Project Will Give Rise To A Sustainable Supercar
Vishal Khan
May 29, 2014
The BMW i8 luxury hybrid car incorporates a wind-raked time-traveling skin that hides a lot of large and aesthetic numbers beneath it. The production of the BMW i8 from scratch cost BMW a staggering €2 billion ($2.77 billion) in order to build a sustainable hybrid-electric supercar.
Read Also: BMW i8 – Say Hello To The Good Looking Hybrid Cars
The Legacy Of The I Cars
BMW ensures that every vehicle under it’s ‘i car program’ is has its own carbon-neutral supply chain. A hydroelectrically-powered facility in Moses Lake, Washington makes the carbon fiber thread from which the lightweight cars are constructed. Assembled at a facility in Leipzig, Germany designed by Zaha Hadid, the i8 will be available in the U.S. towards the end of this year.
Mechanics And Drive
Like an expensive Hot Wheels car, the BMW i8 has mechanical systems that are packed into low-slung Drive modules – one front and one rear. One contains the e-motor and the other the three-cylinder engine, with the hybrid battery compartment in between.
Life Cell
A self-contained, sculpted piece of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic makes up the passenger compartment also known as the Life Cell. The modular approach of the i8 holds a lot of promise to provide more flexibility in both design and manufacture.
Combustion Engine
The i8 is equipped with a 1.5-liter turbocharged direct-injection, three-cylinder gasoline engine that drives the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission. A compact electric motor (drawing energy from a liquid-cooled 7.1-kwh lithium-ion battery pack) drives the front wheels through a two-speed gearbox in the front of the vehicle.
Plug In Hybrid
The i8 is capable of traveling solely on electric power like other plug-in hybrids, and has a range of about 23 miles. It has an average driving economy to around 50-60 mpg and a net 362 system horsepower, accelerating to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds.
Why The BMW i8 Is Supercool
Weighing in at 3,455 pounds, the i8 has kickass additions like laser headlamps, wing doors and even two Louis Vuitton carbon-fiber travel bags fitted to the trunk.
