BMW's dazzling i cars: More carbon fiber Chevy Volt than Nissan Leaf
Small gasoline engines rather than electric motors only that limit you to 75 to 100 miles. That’s a sudden shift for the smaller BMW i3 city car, which was to have been an electric vehicle (EV) only and now will be offered with a gasoline engine option. The BMW i8 sports car was always designed as battery-mit-gasoline-engine vehicle. With their swoopy carbon fiber bodies, both look like the auto show concepts that never get beyond auto shows. In fact, they are just two years from production, and they are likely to look pretty much like the concept cars unveiled Friday in Munich (video and gallery below).The BMW i3 is a four-passenger city car 151 inches long, slightly longer than a Mini Cooper, that weighs just 1,250 kilograms or 2,756 pounds, about 600 pounds lighter than the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle that is two feet longer. The i3 length suggests the back seat is for occasional use. The i3 carbon fiber body will be incredibly strong, incredibly light, and incredibly difficult and costly to form. BMW isn’t talking price on the i3, but it could easily be a $50,000 car with the carbon fiber and the BMW brand premium. (The Nissan Leaf base price is $33,000; the Chevrolet Volt is $41,000.) BMW projects 80-100 miles on electric power, six hours to fully charge the battery, and one hour to 80% charge with a special charger. The hybrid version might have a smaller battery pack to make room for the gasoline engine and fuel tank.
The exact details aren’t yet known, but it’s very likely that the i series will also have heavy doses of technology to help with automatic parking, telematics to help you avoid traffic jams at least in theory (try finding an uncrowded alternate route in Beijing), and front protection to identify and warn of possible collisions, like Volvo City Safety .
As BMW expands, it has bought up existing brands and created new sub-brands. It bought Rover (didn’t work; jettisoned), Mini (smashing success), and Rolls-Royce (also doing well). To expand to newer markets, especially the big cities of Asia, BMW created the Megacity brand, which has been renamed the i brand, a troublesome name for everyone whose English-language spell-checker autocorrects i Why the gasoline engine on the i3? When BMW showed concepts of the i cars as far back as 2009, the city car (i3) was described as an electric vehicle (EV). BMW in 2008 built 400 Mini E electric prototypes that were quick, quiet, fun , and didn’t go more than 100 miles. According to people who won a chance to be test-lease-drivers, a lot of them wanted the Mini E to be their only car — notwithstanding that the back seat was now full of batteries and the trunk held only a couple bags of groceries — and needed more than 100 miles of range. Thus BMW’s announcement that there’d be two versions of the i3, one the expected EV that would be a lightweight Nissan Leaf (our words, certainly not BMW’s), plus the REx version that adds a range-extending gasoline engine, making it more like the pioneering Chevrolet Volt.
Carbonfiber Motorcycle Wheels - News
The BMW i cars use a lifedrive architecture, which refers to a body made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic that provides low weight and extreme safety. Race cars make extensive use of carbon fiber, as do the Boeing 787 and high-end motorcycle helmets.
Until recently, going faster than 300 miles per hour on two wheels required stuffing oneself feet-first into a torpedo-shaped, outrigger-equipped streamliner motorcycle. But on Sunday, Bill Warner, a Florida fish farmer,
It's available in two versions: the base Diavel ($16995,) and my tester, the Diavel Carbon ($19995,) which features a body formed entirely in carbon fiber and forged aluminum Marchesini wheels. The Carbon cranks out 162 horsepower in Sport and Touring
The $119.95 rack fixes the bike to a roof with both wheels on via its down tube, and fits Thule, Yakima and almost all factory installed rooftop crossbars. Windham says the Jaw Bridge has a 35lb bike rating, fits up to 2.7in downhill tires,
As if it didn't sound good enough, due to the nature of the front-mounted electric motor and the rear-mounted gas engine, the i8 is essentially all-wheel drive. BMW is planning on a 2013 launch for the i3, with the i8 coming out in 2014.
311mph Motorcycle Rolls on Carbon Fiber Wheels
, With a stunning 311.94 mph run on the 1.5-mile course.
Becoming one with his turbocharged, methanol-fueled Hayabusa-based racebike designed to harness 1000 horsepower, this mild-mannered fish farmer and marine biologist from Wimauma, Fla. smashed his top-speed record of 278.6 mph rolling on DOT-approved BST carbon-fiber street wheels. The 586 lb., 8 ft. long bike was fitted with BST’s heavy layup specification rear rim, which is 8.5 in. wide, with thicker-than-normal spokes, designed for big, high-powered motorcycles using a 240-series tire, and a standard BST front wheel.
Brock’s Performance President Brock Davidson, a license-holding 200+ mph land-speed-racing participant, is ecstatic with this achievement: “We wanted to make sure that we had enough strength to deal with the potential power output and centrifugal forces developed at these ridiculous speeds. Thanks to Bill’s testing, BST’s ILR wheels are now available for race and street use to consumers.”
Warner, a veteran land-speed competitor, nonchalantly said that accelerating up the runway at up to 152 yards per second wasn’t very dramatic. “In this situation it was very calm. I progressed my speeds up from 180 mph over the past few years, so it was not a traumatic thing to do.
“The big part of it,” he continued, “after the speed happens, is trying to stop the bike. At Loring, there is a mile shutdown to slow the vehicles and I used every bit of it. The bike was bouncing, hopping, skipping and sliding. Needless to say, I got it stopped safely. It was a little scary.”
Not only did Warner blow away his former top-speed record from Texas last year by 33.3 mph, but he also blew the minds of the land-speed-racing community.
Joe Timney, President of the East Coast Timing Association, said: “We knew he had big speeds in store for Loring, but for god’s sake, he didn’t just clip 300 miles per hour, he buried it! This is a world record of epic proportion. Bill went faster on a sit-on than Don Vesco did when he broke 300 in a streamliner; the hair stands up on my arms just thinking about it.”
Here’s what Dean Sabatinelli, who holds a class record at 269.7 mph, had to say: “I don’t see anyone getting close to this record in the next five years, even if they started right now and focused intently on the task. Bill approaches land speed racing like a scientist. There really are no words to describe his determination.
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