So the random chance of me stopping by the BMW dealership during my "fun car" search has careened towards the precipice of buying an EV. Well, technically a TZEV kinda sorta, as we're looking at the i3 with the range extender. It is in-between an EV and a hybrid as it has a 650cc 2-stroke that runs to charge the battery when it gets low rather than directly drive the wheels like it does with a Prius or Volt.
So why? Well, first and foremost, it is a hoot to drive. Hard to explain - very different experience than a regular car. It is kind of like a combination of driving and video game. Also the tech that it has is pretty entertaining. It'll park itself (though probably not getting that option), and it also will automatically follow the car in front. Essentially adaptive cruise control, especially effective in stop-and-go traffic.
The i3 also has some interesting design aspects wrt materials and how they combine them. Yes, they have all the feel-good nonsense about wind-powers factories, yada yada. To quote my son, "cool story, bro..." but not really a factor. Really, it is how fun the damn thing is to drive, and how nice the interior space is. Really functional.
The styling? I dig it, but a lot of people hate it. The cost? Too expensive but welcome to BMW. We won't make back the difference in price going from her Fiat any time soon, but did I mention how fun it is to drive?
Trying to find one and make the numbers work. There is $7500 Fed tax credit, $2500 state rebate, free charging options most everywhere, and if we find one fairly quick we can get an HOV sticker. The pure electric (white stickers) are unlimited, the green (hybrid) are almost all allocated. They ran out of the original 40K stickers awhile back and allocated another 15K, of which 11K have been spoken for in the past 45 days.
Should be an interested adventure, and you evidently need to change the way you think about traveling though the range extender takes some of the worry out of the picture.
