New BMW i3

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The big story of the week is the launch of the new BMW, which is a fantastic new three

series that they have launched. There was a huge live stream event in Munich this week

to launch the vehicle and the BMW looks like it's going to be a great car. So what I'm

going to do is run a little bit of the video and we'll have a chat about the car and what

it's like. So we're going to see some of the exterior footage on the car now. A lot of

people have been talking about the front grille on the vehicle and how that's changed for

the new BMW series. I like the look of the car. I think it's prettier at the front than

it is at the back, but it's still a nice looking vehicle and it's going to be a big deal, this

three series. The BMW range have been around for so long and the three series is an absolutely

pinnacle car for them in that respect. I've had BMWs in the family. My mother owned two

three series when I was young and absolutely swore by it as a prestige German brand. A

lot of people in my age group have grown up with the BMW three series and five series

being a very important part of their lives. I wonder what's going to make us want to buy

this car. It's a lovely looking car. It's got huge amounts of range. It's got incredible

charging infrastructure. I'll read to you some of the headlines on it. It's the second

model in the new class range, which is the electric vehicle platform that BMW are building.

It's going to have 900 kilometres of single charge range, which is like 560 odd miles

of range for the new BMW i3. It's got an 800 volt architecture and it has up to 400 kilowatt

rapid charging. You can get 400 kilometres in 10 minutes. That is phenomenal charging

range that you can get in the vehicle. It's got a super rain digital architecture and

heart of joy driving dynamics. That's interesting. The BMW i3 was released as a kind of interim

car that ran up to a few years ago, the way they stopped making it and it's been incredibly

popular in London actually. The small i3, which doesn't have great charging architecture

now compared to a lot of the vehicles that are coming out, was a great, really popular

vehicle. It had strange Rolls-Royce type back doors that swung open at the front so you

can't get passengers into the back very easily without getting out the front of the car.

The size of the car and the nippiness around the city and the ease of parking it and using

it in London made it really, really popular. You can buy quite a lot of those in second

hand version now and they're not that expensive. I'm seeing them for 10, sometimes less. There's

some good vehicle deals to be had. With all that, BMW learned a lot about electric vehicles.

They brought out the i3 and the i8 at the time. The i8 is a hugely desirable sports car.

This new i3, they are betting the farm on this car because they need it to work. They've

built something really impressive in terms of what it can do in terms of its range. It's

still rear wheel drive. It's going to have a combined system output of 469 horsepower,

so plenty of oomph in it. This charging is phenomenal. It uses 6th generation BMW drive

technology which teams highly efficient electric motors, 800 volt technology and new high voltage

batteries with energy dense syndical cells. It's going to be very, very good in terms of driving

that car. I'm going to click on some of the interior stuff as well because you may as

well have a look at what it's like inside because people have been raving about the inside of

this vehicle and what it offers. It's got an interesting steering wheel actually looking

at that. People were kind of questioning that, but the inside of the vehicle has got this

lovely sweep around the dashboard where you can see a lot of the updates in the car. Right

in front of you, it's got very nice, well, this particular model had a very, very nice

cream leather kind of interior which is going to get pretty mucky. The floor at the back

is quite high. The seating is quite high when you sit in it because of there's so much

battery in this vehicle. I think it carries a 100 kilowatt battery, kilowatt hour battery

and that means that the rear floor is quite high in the car when you sit in it, but the

front looks like it's a really nice environment to be in. Instead of just a square iPad screen,

it's actually got something that tilts which makes it a little bit different. I have a

question over why you would buy a BMW now, over why you would have bought a BMW originally.

There was a great line that I think was developed by Amoriti and Puris, Martin Puris or David

Puris who, Martin Puris actually, I'm going to show you a bit of video from him and let's

see if I can get this up and make it work somehow. Actually, I'm not going to make that

work. Scrub that. I'm not going to show it. I'm just going to let you hear it a minute.

Thank you.

Now, I love that car. I love the campaigns that this guy created. He created the line,

the ultimate driving machine and that's how it felt. It was a machine. It was engineered.

They encapsulated everything, but it was something that you drove and you felt something

when you drove that car. That was what I remember of early three series. When they did the press

launch for the new BMW, they talked a lot about the heritage of the three series right

up until this day, especially with other manufacturers stepping in with new vehicles where you've

got the Chinese brands entering and stuff. BMW need to rely on their heritage as great

driving, the ultimate driving machines. Other than the technical dector, it's going to go

in and be stacked up against the Tesla Model 3. It's going to be stacked up against the

Polestar in that kind of bracket. It's got some, as usual, it's got some firm competition,

but it's got really good stats. It's got longer range and it's got faster charging times and

things like that. But why would you buy a BMW over, say, a BYD? Because the name doesn't

really carry the same cache that maybe it once did, especially if you're looking at Chinese

vehicles that will, you know, BYD and their Blade II technology are going to be charging

in minutes. These cars are phenomenal in what they can do. And this new 1.5 megawatt

charging, which I think we spoke about earlier this week, is phenomenal. It's so practical.

And, you know, if they can bring the charging infrastructure, the grid probably needs to

be adapted in the UK, but if they can bring the charging structure into work here, it's

going to be a fantastic opportunity for Chinese cars to really steal the march in the UK.

And I think BMW has a fight on its hand trying to get the three series to sell in the numbers

that it hurts. I would always consider one because they're really, you know that you're

getting really good practical German engineering, but there's so much competition out there

from other really good vehicles and really good platform technology. Can I tell you anything

else about the i3 before we finish? It's going to be 4,760 millimeters long and it's going

to be 1,480 millimeters high. The new cluster range is going to be really, really good.

It's got some good claims on environmental footprint and how they put the car together.

They have some good claims on how that vehicle was put together and just the general use

of materials within it and what they did for making the car as environmentally having

the lowest carbon footprint possible in any new BMW car that they produced. And I think

it really does work. There's huge amounts of information in the press releases, most

of which is not that interesting, but I will talk a little bit about the charging. So they've

got a significant redevelopment in both its hardware and software. It represents a technological

leap in energy density, charging power and range. So you've got significantly shorter

charging times. It charges up to 400 kilometers at a range of an 800 volt fast charging station

via 400 kilowatt directional current. So the car is bi-directional. You can get the vehicle

to go, vehicle to load. You can get the vehicle to go, vehicle to grid in the future. That's

going to be really good. A control unit with an integrated switching matrix will also allow

us the continued use of 400 volt DC stations. Optionally, drivers can charge their BMW i3

using an alternating current at speeds up to 22 kilowatts. That would sell it for me.

The reason being that nearly every charger around me in London is a 22 kilowatt charger

and they're a vehicle sat on there only charging 11 kilowatts. So you could halve your charging

time on a public network charger by buying a car that will allow an on-board charger,

OBC, of 22 kilowatts they see. So what happens with these things is when you plug the car

into a charger at, if you take the new BMW i3 and you plug it into a charger at an AC

charging station in the city, it will charge it at the full rate of 22 kilowatts. You plug

another vehicle into the car in anywhere else or another vehicle, you can only charge it

11 kilowatts. So what happens is the on-board charger converts the AC power coming out of

the charger into DC power. Now my big bugbear is that I think the AC charging on the public

network should be a lot cheaper than it is currently. You're almost paying DC charging

rates for AC charging and I think that's crazy. I'm just going to take off this video and

come back to having my charging rates come up at the moment and where they are. If you

have a vehicle, it's a small option to get a 22 kilowatt AC charger on-board the car that then

converts it to DC, ready to prepare the charging for the battery. And a lot of companies have

saved space and they've saved money by putting in lower power OBCs in their vehicles. So even

a Polestar, which charges at a phenomenal speed, will only charge it 11 kilowatts on a public

charger. But if you can get the public charging rates down and you can get 22 kilowatt charging

on public charging, that's for me. I would buy the car just on the basis that it'll do

that. And there are very few cars that will do it now. You buy a second-hand Renault Zoe,

that will charge it 22 kilowatts, or you buy a, I think the early Model S had 22 kilowatt

charging, but nearly all car companies have killed it. So if BMW have made that happen,

that would be a really good plus. It's got very good route planning. It's got very good battery

prep. So battery preparation for DC charging ensures that the high voltage battery is brought

to the optimal temperature before plugging in at a DC charging station. This is really

significant when you're driving your electric car and you have bummed in a charging station

and the battery preps itself to be able to be warm enough or ready for very fast, ultra-fast DC

or rapid charging. A lot of cars don't do this. So if you have your EV and you're driving,

or a lot of drivers don't do this, they turn up at a DC charging station, they plug in,

and they can't get the vehicle to charge at its full speed. And they're wondering why.

It's because the battery hasn't been prepared for it. It needs to be prepped by the vehicle.

So if you put your charging station into your sat nav, some vehicles will prepare the battery for

DC charging. So it ensures that the battery is brought to the optimal temperature before plugging

in at a DC charging station. This increases charging capacity immediately after plugging in

and shortens the charging time. When the driver actively routes to a DC charging station with

BMW maps, the BMW i3 automatically conditions heats or cools the battery. Alternatively,

the function can be activated manually via the central display or using the app. The current

status of the battery temperature and the time remaining for battery preparation can be viewed

at any time in the BMW i3 vehicle status and in the app. Brilliant. That could be really good

because it'll make a difference when you're trying to get ultra-fast charging or you're stopping and

you really want this 400 kilometers in 10 minute range. The charging port is located on the rear

side. Let's just go back to some of that external stuff where it's possible to open the charging

flap manually. But this is no longer necessary as the intelligent charging flap opens automatically

as soon as the customer's charging request is detected. One of the triggers for opening is AI

supported. If the customer walks towards a known or learned charging port, the movement path reveals

the charging intention and the flap opens. If no charging cable is connected, the charging flap

closes automatically as it does after the charging process is complete or when the vehicle is ready

to drive. A key starting point for reducing CO2 emissions is targeted decarbonisation throughout

the supply chain. Renewable energy increased use of secondary materials. BMW i3 has very

low emissions in the process. Product process innovations contribute to a significant reduction

in emissions in the supply chain of all drive variants. The result of this consistent approach

can be proven by the emissions reductions achieved. CO2 emissions in the supply chain were reduced by

around 33% even during the product development of the BMW i3. I don't know about battery mining.

I don't know about battery refining for the vehicle. Be good a bit more about what BMW have done

around their mining and deforestation projects and where they're pulling nickel from,

where they're pulling lithium ion from. Are they sourcing from Indonesia at the moment where

there's been pretty massive deforestation and I think through mining or cobalt mining

there and in the DRC. So interesting to know what they're doing to make the vehicle much,

much better in terms of its emissions and so on. It uses a 30% recycle plastic in the bumper and in

the trim. The entire bumper without attachments has been reduced from 15 to 7 materials compared

to its predecessor. Thanks to the extensive use of a plastic particularly suitable recycling,

the proportion of recyclable plastics was increased from approximately 46% in the predecessor model

to approximately 85%. This creates the basis for the recovery of high quality recycled plastics from

the material from the vehicle. They used a lot of secondary materials. The new BMW i3 consists of

a total of around 30% of secondary materials. The proportion of secondary materials in the

aluminium cast components of the swivel bearings and hub carriers is 80%. The cast aluminium rims

consist of 70% secondary aluminium. The housing of the Gen6 motor on the rear axle consists of

two-thirds recycled aluminium. The Gen6 battery cells of the BMW i3 high voltage battery pack use

of proportion of secondary materials for cobalt, lithium and nickel. Energy from renewable sources

is also used in production of anode and cathode material as well as in cell production compared

to a previous Gen5 cell in the BMW i4. The CO2 footprint in the cell supply chain is reduced by

around 33% per watt hour. Another example of the innovative use of materials and the secondary

materials in the engine compartment and cover and the storage compartment under the front door of the

BMW i3. The base model consists of 30% recycled marine plastic. This is a post consumer material

from used fishing nets and ropes. The starting material of the yarn for the textile of the

headliner and the A-pillar contains 100% recycled material. I like it. The BMW's commitment to

Paris climate agreement and to net zero by 2050 at the latest is an integral part of the holistic

360-degree sustainability approach which is anchored in the corporate strategy. The company

has set itself ambitious, scientifically derived CO2 e-targets for the coming years. The group

intends to reduce its CO2 emissions by a total of at least 40 million tonnes of CO2 in 2030

and by around 60 million tonnes by 2035. This means an additional reduction of around 20 million

tonnes of CO2 in addition to the existing 2030 target. Well done, BMW. This is good. At least

they are moving in the right direction for materials when they make these cars. Okay, good car.

Quick look at the new

BYD Ato3. Now, why would you buy a BYD Ato3 when you can buy a brand new i3? Maybe because it's

cheaper. They think the BMW i3 is going to come in at around 50k somewhere along the way. They

have the new Ato3 Evo and it comes with higher range. Let's just see what the range is on this

vehicle if I can just get that down. It's got a 316 mile range and a 313 single motor. The

car is going to cost £38,990 for the design, £38,990 for the design and £42,730 for the

excellence which is the BYD Ato excellence. It's a nice genuinely good standard car that you're

looking at. The Blade 2 battery technology is phenomenal. These cars from BYD once Blade 2

comes out could be phenomenal in terms of their charging speed, but at the moment BMW

really have it on the Blade. The press release says that it's got a 0-62 time of 5.5 seconds

on the single motor and that jumps to 3.9 seconds if you're using the excellence

and the double motor. They've got some significant power in them. 80% charging takes 25 minutes

using the 220 kilowatt maximum charge rate. It is Blade battery but it's not Blade 2 yet.

Everyone's talking about this phenomenal Blade 2 1.5 megawatt charging that's going to come

and you're going to be able to charge the car in five minutes. At the moment you're still looking

at 25 minutes for a 10 to 80% charge in this vehicle. That's going to take a little bit of time.

Again, it has cell to body batteries. It's got cell to body but it's also got more storage space

than the previous Atto 3 which is good. The boot now comes in at 490 litres which is 50 litres

bigger than the last one. It's much more impressive. It's got in terms of the boot size

and batteries do take up a lot of space. That's why the rear of the BMW i3 has got a slightly higher

platform because there's so much battery in there. It's critical that you get as much boot space as

you can out of these vehicles. It's got a new front which is going to give another five litres

of capacity under the bonnet as well. I think it's going to come with an eight-year battery

warranty. Why would you buy a BMW i3 instead of a BYD Atto? I'm trying to understand what it is

that people want from the vehicles that are looking at when they're looking at a new EV car

and how you actually make sure that the vehicle is going to serve all your needs and your purposes.

There's so many variables around charging infrastructure and everyone's individual

case is so unique now. I'm not sure that if you buy a BMW you're going to get 560 odd mile range

out of it. If you're only driving it 15 miles a day which is the average journey time I think

for a vehicle like that then you're going to be charging it every two weeks. Maybe you don't even

need home charging. If they can get the charging rates down for vehicles like this then it will

make a huge difference. I'm just going to pull that off the stage. We're going to go back and

remove that and put that back up so that you can see some of these home charging rates that we're

getting at the moment. The cost for the home charger. If the government plan around home

charging does change the new grants are being applied now so we've got £500 towards

renters or landlords or anyone else paying to have their vehicles installed. You get a £500

grant towards that. There's loads of stuff coming out from April the 1st in terms of

better schemes for charging your vehicle within home and some of these rapid DC rates are hopefully

going to start coming down a little bit as well. They look at the 20% VAT charge on rapid charging.

So get yourself a BYD ATO3 with 316 mile range or a BMW i3 with 500 odd mile range. You know you're

going to charge it every so often and if you're not charging at home you're going to lose the

benefit of vehicle to grid in the future. You might want to be able to plug in and have the

vehicle work as a backup for the battery for you or you're going to end up having vehicle to load

where at least you can charge plug peripherals into the car. If you can't do that you're going to

rely on the public charging network so how are we going to make that better? How are we going to

improve the public charging network so that cars like that can be used to their full extent even

if you don't have off-street parking? Okay so I'm going to just talk a little bit about the new

OME charger so there it is it's called the OME the E-pod SV charger and it's an all-in-one

charging solution for property developers, offices and landlords. This is kind of timely because of

this 500 pound grant where you can manage a whole load of architecture around putting lots of these

pods in. It's purpose-built for shared residential business parking and it's very easy to install,

manage and use using OME infrastructure and communal spaces. The arrival of the E-pod S is

perfectly time the recent government announcement there is a grant of 500 pounds so that's going to

be really good. It will help developers run a consistent charging infrastructure. I thought

that that might be useful both shared and residential and sole residential across multiple sites

enabling OME to provide a single scalable solution to engage the hardware and software payments.

The park and charge function with the new E-pod S is available addition to the OME range and

when you're deciding on your residential EV charging partner so OME are doing a good job,

people like them you know they're nice chargers they're quite good value which I think is good

and when you use the OME app you can start and stop chargers and pay for the sessions directly

through the platform and you can use park and charge as well which enables access to lower

price charging for EV. They are an official charger partner for Mercedes Volvo and Volkswagen in the

UK so you're seeing a lot of these and they're quite small and they're quite neat little chargers so

they look good which is great and they've got lots of charging partners so they're quite accessible.

The other option is just to have a look at what right charger doing. Right charge are a fleet EV

charging payment company who are if you run fleet you have a fleet car this introduced with the new

HUMAX charger is going to be a good option for the new I think it's called the HUMAX MX7.

It uses right charges payment structures where it will sort out your fleet driving your work

driving from your home driving so another kind of very difficult thing for EV drivers to manage at

the moment is trying to work out what was business expense and what was home expense and how the

charging is set up so this software which is all over the place is going to allow you to

have fleet packages using the HUMAX MX7 charger you're going to be able to just divide up where

your charging is and how your charging structures work for work which I think is going to be pretty

useful in the end. Okay so back to this week big launch for BMW let's look at what's going to happen

with the the new extended range on the Blade 2 battery and how fast that charging keep keep

let's keep a close eye on what's going on there. There's lease deals up at the moment on our screen

you can see there's here are some of the prices that we're looking at home charging so if you

join our club you can start enjoying the benefits of comparable pricing and the best prices on DC

charging AC charging home energy supply and you can start looking for the best prices on

tariffs for your car and your lease deals. Thank you very much great to speak to you let's speak

soon take care see ya

New BMW i3

About this episode

BMW 3 Series

BMW i3

800 volt architecture

rapid charging

BMW i8

rear wheel drive

horsepower

dashboard

100 kilowatt hour battery

tilting screen

heritage

bi-directional charging

vehicle-to-grid

kilowatt (kW)

alternating current (AC) charging

battery preparation for DC charging

ultra-fast charging

route planning with battery prep

charging flap

secondary materials

lithium ion

nickel

cobalt

recyclable plastics

hub carriers

aluminium cast components

swivel bearings

cast aluminium rims

BYD Ato3

0-62 time

boot

charging infrastructure

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