It’s been crystal clear for some months that BMW would be making more EVs after getting nothing but high praise for its little 500 car MINI E experiment. Not so much for the logistical foul ups in their haste to deploy the fleet in time for valuable CARB credits, but for the giggle-inducing speedster they unleashed on the world.
Thanks to Tom Gage and Alan Cocconi’s world-class motor/controller combo, the famed ACP 150, BMW proved that a mid-priced electric pocket-rocket could be made. With what they learned burning a hole in their corporate pocket, the Bavarian engineers are busily refining designs for multiple electric BMWs.
They plan to build them in Leipzig with the initial cars hitting showrooms around mid-2013.
The first to market will be a subcompact they dubbed the “Megacity” car. It will approximate the MINI E in size, and while I doubt it’ll be powered by ACP motors, one can hope.
Considering how many cities the world over are crushed with clogged arteries coursing with pollution-spewing internal combustion vehicles that continue to pollute while sitting in traffic, the thought of a small, easily maneuvered and quick off the line, city car that doesn’t pollute at all, will appeal to millions.
Remember, it’s never about who can’t use a car like that, it’s about those who can. Turns out, there are tens of millions who fall into that category.
Tens of millions.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait till the day when it’s rare to see an internal combustion car. At some point, they’ll be anachronistic reminders of a day when people didn’t think twice about spewing poisons into the common airshed. Like smoking in line at the grocery store, you won’t believe people used to do it everywhere.
Paul Scott
