BMW only manufacturer working to design electric auto from scratch, rather than converting existing model
Germany's world-class cadre of auto designers are searching for the holy grail – a zero-emission auto that wins over the world's petrolheads. "There are so many concepts," said one Audi executive. "We're not sure what the customer is willing to pay for."
At the moment, even with oil prices soaring, the cost of a battery pack adds €10-15,000 to the cost of an electric vehicle, and even then it has a limited range.
"We've not yet gone far enough to break through with this technology," said Audi. "People only change to new technology if they have all the benefits of the old plus something extra at the same cost. We assume that one day all autos technology will be electric: maybe not in 2020 or 2030, but by 2050."
Not surprisingly, automakers are focusing on hybrid vehicles, which combine a conventional combustion engine with an electric powertrain. The best-selling hybrid is the Toyota Prius. Pure electric autos have a battery that lasts only as long as the equivalent of 6-7 litres of petrol, which means recharging every hour or so.
Progress is being made in reducing the weight of the auto through autobon fibre, but the key to winning the hearts of motorists is coming up with a battery that lasts for the equivalent time of a tank of petrol.
While Renault-Nissan has led the way with its €27,000 Leaf, already on the market, with the cheaper Zoe to follow soon, BMW is the only manufacturer that has decided to design an electric auto from scratch, building it around new electric components rather than converting existing conventional autos.
Tobias Hahn of BMW explains that while a traditional auto has a big engine and a small tank, an electric auto is the reverse, with small electric components and a giant battery. This calls for a new architecture, BMW argues. It will launch its i3 model – a pure electric auto – in 2013, followed by the i8, a hybrid.
"It's a wholesale change in the approach to vehicle architecture," said Tim Urquhart, senior auto analyst at IHS Global Insight in London.
Berlin's Free University, meanwhile, has pioneered a "self-driving" auto. It uses cameras, laser scanners, heat sensors and satellite navigation to sense other autos, pedestrians and physical obstacles. Professor Raul Rojas reckons the truly automatic auto is the vehicle of the future. "The autos of today," he said, "are the horses of yesterday."
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