IPFS News Link • Transportation
BMW’s 75-MPG Plug-In Sports Car Is a Go
• wired.comBMW says its first plug-in hybrid will be an an all-wheel-drive sports car that performs like an M6, and we’ll see it in 2013.
The boys from Bavaria say the “overwhelming response” the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept received at the Frankfurt auto show last year — and the design awards it has won since — prompted the brass to greenlight the project. We suspect the fact that Mercedes-Benz is developing the awesome electric AMG SLS Gullwing and that Porsche will build the amazing Porsche 918 hybrid supercar played a role in BMW’s decision as well.
“There was a widespread desire to put the car on the road, and the realization of this desire is moving considerably closer,” the company says.
The car features an all-alloy 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbodiesel-and-electric motor up front and another electric motor at the rear. All told, the system’s good for 328 horsepower. BMW says the car will do zero to 100 kilometers an hour [62 mph] in 4.8 seconds, while returning 75.1 mpg and emitting 99 grams of CO2 per kilometer. Those are mighty impressive numbers for a car of this caliber — assuming it actually gets built, of course. A lithium-polymer battery of undisclosed size would allow you to tool around on electricity for up to 31 miles. Auto Express says we can expect production versions to use a gasoline engine and one electric motor to simplify things.