With the debut of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI in 2008 and subsequent releases from Mercedes, BMW and Audi, diesel's fortunes in the United States are beginning to change.
Last week BMW announced it would launch an optional range-extending engine to its carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic bodied, i3 electric city car, due in Germany by 2013.
This news comes just around three months after Volt lead engineer Frank Weber was hired away by BMW, and talk then was they were thinking of creating more range-extended vehicles.
At the time of his hiring, BMW already had in the works the petrol-plus-electric i8 sports car. It also is due for production in 2013, but details are vague, with unknown launch date for either car in the U.S.
BMW says it will launch a new joint car-sharing service this year, offering premium vehicles and a range of supporting services that the company says will be the first of a kind for the industry.
BMW and France's PSA Peugeot Citroën issued a press release this week stating that the two companies, the longtime partners in engine development, would begin developing hybrid technologies together. Bloggers jumped to the conclusion that the move is a sign of strength and shows a renewed commitment about electric drive vehicles. They immediately started guessing about which models would get hybrid or plug-in hybrid drivetrains. The announcement is more accurately interpreted as a sign of weakness—a fearful response to falling way behind in the hybrid space.
In one more sign of the need to overhaul of U.S. energy policy, the Internal Revenue Service has certified the 2011 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 for a tax credit of up to $900 under Alternative Motor Vehicle rules. Hybrid or not, the use of taxpayer dollars to support the purchase of the BMW ActiveHybrid 7 is wrong in so many obvious ways.
Hybrid gas-electric cars dominate Kelley Blue Book’s latest list of the most fuel-efficient vehicles. It’s no surprise that six cars in the top 10 list, released this week, are hybrids and two are small cars—the Mini Cooper and Honda Fit. But the two clean diesel offerings—one from Volkswagen and one from BMW—almost escape notice.
One step at a time—slowly but surely—BMW is developing the knowledge and capacity to deliver a small all-electric car by 2013. The company's next test platform is the ActiveE, an all-electric version of the 1-series.
A senior BMW executive last week told Edmunds.com that its 356-horsepower plug-in hybrid 2+2 concept sports car is headed for production in 2013. Only time will tell if the comment is backed by a real commitment from BMW. Regardless, the vehicle follows an emerging trend that the world’s fastest, most exotic, and most expensive sports vehicles will utilize some form of efficient electric-drive technology.
It’s commonly reported that lithium ion batteries will usher in a new era of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Not exactly, says John German, the engineer who literally wrote the book about hybrid cars for the Society of Automotive Engineers. In an interview with HybridCars.com, German said the next wave of lithium ion batteries will not significantly reduce the cost of electric cars, but they could make conventional hybrids ubiquitous.
Nearly 10 years since the first hybrids hit US roads, BMW and Mercedes both announced pricing this week for their first gas-electric hybrids arriving in showrooms this month. The BMW ActiveHybrid X6 will sell for $89,725. The Mercedes ML 450 Hybrid will only be offered on a lease of $659 a month for 36 months, or $549 a month for 60 months.
